How long to notice weight loss on scales?

[Justice1995]

Hi everyone, 

I'm getting a bit discouraged with my weight loss. I'm 69kg, (floating between 68-69), 26, female, 5"4, and have been religiously tracking/weighing my food for the past 3 weeks. I have my calories set manually to 1400 a day (but am eating around 1200-1300 as that's more natural for me). I am eating extremely clean - lots of chicken, rice, veg, fruit, 2L water a day etc. all weighed out and tracked to the gram, no sauces, no soft drinks, no sneaky Chinese takeaway on a Friday etc. I even cook my food in WATER not oil. If I want some chocolate or sweets I'll have them and track it - I'm being crazy particular, even with veggies (which are not the starchy kind FYI) Lifting weights 4-5 times a week, 15,000 steps average a day. I really like following IFBB and WBFF bikini/wellness girls on Insta so I know a lot about macros, body recomp etc. My weight will just NOT budge. I know it's only been three weeks but i thought even a consistent morning weigh in at 68kg would have happened by now.

To paint a better picture i was 58kg March 2020, by December 2020 i was 68kg (thanks to Melbourne and the longest lockdown in the world). Dropped back down to 62kg by July 2021 and we went into lockdown AGAIN for months and weights skyrocketed back up to where I am now.

I know these things take time but I'm just pretty sad - I do not like myself the way I look and the most frustrating part is I'm doing everything I can to NOT be this way but nothing is changing. I don't even know how I dropped the weight the last time as I didn't even try, but this time now that I'm trying it's not even working? 

I guess my question is how long did you notice the scales drop or your clothes fit better? I can't see where else to go, my calories are already so low and I'm working super hard at the gym 😞

[Glenda]

@Justice1995   I googled, "How many calories maintains the weight of a 26 year  old woman who weights 69 kg? "(152 pounds)  Sleeping she would use 1638 calories a day,  with light activity maintenance would need 1966 calories.  So you seem to have the calories figured out perfectly.   Eating 500 less calories a day should cause a loss of a pound a week.     The studies I read suggested people who try to lose weight with exercise usually eat more and DON'T lose weight.  You should be losing weight !!!    A pound a week may seem  slow, but it is an achievement to not gain  at Thanksgiving.  It would take 3 months to lose 12 pounds.  Five pounds is very noticeable.  You would be looking good  by Christmas.  Best wishes.

[Baltoscott]

Hey there @Justice1995 -- it's been a few more weeks since your post. Any progress since then?  

[BASILCHIVES]

Weight loss isn't linear, you can eat the exact same food 2 weeks in a row, do the exact same exercise and one week the scale might be down while the other it may stay the same or be up.  The scale does not just measure your flesh and bones, it also weighs excess water, undigested food in your digestive tract, etc.   Keep up the program,   Maybe weigh yourself less often, keep drinking the water eating well and exercising.   When we first change our food plan to lose we often lose a lot of water right off the bat,  we then expect the same loss every time.    You didn't put it on overnight, so just have faith and keep going.  good luck

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for sharing your experience, @Justice1995!  

I was just discussing this with my sister a few weeks ago, I think it's not always beneficial to weight yourself too often, because even if there's progress, you will constantly feel pressured to lose more and more weight. Some months you will see more progress than others, but as long as you see progress towards your goals, even if it takes more time than what you originally expected, there is no reason to feel bad or worried. 

Let us know how it goes! 😁

[nickpt]

Hey @Justice1995, Im from Auckland and definately feel your pain about lockdowns after recently coming out of 13 weeks of lockdown and seperated from fitness equipment resulting in muscle loss and fat gain. Theres a lot of variables in the explaination you provided. For example:

• You say vegetables, but 100gm of broccoli and 100gm carrot have completely different nutrition profiles... I was shocked that the idea of me adding a carrot to a salad could be enough to tip the scales unfavourably with sucrose / glucose.

• Food combinations can have an impact on protein absorption and synthesis into muscle eg green leafy veggies enhance the ability to better absorb the protein from red meat sources.

• Natural oils in cooking can actually aid weight loss by balancing macros eg grill chicken with flax seed oil or add a tsp of coconut oil or 20gm of avocado to selected meals.

• While it may sound counter intuitive, in some cases eating more can actually provide the catalyst for weight loss, as energy surplus allows greater gym exertion, which in turn builds bigger lean mass which burns more calories at RMR.

• Weight is one number, but do you know how your body composition has changed?... eg you couldve started at (20kg fat and 45kg lean mass) and now you could be (15kg fat and 50kg lean mass) and all the while, with an unchanged 65kg total weight think nothing is happening.

• Be careful making comparisons with Instagram IFBB / WBFF competitors... Instagram is not really real life and these bodybuilding associations represent either the best 0.5% of natural genetics or pharmaceutically advanced physiques. Comparison is the thief of progress.

• I also take a page out of @DavideFitbit's advice, which is, to paraphase, weighing yourself less frequently so that it doesnt become something you are confroted with daily. It can be so stressful trying to make the numbers go down and part of me thinks an element to the plateau youve described could even be the stress of outdoing past weigh ins. A watched pot never boils after all. In fact maybe a reframing of your concerns might be healthier, eg letting the fit of your clothes be the marker for your weight loss without looking at the scales.

Theres so much more, but I reckon I oughta shut up now 😅

Sorry for rambling, to come back to your actual question, I would leave a fortnight between weigh ins and 3 months between caliper body composition tests. We're all sending you the best energy @Justice1995!

[Glenda]

Nick,  I am SHOCKED by your comment that you have been separated from your fitness equipment and lost muscle and gained fat.  Maybe you could google "how to exercise to maintain muscle without equipment"  just using body weight.   

[nickpt]

Hey @Glenda dont be shocked 😅 Part of the problem with lockdowns has not only been seperation from gym equipment, but with the motivation to continue while isolated. Long story short, Im back in the gym getting lots of exercise and working my way to (hopefully) the best shape of my life 💪🏻🥰

[charleskn]

I think hang in there is my first thought. Stick to healthy food from good sources (not pre-packaged) and look at the percentages of carbs, proteins, etc. I know I was eating WAY too many carbs. IMO, if you approach this as "fitness is the goal", the body changes will come on their own, over time. I use the scale, but only because I can ignore day to day (negative) changes, and look at the trends in the fitbit app. I somehow managed to lose 50 pounds while locked down at home, so it is possible, which is why I say to hang in there, until yo find the combination of things that works for you. If we were all the same, and it were easy, well, you know 🙂

Hang in there and good luck!

[Grecs]

Dude, you're a smart guy and spot on with everything you said. Nice job.

[Grecs]

Set a realistic goal for way in the future. Then make a lifestyle change that's sustainable. Journal, do yoga, meditation and affirmations. Your mental health is just as big a part of the process. If you do this and afford yourself to be imperfect on your journey, when things aren't happening as quickly as you'd like, you can be patient and say, "I still have plenty of time to get there and I'm proud of the fact that I am taking charge of my health."  Then one day you'll wake up and be exactly where you want to be and will stay there for the rest of your life because the lifestyle change and attitude is not only healthy but sustainable. Love yourself, forgive yourself, trust yourself. Be patient and at peace. You're already on your way. 

[charleskn]

I agree with @Grecs . I didn't mention that when I set my weight goals, I was pretty sure that (at 60) I wasn't going to be in the same kind of shape/weight I was at 22 (when I could do 1000 pushups in a hour - don't ask why I know 🙄). I was at 265, and set an initial long term goal of 215, which I knew was totally possible, and then let that go as I focused on losing consistently month to month, not day to day. This was key since I lost 30 very quickly at first, at which point, things slowed down, but were still pretty consistent until I hot 215. At that point, it was plateaus, and slowly losing to about 205. 

Over that time I felt like sometimes I was building muscle as fast as I was losing fat, and had to watch for other signs of progress, like the size of my love handles, etc. I hot 202, and over the last 3 months have crept back to about 206-207, by gaining more muscle (I think 😃). I am sure I could lose another 10-20 pounds if I cut out all the naughty things, and I am not sure I am interested in going there, but I will say this: 

 I busted my butt for three years and lost nothing until my doctor finally figured out I had a low thyroid (even though the basic tests said it was "normal"), but I wasn't working nearly as hard then as I did once the weight started coming off. Now, most weeks I'm working out 8-10 hours a week. Some weeks I miss a day here and there and have less. I say this because but I think it's easy for us to think we're eating pretty well, and working pretty hard.

I don't know you, and what you're doing personally, so I am not saying that you are/aren't trying hard enough. I just ask the question for you to look at all the places you might eat food that doesn't support your goals, and where can you crank up the intensity of your workouts (a little at a time). First, stay in the game, be patient, and course correct/try different things. Be wary of giant changes which are hard to sustain, and as suggested, don't lose the mental/emotional aspect which is so important for the long haul.