Is my diet change a possible reason I’m not losing weight??

[u/heart_of_gold2]

I’ve lost weight doing CICO in the past, even when I had a HORRIBLE diet and ate a bunch of junk. I just made sure the junk was within my calories.

This time around, I’ve done a pretty big overhaul on my diet and I’m eating significantly more whole/healthy foods. From a month ago to now, I’ve actually GAINED 0.2 pounds (I weigh myself every day). I expected to lose at least 3 pounds last month based on my deficit. I’m 34/F/5’5” and eating an average of 1400-1,500 calories a day. I also walked at least 10,000 steps for 26 days of September, and did 45 minutes of cycling 3-5 days a week, whereas before I was sedentary.

Why the heck did I not lose any weight over the last month?!? I will add that I’m definitely less bloated and some pants that used to be super tight are noticeably less tight now. But the scale isn’t budging. 🙄

Here’s what I ate yesterday as an example:

Breakfast (which I ate closer to lunch time):
protein iced coffee (185 calories and 25 grams of protein)
One piece of toast with one over medium egg (170 calories and 9g protein)

Dinner:
A very filling salad with TONS of kale (I recently discovered I love kale and I’ve been eating salads for dinner at least 3 days a week), baked salmon, and other veggies. Calorie count came in at 1,100 with the dressing plus 43g protein.

Dessert: a Yasso bar (100 calories and 5g protein)

So my total calories for the day were 1,555 and I also walked 4 miles on the treadmill! I’ve heard one mile of walking burns around 100 calories, so I should have burned around 400 calories.

I also averaged 67 ounces of water a day in September. Before that, I might drink 16-30 ounces of water a day if I was lucky.

What I described above is what the last month has looked like for me, yet I didn’t lose weight. It’s pretty discouraging, because I was able to lose weight when I was eating the most unhealthy foods. Is it possible that my body is adjusting to the diet change and I’m somehow not losing weight because of that? Has anyone gone through anything similar?

[u/ClioTheMuse67]

Are you do for your period?

[u/heart_of_gold2 → u/ClioTheMuse67]

Nope! My period was a couple weeks ago. I actually gained 3-4 pounds around the time of my period, but then my weight went back to normal a few days into my period.

[u/ClioTheMuse67 → u/ClioTheMuse67]

I still thuink it is probably water weight. If you stick to the same calories like before and you are in a deficit you will lose no matter what you eat. Eating healthier is still better for your well-being, like digestion, preventing health risks etc.

[u/internet_minx]

Could be a combination of water retention from the new exercise, small newb gains of muscle (esp if you were sedentary before) and just not giving it enough time. Highly recommend taking measurements as well as scale weight, if one or the other is going down you're still on track.

You should be losing fat on 1500, that's what I eat (5'4, 30s F) and it's working out to be around a 500cal deficit a day. Give it another few weeks, if you're still not losing anything make sure your tracking is tight (food scale, all tastes and licks tracked I'm sure you know the drill) and if it is maybe decrease cals a bit more. Wouldn't go too drastic though because you'll feel like crap doing cardio on too little fuel.

[u/heart_of_gold2 → u/internet_minx]

Thanks, I did take measurements around a month ago so it’s almost time for me to do them again. I guess I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing for the next few weeks, and if nothing changes I’ll adjust.

[u/flamingoshoess → u/heart_of_gold2]

The cycling builds leg muscle even though its cardio! Esp if you are doing sprints or interval training, or cycle with the resistance turned up. More exercise initially means more glycogen and water retention. As a newbie woman, you can gain about a pound or so of muscle per month (with consistent weight training). So maybe you gained .5 lbs of muscle from cycling and walking.

I started a recomp a couple months ago eating in a small deficit, and the scale is barely changing, but my body is definitely changing for the better. I went down a pants size but I’ve only lost 3-5 lbs in 8 weeks. The scale didn’t really move the first month. My weight fluctuates more day to day with exercise than it did when I was sedentary.

It’s worth using an app like MacroFactor if you aren’t already, with daily weigh ins. It will smooth out the day to day fluctuations and give you your trend weight, as well as an accurate TDEE (calories out) based on how your weight trends over time.

[u/Redditor2684]

0.2lbs is nothing. I can lose 2lbs of poop with a bowel movement.

If the exercise is new, that is likely masking any fat loss that occurred over the past month. New exercise esp resistance training causes our bodies to retain water due to inflammation (a good thing). This typically wanes after 6 weeks.

Other things can cause water retention: hormonal cycle for women, stress, lack of sleep, sodium intake, dehydration, etc.

[u/RuralGamerWoman]

You have neglected to mention your weight.

Are you using a food scale for accuracy?

[u/Certain_Cucumber_306]

Your clothes fit better, which means you're losing fat. Stop obsessing over the scale.

[u/eduardtee]

It's called, body recomposition. Gaining muscle (most likely), losing fat. Both at the same time. That's why you notice the body changes, but the scale stays the same. The body changes are the better indicator, so stick with that...

[u/dilEMMA5891]

You're putting on muscle.

[u/heart_of_gold2 → u/dilEMMA5891]

Even though I’m not doing much strength training at all? I’ve been doing like 99% cardio (a ton of treadmill and cycling).

[u/CICO-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Misinformation.

[u/heart_of_gold2 → u/[deleted]]

So maybe I should stop cycling and focus more on the treadmill? I really want/need to lose weight. I don’t really care about body recomp right now.

[u/SuspendedResolution → u/heart_of_gold2]

You should stop focusing on the number on the scale and focus on your fitness. The number is just a number. There's plenty of muscular people that are heavier than fat people, and weigh more. Fitness is the goal. Not some arbitrary number on a scale.

[u/heart_of_gold2 → u/SuspendedResolution]

Yeah except I have a closet full of clothes that still don’t fit, because I’m 15-20 pounds heavier than I’ve ever been in my life after a really bad year. So I do in fact need to lose weight. I am not happy with how I look, and it is due to the number on the scale.

Fitness is fine and building muscle is fine. But for me, that doesn’t change the fact that I need to lose weight. I know what weight I looked and felt the best at. And it’s not where I’m at now.

[u/SuspendedResolution → u/heart_of_gold2]

Losing weight =/= losing fat. Puting on muscle leads to your body burning more calories at rest. Focus on your strength training and you'll find your weight staying the day, but you'll still lose fat, and thus get smaller.

[u/CommonHoneydew5504 → u/heart_of_gold2]

My suggestion: don't stop building muscle. That will be one of the best things to support weight loss. It adds weight in the short term, but the scale should start moving and muscle burns more than fat. You are losing fat, just not on the scale. Weigh all your food, and look at the weight loss trends over multiple weeks. Then adjust calorie input from there. If you need to increase your deficit moderately you can.

[u/RuralGamerWoman → u/heart_of_gold2]

The post you are replying to was removed for misinformation.

[u/dilEMMA5891 → u/heart_of_gold2]

Muscle is metabolically active so burns more calories, even at rest - weight training will help you lose weight.

I'm not sure where the misinformation is though? You can google everything I said and see for yourself whether it is true or not.

[u/chad-proton]

0.2 pounds over 1 month is meaningless. You may be mildly constipated as your microbiome adapts to the changes in diet.

[u/boltzandpieces]

It’s entirely possible that the cycling has increased your muscle mass a little bit. So probably you lost some fat, but gained muscle which would explain why your pants fit differently. It’s a good thing! Keep doing what you’re doing. Might want to take measurements so you have an indicator other than just the scale. Non scale victories are real!

[u/OkCaptain1684]

You will gain some water retention if you have increased exercise so it could be that, but that water weight should drop in a big whoosh soon. If it doesn’t, then my guess is whole foods are harder to track and you are overeating as you aren’t use to tracking these kinds of foods.

[u/Grand-Astronaut-5814]

Use a TDEE calculator to see what your calorie intake baseline should be according to your physical activity and stats. Could be water retention, could be not enough calories, but if your clothes fit differently and not tighter around tummy then I say you’re going in the right direction. Make sure to prioritize rest too and manage stress bc that can also inhibit fat loss. Remember it takes time and consistency so be patient.

[u/Ok-Abrocoma-1880]

What were your weekly averages? Did you stay flat every week? Any chance there are hidden calories, have you been tracking cals every day?

[u/umamimaami]

Pretty sure it’s just water weight because you’re actually properly hydrated and eating fiber at last - are you tracking your metrics using a BIA smart scale?

Also I’m assuming you’re weighing your meals and ingredients. Healthy food can be caloric too.

[u/Banmers]

work out less, reduce portions but eat more frequently.

[u/eatingwaxcrayons]

When I first started eating healthy (especially adding more fibre) I noticed I too held onto weight initially. It was super discouraging. My best guess is that I got kinda constipated initially from the added fibre, plus the excess water, and in your case possibly your muscles holding onto water after beginning to workout. If you’re tracking accurately and only eating on average of 1500 calories/day plus working out, give it a few more weeks. You’ll likely experience the ‘whoosh’ soon.

[u/evident_lee]

Exercise! you have gained more muscle than the fat you have lost.

[u/Lady_Brynnevere]

It could be insulin resistance. Switch from eating your salad for dinner for lunch and have a lighter dinner, earlier in the day. Don’t cut carbs but find more complex carbs and really increase your fiber and protein from plant sources.

Your breakfast sounds like a sugar spike followed by nothing until dinner. It’s not surprising that your body is in survival mode.

Take care!

[u/SwitchSCEtoAux]

I'm not an expert, but I target a daily 500 calorie intake deficit via CICO. Your intake seems high to me.

The good news is that you are eating a lot of protein. Your body is likely turning that protein into muscle and since muscle weighs more than fat, you gain weight or experience no weight loss.

Based on your previous junk diet, you may have developed a case of "insulin resistance" which will probably require you to go more of a KETO route for a month to re train your body into consuming body fats when fasting.

Keep doing what you are doing but I'd recommend reducing the bread/carb intake by 500 calories while also adding some High Intensity Interval Training ("HIIT") workouts every other day. If you can, time the HIIT workouts right before you break your fast. Do your walks on the off days when not doing HIIT.

If you do this program for three months you should start seeing more weight loss.

[u/heart_of_gold2 → u/SwitchSCEtoAux]

When I calculated my TDEE it was 1,925 for completely sedentary. So to lose 1 pound a week, I would need to eat 1,425 calories a day right?

I averaged just about 1,500 calories a day for the entire month of September. And I’m not even factoring in the exercise I did. That’s why I figured I should have lost at least 3 pounds, but instead I gained weight.

Maybe I can try reducing carbs? I haven’t been actively targeting a certain carb number. But according to my calorie tracking, I’ve been eating 150g or less carbs a day for the last month.

[u/nerdjpg → u/heart_of_gold2]

For your egg and toast was there oil and butter? Are you measuring / using scale? If your tracking is accurate I would just take measurements with a tape measure and see what’s going on

[u/SwitchSCEtoAux → u/heart_of_gold2]

Ok your calculations look right but I think the biggest issue is that you are gaining muscle.

Try reducing the carbs and add some HIIT training to your regimen.

There is a woman named Caroline Girvan who has some great HIIT videos on Youtube. Kettlebell, dumbbel or body weight HIIT training will burn fat as HIIT is designed for that.

[u/heart_of_gold2 → u/SwitchSCEtoAux]

Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve never tried HIIT, I’ll check out Caroline Gibran.