Why am I not losing weight? Feeling discouraged.

jannekejlang wrote: »

Hi MFP community,

I’m hoping someone has words of advice. I’ve been on MPF for 5 weeks now. I exercise every day: circuit training twice a week, run/elliptical 4 times a week, and one <25 mile bike ride. I have certainly been gaining muscle. I’ve been meeting my 1200 net calorie goal 80% of the time, but haven’t lost any weight in the last three weeks. I feel strong, but I really want to lose these last 10 pounds. Any words of wisdom?

Thank you!

your focus seems to be on the activities you are doing and not your food intake. as asked above, how much are you eating the 20% of the time you don't net 1200? also, hard to imagine doing all that activity on 1200 calories per day. and you are certainly not gaining appreciable muscle mass in 5 weeks while doing mostly cardio and netting 1200 calories.

jannekejlang wrote: »

Thanks all! I’m 5’ 8” and 160. My goal is 150. I started MPF at 168. I started taking measurements last week.

The other 20% of the time is usually one day a week when I drink a couple glasses of wine with friends or go out for a nice meal. On those days I typically track my workout and breakfast and lunch, but don’t complete the journal entry. But on my “cheat days” I do a big cardio day like a bike ride or long run. I’ve been logging my exercise calories using the presets that are in MPF. Is there a better way to do it?

I definitely feel stronger than when I started so it’s hard to imagine I’m not gaining muscle.

I'm not saying you're not gaining muscle . . . but muscle gain is slow. Under ideal conditions (which include a calorie surplus, i.e. not during weight loss), a quarter pound per week of muscle mass gain would be really good for a woman, and half a pound per week for a man.

On the other hand, strength gain can be very fast, for someone new to strength training.

Huh?!?

It's neuromuscular adaptation. At first, we get stronger by more efficiently and effectively recruiting and using the muscle fibers we already have. They start waking up, working together, and just generally being more effective. At the same time, we can get a firmer and more muscular look, primarily from the water weight that's involved in muscle repair, plus losing a bit of overlying fat so that shows. Adding new muscle fibers is much, much slower.

In the scheme of weight loss, 5 weeks isn't enough to fully realize results, particularly when upping exercise (which increases water weight for muscle repair), and especially when one has as little weight to lose as you do. Your profile says you're female. If you're also premenopausal, that's also a source of water weight fluctuation (it's just part of how a healthy body functions, premenopausal or not).

At 5 weeks in, you may've seen a fast water weight drop at first from glycogen depletion (water weight under another name) plus reduced average digestive system contents, that obscured a normal monthly-cycle water weight gain (assuming you're pre-menopausal), and now - with that initial bigger water weight drop out of the way - you're seeing the cyclic gain effect (hormone-related water weight hiding fat loss on the scale).

Hang in there. And consider whether 1200 is a good goal, or not (at 153 pounds, 5'5", age 59, 1200 plus exercise was a truly terrible idea for me) . This is a good read:

https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/

Yes, if you only have 10lbs to lose, you should be trying for 0.5lbs per week.

jannekejlang wrote: »

Very informative and sounds exactly like what’s happening. I have my profile set at losing 2 pounds a week and so the suggested calorie intake is 1200 net calories. Are you suggesting I may want to change my settings to lose 1 pound a week?

Also, I’m not sure about my activity level. I sit at a desk all day but I bike for transportation. I typically log 30-45 minutes of biking just getting around town. As long as I log my commute as exercise should I keep my profile at sedentary?

Yes change it to 1/2lb a week
and activity level is based on non exercise activity so if you sit at a desk you are sedentary.

The bike ride commute, if that was being done before you started losing weight that is part of your daily life I wouldn't log it.

I only ever logged movement done as purposeful exercise that I didn't typically do prior to losing weight.

For example I never log house cleaning even though it's excess movement. I didn't log my gardening either even tho it was very physical...I did that before I lost weight and it didn't impact my weigh enough to matter then so it won't now.

A couple things stand out to me here. You started 5 weeks ago. You lost 8 lbs in the first 2 weeks, but have stalled the last 3.

1) Our weight fluctuates. Between varying levels of hydration and waste/in our body. Weight loss in not linear. If your exercise routine is new/increased, you could also be carrying extra water weight as your muscles work to adapt. Also, your time of the month can have an impact on water retention and bloating. See this post for a more detailed explanation.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

2) I agree with others that you should slow down your rate of loss. 0.5-1 lb/week would be a much healthier rate.

3) For most accuracy, log EVERYTHING. Log that additional 20%. It is ok to have nights where you let go. But still be accountable for it. Sometimes it is not as much as you think. It may also help you make more mindful choices when you go out.

starryphoenix wrote: »

Make sure you are taking body measurements. The real goal is to lose fat. Sometimes people are gaining muscle and losing fat which gives the illusion that you aren’t losing weight. Measurements are more accurate.

Achievable muscle gain under the best of conditions is much slower than what most people would consider any reasonably satisfying rate of weight loss, generally.

Measurements are a wonderful thing, but muscle gain is very, very rarely going to explain "no weight loss" in someone who thinks they're in a significant calorie deficit.