Help!!

tianabarfly
tianabarfly Posts: 17 Member
in Motivation and Support
I have been logging my meals and exercising for 1 month now. I try to exercise 5 days a week for 30 minutes. I currently weigh 165 and my calorie goal is 1490 based on what My Fitness Pal gave me when I said I wasn't very active and wanted to lose .5 lb a week. Well 1 month in and the scale hasn't moved at all!!! I am trying to stay positive but it is getting hard after 1 month. I thought maybe I was gaining muscle and that might explain it, or maybe I am eating too many calories.
Any ideas?
I am giving myself a goal to be 150 lbs by the end of this year.

Replies

  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    Do you weigh everything you eat with a food scale?

    Have you been 100% totally and completely honest with yourself about logging?

    Are you eating back your exercise calories?

    Did you recently ramp up the intensity of your workouts?

    One month is hardly any time at all. With so little to lose, you need to make sure your logging is absolutely on point: weigh EVERY gram of EVERYTHING that enters your body, including and especially condiments, and triple-check the nutrition info in MFP against the label or USDA nutrition info. Tighten that up and give it another month or two.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    You have established what it takes to maintain! And, you are exercising regularly. Do you feel stronger? That alone is worth the effort. Also, the habits you are developing will serve you well going forward.

    Logging in pursuit of 0.5lbs/week loss is challenging. You are talking about 250 kcal deficit per day-- 14% of your sedentary TDEE (total calorie budget). It's pretty hard to estimate calorie intake to better than about 5-10%, and estimating the calories burned by workouts is even more inaccurate.

    I suggest you switch the plan to 1lb loss per week. Be conservative when eating back exercise calories. Now, at first you will be hungry, which is normal. If you hit a day where you just can't get by, eat a little something more. A "strategic banana" or piece of toast but not something that's hard to hold back on, like sweets. Things will start to change.

    Best of luck!
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,281 Member
    That weight loss is the same rate as mine. I decided I'd stay off the scale for 12 weeks-long enough to (hopefully) show results. If I tried to track .5 pound loss each week, it would mostly be masked by weight fluctuations. I am going to give it time, and then weigh daily for a week for an average. I have no idea if that would work for you, but it's also possible that the loss just didn't "show up" because it was covered by some other reason.
  • chocolate1902
    chocolate1902 Posts: 48 Member
    The bottom line here is everyone is saying just stay with it because you are more fit now than you were one month ago. The scale isn’t really always the best gauge. You can do this and you were on a great start with your goals because you’ve been at it for a month which is amazing!
  • tianabarfly
    tianabarfly Posts: 17 Member
    Thank you all for your comments. I really appreciate it! I do log everything I eat and use a food scale every meal.
    I do eat back some of my exercise calories which is bad I know but not often enough i dont think to not see any difference. I did talk my measurements when I started so I am going to take them again and see if anything changed. I know I need to have more patience, it has only been a month after all. I will up my weight loss to 1 lb/week and see if that helps. I unfortunately have a desk job so I thought the half a pound would be better
  • tianabarfly
    tianabarfly Posts: 17 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    You have established what it takes to maintain! And, you are exercising regularly. Do you feel stronger? That alone is worth the effort. Also, the habits you are developing will serve you well going forward.

    Logging in pursuit of 0.5lbs/week loss is challenging. You are talking about 250 kcal deficit per day-- 14% of your sedentary TDEE (total calorie budget). It's pretty hard to estimate calorie intake to better than about 5-10%, and estimating the calories burned by workouts is even more inaccurate.

    I suggest you switch the plan to 1lb loss per week. Be conservative when eating back exercise calories. Now, at first you will be hungry, which is normal. If you hit a day where you just can't get by, eat a little something more. A "strategic banana" or piece of toast but not something that's hard to hold back on, like sweets. Things will start to change.

    Best of luck!

    Hey, I just want to say I took your advice and changed my plan to 1lb a week. I have continued exercising and watched I didnt eat back my exercise calories. I weighed in this morning 3.4 lb less! I just want to thank you for your great advice 😊

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