Only lost 3 lbs. in 3 months? WTH?!
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NeenDale
Posts: 6 Member
Busting my butt since end of June working out 5 days a week (cardio and weights) eating within my calorie intake (I was told women shouldn’t eat below 1200 a day) and scale will not budge over 3 lbs. I eat pretty healthy. I have gotten some definition in my arms but I think I still look too pudgy. I’m 5’3” and want to get down to 115. Someone please help. What am I doing wrong? Am I supposed to muscle up and then I’ll drop the weight?
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Replies
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Are you weighing everything you're eating?8
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I only looked back a couple of weeks in your food log but my theory is incomplete logging. Many days of partial logging.
Good news: you have lost weight, and you seem to be making some progress in fitness level by your own account. To lose more weight, improve your logging. Log everything you consume. Weigh anything solid and log by an accurate weight based diary entry. Measure liquids.11 -
Thanks, I never heard of weighing the food. I am constantly reading food labels and if there are no labels, I won’t eat it.1
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What is your current weight? It sounds like you don't have very much to lose. When you have very little weight to lose, it's usually necessary to weigh ALL of your food and track very accurately. It is also common at that point to not see the scale go down for 4-6 weeks at a time. If you don't have much to lose, 1 pound per month may be a perfectly reasonable pace of loss for your stats.
If you are already in your optimal BMI range yet don't like how you look, then I would strongly recommend recomp instead of weight loss. If you lose more weight, there is no guarantee that your body will burn the fat from where you want it to be burned. Recomp generally makes people happier with their appearance.7 -
How much weight total do you need to lose?
115 is on the low end of the healthy weight range, so if you have less than 15-20 lbs to lose to get to 115 it is going to be S-L-O-W. I lost my last 10 lbs at just about 1 lb per month. You have no wiggle room, and the little fat losses you should expect weekly will easily hide behind water weight fluctuations for weeks.
Focus on tightening up your logging as much as you can, focus on your behaviors and how you look, NOT the scale, and be super patient.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p110 -
I'm guessing you are not that overweight which means that your deficit is likely fairly small (I'm talking about how many calories you are eating versus what you are burning). 1200 calories is not alot of food so the question @Justin_7272 asked is appropriate. You should NOT go below 1200 even if you're tempted. When you have a small margin for error you really need to weigh everything you eat with calories in it. You might be eating more than you think if you aren't doing that.
Everyone's metabolism is different. I have been frustrated at times by people assuming that if their maintenance calories are 2000 that everyone's are. In my case (I'm 63) maintenance is around 1400 before exercise. So if I want to lose weight 1200 is only a 200/day deficit. That's less than a half pound a week. In all fairness I am pretty sedentary but I walk about 10,000 or more steps per day to increase my calories a bit. So the question is what is your maintenance level? Once you determine that you will have a better window into how long it will take for you to reach your goal.
For some of us it takes longer to lose than it takes others. We just have to be aware of that and be patient.3 -
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Weight loss is 80% in the kitchen. Get a cheap food scale, weigh and log everything you put in your mouth. EVERYTHING.
Labels are allowed something like 20% variance.8 -
Thanks, I never heard of weighing the food. I am constantly reading food labels and if there are no labels, I won’t eat it.
Food labels are not entirely accurate. Believe it or not, every single slice of bread in the loaf: is not the exact same. Every banana is not exactly 90 calories. If you log a small banana (example only, not sure if you eat bananas lol) you don't know what that 'small' was based on. If it meant a 60 gram banana and yours is 90 grams, then you're off. I have often found food packaging to be wrong. Having more in the package than it indicates. Seems odd to think they are giving 'free' food - but I imagine they would get a lot of backlash if there was LESS in the package so they overcompensate perhaps?
You can put any particular solid food item into a cup 10 times and it can be a different quantity of food IN the cup each time. Different quantity means different calories. This is why measuring cups are not good for solid food.
I am not saying one should never approximate - but if you're losing at a slower rate than expected, then looking at ways to improve food logging accuracy is a good place to start.13 -
Thanks everyone... I didn’t realize it was going to be such a headache. Ugh. I feel like I’m already depriving myself. It’s hard when you live with someone who pretty much doesn’t care what they eat and still loses weight. And I’m 5’3” and stuck at 134 for like what seems forever. I am going to start weighing everything, but like someone said it could become a little OCD. Lol1
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Thanks everyone... I didn’t realize it was going to be such a headache. Ugh. I feel like I’m already depriving myself. It’s hard when you live with someone who pretty much doesn’t care what they eat and still loses weight. And I’m 5’3” and stuck at 134 for like what seems forever. I am going to start weighing everything, but like someone said it could become a little OCD. Lol
Try the weighing thing for a month. It's not a headache when it's a habit. When it's a habit, it will be second nature to you. And guess what? It'll probably open your eyes a little.16 -
How do I keep portion control and weighing in control when going out to eat? Is using the size of your fist a good measure?0
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How do I keep portion control and weighing in control when going out to eat? Is using the size of your fist a good measure?
When I go out to eat, I look at the menu before I go and try to get an idea of what I want to eat and if it fits into my calories for the day. Some menus will have the calories listed which is somewhat helpful but not always the most accurate.
- Pick something grilled/blackened/baked instead of fried
- Pick a healthier side than fries like vegetables or a salad with dressing on the side so you can add the amount you want
- Don't be afraid to order an appetizer as a meal - a lot of times I do this because it's the size of an entree anyways
- Watch that you aren't drinking most of your calories
Have fun and enjoy the meal! You didn't gain all the weight in one meal, so you won't ruin your progress with a couple overindulgent nights out.
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I am also 5'3". Here are my weight loss numbers since May - starting at 140 lbs.
May -0.5 lb
June -0.5 lb
July -4 lb (started counting calories)
Aug -1 lb
Sept -3 lb (all at the beginning of the month)
So, it is not linear, especially when losing within normal BMI. I am now at 131 lbs, which I haven't been able to get under for a few weeks. My goal, for now, is 125 lbs. I plan to maintain at that for a couple of months and then decide if I should try to lose more. 120 is probably my lowest goal because, even though that is well in normal BMI, I have frequently been asked if I'm underweight or have an ED when I drop below it.
I have mild OCD, so I try to balance weighing food to get an accurate-ish count with spiraling into an unhealthy obsession of every morsel having to be exact. So, I don't, for example, weigh each slice of bread from the loaf. Of course, that would not be an issue for someone who doesn't have OCD.
You can add me as a friend if you want to see my diary and offer mutual support.5 -
If you are eating back exercise Cal's...I've found calorie estimates for exercise in MFP over estimate calorie burn.0
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Go_Deskercise wrote: »How do I keep portion control and weighing in control when going out to eat? Is using the size of your fist a good measure?
When I go out to eat, I look at the menu before I go and try to get an idea of what I want to eat and if it fits into my calories for the day. Some menus will have the calories listed which is somewhat helpful but not always the most accurate.
- Pick something grilled/blackened/baked instead of fried
- Pick a healthier side than fries like vegetables or a salad with dressing on the side so you can add the amount you want
- Don't be afraid to order an appetizer as a meal - a lot of times I do this because it's the size of an entree anyways
- Watch that you aren't drinking most of your calories
Have fun and enjoy the meal! You didn't gain all the weight in one meal, so you won't ruin your progress with a couple overindulgent nights out.
This is good advice.
Only thing I would change is that "blackened" bit. Blackening is done by pan frying in oil or butter and adding the spices onto the meat before placing it into the (usually) butter. I love blackened, but it's not low-cal.
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cmriverside wrote: »Go_Deskercise wrote: »How do I keep portion control and weighing in control when going out to eat? Is using the size of your fist a good measure?
When I go out to eat, I look at the menu before I go and try to get an idea of what I want to eat and if it fits into my calories for the day. Some menus will have the calories listed which is somewhat helpful but not always the most accurate.
- Pick something grilled/blackened/baked instead of fried
- Pick a healthier side than fries like vegetables or a salad with dressing on the side so you can add the amount you want
- Don't be afraid to order an appetizer as a meal - a lot of times I do this because it's the size of an entree anyways
- Watch that you aren't drinking most of your calories
Have fun and enjoy the meal! You didn't gain all the weight in one meal, so you won't ruin your progress with a couple overindulgent nights out.
This is good advice.
Only thing I would change is that "blackened" bit. Blackening is done by pan frying in oil or butter and adding the spices onto the meat before placing it into the (usually) butter. I love blackened, but it's not low-cal.
Good to know, thanks!!!0
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