So its been a week and...

[xBo]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I am 20, 5' 5" and I used to weigh 64kg. I'm trying to slim that down. The first few weeks have been a little tricky because its Ramadan, so I fast all day and end up eating two small meals (~1200cal/day). For two weeks of this I lost about a kg each week, but this week I have lost nothing. I'm stuck at 62, even though I've started light workouts in the evening. Last Ramadan I lost 2kg without even trying so this doesn't actually feel like progress.

I've tried weight loss properly only once before and I steadily lost 4kg at a rate of 1kg/week. This was with a similar plan of low calories (about 1200 in three small meals) and light exercise (about 25 mins a day).

I'm really enjoying working out but I know that if I don't start seeing results again I'm going to give up before I even begin training more intensely. A week of no results is really frustrating me ( and I know that sounds silly given that I've only been doing this for three weeks, but I'm pretty impatient and I started stressing about this on Tuesday).

Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated! x

 

[fknfatbag]

nothing rly works so eat even less or else ull get hungry pretty soon nd your appetite will only grow...

eat less basically

 

[Omega]

Did you take measurements to see exactly what changes are going on - other than just weight? Weight is a poor measurement of body composition and transition to the shape that people tend to aspire towards.

People feel that they are too fat and decide that the solution is to lose weight - hop on the scales - see a number and decide that the solution is to get a lower number... They may even pick an arbitrary number to aim for (e.g. the weight of a friend)...

While this is a fair approach in cases where someone is very overweight - for instance - someone who is clinically morbidly obese will need to lose weight to become healthy - it is not always reasonable.

The fact is that when a person who feels a bit bigger than they would like - the answer may lie at least partly in the toning of their muscles.

Also - when a person jumps on the scales - it isnt just their fat that gets weighed - it is the skin and bone and muscles, the blood, the food that they have eaten and their body is processing, the liquid that they have drank and is processing, the amount of water which their body has chosen to retain...

It is perfectly normal for a person to reduce the fat in their body from one week to the next - but see a bigger number on the scales... This could be for instance because their body is retaining water.


If you are using weight as an arbitrary measure of their level of fat - they must learn to recognise this and allow for it. Otherwise they could become disheartened and stop trying to improve their physique.

All sorts of things can cause you to retain water - such things as the amount of sodium in your diet, the amount of water you are drinking (counter-intuitively you retain more water if you do not drink enough), and the time of month has an impact too as a lot of women retain water around the time of their period.

I would encourage you to use a tape measure and take measurements once a week to see how you fare in all sorts of places - not just chest / bust, waist and hips - but also places like your wrists and ankles, upper arms and legs...

Eat healthily (according to your religious guidance - but using your calories wisely to get good nutrition since you need to fuel your body well if you want it to perform well) and continue to exercise.

There have often been people on the forum who have changed clothes sizes and gained a much better figure while not losing nearly as much weight as they had guessed that they would need to lose... The bottom line is that no-one knows the number on the scales unless you choose to tell them... The real thing that counts is how they look, how much fat they carry and things like toning...

I would not encourage you to drop your calories below 1200 calories.
Eat healthy calories and exercise and do not get spooked by the scale.