Getting smaller but not losing weight! Help!!!

[thegreenlight]

I have been dieting (1200 calls watching macros) for the last 3/4 weeks. In the last 3 weeks have also been doing intensive HiiT classes at the gym 3 days a week. I’m not losing weight! Literally 1/2 pound here and there! I am slimming down, I look slimmer and my clothes are looser but I’ve been fixated by the scales all my life and beginning to get demoralised. Please help me work out what’s happening! How can I eat such a massive calorie deficit and not lose weight!?

Are you eating enough? X

Bin the scales and start measuring instead.

How much do you weight now? What’s your height?

You may be gaining muscle and losing fat. Muscle weighs more than fat I think I was told x

I don’t really understand the ‘not eating enough’ thing. Surely it’s just about calorie deficit? I’ve lost weight lots of times before and this has never happened. I think it’s the exercise is stopping my WeightLoss. Don’t know what to do.

Why are you worried if you’re getting smaller? Isn’t that the goal?

I’m trying to lose weight too, but my whole reason to want to lose weight is to go down a dress size! Well done for eating better and exercising too, you are slimmer and healthier if not ‘lighter’. I guess it’s because you have replaced fat with muscle.

Why does the weight on the scales matter? I weigh a good half to a Stone more than most people who wear the same clothes size as me but I’m fitter and more muscular. Weight is literally just a number.

5 foot 7, 11stone 3. I did start at 11 stone 9 a month ago. Is the whole ‘muscle weighs more’ real? I still should have lost something but have lost nothing in 2 weeks!

Snap! I’ve been at this since June. I have lost 6kilos but I have shrunk loads.
5 years ago I was 8kilos lighter and I think I was a similar size. Every bit of weight I am losing at the moment is a struggle. I’m also doing HITT and working with weights.

This is an issue that's 'in your head' so to speak. Surely the point of losing weight is to look better and feel better. You're achieving that. Nobody other than you cares about your actual weight.

Seriously, get rid of your scales.

If you're getting smaller you're losing fat. If you look slimmer then what does it matter what the scale says?

When you first start exercising you retain more water, this could affect your weight. But whatever you're doing right now, sounds like it's working so keep it up. Take measurements, or photos, and go off how your clothes fit, and ditch the scale for a bit

As pp said , with you doing HIT you are gaining muscle which weighs more than fat , you are loosing the fat as you are getting slimmer and fitter . As long ad you feel good and are happy with the inch loss don't worry about the weight while you are exercising as its not a true measure of how you're doing .
Keep up the good work

You've lost nearly half a stone!
I'll bet you see another decrease in the scales in a week or so.
It can happen like that.
Just like when I succumb to a veggie meal at McDonald's and the next day I'm up 3 lbs 😃

Hi! If you are working your muscles hard (and they aren't used to it), they will hold onto a lot of water to help them repair. Give it time (ps who cares what the scale says if you are shrinking anyway?).

Yes muscles do weigh more and if you are exercising you are toning your muscles. Go by how your clothes fit.
As for eating too little - there is a point where you body just won’t function properly. You might find you get same results eating 1400 calories. But it’s a bit trail and error. It’s what’s sustainable over a longer term. You are not that overweight so personally I’d up it to 1400, keep up with the exercise and see how it goes.

And you have lost 6 pounds in a month! That is loads anyway.

Thankyou so much for the support! Have done this so many times but never with excercise. I have a ‘happy weight’ and am a stone away from it. I probably do need to ditch the scales!

Are you me? I've been particularly pissed off this week. I'm on around 1200 calories, doing cardio fitness for an hour three times a week, I cycle to work so 40 mins a day and have lost nothing except in the first week which I'm assuming was water because it went so quickly. I'm currently at 11.4 (5'8") and have sat there for the last 2 weeks.

My ideal weight is 10.6 so a bit of a way to go yet.

I have been so diligent and now all I want to do is eat pastry.

Stop weighing yourself.

You are clearly being successful in your efforts (although I think your daily calorie allowance is a little low given your height and your activity) as your shape is changing.

Use a tape measure and take photos.

i always have weighed 'heavy' compared to how I look. I have had to get over that.

Also try weights in lieu of some of your cardio. You may be pleasantly suprised with the results.

It makes no sense does it! I’m looking in the mirror and feeling my clothes looser but my brain tells me I’m still too big due to the number on the scales and it makes me look twice and seem like I’m no smaller I have a course of 4 weeks HiiT left and might give it a rest to see if that helps weight loss. I’m eating so much better now, paying attention to macros than I ever did and the weight dropped off me previously

Doing mainly weights and a little cardio so I don’t think that will help. Tempted to go Keto but love carbs and feel it would be unsustainable.

Don't get hung up on the number on the scales and I wouldn't advise suddenly dropping exercise to watch that number fall. When you diet you lose fat, muscle and bone. When you diet but do weight training/exercise, your body is signalled to hold onto the muscle and burn more of the fat. If you diet and stop doing the exercise, your body is likely to burn the muscle you've gained as you're telling it you no longer need it. You're likely to look flabbier this way.

And yes, muscle weights more than fat. Imagine a 1cm cube of muscle and a 1cm cube of fat. The muscle cube weighs more. That's why 1lb of fat looks like you've eaten too much and 1lb of muscle is barely noticeable.

I'm waffling now. Keep up the good work!

Well, I'm going to stick at it. I feel a lot better for the exercise at any rate, and not eating sugar has been good. I'm no longer constantly grazing and thinking that chocolate is a good snack. I'm on holiday next week so that might be a struggle! If the weight creeps back on, which is what I'm dreading then it will all have felt a little pointless.