weight stall/gain after starting to run

Marianna93637

I started here on November 23rd (Thanksgiving week) and by December 14th I lost 8 lbs. Since then I have only lost another .5 lbs.
I have been pretty much under or right at my calorie goals (1450 during the week, 1300 on the weekends and non-working days), except for Thanksgiving day and Christmas eve, but even on those days I only at 1800-2000, nothing crazy.

I made the following changes:
- I bought a scale and started weighing my food to be more accurate over 2 weeks ago
- My main form of exercising was taking long walks with my dog and hula hooping. (nothing before I started MFP)
- In the past week I bought running shoes and started running. It's not much but I have been making great improvement, from only being able to run one side of 1 block, to 1.5-2 miles off an on, run/walk, running totaling over a mile. I'm really enjoying, I'm sore, I know I'm looking better, my clothes fit better, etc
- I started working out with heavy ankle weights and dumbbells at home for over a week). I know it's not much but I feel it

I started with 184 lbs (I'm 5'8"), and now I'm at 175.5. My ideal weight, one that I can sustain on the long run is 145-149 lbs so I still have a long way to go.

Today I weighed myself and it showed 177 lbs. I know it's often said that running can cause water retention, but I always take a half water pill the night before I weigh myself (on average once a week), so I know the weight is not influenced by water weight.

So what is going on? I'm feeling discouraged right now, of course I'm not giving up, I'm continuing as before, but I'd like to know what's going on. One thing I know is that I need to drink more water. I thought by now I would have lost another 3-4 lbs.

Help!

_Waffle_

Your body is keeping an additional bit of hydration necessary for muscle repair, additional glycogen storage, and recovery from the workouts. While you might see an initial rise or stall in your weight loss this won't have a long term effect on your weight. It's not as if you'll keep holding on to more and more water the less you weigh. The water retention will remain the same as long as you workout regularly and you'll see the scale moving again so long as you're eating under your calorie demand.

Cortneyrenee04

You've lost weight- congrats!

It hasn't been long enough to worry about stalling, so just keep going. When you start any new routine, you can expect to see a slow in your losses because your muscles hold water to repair them. Also know that you always lose the most weight in your first few weeks of lowering your calories and your loss will be different each week. (Weight also fluctuates throughout the month with your cycle.)

Are you happy with your calories? If so, that's great. Just asking because I'm 5'3" & 165 and eat around 1500-1600 and lose steadily. I try to eat as much as possible while losing so I can lower my calories when the losses slow.

Drink your water, ditch the pills, keep on running. Sounds like you're on the right track.

Marianna93637

Thank you!
I'm pretty happy with the calories, of course originally MFP suggested 1200 but I couldn't do it and I think it's too drastic for me. I couldn't do 1300, I increased it to 1450 on workdays. I'm a teacher, so I'm on my feet all the day, I hardly get to sit down, (so I think I probably burn a little more during the day) and by the time I get home I'm exhausted, and I didn't really want to go for a walk in dark, we only had a few hours of daylight.
Now I'm on winterbreak so 1300 calories seem ok, also I can exercise whenever I want.

I thought about fluctuating my calorie goals, I know bodybuilders do that sometimes, one day they increase their calorie intake and then go back down, and it adds to greater results. I was thinking to maybe increase to 1500 for one week, then go back to 1300, it might jumpstart things again, but I'm not sure.

So I will have water retention as long as I'm running? That doesn't sound so good
or is it just there initially?

I remember clearly, 10 years ago, I lost a lot of weight, went down to 138 lbs, which wasn't very healthy for me, came up to 142 lbs, and wanted to start getting in shape, so I started running. In 3 weeks I gained 7 lbs, but I know it wasn't only water, because I actually got bigger. Since then I had this phobia about running, that it might not actually help lose weight. Of course I know that's not true. I think back then what happened was I was eating more, I wasn't tracking calories, and probably thought I burned more calories with that little bit of running than I actually did. I didn't stick with it and the 7 lbs stayed.

Can someone look at my diary (I made it public) to maybe pin point things I might be doing wrong?

Unknown

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_Waffle_

Marianna93637 wrote: »

I thought about fluctuating my calorie goals, I know bodybuilders do that sometimes, one day they increase their calorie intake and then go back down, and it adds to greater results. I was thinking to maybe increase to 1500 for one week, then go back to 1300, it might jumpstart things again, but I'm not sure.

I have my lifestyle as sedentary even though I've been running over 40 miles a week. I add more calories on days that I run and just keep it at the base level on days that I don't. That makes more sense to me.

Marianna93637 wrote: »

So I will have water retention as long as I'm running? That doesn't sound so good
or is it just there initially?

You're focused on the weight of the bucket that's full of rocks and not the weight of the rocks in the bucket. The bucket is necessary for carrying the rocks. It is in of itself a non-factor in the weight you carry. If you want to weigh less, take rocks out of the bucket. Don't blame the bucket (life essential bodily fluctuations) for being overweight a few pounds. Blame the extra rocks in the bucket.

Marianna93637

the bucket / rocks theory makes a lot of sense never heard it explained that way. ok I'll focus on the rocks lol

Cortneyrenee04

I think it's good to learn about water weight and what makes you gain or lose it (like salty foods, hard/new work outs) but yes, it'll always be there. It helps me not freak out about rapid ups and downs on the scale.

About your diary- I didn't go back very far, but a lot of things are listed as servings instead of punces/grams. Are they all recipes you put in? If not, you don't know how much your serving size is vs the database entry serving size.

Entries like "deviled egg" for example, you should list individually as: egg, mustard, mayo, relish, etc (however you make yours). Unless you're just logging loosely on a random day like Christmas because we all have those days!

Marianna93637

Those foods that are servings are all my recipes. I logged everything as I made them. So deviled eggs included how many tablespoons of mayonnaise, etc, and then split into servings (1 egg). Or the way I made my soup is I measured how many bowls (the one I use to eat) of water I put in, and how many bowls of green beans and then split them up. Then when I fill up the bowl to eat I know it's one serving.

The way I log my recipes I weigh everything, the Greek salad included how many grams of feta cheese, how many cups of spinach, even the grams of the tomatoes.

Of course there is room for mistake but I try to be as accurate as I can.

Liftng4Lis

When starting a new exercise program, its normal to retain water.

Cortneyrenee04

That's awesome! That's something I'm trying to get better at, so I admire that! I was hoping that would be your answer but I find that's not usually the case. Wonderful job. I think you'll be very successful

Marianna93637

I actually really enjoyed cooking Christmas dinner this time, and not sure how, but I think measuring and logging the food into my recipes made it more enjoyable. It was good to know exactly what I will be eating, how much calories, how much fat, etc. Of course it's all approximate, nothing is 100 % accurate, but it's as close as I can get.

charlieandcarol

What kind of "water pill" are you taking? These can really mess around with your electrolytes and your fluid balance (and therefore your weight and not necessarily in the way you seem to want) even if you are only taking it once a week and especially if you don't clinically need the pill for things like renal failure or cardiac problems. I would consider not taking that pill, then your body can manage electrolytes and fluids in equilibrium without a random external factor (the water pill) pushing it out of whack.

A body with no medical conditions manages fluid and electrolytes in a way that is best for your health needs and can adjust itself minute to minute, why interfere with it?

Have you taken measurements, that might show changes when the scales are not?

StaciMarie1974

Weight loss is not as predictable as a bank account. When you write a check you can be pretty sure that the check will clear in 1-2 business days. Or a debit card transaction will deduct from available funds immediately. Our bodies are not that efficient. It may take days or weeks for what we do today to show results. If you're consistently eating at a deficit though, you should weigh less today than you did 30 days ago. As long as that trend holds steady, keep going as you are and trust the science. If the trend stalls, then assess where you can make changes.

rachellll98

Running is great! Even if it can contribute to water retention, it's good for heath and fitness for sure. I'd keep it up even if I felt like I'd weigh less without it.

Marianna93637

charlieandcarol wrote: »

What kind of "water pill" are you taking? These can really mess around with your electrolytes and your fluid balance (and therefore your weight and not necessarily in the way you seem to want) even if you are only taking it once a week and especially if you don't clinically need the pill for things like renal failure or cardiac problems. I would consider not taking that pill, then your body can manage electrolytes and fluids in equilibrium without a random external factor (the water pill) pushing it out of whack.

Have you taken measurements, that might show changes when the scales are not?

It's just regular water pills, but I can see your point, and that I probably don't need it. If water is retained for muscle repair I don't think water pills will help that anyways, so I'm gonna lay off of that lol.

I haven't taken measurements, but I have taken pictures when I started and now after I lost 8.5 lbs, even my face, and it shows. Today my jeans felt really big, it was obvious that I lost some inches.

Marianna93637

So how long until I start seeing the weight going down on the scale? I still have 30 lbs to lose so I know it has to start moving.

SLLRunner

Your new added exercise is causing you to hold water. As to how long it takes for the water retention to go down--who knows? All I can say is you are doing fantastic, so keep up the good work! Keep it up and you'll reach your goals.

ETA: stop taking water pills, they are not good for you. Also, when you take them the night before you weigh yourself you are trying to psych yourself out about the numbers on the scale.

Francl27

Is your period due anytime soon? It's very common for women to stall or gain weight before their period.

logg1e

What's a water pill?

Who was walking the dog before?

arussell134

Second the suggestion about the period and the suggestion about muscle repair. You are talking about less than two weeks (Dec 14 - today) and IMHO that's not enough time to declare a stall or even any sort of trend. I know it's said a LOT here, but stay the course, be patient. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if next week, say, you drop 3 pounds or something. (At least, this has been my experience with losing weight... it's just not linear!)

If you love running, don't give up on it! I adore running and thanks to being diligent with it, am now sitting a pound below my goal weight and the best shape of my life!!

Keep it up!

Marianna93637

logg1e: I was walking the dog before, but it was just a quick walk around the block, like 10 minutes and it wasn't every day (we have a pretty big backyard so it's not like he was without exercise) In the past month it's gone up to 45 minutes in the neighborhood, every day, minimum 20 minutes, and then started jogging for about 20-40 minutes.

Marianna93637

Francl27: no period is not due for a while I'm pretty sure this is due to what every one is saying here. I really never knew this would happen.

Marianna93637

I haven't given up, I just needed the encouragement to make sure I won't get down because of the numbers. I'm joining a gym tomorrow. Thursday night I went for a long jog/walk (longest so far, 2 miles and was able to jog over 1 mile, which is a lot for me), Friday I took a Zumba class, and a quick walk with the dog, yesterday, Saturday a long walk (knees were hurting from Zumba most likely so didn't want to overdo it), today I took a yoga class and went to the gym to do upper body. Tomorrow Zumba again, and probably a jog in the morning (I usually go at night, I have more energy, but I want to see what happens)

I haven't even thought about getting on that scale. I think I will take pictures next week and compare it to the ones I took 2 weeks ago

Marianna93637

I haven't given up, I just needed the encouragement to make sure I won't get down because of the numbers. I'm joining a gym tomorrow. Thursday night I went for a long jog/walk (longest so far, 2 miles and was able to jog over 1 mile, which is a lot for me), Friday I took a Zumba class, and a quick walk with the dog, yesterday, Saturday a long walk (knees were hurting from Zumba most likely so didn't want to overdo it), today I took a yoga class and went to the gym to do upper body. Tomorrow Zumba again, and probably a jog in the morning (I usually go at night, I have more energy, but I want to see what happens)

I haven't even thought about getting on that scale. I think I will take pictures next week and compare it to the ones I took 2 weeks ago

Marianna93637

Ok. I stepped on the scale out of curiosity, still show a weight gain, but I don't even care. I know it's water weight, I actually feel it

But I decided that I will use my old jeans as a way of measuring. I have a pair of jeans, slightly stretchy, I wore them, and they looked great on me about 20-25 lbs ago. A while ago I tried them on, I couldn't even pull them up on my hips. Today I tried them on, they come up all the way I just can't button them, there are about 4 inches missing.
Victory!!!
There's another pair, that I was able to wear at a higher weight, about 10-15 lbs ago. I put them on, they fit well and I can wear them again

Even though the scale has been discouraging, I didn't let it stop me. I've taken 2 Zumba classes so far, weekly yoga, I've been walking and running, and working out, and I joined a gym. I'm sore in different places every day and it feels good.

_Waffle_

Sounds like you're doing all the right things. Keep up the good work, and hit your calorie goals. It works.

sofaking6

Focus on how active you're becoming, how fit you're getting and how well you're eating. And on how those jeans fit.

LivingtheLeanDream

It sounds like you are doing great, getting into smaller sized jeans is a huge NSV.

You've been given some great advice, I would say keep on going and being active, weight loss will happen as will the fluctuations caused by water/monthly cycle...get to know your body and how it works - you are getting results ☺

I've had my issues on my weight loss journey when I've stalled for up to 6 weeks at a time. Changing my workouts helped also I upped water intake and was more vigilant in logging foods. I don't think you need to worry yet, you're doing fine.

2snakeswoman

Did you search for info about this before coming here? I remember reading a very interesting article about why runners don't lose weight, but I can't remember how to get to it. Basically human beings have had to go long distances to find food and/or escape from predators in our evolutionary past. If we all lost weight while doing that, most of us would have been starved to extinction by now.

_Waffle_

2snakeswoman wrote: »

Did you search for info about this before coming here? I remember reading a very interesting article about why runners don't lose weight, but I can't remember how to get to it. Basically human beings have had to go long distances to find food and/or escape from predators in our evolutionary past. If we all lost weight while doing that, most of us would have been starved to extinction by now.

It's not a secret. There's a very good reason why many of them don't lose weight.