Weight Fluctuations (How does one know it's actual weight loss?)

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minties82 wrote: »

Personally I don't know how you guys could just relax for so long with such a static weight? It sounds like the OP is maintaining.

How much of a variation should there be, you think?

Oh gosh, I hope not! Lol

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KrunchyMama wrote: »

I use Libra (same idea as Happy Scale). I log my weight every day, and even though I thought I was maintaining (bouncing between 177-179), I was actually going down, but only at an overall rate of 0.2 lbs per week.

Aaaah interesting!

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Mr_Knight wrote: »

It looks like you've gone nowhere for a month. Looking through your diary, I'm not really what is being weighted, what is by volume, what is guesstimated. Eg, there was an entry for 0.02xxx servings of bread. What did you mean by that?

I've never had a stall longer than ~10 days that didn't turn out to highlight a mistake in my logging. At a month, you're outside the typical "it's not linear" envelope, and it really does sound like you're eating at maintenance (ie, more than you think). If it were me, I'd be taking an extremely close look at my logging practises.

Good luck! :drinker:

It means I cut out a tiny piece of bread, weighed it, divided what is by serving size and logged it. I enter stuff like that because I know the cals can make a difference. On my phone, it might show up as, say 1/40, not 0.02****. I'm quite careful with the whole weighing and logging. I try not to estimate when possible. I even measure and log my recipes in the Recipe Builder.

How do you know you're stalling though? That's what I wonder. Is it when you have two days in a row of the same weight? Three? Four? I was at 156.6 (second lowest) a couple of times. Then up to 158, then down to 157. One time the scale read 155, but I don't count it because when I stepped on the scale again, the number changed lol (I generally step 3 times).

I'll certainly keep a closer look at my logging and be extra extra accurate. I have to be since I'm eating so close to maintenance.

Thanks!

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MKEgal wrote: »

number wrote:

if you're maintaining at 158 with exercise and cutting calories it could just be that you're putting on some muscle.

1 - It's hard for women to build muscle.
2 - It's nearly impossible for anyone to build muscle while eating at a calorie deficit.
I'm thrilled that this calculator says that
I've gained 4 lb of lean body mass while losing over 80 lb of fat. I think it's measurement error, and
have probably only maintained LBM, but I'm perfectly happy with that. At least I haven't lost any
appreciable amount.

.

number wrote:

Also try cutting your daily calories by 100 which is equal to 700 calories a week
and should net you about a pound loss or more in a month.

700 cal/week x 4 weeks/month = 2800 cal/month
1 lb is about 3500 calories


At 5'3", 31yo, & currently 156 lb, this calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine shows that to
maintain your weight you should eat 1407 cal/day if you're inactive. So cut 250 cal/day from that
(1150) to lose 0.5 lb/week. You're short enough that it's probably not going to hurt you to be that
low. That calculator also tells how many servings of the food groups you should eat.

I generally go with the "inactive" setting because it is the most conservative on calories. I probably use
more than that, but I also probably eat more than I log because I don't use a scale & rarely actually
measure volume. The errors cancel out.

And with only 30 lb to lose, it's going to be slow. (That's where I'm stuck right now. Frustrating.)
If you're aiming for a healthy BMI, being 135 would put you at 24.0 & you'd need 1312 cal/day to
maintain if you are inactive.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

Oh those are depressing numbers!
Fortunately I'm not inactive.

I might be off on my logging, as suggested. Or I might just need to be patient and give it more time, as suggested as well. It won't hurt to do both.

MysticRealm

I'm 5'4, 154lbs, and 28. I eat an average of 1700 cals and am losing weight nicely. I do about 5 workouts a week (yoga and running mostly, planning to add in lifting) and work a standing job as well as ride my horse generally 4-5 times a week.

Uselessly_Irrelevant

I'm about the same height & weight (5'4" - 161lb atm) and my weight loss is going at about the same pace as yours. Here's what mine looks like over the same time period as yours. 165 at the start of the month, low was today at 161, but I will not be at all surprised if it jumps up to 163+ tomorrow. I know it's frustrating to have such slow losses, but at least it's a downward trend! Good luck