I’m so frustrated
im4cmb
Posts: 1 Member
Hi everyone I have been back for about 2 weeks of 10k steps 7 days a week plus calorie deficit. Not 1 lb has dropped. Not 1 lb!!!??? Dang it’s been frustrating to not see anything. I’m losing patience.
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Replies
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If you just started into 10K steps every day from being completely sedentary, you are likely retaining water to help your muscles recover which will mask fat loss. You may need another 2 weeks for that to subside.
With that, one of the issues I have seen repeatedly here is people's logging not being accurate. By that I don't mean they don't record what they eat and drink, but rather they may:
1) Use database entries that are incorrect. The database is user submitted. Some people put in incorrect information. When starting out verifying those numbers from an outside source is a good idea. Also, if you use generic homemade entries like say "Meatloaf Homemade" or "Fried Eggs" the numbers for that could be radically different than yours depending on what they used in their recipe ingredients. Logging the individual ingredients you use or putting together your own recipe in the recipe builder.
2) Not actually measuring their potion size. The most accurate way to measure is to weigh all solids including those that are ground or shredded. Things like flour, cheese, meat, veggies all are more accurately measured with weight. If you don't happen to have a kitchen scale, they are inexpensive but I can understand not having money for one, volume measures like cups, litres, etc are still better than guessing at the amount, just don't pack the food into the measuring spoon or cup. Measuring is vital for consistency and accuracy.
3) Not logging every single thing you eat. I know veggies are low in calories, but, especially to start, don't fall into the approach of it is healthy I don't have to log it. Then there are the things that are small, say a hard candy. You may be tempted to not log them, but even they add up through the day.
You may not be making any of these logging errors. I mention them because they are some of the most common issues I have seen repeatedly when people start out. As I said at the start, you could be retaining water due to a sudden increase in activity, or if you are female of child bearing years, due to hormones from your monthly cycle. Weigh is a horrible measure of progress short term, and while 2 weeks might seem long, it isn't. Four weeks is getting to a point where one can say that they are not losing. When that is the case, and they are confident their logging it not including one or more of the errors I mentioned above, then they need to cut calories some more because they are eating at maintenance.3 -
If not one pound has dropped, you are likely not at a calorie deficit. I'd adjust my target down slightly, unless you are already very very low (>1200).1
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Two weeks is a good start, but - for reasons rileysowner mentioned - not long enough to get a true picture of what's going on.
Fast fat loss is only a few ounces per day. (If set up to lose 2 pounds a week, it would be expected to be about 4.5 ounces of fat loss per day.)
Human bodies can consist of up to 60%+ water. Water weight fluctuates by up to several pounds from one day to the next, for a variety of reasons. Fluctuations in waste in our digestive tract can also vary by more than those few ounces daily, too, depending on what we ate and bathroom habits, and that waste can take up to 50+ hours to transit out of our body.
That sets up a situation where bigger water/waste fluctuations can mask fat loss on the bodyweight scale for a surprisingly long time, up to several weeks in some cases.
Your profile says you're female. If you're still having monthly cycles, hormonal water retention can be a major factor. Though it's not the most common pattern, some women here have reported only seeing a new low weight once a month, at a particular point in their monthly cycle.
I'd suggest patient persistence to you at this point. Once you have 4-6 weeks of consistent logging data, you can look at your average weekly weight change over the whole time period, and then adjust if necessary. (If you have monthly cycles, compare body weight at the same relative point in at least two different cycles.
While continuing patiently, maybe read this thread (especially the article linked in the first post), if you haven't seen it already:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1
It explains many of the things that can make the scale stall (or even go up) when a person is doing all the right things.
Frankly, giving up too fast out of frustration is a common reason for people to fail out of weight loss efforts. Another is cutting calories too quickly, making the process so difficult that the person can't stick with it long enough to achieve meaningful loss. Don't do either of those things, I'd suggest.
Hang in there. Run the multi-week experiment. Keep an open mind. Once you have enough results data from sticking with your positive changes in habits, then evaluate and adjust calorie goal if necessary. That can work.
Best wishes!2
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