Unsure about what to do
imwichya1
Posts: 21 Member
I'm relatively new to MFP. I saw initial success the first 2 weeks. I have about 250 lbs to lose. My calorie goal is 3260. I have been eating between 2000 and 2300 calories per day. I do use scales and measuring cups etc. So even if my calorie intake is off, it's not off by 1000+ calories. I've led a sedentary lifestyle most of my life. I've been working out with a personal trainer 3 times a week. I don't add those calories.
I've seen 0 lbs lost in the last 14 days. Not sure how to proceed. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I've seen 0 lbs lost in the last 14 days. Not sure how to proceed. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Replies
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How often are you weighing yourself?
I would give it at least 2 more weeks or perhaps 4. If you still see absolutely NO movement, then it's time to make some adjustments.
~Lyssa1 -
Every other day. It's tough not to see the scale moving.0
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I know some scales have issues. Sometimes my digital scale will give me the same weight for many days in a row and I know that it's not true. I would say keep doing the right thing, don't put your faith in a scale, just wait until you get to a reliable scale - like your doctor's office or a gym. Your doctor's office will weigh you (like once a month) without an appointment. Also, my local pharmacy has one of those blood pressure stations that also has a scale (when you sit) - see if you can find one of those.
When I was losing weight, I accidentally spilled water on mine and broke it.
I didn't buy another one.
It was the best thing ever for my mental health.
You will lose the weight. It's going to take time - a long time - and right now it can't be your only goal because it is a long range goal and we need daily attaboys, I think. Celebrate every day that you are under your calorie goal. That's a success!
Maybe set other goals, like walking a bit further each day, or lifting some weights and increasing your strength. If you put too much into your weight on a daily basis it's going to be a very long battle.5 -
Every other day. It's tough not to see the scale moving.
Weight loss is rarely linear. The human body is something like 60% water, and that can cause plenty of fluctuations in your weight. Add in minor changes in your food from day to day (ate more carbs that usual? Up goes the weight. Ate more sodium than usual? There it goes again), and the likelihood of a daily move down is pretty slim.
I agree with everything @cmriverside said. Have other goals. Focus on being around or a bit under your calorie goal. Walk more. Experiment with new foods and recipes.
Trust the math - you'll get where you need to be!
~Lyssa1 -
Thanks cmriverside. I've always tried lo carb. I've had good success initially. Dropped 100 lbs once. But I always hit a wall. So MFP makes sense. For every 3500 calorie deficit, one should lose 1 lb. So to not see the scale move, makes it tough.1
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Reducing carbs still works. I lost weight using the default settings, and I had to work at reducing carbs - it didn't work for me to just try to cut them all because I'm active and it was hard for me to climb hills without eating carbs. I had to find a level of carbs that make sense to me, and you'll find that too.
The problem comes from the black and white thinking, in my opinion.
"I can't have _______."
"Uh, oh, I had _______, so therefore I've ruined everything."
"I blew it, may as well start again tomorrow, next week, next month, next year..."
When you fall off the path, jump right back on. If you made a wrong turn going to the store, you wouldn't stay on that road until you hit the ocean - you'd turn around and get back on the road that goes to the store, right?3 -
Thanks Macgurlnet. I haven't been looking at carbs or sodium. Just focusing on total calories intake.0
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On a technical note, you might try changing the batteries in the scale too. Absolutely no change is odd.1
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Thanks Jemhh. It's an electric scale. 1000 lbs capacity. I did unplug and plug the scale. Same weight.1
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Haha. I was hoping as well. Wishful thinking!!0
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Im Just starting in this journey so I don't understsnd much. And if you're working with a PT they'd know more, but what weight loss target have you set at MFP? 3250 calories a day seems a lot for someone wanting to lose. I see you are eating much less than that though. Good luck in your journey. Patience and logging is what we can do.0
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Did your first two weeks show large losses? It's pretty common to see a sort of mini-stall on week 3 after a big initial loss. If you are confident you are tracking your food intake and calories accurately, perhaps lay off the scale for a whole week instead of every other day. Seeing no results when you are doing everything right can be mentally defeating. The losses will resume!
^^This.
Also, if you're a woman, weight loss can be masked and exaggerated by water retention levels, depending on where you are in your monthly cycle. If you started at a point where you were losing water, it could have made your losses look larger than just your fat losses, and now you could be adding water at roughly the same rate you're losing fat.
Similar water-masking effects can occur if you add exercise that causes your body to hold on to extra water for muscle repair. Stress hormones can also increase water retention.
Finally, if you have changed the kind of foods you eat in a way that is causing constipation or just slower digestion, you could be carrying around more food waste.
These things aren't going to mask fat loss forever, so be patient. (Although if you are constipated, you should address that.)3 -
It also can be helpful to measure other things besides weight - like waist size, hips, thighs, etc. You may see changes there that don't show on the scale.3
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spiriteagle99 wrote: »It also can be helpful to measure other things besides weight - like waist size, hips, thighs, etc. You may see changes there that don't show on the scale.
^^^this....take measurements. I can go weeks without much change on the scale but inches are being lost...it keeps me going.
Also when I started out I saw very little change the first 2-3weeks...then BAM I dropped a few lbs in week 4 which I honestly wasn't expecting, because I didn't have a lot to lose. It always takes time for me to drop lbs though...I'm in another "stall" and it's frustrating, but I'm hoping for another drop soon. Meanwhile I'll check my measurements in another week or so and hopefully be smiling from that 1 -
Did your first two weeks show large losses? It's pretty common to see a sort of mini-stall on week 3 after a big initial loss. If you are confident you are tracking your food intake and calories accurately, perhaps lay off the scale for a whole week instead of every other day. Seeing no results when you are doing everything right can be mentally defeating. The losses will resume!Did your first two weeks show large losses? It's pretty common to see a sort of mini-stall on week 3 after a big initial loss. If you are confident you are tracking your food intake and calories accurately, perhaps lay off the scale for a whole week instead of every other day. Seeing no results when you are doing everything right can be mentally defeating. The losses will resume!
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Don't forget the weight of undigested food and water weight also show on the scale. You can check out the science behind this.1
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Message me, it's not allowing me to message you1
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Did your first two weeks show large losses? It's pretty common to see a sort of mini-stall on week 3 after a big initial loss. If you are confident you are tracking your food intake and calories accurately, perhaps lay off the scale for a whole week instead of every other day. Seeing no results when you are doing everything right can be mentally defeating. The losses will resume!
I don't think it was anything large. 1st week I dropped 4 lbs. The stall has lasted for 13 days. I will try to layoff the scale and only weigh in once a week. Thank you.0 -
bluets2011 wrote: »Im Just starting in this journey so I don't understsnd much. And if you're working with a PT they'd know more, but what weight loss target have you set at MFP? 3250 calories a day seems a lot for someone wanting to lose. I see you are eating much less than that though. Good luck in your journey. Patience and logging is what we can do.
I have it set to drop 2 lbs per week. 3250 is correct. That's why it's been frustrating. I'm creating 1000 calories deficit per day on top of the 20% deficit the app creates. Thank you and good luck to you as well.0 -
OP, always remember too that if you are truly in a deficit and your weight does go up (all of ours does at times), it is not possible for it to be fat. It's not a satisfying thing, but fluid retention happens to all of us (even us guys - I can go up 3-4 pounds in a day - I can also go down 3-4 pounds in a day. There is no physical way I'm gaining or losing that much fat in a day).
Keep that deficit and you will lose fat.1 -
@imwichya1 The first thing to know about 'stalls' in weight loss is to be patient. The CICO numbers are highly accurate on time scales of 4 weeks, but not on time scales of 1 day or 2 weeks. At the '1 day' scale, variables such as sodium intake, emotional stress, poop frequency and volume, hydration level, furthermore and so on, cause wide swings in scale weight as water, the most important thing in you, responding to all those components of you, sloshes in and out of you under the rubric "water retention". At the '2 week' scale, all of the above plus muscle injury from the variety and intensity of your exercises has similar wide swings in scale weight as water sloshes in and out of you dealing with those intermediate-term items. At the '4 week' scale, all of the sloshing in and out of water for all the reasons has compiled what can be described as a moving average. The way you use this knowledge is to stay on this program for at least 4 complete weeks. At the end of 4 weeks, look at your Progress charts of weight on the 30-day scale. There's still a couple of blanks but it won't matter. You'll see your weight on the first day and you'll see your weight on the 28th day. You'll see a difference. If the 28th day number is smaller than the 1st day number, congratulations you're doing it right. It's going to take time. Be patient. If the 28th day number is larger than the 1st day number, you do have a problem which only you can address. We can suggest that you pay attention to measuring and recording things. Only you can do that. We can suggest that you fire your trainer. Only you can do that.
Having myself used this site to write the truth about the weights and measures about everything I eat for 16 months to lose 104 lb, I know that you've found the one resource you need. Use it.
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sunsweet77 wrote: »Message me, it's not allowing me to message you
@sunsweet77 , I tried to message you and received a system error.
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Thanks @JeromeBarry1. I need to be patient and have faith in the process.JeromeBarry1 wrote: »@imwichya1 The first thing to know about 'stalls' in weight loss is to be patient. The CICO numbers are highly accurate on time scales of 4 weeks, but not on time scales of 1 day or 2 weeks. At the '1 day' scale, variables such as sodium intake, emotional stress, poop frequency and volume, hydration level, furthermore and so on, cause wide swings in scale weight as water, the most important thing in you, responding to all those components of you, sloshes in and out of you under the rubric "water retention". At the '2 week' scale, all of the above plus muscle injury from the variety and intensity of your exercises has similar wide swings in scale weight as water sloshes in and out of you dealing with those intermediate-term items. At the '4 week' scale, all of the sloshing in and out of water for all the reasons has compiled what can be described as a moving average. The way you use this knowledge is to stay on this program for at least 4 complete weeks. At the end of 4 weeks, look at your Progress charts of weight on the 30-day scale. There's still a couple of blanks but it won't matter. You'll see your weight on the first day and you'll see your weight on the 28th day. You'll see a difference. If the 28th day number is smaller than the 1st day number, congratulations you're doing it right. It's going to take time. Be patient. If the 28th day number is larger than the 1st day number, you do have a problem which only you can address. We can suggest that you pay attention to measuring and recording things. Only you can do that. We can suggest that you fire your trainer. Only you can do that.
Having myself used this site to write the truth about the weights and measures about everything I eat for 16 months to lose 104 lb, I know that you've found the one resource you need. Use it.
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If you want to continue regular weighing, consider using a weight trending app like Happy Scale (iPhone) or Libra (Android). Keeps me sane looking at the overall trend going down. Good luck to you!2
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Just chiming in with no more advice than everyone has given other than to root you on and tell you to stick with it. You have a long journey, and this is just the beginning. If you are committed to logging your food and measuring it accurately, you will lose weight. You can do this and you will do this. Maybe even don't weigh yourself at all for a while and focus on building the weight management skills and confidence in eating at a deficit. Go, you!0
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Great advice in this thread. Tracking a variety of progress indicators is very helpful for your sanity. I recommend using a year as your primary time frame then breaking it up into quarters. It's also wise to track them in an organized way. Here's what I have my Clients do every Sunday.
1. Pictures (front,back, side)
2.Circumference measurements
3. Smart Scale measurements ( this scale takes 10 different measurements body weight being 1 of them) https://www.amazon.com/Yunmai-Premium-Smart-Scale-Composition/dp/B01C6E2YSI/ref=sr_1_10_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1495503922&sr=1-10&keywords=Smart+scale
4. Sleep
5. Blood work quarterly or twice per year
6. Nutrition plan adherence
7. Workout plan adherence
In addition to this, they have 3 progress assessing gym workouts the last week of every month.
Every quarter we do a review and compare all the data to the previous quarter. At the end of the year we do a big review comparing it to the beginning of the year. I found this makes progress tracking clean, efficient and fun.
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