second time round, discouraged by results

lillola96
lillola96 Posts: 16 Member
edited December 25 in Health and Weight Loss
1st weight loss attempt was Summer Nov last year, consuming 1400 cal and exercising approx 250. Lost 2 kilos of water weight quickly in the first week then a steady 1 kilo a week for 5 weeks before Christmas came and I fell off.

Starting again now at the same start weight, same intake and outtake of calories (underestimating exercise calories just in case). And 2 weeks later I've lost 0 KILOS. There were a few down fluctuations in the first week but end of week 2 my scales are showing exactly the same as the start.

I weigh myself the same time of day, measure and weigh all my food, drink a lot of water. The only difference I can think of is my actual food I'm eating is different but same calories, and it is Winter now and was Summer the first time. Would this make a difference? I'm feeling so very discouraged!

Replies

  • dbanks80
    dbanks80 Posts: 3,685 Member
    The reverse of seasons has nothing to do with it? Are you weighing your food to assure you are consuming the correct amount of calories? Have you added weight lifting ... muscle tears retain water? I would give it more time. When I added heavy weight lifting it took a month to see the scale move.

    Don't give up.
  • lillola96
    lillola96 Posts: 16 Member
    Not doing anything differently and yep weighing everything I eat, the actual composition of what I'm eating and the seasons are the only things that are different which is why I thought perhaps that has something to do with it somehow. Just feeling really bummed! Thanks for the reply, I won't give up!
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Heat can cause extra water retention so it could be a factor.
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    Make sure the database entries you're selecting are accurate. Many are quite wrong. I compare everything to the packaging before I use an entry.

    Read the other posts in this forum with subjects like 'Help' and 'Scale not moving' or 'What am I doing wrong' and you'll see so many people asking similar questions after a relatively short period of time. You lost weight in the 5 week run up to Christmas. You're now back where you started. It's taken you 6 months to put that weight on, so you're probably not going to lose it in 2 weeks. Well, not safely anyway.

    Give it longer than 2 weeks as there could be multiple reasons why your scales seemingly aren't budging. Are you weighing yourself daily or weekly? If the latter and you picked a low-weight day when you first weighed yourself and an 'up' day when you next weighed yourself, it may look like nothing has changed. The general wisdom on these pages is to give it 6 weeks and then see what the difference between start / current weight is. If you read other posts and the feedback given, you'll come across the link to the page about the fluctuations of scales which I recommend reading. You'll probably also see a great graphic showing what people think happens vs what really happens during weight loss. But look at it a different way - you also haven't gained any more weight.

    You say you're under-estimating your exercise calories, but is this newly resumed exercise? You just say you're doing the same as you did before Christmas, but not whether you've been doing this exercise all the time anyway. If you've started exercising again, you probably also have water retention masking any loss.

    You also say the actual food you're eating has changed - if you're eating more carbs or salt / sodium, your body will hang on to more water to aid with digestion.

    Stick with it and re-*kitten* in another month.
  • breefoshee
    breefoshee Posts: 398 Member
    If you have recently added exercise, it may take some time to see the scale move because your body retains water to recover muscles-- especially when you first begin.

    I know the first 6lb whoosh is fun on the first week, but it is not guaranteed - which sucks when you are really looking forward to that initial loss. But keep going! After a few weeks of sticking to it and being stalled you will probably have a whoosh of weight lost.
  • 1BlueAurora
    1BlueAurora Posts: 439 Member
    When you say you're eating different foods because of the difference in seasons, what do you mean? In the winter I eat more soups and stews, so it's more difficult to really figure out the calorie intake. Are you using more salt (leading to water retention?) You're only 2 weeks in... just keep going and be happy that scale needle isn't showing a gain! Check back in and post two weeks from now to let us know if there's been a change.
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 631 Member
    You need to give it more time.
    I find calories in get underestimated and calories out get overestimated. I don’t eat back my exercise calories. But I don’t do super heavy workouts. I started exercising three years ago and have worked my way up to Beachbodyondemand 21 Day Fix Extreme Real Time.
    Remember this is a lifestyle change.
    - make a small sustainable change eg., if you like to drink pop, then switch that out for water or sparkling water with lemon or lime in it.
    - Once you’ve adjusted to that change then make another small sustainable change eg., if you like to eat rice, switch that out for brown rice
    - Track what you eat
    - Monitor your macros
    - Monitor your metrics (weight and measurements)
    - Then adjust as needed
    - As you lose weight, your body is going to change, not only in appearance, but also in how it reacts to different foods.

    You’ve made a fantastic first step by logging into MFP.
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