DanielaND2017's Journal, 11 May 17

The number one mistake I see people make in this community is trying to starve themselves. I am not saying that is what you are doing cause I don't know your stats. But look into that. A caloric deficit of more than 700cals are extreme and will lead to slowed weight loss and cravings and yoyo-ing(I just made up that word). The second most often made mistake is not tracking food properly and consistently every single day. If you don't track correctly you will never be able to identify fault points in your diet.  

The losses you see in your 1st week is mostly water loss. Fat cells contain water in them and the body sheds this water from each cell before burning up that fat cell for energy when you are in a calorie deficit and the body needs to switch to fat for energy. The average weekly weight loss can vary for people depending on how much bodyfat they have. Tell us more about what your plan is to achieve your weight loss so we can advise better. Also keep in mind that weight loss and fat loss are two different things. Sometimes you can even get heavier yet still be losing fat due to factors like water retention. 

Do your weigh in at least se7en days apart. So that when day 14 arrives you should see a difference but 3 days after your first week is unrealistic and harmful. Effectively keep your weigh in the same time for every week and make sure you eat the same ish meal you had the week before and throw some stools in them bowels, and lastly be flexible as well with your eating, less on certain days more on others but never exceed the total calorie count for the week.  

That is needed for fat loss  

Ya I agree that I shouldn't really be weighing myself every day but it's because I am curious. So just to be sure I understand how it work: the target calories that this app indicates i.e. 2100 calories is what I should consume to maintain weight? I am sticking to between 1400 and 1500 calories a day. So in my head I must surely lose some weight in week 2. The strange thing is that by the end of week 1 I was 4.9 down and then the following day I was .7 up and have been that way ever since. I am now day 4 into week 2. I don't exercise at all. For now I don't have the time for it and I feel like when I am a bit "lighter" I might be inspired to start exercising but I do want to lose 10kg first. My daily diet is consisting of the following: Breakfast: full cream yoghurt woolworths(150g) Snack: boiled egg Snack: packet sweet potato chips (woolies) Lunch: home made veg soup 500ml Snack: yoghurt coated rice cakes (woolies) Dinner: meat/fish and veg About 3 cups of coffee through out the day. Not much water but working on that. Basically this is it. Is there something that is obvious in my diet that I should change? 

Aim for a minimum of 2 liters of water per day. Drinking water may be the most important piece to the weight loss puzzle. ... The process of burning calories requires an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently and water helps the body metabolize and burn fat. 

The first week will be water loss. The fact that you are consuming so little calories your body stores all your food because it's entering a starvation mode. It naturally thinks that food is scarce. You need to feed your body every 2 hours for it to know that you will be feeding it on a regular basis. I do this by dividing my meals in two. you will never be able to lose weight on a daily basis. I also weigh myself daily and to be honest it gets me more down than excited. You should add exercising into your schedule. You cannot expect a change in your body if you don't make a change in your life. Even if it's just walking 3-4 times a week for 20 minutes.  

Ok there's some confusion and misconceptions here. Firstly, let me state that I've lost over 35kg since joining FatSecret and have reduced my jeans size from a size 46 to a size 38. I'm stating this to show that I'm not just sharing stuff I read about but stuff from my actual experiences and knowledge acquired along the way. When it comes to weight, the scale is a liar!!! Weight is made up of your body fat + water + lean tissue + bones + organs + blood + waste which when all added up gives you total weight. Your weight can go up and down daily and most people get fooled by their amount of water weight going up and down and think it means they are losing fat. For this reason we need to confine the weight into a method that makes more sense. I personally weigh myself everyday for curiosity but I only record my Thursday weight as my official weight and I compare this weight with the previous Thursday weight for a weekly comparison. Secondly, Jane is 100% right about water! You need to drink at least 2L of it as it is a key ingredient of weight/fat loss. Thirdly, That entire story about starvation mode is a myth! You will have to go for over a week of not eating food for your body to even get into starvation mode. When you eat below your RDI, your body will feed on its bodyfat for the calories it needs but you didnt give it via your daily food intake. For example, if your RDI is 2000 calories and you only ate 1500 calories, your body will break down your bodyfat(which is stored food when you used to eat excess calories in a day) and use 500 calories of bodyfat to compensate for the calorie deficit in your food intake. There are various methods of weight/fat loss. You can try just staying under your RDI and it can work up to a certain point but then eventually you need to pay attention to your macros(amounts of protein, fat, carbs) that you consume daily. Some people choose to follow a low carb lifestyle such as banting, atkins, ketogenic diets, etc. That works. Some of us find those to be too strict and have found that we can manage a fasting lifestyle much easier. There's tons of research now on such lifestyles and you just need to try them and see what works for you. I have lost my 35kg without giving up burgers, rice, bread, potatoes, chocs, pizza, pasta, cakes, junkfood, etc. But there will come a time where I will reduce the amounts of those foods to get better results. If you want to read up about a fasting lifestyle go to www.thefastdiet.co.uk and also watch a documentary done by Dr Mike Mosley(google his name) and Jason Fung. I find the best combination for me was to add the rules of Intermittent Fasting with the rules of the 5:2(4:3) Fast Diet. Many people have different opinions on whats the best way to go through this journey but its up to u to find what is best for u to do and maintain. By the way, Exercise is only 10% of the work in trying to lose fat. I did the same thing as you by losing 10kg 1st just by getting my eating right then going to gym. I have not been to gym for the last 7 months and still lose. Hope my post helps :) 

makes sense to me...... 

Thanks guys! I'll keep doing what I am doing but will work on the water drinking and see what happens. 

i did a graph of my weight loss of 12 kgs over 4 months. thats 3 kilos per month and 0.75kg a week and 0.1kg a day or 100 grams+/- of weight if we assume that its fat loss due waist size reduction from 110 to 95cm , then its safe to say that 100 grams of fat equals 900 calories of energy that your body has used plus your daily additional RDI what ever it may be . mine may be 1000kcal on fasted days which equals 1900kcal and 2900kcal on non fasted days .also if you lower your carb intake you automatically lose water and salt which is extremely important if your are active . to much much water also strips away even more sodium causing a myriad of other problems . do your homework , find what works , question everything and remember carbs is not the enemy lack of discipline, food addictions and bad choices are . 

detoxing?