Slow start advice?
cegal3
Posts: 32 Member
Hello there,
I would love some advice from someone who has had success with this.
Background : I’m a 30 year old male, have been overweight for around 10 years, and finally doing something about it. During these years, I was mostly sedentary. I’d take the stairs instead of the elevator and small things like that, and I basically walk everywhere - about 7km a day on average.
My old self would take in between 2700-3500 calories per day depending on the day. I didn't count then, so this is an estimate based on going back and logging what I thought I ate those days. I would say a 3k average.
With MFP, I’ve started logging everything I take in for food - and I rarely go above 1700 calories in a day. The diet portion has been on for about 6 weeks now. I don’t log my drinks - which are black coffee and water.
I also have been going to the gym for two weeks (4x a week, I know it’s just the beginning) and I haven’t lost any weight at all. I also bike home from work twice a week, which is 15km each time at a moderate speed (according to the MFP app, at least).
At the gym, I do quite a bit of cardio and strength training.
Is it just a slow start, or is this something I should be concerned about?
I would love some advice from someone who has had success with this.
Background : I’m a 30 year old male, have been overweight for around 10 years, and finally doing something about it. During these years, I was mostly sedentary. I’d take the stairs instead of the elevator and small things like that, and I basically walk everywhere - about 7km a day on average.
My old self would take in between 2700-3500 calories per day depending on the day. I didn't count then, so this is an estimate based on going back and logging what I thought I ate those days. I would say a 3k average.
With MFP, I’ve started logging everything I take in for food - and I rarely go above 1700 calories in a day. The diet portion has been on for about 6 weeks now. I don’t log my drinks - which are black coffee and water.
I also have been going to the gym for two weeks (4x a week, I know it’s just the beginning) and I haven’t lost any weight at all. I also bike home from work twice a week, which is 15km each time at a moderate speed (according to the MFP app, at least).
At the gym, I do quite a bit of cardio and strength training.
Is it just a slow start, or is this something I should be concerned about?
3
Replies
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Did you lose weight before starting to work out? How are you measuring your calorie intake?1
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I am measuring it through weighing my food, and logging it on MFP.
I did not have a scale until a couple of days ago, so I'm not 100% sure. My stomach seems to look a bit smaller, but it might just be wishful thinking.1 -
I actually gained weight when I started weighing my food and counting calories! There was a degree of water weight gain from a new exercise regime, TOM and various other factors that all contributed.
If you are confident of your figures, stick with it. Slow and steady is much more stable then fast and uncertain.1 -
I did not have a scale until a couple of days ago, so I'm not 100% sure. My stomach seems to look a bit smaller, but it might just be wishful thinking.
If you started dieting 6 weeks ago and only started weighing yourself a few days ago, my guess is that the initial larger effect occurred before you could measure it.
As you are lifting too I would make sure to take the body size measurements on the check-in page when you weigh in. You may be building muscle, which weighs more, and losing inches around the waist. Sometimes this happens so you can't see the fat loss because muscle and water weight raise the scale.
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Thannks Grumpy and Emmies - I sort of had a hunch of this, but wanted to hear it from someone else since reading about dieting / weight loss / strength training online can have a lot of misinformation!
I am lifting, and I can't believe I didn't think of measuring myself. I think I have to keep using the scale, but realize that there's way more to it than that.0 -
If you have just gotten a scale you should give yourself another 3 weeks to see how you are progressing. While being male we are still very subject to water retention we don't have a regular water retaining event so 3 weeks is usually enough time to see at least 50 percent of your target weight loss if your exercise regimen and diet doesn't change again.
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I did weigh myself around 6 weeks ago with a scale at my parents house. That's why I'm wondering what to think of 6 weeks with no change.0
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Stick with the plan, muscle weighs more than fat, you will see results. Healthy slow weight loss is better than extremes, just less satisfying7
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Just keep going! I find it can take your body a while to realize whats going on
slow and steady, makes for more permanent weight loss. 0 -
Was it under the same conditions? If you had eaten or consumed any beverages that day you weighed more. If you had different clothes on you might have weighed more.
Something else to consider recently we switched to a newer scale and they showed 3lbs difference in the exact same spot.
I think your best plan is to be patient and wait the 3 weeks so you can compare apples to apples. Your weighing procedure needs to be about the same each time. The best plan is to weigh in the morning wearing the same thing or nothing at all, after you visit the restroom, and certainly before you eat or drink anything.6 -
I did weigh myself around 6 weeks ago with a scale at my parents house. That's why I'm wondering what to think of 6 weeks with no change.
You will get the most accurate results if you use the same scale, under the same conditions, for example, first thing in the AM, naked, after peeing.1 -
I gained 7 pounds of water weight when I started working out again. Took a few weeks to come off.2
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You don't have any (valid) data since you just started using your new scale.
Identical conditions is what you're trying for.
Unyielding floor surface. Similar time of day. Same clothes or none. After using the washroom. Before eating or drinking.
Put data in trending weight app or web site. Review after 4-6 weeks if female, 2-4 weeks if male.
Different scales don't always show the same number.
Individual scales do tend to be more relevant in terms of showing your trend especially when used for multiple measurements over a sufficient time period4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I did weigh myself around 6 weeks ago with a scale at my parents house. That's why I'm wondering what to think of 6 weeks with no change.
You will get the most accurate results if you use the same scale, under the same conditions, for example, first thing in the AM, naked, after peeing.
That's partially why I decided I should finally buy my own. Also not having to wait 3-4 months between weighing seemed like a better idea as well.
For me it'll be in the afternoon though, I work nights.
Great advice though, I will be following it.1 -
You're often eating under or right around 1500 calories, plus working out without eating extra. You're heading for trouble at that rate. Then again, it looks like you aren't weighing your foods, so you are probably eating more than you realize as well.
As for the seemingly no change, the others have covered that. Water retention caused by the exercise and using a different scale under different conditions, so your data isn't really accurate.4 -
I'm weighing my foods, what is making you say that I'm not?0
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The way that they are logged. 1 slice, is not a weight.5
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I'm weighing my foods, what is making you say that I'm not?
I too, took a look at your diary because normally that's where the trouble lies. Do you have a digital food scale? You are very diligent about listing your foods, but there's room for improvement. If you have a digital scale, just for fun, weigh out 1 scoop of protein powder. On my tub of powder, 1 scoop=30grams. It's hard to hit that, so I weigh it. Any nut butters, like peanut butter, should also be weighed since they are calorie dense. When looking for foods in the data base try to find those in grams since it will give you an accurate calorie count. You have a lot of measurements in cups, tsps and tblsps. These can throw you off. Take the time to weigh everything for a couple of days and see if you've got a difference. I hate to see you spinning your wheels when you seem to be so careful. Good luck, and I'm sure everything will fall into place.2 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »The way that they are logged. 1 slice, is not a weight.
You can't always go by that. I often log things by serving size after I confirm it in grams. Some things are just easier that way because after you scan them there is no option for grams or ounces. With only a few exceptions if it is pre-packaged when I weigh something I shoot for an increment of a serving size. If it is high calorie I will get close but stay just under if not exact.
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nutmegoreo wrote: »The way that they are logged. 1 slice, is not a weight.
For me it is. A typical slice of bread, for example, weighs in at about 26 grams. Whether it is 24 or 28 doesn't matter much to me because I've found that the average weight is very close to what the package says. And I'm not gonna sweat that difference over time.
As to other items, cottage cheese is something I'll eat regularly. When it says 1/2 cup is a serving, it'll also say 113 grams. If the database has cups, and I measure out 160 grams, I'll use 1.5 servings in the database and be accurate. Somebody from the outside looking at my diary could conclude that I am not accurately measuring my cottage cheese (and be wrong). I'm a numbers guy so converting is easy.
But the bottom line is that it's not as easy to conclude that folks are not measuring accurately as it might seem.5 -
I too had a quick look at your diary and you appear to be weighing very little. How much does a medium apple, banana or potato weigh? Your banana may be closer to large rather than your perception of medium and it doesn't take long for the calories to add up if you don't weigh each individual piece of fruit or vegetables.
You are using cups and tablespoons for solids. With that peanut butter take a tablespoon out and weigh it. Add it back to the jar and take out another tablespoon. Add to that that this database entry could mean a level tablespoon and you have taken it as heaped. Do that a few times and you will see a different number every time and you don't have to be out much with peanut butter to quickly add on the calories. Use cups and measuring spoons for liquids only.
Prepackage food can be out by 20% and more often than not it will weigh more than indicated on the package. Because of this, you need to weigh prepackaged food too.
Finally, check everything against the nutrition label on the package or the USDA database for fresh produce. There are many inaccurate entries in this database.
All these little things can quickly add up to hundreds of extra calories a day being consumed and it is this inaccuracy with logging which stalls weight loss much of the time.
Just so you know, I too made all these logging errors when I started here so you are not alone. I think most would make the same mistakes until they hit a plateau and wonder why they are no longer losing.2 -
To highlight the difference between weighing & measuring....
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That makes sense - I figured that something like bread would average at x calories, and that would be fine to measure.
The protein powder I actually did weigh due a friend showing me how off his was (different brand), and is actually correct. I'll start doing it with the rest of my food as well.
Thank you for the insight.4 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »The way that they are logged. 1 slice, is not a weight.
You can't always go by that. I often log things by serving size after I confirm it in grams. Some things are just easier that way because after you scan them there is no option for grams or ounces. With only a few exceptions if it is pre-packaged when I weigh something I shoot for an increment of a serving size. If it is high calorie I will get close but stay just under if not exact.
I guess I'm just more for specificity (numbers geek). For example. If I have a slice of bread, and it's over the package amount (which I find it usually is), I divide to get the correct portion. So my 1 slice while be logged as 1.3. Although I prefer to find the gram options where an accurate one exists.
My main point in bringing it up though was that it's good. Considering he's eating the minimum for a man and working out on top of that.0 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »I guess I'm just more for specificity (numbers geek). For example. If I have a slice of bread, and it's over the package amount (which I find it usually is), I divide to get the correct portion. So my 1 slice while be logged as 1.3. Although I prefer to find the gram options where an accurate one exists.
My main point in bringing it up though was that it's good. Considering he's eating the minimum for a man and working out on top of that.
I didn't think about store bought bread. The only bread I have had in quite some time has been homemade so it gets entered based on weight and my recipe.
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nutmegoreo wrote: »I guess I'm just more for specificity (numbers geek). For example. If I have a slice of bread, and it's over the package amount (which I find it usually is), I divide to get the correct portion. So my 1 slice while be logged as 1.3. Although I prefer to find the gram options where an accurate one exists.
My main point in bringing it up though was that it's good. Considering he's eating the minimum for a man and working out on top of that.
I didn't think about store bought bread. The only bread I have had in quite some time has been homemade so it gets entered based on weight and my recipe.
Love homemade bread. Just not something I've had in a long time. I should look at getting another bread maker. I find doing it all by hand to be both labour intensive and time consuming. The old me used to make the dough then use it to make buns filled with cheese and garlic sausage. I could eat 5 of those straight out of the oven. Explains why I'm here :bigsmile:0 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »Love homemade bread. Just not something I've had in a long time. I should look at getting another bread maker. I find doing it all by hand to be both labour intensive and time consuming. The old me used to make the dough then use it to make buns filled with cheese and garlic sausage. I could eat 5 of those straight out of the oven. Explains why I'm here :bigsmile:
Luckily I didn't have access to them or I would have even more to lose. Since my appetite is usually well in control I have gotten even more demanding of my food so even though it is higher calorie I prefer homemade.
I don't think I could deal with doing it the old way so often. I like being in the kitchen but time prepping food has to be kept reasonable or I don't want to do it and my week greatly suffers.0
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