I am so frustrated!

cashidy
cashidy Posts: 152 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
I have been eating 1200 or less calories a day and running. And I haven't budge on my weight! I am still 143.8. I feel so frustrated! I know it is only a week, but I am trying so hard!

And it makes me want to overeat and throw in the towel. How will I ever make my goal when I lose weight so slowly?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
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Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    The closer you are to your goal the slower it will be. That's to be expected.

    As for not losing over a week, it happens. Weight loss is not linear, and there could be a host of reasons as to why you didn't lose (sodium/carb intake, hormones/TOM, new or increased exercise, or inaccurate logging). http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
    Also, I have been on my weight loss journey a while and just started really counting calories and being on top of things this past week. Seems like I would have lost a pound or inch at least!
  • pa296171
    pa296171 Posts: 3 Member
    the key is not to weigh yourself everyday, just go with the way you feel, I am sure you feel better after your runs and staying light on your food, if yes then keep doing what you are doing and forget about weight loss, one day after a month or so weigh yourself and look in the mirror and trust me you will see the difference and will be proud of what you would see.
    Thanks,
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
    pa296171 wrote: »
    the key is not to weigh yourself everyday, just go with the way you feel, I am sure you feel better after your runs and staying light on your food, if yes then keep doing what you are doing and forget about weight loss, one day after a month or so weigh yourself and look in the mirror and trust me you will see the difference and will be proud of what you would see.
    Thanks,

    You are right. I feel less "weighed down" if that makes sense.

    And @StaciMarie1974 you are right haha you always give me good advice. :)
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
    I'll try to stay positive, but I just needed to vent. I feel like something is wrong with me! But also I might just not be patient.
  • LessCookiess
    LessCookiess Posts: 538 Member
    Like you said it's only been a wait stay patient :)
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
    Only thing I can think of is i am on an IUD (hormone based) and have PCOS. But doctor's won't give me medicine because they say I am overweight but healthy.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    I KNOW this is easier said than done. But something to try:

    Set goals that are based on health and fitness. Drinking water to stay hydrated. Eating more fruits/veggies. Increasing your cardio endurance. Goals that make sense for you, things you think you could/should work on. Focus on those things. Let weight loss be a side effect.

    Focusing on weight loss is frustrating. And as long as that is your central focus, it is going to be frustrating. Even on the weeks where the scale drops - because it is not going to drop every day. So if you can shift focus and remind yourself that this is about making a healthier, more fit YOU, then it actually gets less frustrating on the weight loss side of things.


  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
    I have to say, I was losing more weight before when I was eating 1800 and exercising more? This was before I got off track.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    edited March 2017
    If you've only been doing this a week you just need to give it some time, also if the increased exercise is a recent thing you will be retaining water for muscle repair, it's really too soon to tell what might be amiss. However if the 1200 cals is too restrictive and you feel like throwing in the towel so soon I'd definitely adjust your goals if its too restrictive, also are you eating your exercise cals back and are you measuring food with scales and liquids with cups/jugs/spoons?

    Edit ah sorry I didn't see the other replies there was only 3 when I wrote this, good luck.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    cashidy wrote: »
    I have to say, I was losing more weight before when I was eating 1800 and exercising more? This was before I got off track.

    If you were losing weight you were in a deficit. Just keep in mind that 1 week is too little time to judge that you are NOT losing weight now. If you are happy with your intake and activity level, then you're good. If you enjoyed the exercising more, then reevaluate your nutritional needs. Keep in mind that MFP is designed so that you 'earn' additional calories for your exercise.
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
    If you've only been doing this a week you just need to give it some time, also if the increased exercise is a recent thing you will be retaining water for muscle repair, it's really too soon to tell what might be amiss. However if the 1200 cals is too restrictive and you feel like throwing in the towel so soon I'd definitely adjust your goals if its too restrictive, also are you eating your exercise cals back and are you measuring food with scales and liquids with cups/jugs/spoons?

    I have been eating only proportioned meals while I get on track. For other stuff I use measuring cups or guesstimate but make sure to really overestimate if I do so.
  • subcounter
    subcounter Posts: 2,382 Member
    My weight fluctuates up to 10 lb's. I wouldn't panic just yet. I certainly understand where you are coming from though. It can be frustrating at times to not see the actual results.

    What I usually do is simply staying on top my calories. Try to be as accurate as I can be. The weight comes off eventually as long as you follow the proper calories, and weigh your ingredients right, using the correct database.
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    edited March 2017
    Could be water retention due to tom, too much salt, muscle repair...it often comes off in a whoosh for some reason. Just keep swimming swimming swimming :)
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
    Oh I see! My water intake has went up and since my meals are preportioned they have more sodium than I would like. Maybe that is why.
  • ruqayyahsmum
    ruqayyahsmum Posts: 1,513 Member
    Honestly love you need to be more patient. Log, weigh once a week and then look back over the data in 3 or 4 weeks and see what you think then.

    When i started i was 387lb and under medical care on a 1500 diet exercising 5 days a week. First weeks weigh in i lost bothing. The medical team accused me of cheating, refused to believe i had done as i was meant to....... i did exactly the same routine for another week and i lost 10lb and was accused of starving myself lol
  • runforthefunofitUK
    runforthefunofitUK Posts: 40 Member
    It has only been a week. It will take about 3-4 weeks to get a proper gauge on how you are doing.

    I know it sucks and it is frustrating, but it takes time to get "out of shape", which means it takes time to get back in shape too.
  • __Alfie__
    __Alfie__ Posts: 6 Member
    cashidy wrote: »
    Oh I see! My water intake has went up and since my meals are preportioned they have more sodium than I would like. Maybe that is why.

    I spent weeks studying all the data I had accumulated through MyFitnessPal because I kept to a strict 1,500Kcal/day and yet my weight would slowly increase. I slowly discovered my Sodium chart almost matched my weight chart through the weeks. Sodium wasn't something I paid much attention too until that point. I now try and keep my sodium intake to less than 1,500mg. After a couple of days... I nearly spent a week visiting the toilet every hour for a wee-wee and lost over 5lb in urine
  • tlebel
    tlebel Posts: 33 Member
    you may not be eating enough and your metabolism is slowing down. You need to keep your body burning.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    It doesn't matter if your scale shows you decimal places. They're irrelevant. If your goals are set to a pound a week, you're not going to see that happen as a steady ticking down of 1/7 of a pound a day. Weight loss doesn't work like that. Scales arent' actually that accurate or precise.

    I hate to break it to you, but even if you do lose your goal pound or two this week? You won't really be sure you're seeing it on the scale for several weeks or even a month. Your weight easily fluctuates across a day by more than the margin of a week's loss. Tiny differences in your digestive speed or water retention can easily register on your scale as a pound or more of weight.

    In other words? Chill out, track your intake, and watch for longer term trends.
  • Sassafras106
    Sassafras106 Posts: 73 Member
    tlebel wrote: »
    you may not be eating enough and your metabolism is slowing down. You need to keep your body burning.

    I feel like this would take years not days
  • bee_bee8
    bee_bee8 Posts: 96 Member
    I just wanted to chime in to say I know exactly how you feel! I've lost a good amount of weight, but I've hit several "plateaus" where I wouldn't lose an ounce for a week at a time. The last time that happened (I was actually around your weight), I got so frustrated I just ate everything in my path for 3 days straight. Seriously, SO much food. When it was all said and done I'd obviously gained a few pounds, which set me even farther back than I was...

    The bottom line is if you give into old habits, a lot of times you're not just not losing weight, you're actively GAINING weight. Which is obviously worse than staying stagnant. You're doing great by taking charge of your health and monitoring your CICO. Everyone here will tell you it's a numbers game - burn more calories than you eat, you'll eventually lose weight. At 143, you're likely barely overweight (not sure your height) and the pounds aren't going to fall off like they might if you were 200+ lbs. Unfortunately the thinner you are, the longer it takes. Find other things to celebrate besides losing weight - ex) you ran farther than you did yesterday, you had a healthy lunch instead of junk food. You'll get there eventually, try to be patient and focus on forming good habits you can carry with you for the rest of your life :-)
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    cashidy wrote: »
    I have been eating 1200 or less calories a day and running. And I haven't budge on my weight! I am still 143.8. I feel so frustrated! I know it is only a week, but I am trying so hard!

    And it makes me want to overeat and throw in the towel. How will I ever make my goal when I lose weight so slowly?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

    It's been ONE WEEK. You really need to develop some patience. :)
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    tlebel wrote: »
    you may not be eating enough and your metabolism is slowing down. You need to keep your body burning.

    One's metabolism will never slow down so much that one stops losing weight while in a calorie deficit. If that were possible, no one would ever starve to death, and, sadly, people world-wide do so every day.

    If one is eating so little as to be fatigued or weak, and is losing weight, that would be a good reason to eat more, and it's just possible that weight loss wouldn't slow down quite as much as the additional calories would make one predict.

    With a short time horizon like one week, a much more likely explanation is water weight change due to TOM, exercise, sodium, healing, or other factors. With a slightly longer time horizon (3-4 weeks) with no loss, some of those could still be factors, but inaccurate food logging or optimistic exercise estimates become more likely explanations. After longer still (say, 6 weeks), and after having fixed as many logging/estimation factors as possible (as per the flowchart), but no loss, then I'd be taking my food logs to my doctor & asking for blood tests & such.

    Patience, OP! I've been around here long enough (2 years) to see a lot of people succeed. Steady, manageable consistency over the long haul seems to be the best recipe for success.

    Exactly.
  • ifbblinds
    ifbblinds Posts: 12 Member
    personally i feel 1200 cal per day is very low. think longer term, your body can not sustain 1200cal a day thus once you reach your goal weight and start to slowly increase the cal you will gain weight (you need to look at your BMI index and rating to see how much caloried your body needs to operate each day). I feel if you were on higher cal like the 1800 you mentioned and seeing results than it may be that your body is in fact storing what you are eating as fat as you do not have adequate intake of protein, carbs,fats. A 600cal decrease is alot, I would look at working back up off 1600-1700cal per day and see how you go, dont forget the make up of that 1700cal is very critical, for instance you could in essence be eating 1700 of fast food each day, or you could be eating 1700cal of chicken, salad, tuna/fish, vegetables ect ect (see the difference) It may be you need to adjust your food types, variety, meal timings ect. Also females that have the 'rod' form of birth control will 9/10 times find it harder to lose weight, I would always recommend the removal of the rod and use of a pill provided that you do not have side effects form the pill form. When looking at weight lose it can take 2-3 weeks for your body to adjust to a new diet/nutritional plan so hang in there, also be aware the 2-3 days before your menstrual cycle and about 3-5 days after you may find is the hardest time to lose weight, this is because your bodies hormones are at peak and water retention is at peak.
  • BootCampC
    BootCampC Posts: 689 Member
    if you are under 1200 calories , perhaps you need to up the calories , add 100 calories every 2 days until you see progress , then you will know where your body is comfortable in weight loss
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