Really bummed - no loss first week

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  • bailuna
    bailuna Posts: 56
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    I feel you - I just weighed in officially yesterday for my first time and I didn't lose a thing after a week and a half of exercise and healthy eating. It's frustrating, but I know I'm doing the right things, so I'm gonna keep at it another week before I look into changing anything.

    (The 1lb lost was from when I first started. Don't know how that happened before I really started doing anything)
  • shannonsky
    shannonsky Posts: 75 Member
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    1200-1500 cals is not enough if you're doing all that cardio, and breastfeeding a few times a day too. I think if you are breastfeeding a few times a day, work out your TDEE for a woman your height and weight and activity level who isn't breastfeeding, then eat that. The breastfeeding will then give you a deficit to lose fat slowly and safely.

    Remember that the calories you expend breastfeeding is not just the actual calories in the milk you produce, breasts are very metabolically active and it takes a fair amount of energy (calories) to produce the milk. If your baby's feeding several times a day, then that is going to be a lot of calories. IMO you should be eating at least the TDEE of a woman your height/weight and activity level who's not breastfeeding.

    This times infinity!!!

    You need more calories when you breastfeed and exercise a lot. Diet is for weight loss, exercise is for fitness. Also, if you want to lose as much as possible, you need to cut running every day and start weight training. Weight lifting increase fat loss and will prevent muscle loss. You may lose a few lbs more doing all cardio, but you will suffer by losing muscle.


    Also, how much weight do you have to lose? You might be over extending your goal. Below are general guidelines to follow. So a person with 20 lbs from a normal weight (not their goal weight) can't aim to lose 2 lbs a week. You don't have enough fat stores to support energy. And aiming for high weight loss will increase muscle loss. Additionally, you can't gain muscle doing cardio, let alone do it on a calorie deficit.


    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    I'm sooooo close to weaning her (Sept!), that I guess it just doesn't feel like I'm nursing much at all...but you're all right, if I'm making milk, I'm losing calories there. I NEED to lose 40lbs and would LIKE to lose closer to 55.
  • shannonsky
    shannonsky Posts: 75 Member
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    Also just wanted to say I'm really overwhelmed at this response - thank you so much for the great advice and support! I'm definitely going to have to check in more often :)

    New plan - more water, more rest days, watch the sodium, more calories, and add back some carbs.
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    1200-1500 cals is not enough if you're doing all that cardio, and breastfeeding a few times a day too. I think if you are breastfeeding a few times a day, work out your TDEE for a woman your height and weight and activity level who isn't breastfeeding, then eat that. The breastfeeding will then give you a deficit to lose fat slowly and safely.

    Remember that the calories you expend breastfeeding is not just the actual calories in the milk you produce, breasts are very metabolically active and it takes a fair amount of energy (calories) to produce the milk. If your baby's feeding several times a day, then that is going to be a lot of calories. IMO you should be eating at least the TDEE of a woman your height/weight and activity level who's not breastfeeding.

    What is TDEE? I'm. assuming it has something to do with the caloric intake? Sorry, I'm new :)

    Total daily energy expenditure - i.e. the total number of calories you burn in a day, for everything. You can use calculators to figure this out, I think there's a thread on here that has the word "roadmap" in it which tells you how. This won't be your actual TDEE, it'll be the TDEE for someone of your height, weight and activity level who's not breastfeeding. It would be really difficult to calculate how many additional calories you're using for breastfeeding as it's going to be different depending on how hungry your baby is and you can't really measure that... but if you eat all the TDEE calories for your height, weight and activity level, the breastfeeding will be burning extra calories, which you're not eating, so you will still be using more calories than you're taking in, and losing fat. You can monitor how good your milk supply is, if it seems to be going down, then add in more calories. If your milk supply is fine and you're losing at a slow and steady rate, then stick with that.
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    and just a note... after you've weaned your baby (you mentioned you were thinking about it), subtract 15-20% from the TDEE number of calories you were eating, so you're still eating fewer calories than you burn off after you stop breastfeeding.
  • Kaylee_Loren
    Kaylee_Loren Posts: 56 Member
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    First off, don't look at the scale. Especially when you're doing a low-carb. Secondly, you didn't put on the weight you are wanting to lose in a week, so you can't expect to lose it any faster! Just stick with it, it'll definitely be worth it :) Good luck!
  • bownut
    bownut Posts: 8 Member
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    Don't get discouraged. Every other time I have tried to lose weight, I have stayed the same or gained the first four to six weeks. Stick it out. Don't quit. Don't quit. Don't quit. Also, I have downloaded the Endomondo Pro app on my Droid. If you track your exercise it will tell you how much water you need to drink to rehydrate. So that might help with the suggestions from others. Plus, while breastfeeding you need more calories and water anyway. If you aren't getting enough your body will hang on to every last bit it can in starvation mode. I wish they'd add a pregnancy and breastfeeding setting on here because I just found out that I am pregnant.
  • ccampbell1940
    ccampbell1940 Posts: 3
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    My doctor told me last week not to be discouraged. With the exercise you are building muscle which actually weighs more than the fat you are losing...just keep going. Try to get weighed only weekly and do your measurements. I think you will see the change there maybe before you see the pounds drop on the scale. You can also tell by how your clothing fits now as opposed to a few weeks ago. Good luck and just keep doing what you are doing.:wink:
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    1200-1500 cals is not enough if you're doing all that cardio, and breastfeeding a few times a day too. I think if you are breastfeeding a few times a day, work out your TDEE for a woman your height and weight and activity level who isn't breastfeeding, then eat that. The breastfeeding will then give you a deficit to lose fat slowly and safely.

    Remember that the calories you expend breastfeeding is not just the actual calories in the milk you produce, breasts are very metabolically active and it takes a fair amount of energy (calories) to produce the milk. If your baby's feeding several times a day, then that is going to be a lot of calories. IMO you should be eating at least the TDEE of a woman your height/weight and activity level who's not breastfeeding.

    This times infinity!!!

    You need more calories when you breastfeed and exercise a lot. Diet is for weight loss, exercise is for fitness. Also, if you want to lose as much as possible, you need to cut running every day and start weight training. Weight lifting increase fat loss and will prevent muscle loss. You may lose a few lbs more doing all cardio, but you will suffer by losing muscle.


    Also, how much weight do you have to lose? You might be over extending your goal. Below are general guidelines to follow. So a person with 20 lbs from a normal weight (not their goal weight) can't aim to lose 2 lbs a week. You don't have enough fat stores to support energy. And aiming for high weight loss will increase muscle loss. Additionally, you can't gain muscle doing cardio, let alone do it on a calorie deficit.


    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    I'm sooooo close to weaning her (Sept!), that I guess it just doesn't feel like I'm nursing much at all...but you're all right, if I'm making milk, I'm losing calories there. I NEED to lose 40lbs and would LIKE to lose closer to 55.

    That being said, I would set your goal at 1 lb per week. Anything more than that and you will increase the chances of your body catabolizing lean body mass in order to create energy. This will cause your body to lose lean body mass which in turn will slow down your metabolic rate.
  • shannonsky
    shannonsky Posts: 75 Member
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    Aaaaaand there's another piece to the puzzle. Welcome back, AF. Lol

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