What should I do?
xxzenabxx
Posts: 935 Member
Okay so I’ve been in a deficit for 6 weeks and I haven’t lost any weight. I decided to wait a full six weeks hoping for the scale to drop. Infact the scale has gone up from 154 lbs to 156 lbs 😔. On a more positive note I have lost some visible belly fat around my waist but everything else is still the same. I am down to the last 15 lbs and I wanted to ask...is this normal??! Should I just stick to my current calories or should I drop them abit? Feeling really discouraged because I’ve been very patient and hoped for the scale to drop by now. This is my current trend: 
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Replies
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What is your weekly weight loss goal set at? Are you using a food scale and logging everything that you eat?0
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Can you please make your food diary public?0 -
Are you weighing all your food with a digital scale? I’m trying to lose 9kg and I can’t mess up at all at this stage. One screwed up day will set me back a few days easily. Logging needs to be so tight when you have so little to lose.1
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Are you exercising? A new habit? Since you mention losing belly fat, I'm wondering if you might have lost some body fat but water weight might be masking it on the scale.0
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Are you exercising? A new habit? Since you mention losing belly fat, I'm wondering if you might have lost some body fat but water weight might be masking it on the scale.
I had added more reps to my workout and increased my walking. That was a few weeks ago...should’ve come up by now!0 -
Can you please make your food diary public?
How?0 -
Hanibanani2020 wrote: »Are you weighing all your food with a digital scale? I’m trying to lose 9kg and I can’t mess up at all at this stage. One screwed up day will set me back a few days easily. Logging needs to be so tight when you have so little to lose.
I’ve had quite a few screwed up days but I would go into a deficit the next day hoping things will balance out. Maybe that’s where I’ve been going wrong? Yeah I weight everything except for fruit and veg sometimes I weight it and sometimes I just guess if I’m in a hurry. I also don’t weight eggs. I have been to two dinner parties in the last 4 days so I probably ate more food than I thought even though I tried to portion control. But you just don’t know much oil/calories people put in their food! Then yesterday my cousin made these giant white chocolate cookies and I ate those- I logged it at 400 calories 🤷🏻♀️. That’s why sometimes I just have to guesstimate. I live with my family so I often eat my mum or sisters food because it’s so delicious but I do log it. I lose weight in March/April but now I’m not!0 -
I would say your guesstimating and not weighing fruit could be your issue2
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Hanibanani2020 wrote: »I would say your guesstimating and not weighing fruit could be your issue
I'd actually be more concerned with the home-cooked meals (mother and sister) if those are guesstimated as well.2 -
Hanibanani2020 wrote: »I would say your guesstimating and not weighing fruit could be your issue
I'd actually be more concerned with the home-cooked meals (mother and sister) if those are guesstimated as well.
I weigh those on the digital scales0 -
Are you exercising? A new habit? Since you mention losing belly fat, I'm wondering if you might have lost some body fat but water weight might be masking it on the scale.
I had added more reps to my workout and increased my walking. That was a few weeks ago...should’ve come up by now!
Water weight can take a long time (for me at least a month).. I just have to change my lifting program slightly and my weight jumps up. The fact that you are seeing visual results is a good sign. I would stay with it, tighten up your logging in the meantime.1 -
Hanibanani2020 wrote: »I would say your guesstimating and not weighing fruit could be your issue
For the past 2 weeks I’ve been weighing my fruit. I don’t understand because I lost weight in March and April but now I don’t seem to be. I also use teaspoons/tablespoons for oil because every time I weigh it I always got the same number as when I used a teaspoon and I’m trying not to be too strict because it’s mentally draining.0 -
When you log food made by family (You mentioned your mom, sister do much of the cooking) do you have absolute knowledge of what goes into it? Meaning raw weights of all foods that end up on your plate? If not, how do you account for it?
It sounds like you're eating at/near maintenance. If you think you have a deficit of 200-250 per day but have to often estimate/guesstimate on your food then it would be very easy for little errors here & there to wipe out that deficit.
In March/April your body started out weighing more, meaning your body needed a larger # of calories to maintain. So if you've been eating at the same level all along, it was enough for a slow weight loss then but not now.4 -
nanamerriman2020 wrote: »When you log food made by family (You mentioned your mom, sister do much of the cooking) do you have absolute knowledge of what goes into it? Meaning raw weights of all foods that end up on your plate? If not, how do you account for it?
It sounds like you're eating at/near maintenance. If you think you have a deficit of 200-250 per day but have to often estimate/guesstimate on your food then it would be very easy for little errors here & there to wipe out that deficit.
In March/April your body started out weighing more, meaning your body needed a larger # of calories to maintain. So if you've been eating at the same level all along, it was enough for a slow weight loss then but not now.
So should I drop my calories by 100? I’m going to be honest and say that my family don’t track macros/calories so no they don’t. Also in March/April I only weighed 3 lbs more...don’t think it would make much of a difference. I do ask how much oil they put in the food and guesstimate from there. It’s rude if I don’t eat their food and it’s delicious too so why not. But it’s not good if I have such a small deficit.0 -
So replacing my original theory (as to why you lost weight in Mar/Apr but not in June/Jul) with this one: in Mar/Apr your guesses were closer to accurate.
Reassess your goals and determine what is necessary/important to you at this point in your life. If you only have a small amount of weight to lose - does that mean you're at a healthy weight point now? If so maybe losing weight does not need to be a present priority. Instead focus on health, fitness level, overall well-being.
If losing weight IS still your priority after a bit of self reflection, then improve your accuracy. Take more control over the foods you put in your mouth, even if it means making it yourself or being involved more in the food prep. Changing your calorie goal is worthless IMO if someone else is making the food and you can only guess about the caloric content. OR have smaller portions of what they are having and make up the difference by adding something low cal but bulky like steamed/grilled veggies, salad, etc.
So should I drop my calories by 100? I’m going to be honest and say that my family don’t track macros/calories so no they don’t. Also in March/April I only weighed 3 lbs more...don’t think it would make much of a difference. I do ask how much oil they put in the food and guesstimate from there. It’s rude if I don’t eat their food and it’s delicious too so why not. But it’s not good if I have such a small deficit.
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Buy the book The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung and read it. It will change how you look at weight loss1
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Hanibanani2020 wrote: »I would say your guesstimating and not weighing fruit could be your issue
I'd actually be more concerned with the home-cooked meals (mother and sister) if those are guesstimated as well.
I weigh those on the digital scales
Unless you're weighing the individual raw ingredients and the total weight of the cooked dish, weighing your own portion of the cooked dish is still a guesstimate, since you don't know precisely what's in it.2 -
Hanibanani2020 wrote: »I would say your guesstimating and not weighing fruit could be your issue
I'd actually be more concerned with the home-cooked meals (mother and sister) if those are guesstimated as well.
I weigh those on the digital scales
Unless you're weighing the individual raw ingredients and the total weight of the cooked dish, weighing your own portion of the cooked dish is still a guesstimate, since you don't know precisely what's in it.
Yes you’re right unfortunately0 -
nanamerriman2020 wrote: »When you log food made by family (You mentioned your mom, sister do much of the cooking) do you have absolute knowledge of what goes into it? Meaning raw weights of all foods that end up on your plate? If not, how do you account for it?
It sounds like you're eating at/near maintenance. If you think you have a deficit of 200-250 per day but have to often estimate/guesstimate on your food then it would be very easy for little errors here & there to wipe out that deficit.
In March/April your body started out weighing more, meaning your body needed a larger # of calories to maintain. So if you've been eating at the same level all along, it was enough for a slow weight loss then but not now.
So should I drop my calories by 100? I’m going to be honest and say that my family don’t track macros/calories so no they don’t. Also in March/April I only weighed 3 lbs more...don’t think it would make much of a difference. I do ask how much oil they put in the food and guesstimate from there. It’s rude if I don’t eat their food and it’s delicious too so why not. But it’s not good if I have such a small deficit.
You can try cutting a portion or snack out. Reassess. If you don't know exactly how much you are eating at dinner then you have to take a few shots in the dark. It's possible but it can take some trial and error.2 -
nanamerriman2020 wrote: »So replacing my original theory (as to why you lost weight in Mar/Apr but not in June/Jul) with this one: in Mar/Apr your guesses were closer to accurate.
Reassess your goals and determine what is necessary/important to you at this point in your life. If you only have a small amount of weight to lose - does that mean you're at a healthy weight point now? If so maybe losing weight does not need to be a present priority. Instead focus on health, fitness level, overall well-being.
If losing weight IS still your priority after a bit of self reflection, then improve your accuracy. Take more control over the foods you put in your mouth, even if it means making it yourself or being involved more in the food prep. Changing your calorie goal is worthless IMO if someone else is making the food and you can only guess about the caloric content. OR have smaller portions of what they are having and make up the difference by adding something low cal but bulky like steamed/grilled veggies, salad, etc.
So should I drop my calories by 100? I’m going to be honest and say that my family don’t track macros/calories so no they don’t. Also in March/April I only weighed 3 lbs more...don’t think it would make much of a difference. I do ask how much oil they put in the food and guesstimate from there. It’s rude if I don’t eat their food and it’s delicious too so why not. But it’s not good if I have such a small deficit.
I still need to lose weight! I do cook my own food (which I weigh etc) but sometimes I have their cooking if it looks too tempting. I guess making my portions smaller should help. It’s just 250 calories but makes a big difference.0 -
It seems that right now you're eating at maintenance. Whether that means that your set up is wrong or your estimating is wrong, I can't say but you need a deficit from this point. 250 cals a day would be sensible, given that you only have 15lb to lose.
You could eat smaller portions but my suggestion is to go for a brisk walk, every day (or at least every day that you eat someone else's food). Track it as exercise, but don't eat the calories. Although it's my normal speed, for many people, a brisk walk is 3mph so if you go to the exercise tab, select walking at 3mph and put in a range of numbers, you can play around until you determine how long you need to walk to burn 250 cals. I'll guess it's between 60 and 90 mins. You can either do that daily or do a good 30-45 min walk every day and a longer walk at the weekend based on how much more deficit you need to create. You want your deficit, over the course of a week, to be 1750.0 -
Strudders67 wrote: »It seems that right now you're eating at maintenance. Whether that means that your set up is wrong or your estimating is wrong, I can't say but you need a deficit from this point. 250 cals a day would be sensible, given that you only have 15lb to lose.
You could eat smaller portions but my suggestion is to go for a brisk walk, every day (or at least every day that you eat someone else's food). Track it as exercise, but don't eat the calories. Although it's my normal speed, for many people, a brisk walk is 3mph so if you go to the exercise tab, select walking at 3mph and put in a range of numbers, you can play around until you determine how long you need to walk to burn 250 cals. I'll guess it's between 60 and 90 mins. You can either do that daily or do a good 30-45 min walk every day and a longer walk at the weekend based on how much more deficit you need to create. You want your deficit, over the course of a week, to be 1750.
Yeah you’re right, I calculated I’ve been eating 2050 calories on average in June/July and add an additional (hidden) 1-200 calories and I’ve definitely been eating at maintenance. My maintenance is approximately 2250-2300 calories. I did a brisk walk today! Definitely felt good plus an intense yoga workout. I was thinking of cutting down to 1900 calories and see if that covers any inaccuracies? On a more positive note my UK size 10 (US size 6?) trousers are looser so I’m doing something right...it’s just not showing up on the scale.0 -
Strudders67 wrote: »It seems that right now you're eating at maintenance. Whether that means that your set up is wrong or your estimating is wrong, I can't say but you need a deficit from this point. 250 cals a day would be sensible, given that you only have 15lb to lose.
You could eat smaller portions but my suggestion is to go for a brisk walk, every day (or at least every day that you eat someone else's food). Track it as exercise, but don't eat the calories. Although it's my normal speed, for many people, a brisk walk is 3mph so if you go to the exercise tab, select walking at 3mph and put in a range of numbers, you can play around until you determine how long you need to walk to burn 250 cals. I'll guess it's between 60 and 90 mins. You can either do that daily or do a good 30-45 min walk every day and a longer walk at the weekend based on how much more deficit you need to create. You want your deficit, over the course of a week, to be 1750.
Yeah you’re right, I calculated I’ve been eating 2050 calories on average in June/July and add an additional (hidden) 1-200 calories and I’ve definitely been eating at maintenance. My maintenance is approximately 2250-2300 calories. I did a brisk walk today! Definitely felt good plus an intense yoga workout. I was thinking of cutting down to 1900 calories and see if that covers any inaccuracies? On a more positive note my UK size 10 (US size 6?) trousers are looser so I’m doing something right...it’s just not showing up on the scale.
If you have noticed loss of inches in a short amount of time it could definitely be water weight masking your deficit. I know you said you recently changed your workouts. I say this because recomp is not that fast, losing inches can typically take many weeks, even months at maintenance (it took me at least 5 months to lose one inch haha). For me I know I'm in a deficit if I see those measurements changes in a shorter time even if the scale doesn't show it. Might not be the case for you, but just something to think about!1 -
Is there a chance that you have gotten "stagnant" in your routine? For me, I need to change things up every few months to keep my metabolism moving and guessing. Maybe try something new? For example, if you eat the same things for breakfast each day, change it up. You could also change up your exercise routine. Also, think about your sugar and carb intake. For me, if I have too much sugar or carbs (even if it is on the higher end of my set limit), I struggle to lose and retain more water. Just some possibilities to think about!0
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Strudders67 wrote: »It seems that right now you're eating at maintenance. Whether that means that your set up is wrong or your estimating is wrong, I can't say but you need a deficit from this point. 250 cals a day would be sensible, given that you only have 15lb to lose.
You could eat smaller portions but my suggestion is to go for a brisk walk, every day (or at least every day that you eat someone else's food). Track it as exercise, but don't eat the calories. Although it's my normal speed, for many people, a brisk walk is 3mph so if you go to the exercise tab, select walking at 3mph and put in a range of numbers, you can play around until you determine how long you need to walk to burn 250 cals. I'll guess it's between 60 and 90 mins. You can either do that daily or do a good 30-45 min walk every day and a longer walk at the weekend based on how much more deficit you need to create. You want your deficit, over the course of a week, to be 1750.
Yeah you’re right, I calculated I’ve been eating 2050 calories on average in June/July and add an additional (hidden) 1-200 calories and I’ve definitely been eating at maintenance. My maintenance is approximately 2250-2300 calories. I did a brisk walk today! Definitely felt good plus an intense yoga workout. I was thinking of cutting down to 1900 calories and see if that covers any inaccuracies? On a more positive note my UK size 10 (US size 6?) trousers are looser so I’m doing something right...it’s just not showing up on the scale.
If you have noticed loss of inches in a short amount of time it could definitely be water weight masking your deficit. I know you said you recently changed your workouts. I say this because recomp is not that fast, losing inches can typically take many weeks, even months at maintenance (it took me at least 5 months to lose one inch haha). For me I know I'm in a deficit if I see those measurements changes in a shorter time even if the scale doesn't show it. Might not be the case for you, but just something to think about!
It seems that the scale isn’t in my favour.. I do hold on to a lot of water so it’s probably that. I guess I just have to wait it out and tighten up my logging though. Yeah my body is definitely changing which indicates I’m in a deficit but the scale is frustrating! Could also be related to my IBS too (water weight).0
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