To think my body just wants to hold on to weight !

[cushioncovere]

I've been eating so well and exercising so much over the last week- ten days.

I have a good amount of weight to lose, so it should start working reasonably quickly.

I've also done a lot of exercise and I've had a stomach bug. Would you believe it I still have lost no weight ? It's ridiculous !

I've also been exercising most days. I play tennis around 4 times a week and lift weights / gym cardio once a week or so.

Why can't I shift weight !! I've been eating a lot of chicken breast and broccoli and salads, these are my go to foods when trying to lose weight as they're super filling and really filling. Trying to avoid any sweet / starchy / processed foods as they just make me more hungry.

I weight all my food, except vegetables.

IMO a week isn't long enough, my body takes around 2 weeks to adjust to healthy changes. Keep going , drink water and it will drop.

Ten days is nothing.

Eat like that for ten weeks then come back and update us!

I ate well for three months and lost 9lb - the process is slow and painful if it wasn’t we would all be slim!

Ah how frustrating for you. But give it time. It's barely been a few weeks and it sounds like you're doing amazingly! You'll get there.

(Having said that, do keep an eye out for things like olive oil added to salad, that adds up? It's good for you to have some though so don't cut it all out.)

Could it be a hormonal thing? I hold on to weight the week before my period is due, then the weight comes off a week or two later.

Please don’t lose heart, it’s so good that you’re feeding your body well and also upping your exercise.
I am sure someone will come on with good advice about losing weight and body metabolism, but I’m not sure that the body ‘wants’ to hold onto weight? Perhaps try checking thyroid or birth control things as may be a hormone imbalance?

Fluids are a really important part of losing weight and often missed out.

Besides that weight loss just isn't linear, you can eat the same calorie deficit every single day and have one week where you lose 3lb and another when you gain. It's affected by how much sleep you get, what stage in your hormonal cycle you're in, how much water and salt you've had. It's confusing and annoying and slow.

You do need to eat at a calorie deficit, so it's important that you get an understanding of whether your healthier eating is actually low calorie, if you're having lots of nuts, seeds and stuff like that then you may be eating more than you think.

Have you stayed the same? Or have you lost a couple of pounds and expected more?

If you're eating 2500 calories worth of chicken and broccoli, it's too much.
If you're eating 1500 calories of chicken and broccoli, you'll lose weight.

Which one is it?
Healthy doesn't mean you'll lose weight. Are you weighing and tracking your food?

@strawberryandtomato of course I'm not eating 2,500 Cals. I'm not a complete idiot. Yes, like I said, I weigh and track everything, aside from vegetables.

I've lost weight before, when I was lighter and it took ages as well.

However, I assumed when you start bigger ( having an unhealthier lifestyle to begin with ), you would see changes quicker. Especially seeing as I have had a stomach bug too. I just find that strange.

Have you stayed the same or have you lost some weight?

The same.

You need to weigh and track vegetables in that case. How much calorie deficit are you aiming for?

I once had 2 weeks of super healthy eating, portion control etc and did not drop one pound. A week later 3 pounds dropped off. As others have said sometimes it’s hormonal etc. keep going!

I'm trying to eat around 1,500. According to my Apple Watch I've been burning between 3.000 and 3.500 a day.

But not sure I actually believe that entirely. I've been pretty active. At least 1.5 hours of tennis 4 times a week. Plus my general activity.

I haven't slept that well. I don't really. I have a two year old and also insomnia.

3000-3500 sounds way too high. What's your start weight, age, height? I would be surprised if you don't lose weight on 1500 a day but it may take longer. You may just be retaining water if you've started a lot more exercise and had a stomach bug.

If you don't mind me asking, how much do you weigh? 1500 is not a lot. I lose (a little bit, slowly) of weight if I stick to that and I don't really have any to lose (not a brag, just saying it's not like I've got lbs and lbs to lose which is sometimes easier to lose)

Also, there's no way you burn 3500 a day! Is that a typo?? When I climbed Snowden I only burnt 1500. Three gyms classes in one day burns 1500.
And you are burning 3000-3500 from 90 mins of tennis? What is your general activity, marathon running?! In fact I'm sure a marathon only burns about 2500.

Give it another week and hopefully it'll start coming off, but I think there might be a problem with your watch. Although you're not eating those calories back from the looks of it. You might need to eat a little more?

Research shows this is true and your body will also be releasing additional hunger hormones until you get back to your highest weight.

There is also some interesting research which says hunters and gathers use the same amount of calories a day as office workers. Unless you’re an ultramarathon runner you won’t be using 3,000 to 3,500 calories a day.

Yeah not sure what's up with my Apple Watch. It says I used up 800 cals for almost 2 hours of tennis for example.

I think maybe it's overestimating the tennis calories. As in the gym, I think it's accurate / what I'm used to from before.

I can't burn much more than 400 at the gym in an hour.

Whereas it says I burn around 500-600 an hour at tennis.

I'm almost 100 kg at 5.6. Shameful.

My normal weight was always around 70 kg.

The research on the tribe is fascinating isn’t it. The key takeaway for me was that your body isn’t stupid, less you eat and more you exercise your body will just slow down and use less energy , suppose it’s why we are so successful as a species in times of famine.

What age are you?
Where are you at in your menstrual cycle?

My body is like that too - it takes about two weeks of eating under 1500 calories a day before it will finally give in and use some body fat - until then I just feel exhausted! Like my body will try anything to avoid giving up its precious fat before finally caving and burning it! Like a Scrooge who doesn’t want to spend any money 😂 It works eventually though, so persevere. My fitness pal app keeps me on track.

I just turned 38. I am mid cycle or so. I just realised I didn't note down my last period ! But I think I'm one or two weeks away from my period.

That figure includes base calories. It's still too high but when you climbed snowdin you must have burnt 1500 on top of your base calories!

My body does this and I also exercise a lot. Sometimes I need to rest more in order to start losing weight, and also to stick with it because it takes a while for the scales to move initially.

I’m not quite sure why this is but I wonder if it’s cortisol- I have quite a stressful job and am in early 40s, and I think sometimes the exercise keeps my body in a highly stressed state.

Having said that, I have also discovered that in this first bit when my weight stays the same I have actually lost weight when I measure with a tape measure.

Have you done that? It can be motivating to see that you are losing fat but that’s it’s not showing on the scales yet. I lost for example 10cm round my waist over a few weeks but only a couple of lbs.

Don’t assume it’s not working because the scales aren’t moving quickly.