Weight loss 3500 calories burned........1 lb

I'm confused how the whole losing weight thing works if I have a deficit in a day of 3500 I should automatically be down a pound right? so if I did enough exercise in one day to have that big a deficit or in 2 days I should be down at least a pound?

I did some serious exercise last week and the scale said I gained a pound when I felt sure that I had a deficit....why does it take time to see the number go down I'm obviously missing something.....

If you do enough exercise to lose a pound and don't lose a pound am I just way off on the amount I think I did?

I did 1:30 for 2 days and than 3 hours on the 3rd tons of exercise instead of losing anything I gained a pound....I'm confused

 

maybe you are building muscle? muscle can trick you into thinkin you are not losing weight when in reality you are losing fat and building muscle, which is great because muscle burns fat even when you are not active.

or it could be just water retention.

3500 calories does equal one pound but there are so many other factors in your weight that it's not a linear progression.  It could be water retention as Styl says, it could be timing of bowel movements or meals you ate recently, it could be muscle gain. You might also be overestimating how many calories you burned at exercise too.   My weight goes up and down all the time so I just focus on the trend not on each individual measurement...so long as it's downward I'm happy.

your right...i'm sure i just didn't really do as much as i thought and i probably ate too much...just frustrated I'm tired of being tired all the time and getting depressed all the time

I'm going to share something that I've seen others here on CC say that really resonated with me. Getting to be overweight/obese didn't happen overnight; it took awhile to pile on the weight, so it will take some time to lose it. Anything worthwhile takes time!

Save up and get a heart rate monitor for your work outs. It will give you a more accurate burn rate. It could also be that you burned too much and you body is just holding on to the cals that you ate. Having a deficit of around 500-1000 a day is much healthier than having 1500 +. Like Hotrebeccainmesa said it will take time.

I started June 10 at 264, this morning I weighed 234, down 30 pounds or 2.1 pounds a week.  Yesterday, I did my 500 calories on the treadmill at the YMCA, ate lightly, but gained a pound from the 233 I weighed the day before!  The important thing is the long term trend, at 2 pounds a week, this is going to take a while.  I weigh myself every day (not recommended by many) because it helps me mentally that I am sticking with the program.

2 pounds a week is an honest calorie deficit of 7,000 calories, or 1,000 calories per day.  At my age, height, weight and exercise activities, in rough numbers, I am burning 3,000 calories a day, so I must limit my food intake to 2,000 or less per day to make my goal of 2 pounds  a week.

Daily fluctuations - can be as much as 3 or 4 pounds (see below) depending on water weight retained, poop retention etc.  These can mask the underlying 2 pounds per week weight loss, but keep working at it, and over time, the underlying will be undeniable.

Burn and input numbers - you have to get these right.  I start with sedentary of 2,320 calories per day.  When I look at the activities log, I see that this is the equivalent of sleeping or lying down 24 hours a day!  So that's conservative.  I add in one hour of walking at 4.0mph to represent my YMCA workout, for 60 minutes.  Thats 528 calories burned (at my weight and sex) but my estimated daily burn only goes up like 431 calories, because it is "in place of" 97 calories I would burn anyway lying down.  Input numbers - make sure you account for EVERYTHING accurately, to stay below your goal of input calories.

Alcohol - I learned to my horror after I gained 4 pounds a few weeks ago at a bachelor party (6 beers, chips and dip etc) really causes water retention.  Of course it disappeared after 3 or 4 days, but I haven't imbibed since..

Your body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat per day. So there is a limit to how high a deficit you can carry, and still lose fat. What the others have said is true (overestimating burn, underestimating consumption, non-linear progress), but it is not a reasonable goal to try to have a 3500 daily deficit. It just isn't going to work.

Bring your daily deficit down to 500-1000 cal/day, and you'll see more consistent progress.

I imagine how frustrating that is...it happens to me,too...a lot

Just don't give up  stay on track

thanks alot for the replies and advice I know it can't happen....in my head taking off a good amount really fast but I keep getting in the mindset that if I don't see results I'm not doing anything so binge....

Last night I ate like 4 reeses 4 butterfinger the small ones...all because I didn't lose any weight in 4 days I'm so screwed up....:(

I'll try again I have to..right now I'm jobless and I told myself I would wait till I feel better after losing some weight to get that job...I can't wait forever.

I'm in a position I can stay without one for a decent amount of time but I don't want to...I'm tired of not having any disposable income.