How does my body defy physics?

If you eat 500 calories less than what you need to maintain, per day, in 7 days thats 3500 calories which equals a freakin pound.  I ate 4620 less for the week and everaged about 660 a day less........and that doesn't include my weightlifting 3 days, thats atleast a pound.......why doesn't it show a pound on the scale.  One pound shoudl be gone.  The whole reason I can do this calorie thing, and this program on here is because it HAS to work........well then whats the problem?  How can it have not worked for me????

If you've been lifting weights, you've probably gained a little muscle. Give it some time. It WILL work!!

Also, make sure ALL your calories are accounted for (even condiments) and make sure you have the correct burn rate. If you give your stats, people can double check it for you.

Your body is not a simple system. First of all, almost all of the numbers you use.. from the caloric content of your food to your metabolism.. that's all estimates. Some better than others. Secondly, your body is so immensely complex that often eating less doesn't necessarily mean you lose more. Sometimes you actually HAVE lost some and gained some and it's.. impossible to tell.

That's why the green line is in the graph posts. It represents the trend your body takes over time. If it points down, you're probably losing weight. If it points up.. probably not. 

That's right. It's almost impossible to clearly see a 1 lb lost over a week's time. Your body weight can fluctuate by more than that in the course of a DAY.

Hkellick is right that the best way to know if you're losing for sure is to look at the trend. But in order for the trend to be accurate you should weigh in more often.

What everyone else already said... the body is a complex system.

Fluctuating water weight plays a huge part in this too. Take a bottle of water and weigh it on your scale, you'll see it is not insignificant.

The body is composed of lean mass, and fat. Fat is what you are trying to get rid of, correct? Lean mass includes not just muscle but also water, bone, and blood. Then there's also the contents of your stomach and bowels - what you eat, in various stages of digestion.

When I first started dieting and exercising, the weight loss shown on the scale was very stubborn, and didn't add up either. I wasn't doing weight lifting - I was just going from highly inactive, unfit and sedentary to walking an hour a day. I figured that my body was building a fitter, fat-burning machine. I figured I was gaining:

1) denser bones, to support the impact of walking;

2) more blood capillaries and increased blood volume, to bring more blood to my muscles during exercise;

3) stronger muscles, including a stronger heart.

I also knew about the glycogen storage effect, which you might want to research yourself. Apparently, when you do cardio or weight train, your muscles draw their energy from the glycogen they've stored. It's quicker and more efficient than tapping into your body fat.... think of it like the difference between kindling and logs, when you are starting a fire in the fireplace. The "logs" are your body fat. They don't light all that easily. The "kindling" is the glycogen (or circulating glucose from the most recent meal you ate)... this is necessary to get the logs started.  

To turn the glycogen into glucose, your muscles need water. So they store something like 4 parts water to every 1 part glycogen. That's A LOT of water!

So if you're exercising - particularly doing weight-bearing exercises (which lifting is) - you will have water fluctuations because of this effect. It is very likely you HAVE lost a 1 lb of fat this past week, but you can't see it on the scale yet because your body is storing 1 extra lb of water. But this really isn't the same as the type of bloat you get with your period or too much sodium, so don't worry about it. It's the desireable kind of weight: it's lean mass! And the more lean mass you have, the more calories you burn, even just sleeping.

My doctor also says that as you drop weight, you may experience electrolyte shifts because the body has to shift around its water levels. I don't know a lot about this, but it seems that the body may hold on to more water than it needs and then drops it later.. which may be why I initially saw very little weight loss, and then a few months into it, I suddenly dropped a lot of weight. That's when the "math" finally caught up and my expected weight loss finally matched what I was seeing on the scale. In the meantime, while waiting for that, I *did* lose substantial inches, clothes fit looser, etc.

One last thing, since you're female: there's also the hormonal effect. Click on my profile, and you'll see my chart where I graphed my scale weight against time of monthly cycle. Because of this effect, one week's worth of data is not enough to conclude that it's not working. Can you hang in there a full 30 days? The picture may be much clearer by then.

This happened to me when I got closer and closer to my goal weight.  I had a 500 calorie defecit every day...for months.  Seriously.  I look back through my food log books and I think I spend 3-4 months at the same weight.   How that happened is beyond me.   It was super frustrating.  I went from walking, to running, to finally working out at the gym.  My weight is pretty much still the same.  I gave up trying to have a 500 calorie defecit.  I slowly started eating more, and I'm in maintenance now.  I figured that I was gaining muscle, and slowly loosing fat, and hence reason why the numbers weren't moving.  When I look at myself now, I KNOW I am more lean and muscular, yet my weight has gone UP a few pounds.

Thanks for all the info!  Some of the things I had heard before, but some I had not, and it always helps to hear something new to keep a different focus other than the losing weight.......I guess I just feel like everything I try is always the same result - no weight loss.  I have been working out for 9 weeks, my clothes still fit the same, and I just started this calorie counting program, because after 8 months of WW and working out, I only lost 17 pounds.......and then South Beach and working out, I gained weight, and then went back to WW, working out harder, thinking it would be better, and gained 15 pounds in 9 weeks......Then I gave up for a few months, now I am back working out , 9th week, and started this eating program.  I really hate weighing on the scale, and I have to for this program, because it depresses me so much.  It puts all those horrible negatives in my head, that I am trying so hard to shut out.....It just sucks.  I am going to stick with it.  I have come this far working out, and have no cravings, as well as have cut out my table salt.  Something has got to give soon.  Thanks for the support and hearing me out.  I really really appreciate it.

You would probably feel better if you did actual measurements with tape measure on your body then going by what the scale says.  Because like someone else said- you are probably gaining muscle and muscle weighs more than fat but it takes up less space then fat- so while you may still be at the same scale weight- you are probably leaner.  I'll bet you've lost inches... also keep in mind that if you are weight lifting and gaining muscle that muscle also burns more than fat so you may actually need to eat more quality calories otherwise your body is not going to think that you are eating enough and will in fact hold onto every calorie that you take in... does this make sense?  I know it is frusterating but try to just take things in perspective and tell yourself that you are eating and working out to stay healthy and expand your life span...

Thanks Jen,

You are right, I should measure myself, and then I can look for the inches......and I am healthy......and am gettign healthier, the most important thing, which is soooooo hard to look at.Thank you.....

I agree with jen. Don't obsess about the pounds because it will frustrate you in the beginning. Measure your waist, hips, and thighs and I think it will give you more of a satisfying result. I am very slowly losing actual lbs but noticably am seeing results in inches lost. I think of it this way...I could weigh 500 lbs for all I care but if I am looking better I am happy. Also try looking at a monthly average of your lbs lost because there is so must fluctuation from the day to day and week to week.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as kellahhh.   I had lost 37 pounds over the course of 6 months, now for the last month and a half, I can't seem to lose at all.  I will loose a pound, then put it right back on.  I am 48, 189 pounds.  I work out every morning for 20 to 30 minutes, situps, push-ups, stretching.  Then I walk./jog for at least a half hour at night.  I have an office job but I'm still up and walking around most of the day.  I have been really watching my calories trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.  I have stayed  between 1200 and 1500 cal. per day.  I had one day this week that I was around 1700 but the grade was good.  I eat very little sodium or fats but lots of fruits and veggies.  I know that I'm losing inches but that has even slowed down.  

I just can't figure it out but I don't want to give up.  I have gotten to the point that I really feel like crap when I don't excercise. 

I would appreciate any ideas. 

I had never heard that the muscle build would cause your body to hold more water.  That is interesting. 

know what happened to me this week? i hadn't lost anything for two or three weeks, and then this week i lost three pounds in two days. who knows why? but it is equivalent to a pound a week. so be patient...don't you feel better from eating better and working out? savor that!

 

:-)