4 weeks in and zero weight loss

Is your exercise routine new? Starting exercise can cause temporary water weight gain that can "hide" initial progress.

Is your calorie goal from MFP?

Four weeks is probably too early to be worried that things aren't working, but I noticed your diary is locked. Sometimes people are making common logging mistakes than mean they're eating more than they think they are. If you open your diary, people may be able to help you identify some issues.

Maybe you're eating more than you think?

OP, to really be able to answer, we would need to know your height and weight, how much of a deficit you are aiming for, whether or not you are eating back your exercise calories, and how you are measuring your portions. Opening your diary would help too, if you are willing.

Having said that, some people do take a little longer to start to see some results. And 99% of people who post that they can't seem to lose the weight are eating more than they think - either from not logging everything, or from eyeballing or volume measuring their portions, or from choosing incorrect entries in the database, or from inflated exercise calorie burns that they are eating back.

General tips:

• Use a food scale for at least a couple of weeks (longer if possible) to get a good idea of your calories in. For all solids, even packaged foods, even fruits and veggies, everything except liquids.
• Double check the entries you are using in the database - there's a lot of innacuracy in there.
• Exercise calorie burns are often overestimated, so to be safe some people will only eat back half.
• Weigh yourself on the same scale, at the same time of day, with the same clothing or lack thereof.

Good luck!

Losing weight isn't a sign of progress. 5x a week at the gym? You could be gaining muscle, which weighs more than fat. For "results", get a BMI measurement (most gyms have them at the membership desk, just ask) to see what your body's fat percentage is. THAT is what will change over time, not necessarily the number on the scale. Hope this helps, good luck!

tallyhallic wrote: »

Losing weight isn't a sign of progress. 5x a week at the gym? You could be gaining muscle, which weighs more than fat. For "results", get a BMI measurement (most gyms have them at the membership desk, just ask) to see what your body's fat percentage is. THAT is what will change over time, not necessarily the number on the scale. Hope this helps, good luck!

Not likely. Gaining lean muscle mass is tough in the best conditions - eating at a surplus - progressive strength training - a decent amount of protein. Even then women gain muscle mass very slowly. OP mentioned cycling not weight training.

Most people work hard just to keep the lean muscle mass they already have. Muscle is dense but it doesn't "weigh more" than fat.

@kimny72 post - water weight, mistakes in logging, overstatement of calories burns, timing.....that's likely where the issue is.

Im a few years older than you and close to your weight. I had a month that i busted it in the gym 6x per week, doing strength training for an hour and the bike or treadmill for another hour. I didn't up my calories on days that i burned so many with exercise and it completely stalled the scale that whole month.
I have learned that my "sweet spot" of calories is about 1300 per day on light exercise days, i have to up my calories on days i work out intensively or the scale just won't move.
Don't ballpark your food, weigh and measure everything, eat a MINIMUM of 1300 calories per day, and up to 100 to 300 more on days you work out hard. Make sure you get in your 8 to 10 cups of water. Eat as cleanly as you can and keep those portions correct and attempt to eat well balanced meals (protein, veggy, and carb at each meal).
You will see some results with a few tweaks. Everyone is different but your stats are pretty close to mine so this may just be your winning formula as well.
Good luck. Feel free to message me anytime too!

I'm having the same issue. 3 weeks in and I've not lost anything. Not gaining, but not losing.

Here's the details:

- I'm 45, 5' 10", currently weigh 230lbs
- I'm eating 1500 calories a day and logging nearly every little thing I put into my mouth. (I just logged 5 pistachios and I even logged a life saver)
- I weigh or measure everything
- If I don't know exactly how many cals a food is, I won't eat it.
- I walk/jog at 3.5mph for 15min at lunch 5 days a week
- I walk/jog at 4 mph for 30 min after work 5 days a week
- 45 min total walking/jogging per day 5 days a week
- I don't "add back" my exercise calories, but I do use the low end estimate as a buffer (200 cals for exercise) and sometimes I don't log exercise at all.
- 5 out of 7 days a week I go to bed with about 100 calories left
- I don't "cheat" on the weekends, but I don't exercise those days either. At WORST I may "allow" 100-200 or so over my 1500 cals per day

I don't see how I can't be losing weight. When I did this before, the first month was when I lost the MOST weight and I rarely exercised back then. I've been very disciplined and even proud of myself that I'm exercising as consistently as I am, as well as maintaining my 1500 cals every day.

Helps? :-(