Doing everything right, yet not losing
mblaze84
Posts: 3 Member
I’m getting extremely frustrated.
I’m eating 1200 calories per day (measuring/weighing and being extra vigilant) and working out 5-6 times per day (mix of cardio, body weight, weights, etc)
I thought I saw a loss Monday of 2 lbs, but this morning was back up 2lbs.
How do I know if I’m losing weight or just fluctuating? I should be losing weight at that amount of calories and exercise.
I’m 5’4’’ and 130 (ish) lbs. Want to get back to 120lbs and a flatter (ish) stomach and you can’t lose in just the problem areas so I’m committing to the weight loss.
Help.
I’m eating 1200 calories per day (measuring/weighing and being extra vigilant) and working out 5-6 times per day (mix of cardio, body weight, weights, etc)
I thought I saw a loss Monday of 2 lbs, but this morning was back up 2lbs.
How do I know if I’m losing weight or just fluctuating? I should be losing weight at that amount of calories and exercise.
I’m 5’4’’ and 130 (ish) lbs. Want to get back to 120lbs and a flatter (ish) stomach and you can’t lose in just the problem areas so I’m committing to the weight loss.
Help.
2
Replies
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How long have you been at this deficit? I hope it was a typo with working out 5-6 times a day. Even if it is per week your calorie deficit is probably too strict for that amount of activity. The closer you are to your goal the slower the weight loss will (and should) be. Consider changing to 0.25-0.5 pounds per week.3
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A weight change of a few pounds can be hidden by daily fluctuations. I would suggest weighing daily and using a weight tracking app so you can see the trend. Also, with only 10 pounds to lose it will be slow and I highly recommend upping your calories. This wont make you lose weight any faster, in fact it will slow your weight loss, but with being as active as you are and already in a healthy weight range 1200 is far too low. Not only is it unsustainable making it very likely that you will regain the weight, but it can have many negative consequences that are difficult to reverse once they hit.5
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1. Make sure that you are weighing and logging your calories correctly. I would not rely on the MFP entries. Make your own entries. Weigh your food with a scale. No measuring cups or spoons.
2. Are you adding back exercise calories? Again, I would not rely on the entries in MFP. They are notoriously high burns. I would subtract 20%-50% of what MFP gives you for a burn. Also, watches are not reliable either.
3. Weight loss is not lineal. It will fluctuate up and down. Download an app like Happy Scale or Libra and log your weight every day. You'll see the fluctuations, but you'll also see the downward trend
4. It took me 6 weeks to see any movement in my weight. And that was after I didn't see change after 4 weeks and tweaked my calories. Patience is a must with weight loss.4 -
I see that you measure some of your food. You are in the last 10ish pounds, and are going to have to be spot on with your calorie intake. Check out the video in this thread about weighing vs measuring food.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
This thread is great, too.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p111 -
You are already in the optimal weight range for your height, so you should not expect to lose more than 0.5 lb/week, and your rate of loss may be slower than that. Additionally, you should not expect to lose at a consistent pace. It’s common for those with very little to lose to only see the scale go down a pound or two every 4-6 weeks.
Your body is also retaining extra water due to your intense workout routine (which is hopefully 5-6x/week, not per day). This water weight is a normal part of the muscle repair process, but can mask fat loss on the scale.
Since you are already in your optimal weight range, I would suggest looking into recomp rather than weight loss. Recomp builds muscle while reducing fat, and makes most people happier with their appearance.6 -
Thanks everyone for your thoughtful and helpful responses!
And yes 5-6 times per week NOT per day. Oops!4 -
I'm in month 8 of a lifestyle change. As my weight drops off, it takes longer and longer for a pound to go away. I'm averaging 1 pound per month in the last three months. I've lost 30 of the 60 I want to get rid of. If it takes me two more years to lose that last 30pounds, I'm okay with that, because it took 10 years to pack it all on. Meanwhile, I'm successfully making what feels like sustainable changes in lifestyle11
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I’ve tried various techniques to lose the last ten pounds (because I have regained it). My least successful was losing quickly- a pound a week. Because I was ravenous and “got there” and quickly over ate.Thanks everyone for your thoughtful and helpful responses!
And yes 5-6 times per week NOT per day. Oops!
Losing a half pound a week has allowed me to reach goal and slip into maintenance easily. But, I really love sweets! So, I’m working yet again on the last 8 pounds, and doing it slowly and patiently and trying to really (really) change how I handle candy and cakes and cookies. Getting into maintenance right at Halloween hasn’t been ideal
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Sometimes you need a jump start. I did very well by eating one no no meal in a week. My weakness is pizza, so I allow myself 2 slices a week on a Friday night, then good all week. Think this type of thing jump starts your weight loss as long as you are on track all week.14
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Also weigh myself the same day every week and the same time.0
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ldrag07444 wrote: »Sometimes you need a jump start. I did very well by eating one no no meal in a week. My weakness is pizza, so I allow myself 2 slices a week on a Friday night, then good all week. Think this type of thing jump starts your weight loss as long as you are on track all week.
How would a "no no meal" jumpstart weight loss?11 -
I’m 5’2”, 134 and 64 yo. My maintenance is 1350 and slow weight loss is 1200 (not counting exercising). Eating 2 slices of pizza every week would really sabotage my process unless I banked calories, which is hard to do at 1200 per day. OP is also at 1200/d......1
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How do you find time to workout 6 times a day? Damn!1
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psychod787 wrote: »How do you find time to workout 6 times a day? Damn!
😂😂😂0 -
ldrag07444 wrote: »Sometimes you need a jump start. I did very well by eating one no no meal in a week. My weakness is pizza, so I allow myself 2 slices a week on a Friday night, then good all week. Think this type of thing jump starts your weight loss as long as you are on track all week.
There is no truth or science to this. But true that you can have a slice of pizza every now and then and not ruin your progress.
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Pizza always puts my weight up the following day no matter how few the calories. it must be the amount of salt causing water retention.
I only weigh once a month because of all those little things and once a month takes care of any hormonal cycles going on. It depresses me to see any gain so this assures I'll see a loss.1
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