Frustrated!!

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Steph1383
Steph1383 Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Will someone please explain to me how I have not lost 1 single inch and have only lost 3.5 lbs in 3 weeks? I lift weights twice a week and do 20-30 minutes of cardio 3-5 times a week. I stay at my 1200 calories besides a couple days here and there that I've gone over. What's the deal?! If I'm not losing weight, I should be gaining muscle, which to me means losing inches and nothing is going anywhere.

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  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    3.5lbs in 3 weeks is more than a pound a week which is a great rate of weight loss.

    It's very difficult to gain muscle while on a calorie deficit.

    You might have a better experience if you ate MORE than 1200 calories a day but I have no idea how tall you are so I can't be sure.

    Good job with the exercise. Keep up the good work.
  • jcr85
    jcr85 Posts: 229
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    Losing a pound a week is pretty good.

    Three weeks isn't that long of a time... you didn't gain all the extra weight over night so you cant expect it to just fall off as soon as you start dieting and exercising. Just keep on doing what your doing and you will notice the difference soon enough.
  • buffalogal1979
    buffalogal1979 Posts: 236 Member
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    I can't speak to the inches part but 3.5 lbs in 3 weeks is dead on. That's great! Nothing to be frustrated about. 1 lb per week is a reasonable and healthy weight loss. I would guess that in a few more weeks you will see the inches lost.

    Keep up the great work!! And don't get discouraged. It sounds like what you are doing is working, just keep it up!
  • pmich08
    pmich08 Posts: 193
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    A) You are not going to "gain muscle" on a calorie deficit
    B) Over a pound a week is awesome weight loss and if it's consistent you have nothing to complain about


    Are you logging absolutely everything that passes your lips? How much water are you drinking? What kinds of food are you eating?

    You may be eating too little. I would suggest upping your calories to around 1400 or so and see if that helps, I know that is what helped me when I first started.

    Also, drink more water than that 8 8oz glasses, your body will thank you.
  • Steph1383
    Steph1383 Posts: 20 Member
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    I should have explained, that I lost the 3.5 the first week and it has only budged up and down a half pound for the last two. I'm drinking 64 oz. of water a day. I'm mixing up my meals between meat, chicken, shrimp, other fish, etc. I keep up on the veggies and go light on breakfast. Typically having my coffee and a V-8 or a piece of toast. Just started having a little more fruit. I've only had a handful of drinks during all that time. Every calorie has been accounted for. Maybe my body just thinks it is still in starvation mode? If I'm going out to dinner, I eat a lighter lunch with a salad, or a ww meal, keeping my sandwiches to tuna or chicken or turkey, never with mayo. I might consider bumping up the calories ever so slightly if I don't see a change soon.

    I will say that when I work out, I typically eat those calories, so maybe I just need to stop doing that and it will make the difference?
  • Devonbeevers
    Devonbeevers Posts: 15 Member
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    I had the same problem myself. I could not get past 175 for anything then i realized i wasn't taking in enough calories for my workouts and my normal everyday routine. My body was storing fat rather than burning it. I worked out twice a day to. Everybody's body is diffrent so just droping calories may not work. You need to find the right calorie intake for you where your body burns fat rather than storing it. This is just one theory that worked for me and i also watch my carbs closely.
  • DeborahGY
    DeborahGY Posts: 3 Member
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    I lost weight right away but my Daughter did not. She kept it up and then began to loose. After loosing about 20 lbs she hit a plateau. After about 3 more month she began to loose again. Hang in there and don't give up. Prior to using my fitness pal I would continually go up and down with regard to my weight. I have now kept the weight off for about 9 months. I watch what I eat and choose most of the time the best and healthiest foods. You can do it.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Three weeks isn't enough time to really notice much of a change. Weight fluctuates and measurements are hard to get precise, plus no one really drops inches that quickly. Maybe an eighth or a quarter of an inch, but that's hard to really judge as your measuring yourself.

    Focus on the long term and the big pictures. Take photos now, in the mirror or with a self timer, and compare them in a month or so. Know you're doing the right thing for yourself by watching what you eat ('though you might want to consider eating more) and exercising, and trust that doing the right thing will work. Focus on a non-scale goal. For me, it was learning to run. If I just cared about the scale or measurements, I would have quit in the first month. But in the first month, I also went from not being able to run a quarter of a mile to being able to run over a full mile, so that kept me going.

    As far as the scale and measurements go... in the top pictures in this thread - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/417315-being-fit-really-rocks - I only weighed 2.5# less from June to December. My waist measurement was about the same... maybe a half inch different.

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