Frustrated

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I've been tracking everything I eat. I have my goal set as maintenance at sedentary. I workout 5 days a week, twice a day and I'm using my exercise as my calorie defict. I know I'm losing fat. My clothes fit better. I'm back into pre pregnancy pants.
But the scale hasn't really changed. The past few days I thought I was finally going to hit 147. I was 148.6 then 148.4 then 148.0 and then the next day 149.6. Ugh.

Most of my exercise is focused on strength training. My main goal is to gain muscle and lose fat. And I know at a point weight won't matter. When I first started working out I lost so many inches and gained so much strength and saw very little change in the scale. And I'm sure that's what's happening again. But this time around I really want the scale to just go down.

Any advice or suggestions? Should i ditch the scale and just use body measurements?

Replies

  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    edited November 2017
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    How long has this been going on?

    Have you plotted your weights in some sort of trend app, or excel?

    If you are eating at maintenance and only doing strength training, your calorie deficit is very small. Your fat losses will be very small and might easily be masked by water weight.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Normal fluctuations. That said, you don’t burn many calories doing strength training. You may be better off setting a deficit of half a pound a week and eating those few calories back. It’s still going to be a slow process.
  • Philtex
    Philtex Posts: 907 Member
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    I've been tracking everything I eat.

    Accurately? Do you weigh or measure everything?

    The remainder of your post is all about exercise. I believe you get fit in the gym but lose weight in the kitchen. Just a thought.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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  • Buff_Man
    Buff_Man Posts: 622 Member
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    You need a bigger deficit so reduce food cals. Sounds like you're working out a lot, you could be doing too much! Your body is constantly adapting so you need to change things up to continue to get results
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    Well it's been days, so you have that going against you. Weight changes over week.


    Why are you working out 2x a day? What is your lifting program?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    sounds like impatience mainly...
  • jennydelgado09
    jennydelgado09 Posts: 119 Member
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    I do crossfit in the morning, simple weight lifting in the evening. I weigh everything.

    I know I'm losing. I'm going down in pant size. I'm losing inches. My frustration is that the scale doesn't reflect it.
  • jennydelgado09
    jennydelgado09 Posts: 119 Member
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    And i was using the days as an example. I've been tracking my weight for a month and a half. After the initial weight loss I've seen about a 1lb loss.

    And while my goal is set at maintenance I usually dont eat all that. So on top of a small calorie deficit i also have the exercise as a deficit.

    It's what works for me because trying to plan around 1200 calories and then eating back at the end of the day is more of a hassle.
    Again, I'm losing. My frustration is just my weight not showing it even though there is loss.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    I do crossfit in the morning, simple weight lifting in the evening. I weigh everything.

    I know I'm losing. I'm going down in pant size. I'm losing inches. My frustration is that the scale doesn't reflect it.

    I don't know much about crossfit but that seems like too much, especially 5 days a week. I am guessing your muscles are not having a chance to fully recover and you are retaining a bunch of water for muscle repair and due to stress.

    I know the scale part is frustrating, but try not to worry about it. I was the same. I had basically no loss on the scale for 6 weeks. Finally around 7 or 8 weeks something happened (don't know what, a release of water weight somehow) and now I'm showing a 3lb loss in 8 weeks, which is good with the small calorie deficit I'm running.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I do crossfit in the morning, simple weight lifting in the evening. I weigh everything.

    I know I'm losing. I'm going down in pant size. I'm losing inches. My frustration is that the scale doesn't reflect it.

    Stop worrying about the scale... what does it matter what number it gives you if you're getting smaller?

    This is worth repeating. Again and again and again.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    I do crossfit in the morning, simple weight lifting in the evening. I weigh everything.

    I know I'm losing. I'm going down in pant size. I'm losing inches. My frustration is that the scale doesn't reflect it.

    You do realize that gains ate made during rest. Training like that will most likely lead to ocer training and impair muscle gains. Also, what are your stats? If its been 6 weeks and you arent losing there are other questions, like are you using a food scale? Do you log daily?
  • Mkneedtogetfit
    Mkneedtogetfit Posts: 93 Member
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    As I said before, open up your food diary. Members can have a look at it and suggest changes. It worked for me.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,718 Member
    edited November 2017
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    Hold on peops! :sunglasses:

    The OP has clearly stated that:
    I know I'm losing. I'm going down in pant size. I'm losing inches. My frustration is that the scale doesn't reflect it.
    So maybe the OP can IMPROVE on her results with rest periods etc. But her frustration is not a weight loss issue!

    As @TavistockToad said:
    Stop worrying about the scale... what does it matter what number it gives you if you're {actually} getting smaller?

  • amyepdx
    amyepdx Posts: 750 Member
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    And i was using the days as an example. I've been tracking my weight for a month and a half. After the initial weight loss I've seen about a 1lb loss.

    And while my goal is set at maintenance I usually dont eat all that. So on top of a small calorie deficit i also have the exercise as a deficit.

    It's what works for me because trying to plan around 1200 calories and then eating back at the end of the day is more of a hassle.
    Again, I'm losing. My frustration is just my weight not showing it even though there is loss.

    If using MFP as intended is too much of a hassle, maybe that’s the problem?