Only lost .4 lbs last week

FeliciaWinn
FeliciaWinn Posts: 44 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I woke up this morning and weighed myself and only found my self at a .4 Loss. I have my fitnesspal set for 2 lbs a week. I'm on week 4 and always weigh on Monday mornings after I go to the bathroom and before I get dressed. I'm at 264 lbs so losing 2 a week seems to be safe for now, I've lost weight in the past at this pace and it was always consistent, the only thing I'm doing different this time is adding work outs and joined a gym. My previous losses I was only doing CICO no working out at all. My workouts consist of 20-30 mins treadmill plus 15 minutes on the the machines 6 days a week. My diets about the same as last time I lost my weight. I felt like the scale was going to give me a larger loss but instead I found myself crying, and feeling like all my hard work was for nothing. Could I have gained any muscle from using the machines?? Should I only do cardio until I loose a lot of weight? Any ideas suggestions??

Replies

  • FeliciaWinn
    FeliciaWinn Posts: 44 Member
    Thank you guys! I know it's not linear but I didn't expect this so early in. I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing and see what happens!
  • FeliciaWinn
    FeliciaWinn Posts: 44 Member
    NovemberSkye wrote: »
    4 weeks is a very short time. Week to week your weight is likely to fluctuate due to a host of reasons. Your better off looking at how your weight trends week to week over the course of a couple months. Lifting and added exercise can cause the body to retain water and can mask actual fat loss, but that doesn't mean you should stop the lifting. It just means be aware that the scale might tick up on the days after you lift.

    Some things to think about...
    - How accurately are you logging your food (do you use a food scale?) Your estimates might be off and you are eating more than you think
    - Do you eat back exercise calories? If so your estimated burns might be too high.
    - Perhaps weighing daily to see the fluctuations will help. Yesterday you might have been down -2 lbs for the week but then overnight your body retained water or your period started or....you get the idea now it's artificially up . Daily tracking will help you see this.

    My number one piece of advice is to give it time and try not to attach so much importance to your weekly weigh in. Pick a diet and exercise plan that is sustainable in the long run, not one that feels like it's not worth it and too hard if the weight doesn't come off right away or fast enough. Then focus on all the other positives from your healthy lifestyle changes.

    Thank you so much for your advice! I will take in all in. I have just started weighing my foods and I try not to eat back my exercise calories- if I'm hungry I might eat back half of them at the most. But I try not to at all. I will just keep doing what i'm doing and be patient... but I'm a very impatient person lol
  • FeliciaWinn
    FeliciaWinn Posts: 44 Member
    confidenceinrain wrote: »
    4 weeks is also all within one menstrual cycle, usually, and this can affect water weight and whatnot. Over time patterns may be more noticeable.

    This is very true!
    I am currently 17 days late on my period.
    Quick info on that,
    all my life irregular periods
    lost 70 lbs about 3 years ago and after about 40 of that my periods became regular to just about the day. Remained extremely regular until about 8 months ago( I gained 40 lbs back late 2017) - I was still getting my period just about a 6-10 days late every month. I noticed a trend with eating healthy that my periods would regulate, now even though i'm eating healthy and exercising my period is now 17 days late- latest its been since 2016 when I first started loosing the weight. I've taken 2 pregnancy tests and both negative. So i'm curious what my body is doing lol
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    Progress can be hidden by natural weight fluctuations when weighing in weekly. With so few data points you really need a few months rather than weeks for weight loss trends to be uncovered. This is why many people chose to weigh daily and use a weight trending app. The abundant of data points makes spotting progress far far easier.

    Take these two graphs for example.
    The first one shows the results of from someone weighing in weekly. It appears that this person has 'plateaued' at 150.
    nx7d40qtnvzj.jpg

    This is the same person with daily weigh ins and a trend line added.
    en0h811t1n90.jpg

    Even though in both graphs the person weight 150 on 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd, the second graph reveals the overall downward trend this person weight is taking.

    Note: data used is made up for illustrative purposes.
  • liz0269
    liz0269 Posts: 139 Member
    I weigh daily and calculate a weekly average. That's the number I update in Myfitnesspal every Monday. I have found that my weight will vary from day to day. Using the average gives me a more accurate picture.
    Also, you absolutely will gain water weight from exercise. Plus your weight may plateau a bit if you are gaining muscle. My first month of regular exercise I only lost two pounds but I dropped from a size14 to a 12. You may find it helpful to measure yourself as well so that you can see progress even if the scale doesn't move.

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