Where am I going wrong?

kellymcdonald7912
kellymcdonald7912 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey I'm feeling a little disheartened I started my fitness journey Feb of this year and to this point have only lost 10lbs give or take I am counting calories by weighing everything and I'm 100% sure I'm in a caloric deficit (working out my tdee/maintenance) and I stick to that if not I'm under (I eat around 1750-1850) I do strength training 3x a week for 45 minutes at the moment for the past month I have hovered around 80kgs im 5ft 6inch and it changes by up 1kg or down 1kg this past month I'm super frustrated and want to throw in the towel I thought 5 months in I would be further into my journey! Please any guidance

Replies

  • IAmTheGlue
    IAmTheGlue Posts: 701 Member
    ^this is good advice! Just keep going! You’re doing great!
  • experimentofone
    experimentofone Posts: 28 Member
    Are you eating back all of your exercise calories? If so, I’d cut those in half. I’ve found they can be higher than what one actually burns. 😊
  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 220 Member
    Sometimes it is better to look at the "Non-Scale Victories" rather than the scales to notice progress. Especially if your strength training has you converting fat tissue to more dense lean muscle mass. Small fluctuations in weight mean nothing and are easily explained by type of foods consumed, water retention and muscle repair between workouts. You're doing great.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    Just popping in to agree that 0.5lb/wk is a very healthy, sustainable, enjoyable way to lose fat. The faster you lose, the higher the likelihood of losing a little lean mass along with the fat. Losing lean mass is not a good look, and regaining lean mass is MUCH harder than losing fat. You are smart to go slow to avoid that. It sounds like the only thing you might want to change is your expectation for rate of loss.

    Also a weight trend app (Libra, Happy scale) or just taking a 7-day trailing average (or even better, a 28-day trailing average to account for water weight fluctuation with menstruation if that is a factor for you) will help you see the general direction amid the 1kg up/1 kg down business. I concur that can feel distracting and disheartening. It's more accurate and more encouraging to take the longer view.
  • gregsbabe12
    gregsbabe12 Posts: 18 Member
    I have the same issue. I am now 269 down from 279 3 months ago. I thought I should lose faster since I have so much to lose. I weigh and measure keeping at 1500 or so. Cardio 3 tines a week. This past week I have stayed the same. It gets frustrating seeing people lose 10-20 a month and I struggle to lose 4. But I am not gaining so I will take it.
  • kellymcdonald7912
    kellymcdonald7912 Posts: 4 Member
    experimentofone wrote: »
    Are you eating back all of your exercise calories? If so, I’d cut those in half. I’ve found they can be higher than what one actually burns. 😊

    No I'm not! I know people do so that!
  • pridesabtch
    pridesabtch Posts: 2,464 Member
    You mentioned TDEE. How did you find your TDEE and are you keeping a relatively consistent activity level?

    You said you don't eat back exercise calories which is good if you are doing TDEE, but if it isn't working for you maybe you should try switching to the MFP activity level + exercise calories method.

    How old are you?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    kellymcdonald7912 wrote: »
    Hey I'm feeling a little disheartened I started my fitness journey Feb of this year and to this point have only lost 10lbs give or take I am counting calories by weighing everything and I'm 100% sure I'm in a caloric deficit (working out my tdee/maintenance) and I stick to that if not I'm under (I eat around 1750-1850) I do strength training 3x a week for 45 minutes at the moment for the past month I have hovered around 80kgs im 5ft 6inch and it changes by up 1kg or down 1kg this past month I'm super frustrated and want to throw in the towel I thought 5 months in I would be further into my journey! Please any guidance

    How have you determined your TDEE and what is your desired rate of loss? These calculators can give you an estimate of your TDEE, but that's what it is...an estimate. You're losing at a perfectly good rate of loss at around 1/2 Lb per week, but it would seem to me that your TDEE is overestimated...though I don't know what you do in your day to day. At your current rate of loss and using the 1850 figure, that would put your TDEE around 2100 per your actual real world results. 2100 for a TDEE sounds about in the neighborhood for a lightly active woman.
  • GinLee61
    GinLee61 Posts: 1,224 Member
    edited June 2022
    Your rate of loss is perfectly acceptable and quite healthy. You mention that for the past month you have been hovering around the same weight, gaining and losing the same kg. I'm no professional however, I do know that to lose 1 lb per week your calorie deficit must be 500 calories per day. Not knowing your base activity level makes it difficult to judge whether your deficit is adequate or not but it seems reasonable to assume that, since you have stopped losing, your deficit may not be enough. Perhaps try decreasing your calories by 100-200 calories per day and see what happens, then take it from there? You could do that by decreasing your food intake or by increasing your exercise.

    Using my own experience just as an example, I am 5'4", female, 60 years old, and my base activity level is sedentary. I was 230 pounds when I started at the beginning of January and I set my MFP goal to lose 1.5 lbs per week. Based on that the app set my daily calorie intake base at 1200 per day. I try to workout almost every day, doing cardio 6-7 days per week for 30 to 60 mins per day, and I do light strength training for 15 mins 3-4x per week. I eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories so my average calorie consumption is around 1350-1400 per day. I try to keep my carb intake at about 40% of my daily calories. At 21 weeks into my journey I have lost 32 pounds so I am losing at the expected average rate of about 1.5 lbs per week. I know that as my BMR decreases my rate of loss will decrease as well and I'm fine with that.

    Wishing you all the best with your journey. You're doing great! Don't give up!!

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