Not losing

Hi, Linda. Welcome to the MFP boards, where advice that may sting is given with love and concern. We’ve all been “there”, and hey! You asked for advice.

Step back from the precipice of diet failure and take a deep breath.

What in the world gave you the idea you should lose pounds so quick? Did you gain them fast ? Nope. Crept up on you, same as it did for me.

Think about what you’ve said. You suddenly cut calories considerably, plus started “working your butt off”.

You’ve lit the candle at both ends. Your body is in rebellion.

Sore from working out? Your wise body retains water and directs it to those sore areas to aid in healing. You may be hanging on to several pounds of water, depending how sore you are.

Been at it four weeks? Have you had a monthly cycle yet? There’s some water fluctuations there, fer shure.

You didn’t say how tall you are, but if you’re exercising at that rate and not eating back some exercise calories, you’re probably underfueling your body.

Are you carefully weighing your food? Or taking the easy route and eyeballing it? Using measuring cups instead of weighing? A cup of flour is 120 grams. I can darn sure tell you a measuring cup of flour, as I used to fill it, was 25-50% more. The peanut butter fanciers here will chime in to tell you a serving of peanut butter, weighed in grams, is waaaay smaller than what they were scooping.

So many many people come here starting same as you did. They get frustrated, cut calories more, then have a binge or get hurt and sidelined from over-exercising, see little or no movement on the scale, and throw in the towel. “Calorie counting is a rip. I tried it and it didn’t work for me.”

No, because you have to work for calorie counting.

Slow it down, take the time to learn to weigh accurately and build a food catalogue in your diary. Log every single morsel. Build good habits. Try new foods, subtle changes in current foods that can cut calories without affecting taste.

Learn which macro satiates you: protein, fat, or carbs.

Don’t fall trap to fads, or “influencers”, and run screaming from anything that includes the words “fat burner” or “belly fat”. (OMG the online ads you’re getting right now, amIright?!)

Get a fitness tracker. Learn the “cost” of the apple or those Oreos versus the exercise to offset it. That was hugely eye opening for me.

You can do this. I did this, starting at almost your identical weight, at age 56. It took me a year to lose the first 80 pounds.I never ate less than 1479, and that was only because I didn’t know any better til I visited a dietician (recommend!!!!) a couple months in, who asked me to increase to 1700, and a trainer six month in who made me increase to 2100. Yeah. Increase. The more I ate, the more I lost, because I was fueling my body.

Like you, I was gung ho for exercise, but I continued to increase activity because I discovered what a joy it is to move my formerly immobile big *kitten*.

Give it two or three months. You’ll get a feel for what your body needs. Be alert and prepared to adjust, forever. I’m currently adding several hundred calories a day because I’m underfueling for the amount of activity I do and the muscle I carry, following several months of travel and inconsistent nutrition.

It’s a constant path of awareness and adjustment.

Finally, read these boards every single day. They are a wealth of knowledge and experience, and other users here are happy to help. We want everyone to be a winner.

Amazing advice as always above from @springlering62

1lb/wk is a great rate of loss plus 2-3lbs of initial water weight. Well done and keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t get disheartened if one week you don’t lose or even gain.

I highly recommend a weight trend app like Happy Scale used in conjunction with MFP. It’ll help you to have realistic expectations and not freak out about blips here and there.