Have I lost weight? Pic included

melto1989
melto1989 Posts: 140 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been working out for 5 weeks straight , on a 1500 calorie diet but my allowance can give me up to 2000. I've had no change on the scales but I have about 1000 deficit a day with both. Yes I weigh everything and I am breastfeeding a 3m old baby. I drink 2L of water a day

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,885 Member
    Sorry, I can't see a picture.

    Working out every day, when your body isn't used to it, can definitely cause water retention for muscle repair, masking fat loss on the scale.
    Being 3 months postpartum might also play a role, hormones and all that.

    Did you measure yourself? Or perhaps you have some non stretchy clothes you can use as a reference to see if they're getting looser?
  • skellyc74
    skellyc74 Posts: 30 Member
    Working out every day and restricting your calories so severely when you are post partum is not a good idea. Your hormones are still settling. You are also breastfeeding, you are putting your metabolism under stress and it will respond accordingly.
    Work out your tdee and reduce your calories by 500 per day. Work out 3 times a week and on the other days enjoy some walking or active rest like gentle pilates or yoga. If you eat well and look after your body it will respond. Right now you are punishing your body after it just went through pregnancy and childbirth. Sleep plays a big part also, if you are feeding through the night and not getting enough sleep this will also effect your loss. Eat enough, exercise a couple of times a week, prioritise sleep and enjoy these first few months with your newborn. Slow and steady is best.
  • IAmTheGlue
    IAmTheGlue Posts: 701 Member
    First, congratulations!!! Babies are such a blessing.

    I breastfed 3/5 of my babies and I did not lose weight while breastfeeding. Not saying that I did not try, but the weight would not budge… and I was only exhausting myself. But, once my baby was weaned, no problem, the weight started coming off.

    I would suggest perhaps you can do a bit of strength training while in maintenance (or slight deficit) while nursing your precious baby so once they are weaned you will be losing weight to reveal the body you built these next few months or however long you intend to nurse. Good luck!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Does your doctor know you're trying to cut back your calories so much while breastfeeding? Sounds like a good way to burn yourself out and maybe get sick.

    Breastfeeding should be Adding Calories. Are you allowing an extra 500 calories per day for milk production? Please talk to your doctor.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    ...also, yeah. No picture.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    If you've had no change on the scales for 5 weeks this means you're maintaining. I.e. you're eating exactly as much as you are spending. The scales over such a long period of time are the best indicator of your actual maintenance calories no matter what any app or calculator says.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    A. No pic attached.

    B. You literally just said there's no change in scale weight. If you were actually eating at a 1k/day deficit, you would have lost weight. Sure, breastfeeding is going to complicate the matter to some degree, but over that length of time there would have to be some movement. Your logging is probably in need of some fine-tuning.
  • SelfCaren22
    SelfCaren22 Posts: 5 Member
    I lost almost two pounds a week eating 1600 calories a day while breastfeeding and NOT working out. I'm 5'2, even when I was 110 pounds, eating 1500 calories a day would have given me a slow weight loss. There's something off here. I'd stop and talk to your doctor.
  • BrickFox
    BrickFox Posts: 61 Member
    Get a sewing tape measure and record your arms, waist, hips, thighs, arms, calf's. Can do chest as well, but you're breast feeding, so that's going to fluctuate.

    Are you doing any resistance training, or is it just calorie deficit? If you're not, I would suggest doing that, to help burn calories, and build some muscle. Make sure you're upping your calories to offset the amount you're burning, so you have enough for the breast feeding.
  • melto1989
    melto1989 Posts: 140 Member
    Thanks all for your replies and helpful advice.
    Sorry no pic was attached, I couldn't figure it out .
    Still not losing weight at 5months post partum and I weigh the same. I have a fitbit which averages me to 2700 calories and I log 2000 most days just because I can't imagine eating more and not gaining weight. The fitbit doesn't take in account breastfeeding calories either so I theoretically in a deficit of 1200 so there must be something else going on that I can't figure out. I do track my food by scales and I scan barcodes so my logging would be very accurate.
    My guess is it's my hormones preventing the weight to leave because I've tried it all. I saw my doctor who was useless and offered me weight loss drugs which is not usable until I wean in 7months time
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    melto1989 wrote: »
    Thanks all for your replies and helpful advice.
    Sorry no pic was attached, I couldn't figure it out .
    Still not losing weight at 5months post partum and I weigh the same. I have a fitbit which averages me to 2700 calories and I log 2000 most days just because I can't imagine eating more and not gaining weight. The fitbit doesn't take in account breastfeeding calories either so I theoretically in a deficit of 1200 so there must be something else going on that I can't figure out. I do track my food by scales and I scan barcodes so my logging would be very accurate.
    My guess is it's my hormones preventing the weight to leave because I've tried it all. I saw my doctor who was useless and offered me weight loss drugs which is not usable until I wean in 7months time

    Have you tried a food scale?

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    melto1989 wrote: »
    Thanks all for your replies and helpful advice.
    Sorry no pic was attached, I couldn't figure it out .
    Still not losing weight at 5months post partum and I weigh the same. I have a fitbit which averages me to 2700 calories and I log 2000 most days just because I can't imagine eating more and not gaining weight. The fitbit doesn't take in account breastfeeding calories either so I theoretically in a deficit of 1200 so there must be something else going on that I can't figure out. I do track my food by scales and I scan barcodes so my logging would be very accurate.

    My guess is it's my hormones preventing the weight to leave because I've tried it all. I saw my doctor who was useless and offered me weight loss drugs which is not usable until I wean in 7months time

    Your diary is open - that's helpful, so thanks!

    I see a number of days where you have more than 1,000 calories left to eat - what's up with that?

    I also see some Quick Adds, and foods that were not weighed. Scanning barcodes does not insure accuracy - it's just another way to search the notoriously inaccurate database. You still need to compare your result with the package.

    Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

    To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

    Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

    Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

    For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)
  • melto1989
    melto1989 Posts: 140 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    melto1989 wrote: »
    Thanks all for your replies and helpful advice.
    Sorry no pic was attached, I couldn't figure it out .
    Still not losing weight at 5months post partum and I weigh the same. I have a fitbit which averages me to 2700 calories and I log 2000 most days just because I can't imagine eating more and not gaining weight. The fitbit doesn't take in account breastfeeding calories either so I theoretically in a deficit of 1200 so there must be something else going on that I can't figure out. I do track my food by scales and I scan barcodes so my logging would be very accurate.

    My guess is it's my hormones preventing the weight to leave because I've tried it all. I saw my doctor who was useless and offered me weight loss drugs which is not usable until I wean in 7months time

    Your diary is open - that's helpful, so thanks!

    I see a number of days where you have more than 1,000 calories left to eat - what's up with that?

    I also see some Quick Adds, and foods that were not weighed. Scanning barcodes does not insure accuracy - it's just another way to search the notoriously inaccurate database. You still need to compare your result with the package.

    Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

    To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

    Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

    Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

    For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)

    😄 I didn't know my diary was open, how embarrassing. I haven't been making great choices the last week.

    If I still have leftover calories it's probably "exercise" calories because as far as I'm aware I eat up to 2000 or close to it most days. I don't eat the exercise calories

    Quick adds is because I've calculated off of a package and can't be bothered finding it or I have no idea how to track it because example I had Chinese food and it had no calories info etc so I googled a generic amount and over estimated because I wouldn't know what I ate

    I do believe I could fine tune even more my food diary but I don't think it is the cause for my weight not shifting. I doubt I'm accidentally eating over 2800 calories for my maintenance especially while I exercise and breastfeed.

    And yes I do verify with the package what gets scanned :)

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