Not Losing Weight

katielbryant
katielbryant Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Current weight: 267
Current mood: incredibly stressed and anxious (not so much about the weight thing, just in general)
Workouts: 2-5 30 minute sessions, generally split between weights and yoga a week
Calorie intake: ~1300 (can be as low as 800, not healthy, I know and as high as 1500. Depending on day)
Calorie burn (according to Samsung Gear): ~2000 without exercise.
Hi all,

So I'm fluctuating about 2-3lbs the past month. I'm at about a 700 calorie deficit most days but I'm not seeing any scale results. And I wouldn't be as upset if I was feeling healthier. Or, just to be honest, my mood were improved. I understand mental health can have a drastic impact on weight loss/gain what have you. But being at this kind of deficit for as long as I have been, shouldn't I be seeing results?

And yeah, stress causes cortisol and cortisol causes belly fat, I need relicore (remember those infomercials?).

Am I doing something wrong? I keep everything in myfitnesspal pretty religiously. Should I be maintaining a lower calorie count? The thing is, my weight is generally pretty stagnant when I'm not counting calories. I tend to max out at 260~ and stay there pretty well. But now I'm actively limiting my meals and increasing activity and I'm not seeing any results.

My goal, I guess isn't exactly weight loss, yes I want to lose weight. No losing weight won't make me happy or fix anything other than getting winded after a flight of stairs. But I'm trying to do it to get healthier and stronger. But recently, all I've felt is weaker, physically and emotionally. This week I haven't really been able to workout, because I've been feeling nauseous and weak. I'm doing my step goal (~6000-10000), but only just and after I feel like sleeping for a week. I'm also not sleeping. I'm averaging about 5 interrupted hours a night.

I know mental health/sleep is important, but at a ~700 deficit a day, shouldn't I be seeing something?

Replies

  • katielbryant
    katielbryant Posts: 3 Member
    Kind of new? I increased frequency.

    Weighing 90% of the time.

    Up and down. My median is 266 and I've been 264-268 this month. Doesn't seem to have a rhyme or reason. I weigh myself with generally just underwear, around the same time in the morning. Tomorrow I could just as easily be at 264 as at 268. If I was fluctuating up and down in a wobbly downward slope, then I wouldn't be thinking about it. I just feel like a month with watching calories and exercising should have netted a small average lowering. Even with stress. The first two or so weeks I was attributing it to exercising and water weight, at this point, I might just need to see my doctor.

    Thank you!
  • vggb
    vggb Posts: 132 Member
    Food scale and portion sizes. I was inaccurate with portion sizes for months and fluctuated in weight much like you. Once the portion size was taken care of the weight started coming off.
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    Are you using a food scale to weigh all solid food?

    she said she is weighing 90% of the time - OP, start there. that other 10% (especially depending on what it is you are NOT weighing) could definitely erase any deficit you think you have.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    katielbryant wrote: »
    Kind of new? I increased frequency.

    Weighing 90% of the time.

    Up and down. My median is 266 and I've been 264-268 this month. Doesn't seem to have a rhyme or reason. I weigh myself with generally just underwear, around the same time in the morning. Tomorrow I could just as easily be at 264 as at 268. If I was fluctuating up and down in a wobbly downward slope, then I wouldn't be thinking about it. I just feel like a month with watching calories and exercising should have netted a small average lowering. Even with stress. The first two or so weeks I was attributing it to exercising and water weight, at this point, I might just need to see my doctor.

    Thank you!

    Totally normal to fluctuate by that amount, it's the trend over time that matters. If you're weighing daily try using a trendweight app to get a clearer picture of your weight trend Libra for Android, Happy Scale for iOS and Weightgrapher for web based are good.

    If you're increasing the intensity or frequency of your exercise give it a few weeks before making any changes other than ensuring accurate logging, might just be the water retention from that and all the other lovely things we have to endure as a female.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    apullum wrote: »
    Are you using a food scale to weigh all solid food?

    she said she is weighing 90% of the time - OP, start there. that other 10% (especially depending on what it is you are NOT weighing) could definitely erase any deficit you think you have.

    That post showed up at the same time as mine—apparently I’m not the only one who checks the forums first thing in the morning :)

    OP, @Muscleflex79 is right, especially given that your calorie intake fluctuates so much. If you’re on a higher calorie day plus didn’t weigh something calorie dense, like peanut butter, you could be eating quite a bit more than you think.

    However, if your scale has gone from 268-264 this month, then that’s a 4 pound decrease. Weight normally fluctuates. It will be up some days and down some days. That should be expected. You are looking for a general downward trend, not a lower number on the scale every day. Get a trend weight app (Libra or Happy Scale).
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    To better illustrate fluctuations:

    5ftk8zzonvon.jpg
  • abq978
    abq978 Posts: 2 Member
    That amount of weight fluctuation could easily be water from eating something salty the night before, swollen muscles from a good work out, or where you are on your 'cycle.'

    Your calorie intake seems really low for your current weight and activity level. Consider increasing to at least 1500 everyday for a few weeks and see both how you're feeling and if that breaks your body out of starvation mode. Focus on foods that give you the nutrition you need to be energetic and healthy, not just calories. For me that has meant making sure I get enough lean protein and fiber from veggies.
  • katielbryant
    katielbryant Posts: 3 Member
    The 10% I'm not particularly weighing out is something like lettuce or cantaloupe.

    I'm working on doing better. Hopefully, I'm just overreacting because I'm in a bad emotional state and I'll level out.

    Thanks guys!
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    Are you weighing yourself daily? If so, are you entering these weights into a trending app (Happy Scale or Libra). It’s really hard to see progress with daily weighing sometimes. And increased exercise will cause some water retention that may mask fat loss. 6 weeks worth of data into a trending app would give you enough data to see how monthly cycles affect you as well. It will also show you the trend line over time.

    Now about that stress... do seek someone to talk to if possible. A counselor or therapist or even a pastor at your church if appropriate. I personally have struggled with depression for years and counseling is a great tool to help you. Another thing that helps me is to make my schedule more rigid and incorporate 30 minute daily walks. When struggling with depression this is hard. Painfully hard. I fight the urge to exercise and just want to sleep and disappear. But it helps. It really does. Bedtime at the same time daily and wake up as well. As hard as it is to adhere to a regular schedule it really helps me. I’d even go as far as recommending regular meal times as well since it sounds like your current diet is sporadic with the calorie fluctuations.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    edited May 2019
    erickirb wrote: »
    Commander_Keen wrote: »
    You should monitor how many calories you are burning with Yoga. --
    You may want to get a HR Monitor and see how many calories your burning with exercise.

    No... don't waste your money... HRMs are only close at estimating calories burned from steady state cardio as the calculation embedded assumes intensity, at a steady stead, based on HR vs. max HR. If you fit the calculation, they can be relatively good for steady state cardio, but for any other exercise, when you HR is elevated from different physiological responses than getting oxygen to your muscles (anything other than steady state cardio) the cals burned will be way off. And Yoga does not burn that many cals.

    It's a moot point anyway, the OP already has a fitness tracker - Samsung Gear as stated in her original post.
  • sammidelvecchio
    sammidelvecchio Posts: 791 Member
    If you have been doing this for 1 month, give it a few more weeks. Sometimes the scale doesn't show progress until 6 weeks or so. Also, its wild how stress and lack of sleep can affect weight loss. If yoga isn't helping enough, try meditation, reading, or just going on a nature walk without headphones. Be kind to yourself and patient, and believe you will feel better soon! I know its hard, but we are all here to support you!
  • DKLI
    DKLI Posts: 63 Member
    Cantaloupe has calories so you should also weigh things like that as well. Just to be sure. :)

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