Is it really helping ?
weighmeless
Posts: 42 Member
I recently started to walk about 10,000 steps a day and in about 2 weeks was able to push it up to 20,000 with no trouble at all and feel good about it. I weigh about 178 and my goal weight is 135lbs. First 10000 steps at 3mph and rest of steps I take it slower / varies.
I don't see drop in pounds (water weight) except 1 pound after I started to walk like others say. I am not sure if I am doing anything wrong. I am also counting my calories and making sure I have calorie deficit from this week.
My question is how long does it take to see or feel lighter ? I am not sure if all my efforts are even working.
Loosing weight is one of my very main goal now. I have set myself up for something that could change my life for better and I don't want to fail.
I don't see drop in pounds (water weight) except 1 pound after I started to walk like others say. I am not sure if I am doing anything wrong. I am also counting my calories and making sure I have calorie deficit from this week.
My question is how long does it take to see or feel lighter ? I am not sure if all my efforts are even working.
Loosing weight is one of my very main goal now. I have set myself up for something that could change my life for better and I don't want to fail.
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Replies
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Adding exercise will cause teeny tiny little tears in your muscles. To heal, your body holds a little extra water, this is normal and healthy. The water will disperse naturally once your body becomes accustomed to the new routine6
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You are losing fat. Dont get upset that your body needs a bit of water to repair your leg muscles. Dont be put off8
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The only exercise I currently do is walking.. I don't belong to a gym and would rather be outside walking during the nice weather than inside doing a video. Once Winter comes I'll move things inside. Anyway, I have lost weight steadily all summer with counting calories and just walking. It will work. It just takes time.. keep at it! I have noticed my calves and thighs are much more defined and stronger feeling now too.5
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weighmeless wrote: »I recently started to walk about 10,000 steps a day and in about 2 weeks was able to push it up to 20,000 with no trouble at all and feel good about it. I weigh about 178 and my goal weight is 135lbs. First 10000 steps at 3mph and rest of steps I take it slower / varies.
I don't see drop in pounds (water weight) except 1 pound after I started to walk like others say. I am not sure if I am doing anything wrong. I am also counting my calories and making sure I have calorie deficit from this week.
My question is how long does it take to see or feel lighter ? I am not sure if all my efforts are even working.
Loosing weight is one of my very main goal now. I have set myself up for something that could change my life for better and I don't want to fail.
As long as you are maintaining a calorie deficit (accurately logging - check out some of the stickies on the Getting Started board for some tips) you will lose weight, it can be discouraging for the first month or two because water weight can exceed the amount of actual loss at times and mask it. Stick with it!6 -
Looks and feels is subjective, there is no way anyone can tell when you will notice a chance to how you look and feel. Numbers are hard facts: even though water weight fluctuations are involved - if you have a consistent calorie deficit, you will lose weight. 1 pound per week on average is a very good rate for you at your current weight.2
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It took my friend one year to lose 10 lbs doing 10,000 steps per day EVERYDAY. This was with no diet change. It is effective, but it's a lifestyle change, and it does take time. With a calorie deficit, look at your myfitness pal goals. It will tell you how many calories you can eat to lose 1 or 2 lbs per week.2
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Calorie burns from exercise are disappointing, but you are doing this because you want to be healthy. Walking is so good for you. Keep up the good work.
As long as you are eating at a deficit you will lose weight. With 40 pounds to lose, weight loss won't be really fast, only 1-1.5 pounds a week tops. Add to that water weight can mess with the scale.6 -
Thank you. It's so hard get it started off in first place and to see no results is disheartening. I guess many people give up because of no motivation/faster results. For reasons, I am hanging tight there - there has to be some change for better ! It's too much of energy and time I am investing in it and still feel it's not enough at times3
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@jenThe only exercise I currently do is walking.. I don't belong to a gym and would rather be outside walking during the nice weather than inside doing a video. Once Winter comes I'll move things inside. Anyway, I have lost weight steadily all summer with counting calories and just walking. It will work. It just takes time.. keep at it! I have noticed my calves and thighs are much more defined and stronger feeling now too.
Oh how I hate gym !! Can't stand those machine noises or the smell of sweat and driving there in itself is a big deal ! I love outdoors!
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weighmeless wrote: »Thank you. It's so hard get it started off in first place and to see no results is disheartening. I guess many people give up because of no motivation/faster results. For reasons, I am hanging tight there - there has to be some change for better ! It's too much of energy and time I am investing in it and still feel it's not enough at times
That's a great outlook to have and you are absolutely right. It's a slow process and it takes many days of consistency to lose weight! You'll get there!1 -
weighmeless wrote: »My question is how long does it take to see or feel lighter ? I am not sure if all my efforts are even working.
Depends on your deficit. To lose 1lbs of fat you need to accumulate a deficit of 3500cal.
But keep in mind that due to water retention the loss doesn't show on the scale immediately.4 -
gebeziseva wrote: »weighmeless wrote: »My question is how long does it take to see or feel lighter ? I am not sure if all my efforts are even working.
Depends on your deficit. To lose 1lbs of fat you need to accumulate a deficit of 3500cal.
But keep in mind that due to water retention the loss doesn't show on the scale immediately.
Yeap aiming for 1000 calories in deficit. It's been little over 1000 so far due to my 20000 steps a day
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with only 40lbs to lose, a 1000cal deficit is too aggressive - you should aim for .5-1lb deficit (250-500cal a day)8
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deannalfisher wrote: »with only 40lbs to lose, a 1000cal deficit is too aggressive - you should aim for .5-1lb deficit (250-500cal a day)
I am actually happy. Anything for weight loss. Honestly If you look at my food log, I am not starving. Just eating the wholesome food.
For the first time being aggressive is making me happy hahaha
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it might make you happy, but too aggressive a goal can lead to losing muscle mass as well as fat, and other associated side effects9
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Posting my today's breakfast .. I basically had an apple and later oats with nuts and fruits .. so added them as single food. Infact due to today's schedule, I am 25% done with walking where usually I would be 10000+ steps by now .. let know if I should modify breakfast. I generally don't do both but had to have both apple and other food because of schedule1
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Hi! It looks like you aren't weighing your solid food, so you are more likely eating more calories than you think. Oats and fruit are foods that will often throw you over your calorie limit if you just measure/count them out, as opposed to weighing.9
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Don't measure your food by the diameter of it. You should be putting all your solid foods on a food scale and weighing it in grams to give you a more accurate calorie count. That alone can be distorting your deficit. All solids and semi solids weighed in grams, all liquids in cups and spoons (although I still even weigh those on the scale too using ml or oz).3
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The walking is good, but you can out-eat any exercise routine. You could not walk at all and lose weight. If you're not seeing the results you'd expect after a long time, I'd take a very close look at what you're consuming, trying to weigh everything and use good entries.7
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Good on you, OP! I totally agree with you about enjoying the outdoors. I'm not a gym person either. And you've progressed really well!
Weight loss is mostly about what you eat. Exercise is great for your head and your body, but it gives you only a few more calories to work with, not a life changing amount. You will lose fat from your added exercise *IF* you keep your diet exactly the same. That is a big *IF*. Most people who add exercise subconsciously --without being aware of it-- start eating more. The only way to be certain is to log food/drinks as accurately as you can, with a food scale. Honestly, the food scale is worth its weight in gold for weight loss. Sooooo much easier that estimating or "measuring" any other way.
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Hi! It looks like you aren't weighing your solid food, so you are more likely eating more calories than you think. Oats and fruit are foods that will often throw you over your calorie limit if you just measure/count them out, as opposed to weighing.Hi! It looks like you aren't weighing your solid food, so you are more likely eating more calories than you think. Oats and fruit are foods that will often throw you over your calorie limit if you just measure/count them out, as opposed to weighing.
You are right. I am currently not weighing the food but whatever I am exporting into food log, they are all food from past which I had used to loose weight & I was successful back then
with no exercise what so ever. Just counted what I ate
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weighmeless wrote: »Hi! It looks like you aren't weighing your solid food, so you are more likely eating more calories than you think. Oats and fruit are foods that will often throw you over your calorie limit if you just measure/count them out, as opposed to weighing.Hi! It looks like you aren't weighing your solid food, so you are more likely eating more calories than you think. Oats and fruit are foods that will often throw you over your calorie limit if you just measure/count them out, as opposed to weighing.
You are right. I am currently not weighing the food but whatever I am exporting into food log, they are all food from past which I had used to loose weight & I was successful back then with no exercise what so ever. Just counted what I ate
The thing is, when you increase exercise it can subtly increase your appetite. Which causes you to subconsciously expand your helpings when you dish out your food. It's why so many studies show exercise alone isn't an effective way to lose weight, because people eat a little more to compensate for burning a little more without even realizing it. Using a food scale is really easy and the best way to ensure accuracy, but obviously it's a personal decision that has to work in your real life. Even if you can commit to weighing everything for just a couple of weeks, it can help show where you are missing calories. Regardless of what you end up doing, congrats on getting out there and getting moving and good luck!8 -
Didnt read the thread but pretty sure i can guess whats been said lol.
Anyway your moving more, Of course it helps. All iv done my entire weight loss exercise wise is walking. And i lost 110 pounds, 105 within the first 13 months. So yeah it helps. Aslong as your in a calorie deficit youll lose weight long term. I think your getting to caught up in the timeline, Its not an instant fix you need to give it time. Just try not to get to caught up in creating a huge deficit trust me on that, I got lucky to get through my own stupidity and stay on course but at one point id work huge long days moving furniture and then still add in 10k steps after work (totalling around 30k steps) and t hen wonder if adding 200-500 calories was to much on my 1200 diet lol. Thankfully i never got any signs of starvation and was relatively comfortable through my loss, I put it down to great food choices but i definatly lost more muscle thn i needed to and definatly at times majorly underate. Dont let yourself do that lol.1 -
That helps thank you yeah just that I need to be sure that when I am investing so much time and energy it shouldn't go waste because I was doing something silly unknowingly :-P 1
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OP, what did you set your activity level to in MFP? sedentary, lightly active, active, etc...1
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If you want to put all questions to rest, buy a food scale, weigh everything in grams and log accurate entries. Then you will know exactly what your deficit is, and won't have to worry about this question.
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Wow 10k is alot how long does it take you?1
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