The scale is not moving

regan7587
regan7587 Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
Hi!
I am new here but have been using this app for about two weeks and nothing is changing
I am eating the correct calories and exercising 40 mins treadmill every day
And alternating leg weights and arms
Help!!
Managing my diet high protein low carb and low fat
Regan

Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    Hello, and welcome!

    Two weeks isn't long enough to see a clear trend. It takes 4-6 weeks to get a reasonable average, whole menstrual cycles if a person has them (so they can compare weight at the same relative point in at least two different cycles).

    On top of that, new exercise tends to increase water retention (for muscle repair). That water has weight, and it can mask fat loss on the scale temporarily, up to a few weeks.

    One thing to know is that the calorie estimate isn't Revealed Truth, it's just a statistical average for similar people. Your individual experience could vary a bit. For most people, the estimates are close, though. Only a few differ by a surprising amount.

    Hang in there: As long as you're on track and stay there, the new diet/exercise weirdness factors will resolve themselves, and you'll see progress. It just takes some patience.

    Best wishes!
  • Hobartlemagne
    Hobartlemagne Posts: 603 Member
    If this whole routine is new to you, you might be doing "recomp" without realizing.
    You could be losing some fat and gaining some muscle.
    Forget about the force of gravity on your body. Has your body changed shape at all?
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,206 Member
    Hobartlemagne wrote: »
    If this whole routine is new to you, you might be doing "recomp" without realizing.
    You could be losing some fat and gaining some muscle.
    Forget about the force of gravity on your body. Has your body changed shape at all?

    Not yet. Hasn’t been long enough for even this to happen!

    OP - carry on. Reassess in 4 more weeks
  • trixsterjl31
    trixsterjl31 Posts: 156 Member
    edited September 8
    Take heart my friend. I'm not sure how much info you have but:
    3500 calories of deficit eating is about 1 lb of weight loss. A good rule of thumb is weight x 10 is you resting maintenance calories. Mine is about 3500. I have been eating 1500 - 1800 a day some times more never less. If I work out I match the work out in calories the best I can. That is .6/day i've been on this for 2 months and i'm right no track.
    **I have the advantage of being huge. My BMI at healthy weight is the 2000 that the FDA always talks about. If you are 5 foot nothing with an idea weight of 110 lbs it is a lot harder to be in deficit. If you burn 500 calories a day in extra exercise it will equate is a lb a week and also raise your base metabolism through the day increasing your deficit.

    Things to watch out for:
    1. Weight at the same time every day under the same conditions. I weight in after I sleep daily with boxers only.
    2. Weight can be effected by water and waste weight. Watch sodium and BMS. Often when you diet your BM frequency will change. I went from daily to every 3 days then had to take something and increase water drastically.
    3. Watch the food log carefully. Don't trust it entirely. Try to get a feel for what calories are in food. For instance you might go to log Chicken breast and there will be 2 items one will be 130 calories one will be 200 for a serving? How you cook stuff maters, if you use oil it is a lot of calories per TS.
    4. Once you figure out your deficit number If you aren't losing weight one of the above is most likely the culprit. The first time I started keeping a log I found out that I wasn't eating nearly enough food. I honestly struggle on my 12 hour work day to get in 1800 calories because I know if i dont when I go home ill be hungry.
    5. Because of 3 you are way better eating food you prep yourself. It is way easier to cook a LB of chicken cut it in half and you know you have 230 calories per half lbs if air fried or grilled with zero cal spray pepper and zero cal seasoning. Add a fresh veggie and piece of fruit. Once you start weighing them after a while you'll know how to got each without doing that.
    Good luck. If all this fails seek out a weight loss doctor. It might cost you a bit for them to get you started on a program. They will assess your BMI and Base metabolism.
  • trixsterjl31
    trixsterjl31 Posts: 156 Member
    edited September 8
    csplatt wrote: »
    Hobartlemagne wrote: »
    If this whole routine is new to you, you might be doing "recomp" without realizing.
    You could be losing some fat and gaining some muscle.
    Forget about the force of gravity on your body. Has your body changed shape at all?

    Not yet. Hasn’t been long enough for even this to happen!

    OP - carry on. Reassess in 4 more weeks

    It takes about 2 months to start to build new muscle so this isnt' it. Also this is only an issue if you do more str training then cardio. They aren't wrong though you'll gain muscle weight if you have been idle with any exercise. Muscle is more dense and weighs more than fat but it also increase metabolism. I think it is like 6 calories per LB of muscle resting and 4 for fat. So as you lose weigh your maint level goes down. Try to not go super low and lose muscle weight.
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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    _Tannieverse wrote: »
    Tbh dont use the treadmills, they are designed for athletes and u are losing weight but then at the same time you are gaining muscles causing ur weight to not increase or reduce and also losing weight requires a lot of patience so dont try to rush it it could be unhealthy (It took me 1.5 years to lose 3 kg)

    I agree with your basic thought that weight loss requires patience.

    But treadmills aren't just for athletes. They literally just let a person walk or run indoors. How fast a person walks/runs on them (or at what incline) could be overly taxing for a beginner, but walking with low/no incline isn't out of reach for most people, even those quite new to exercise.

    Also, it's sadly unlikely that anyone will gain muscle mass fast enough to outpace any reasonably observable rate of fat loss.

    Two pounds of muscle gain in a month would be a good rate of muscle mass gain for a main (pound a month for women), and that would be under ideal conditions of a good progressive strength training program faithfully performed, relative youth, newness to strength training, overall good nutrition (including ample protein), favorable genetics and a calorie surplus.

    It's not impossible to gain muscle mass in a small calorie deficit, but it would likely be slower than that.

    On the flip side, most people trying to lose fat weight would consider 2 pounds a month a quite slow fat loss rate. Going that slowly can be appropriate, of course, but those folks aren't likely to be gaining an offsetting 2 pounds of muscle mass in the same timespan.

    I wish muscle mass gain were that easy or fast. Sadly, no. Muscle mass gain is likely to take more patience than weight loss, when it comes to relative timelines. Either one takes work.

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