Confused - am I eating too much?

ConfusedDieter

After starting with MyFitnesspal, the recommendation was that I should eat 1500 calories a day. I have been following that religiously for 4 days, buying frozen foods that had an exact calorie count on it. I have also incorporated walking for an hour each in the morning and evening. This morning, I weighed myself thinking my weight would finally be under 200 (it was 200 when I started and I really wanted to see it go down to 1 something. However, it was 201.

I was so upset and discouraged because even dieting is not helping me to lose weight so I feel like there is no hope that I will ever be at a healthy weight. So all day today I just ate a lot of junk food and didn't even bother counting the calories, since I feel like dieting is going to make me gain weight anyways.

So - anyone with experience - am I eating too much? Or what is going on here?

Ready2Rock206

FOUR days. It has been 4 days. Relax. Have some patience. If you're giving up after 4 days maybe you aren't really ready yet to lose the weight. When you're ready it will happen.

ccarluc99

I would see what you are at after a full week. If you are still the same weight I would lower your calorie intake. 1500 seems a little high. Always remember to weigh yourself at the same time of day each week. Your weigh fluctuates constantly throughout the day and week. Keep at it! we didn't put this weight on in a day and it will take time to come off. It is not a quick fix

elphie754

4 days is not long enough for anything. You have to be patient and give it longer.

That being said, even frozen foods can be wrong with their calorie count. Most frozen packages actually weight more than they say. They also tend to contain a lot of sodium which can also cause temporary water retention.

phrunch

First and foremost, congratulations on focusing on your intake for the past few days!

There are a few reasons you might have seen the scale go up. I would recommend only weighing yourself once a week, at the same time of the day. This will even out other variables that can make your weight fluctuate. The biggest thing is probably your salt intake. Frozen foods are normally really high in salt which can add a good amount of water weight. Make sure that you keep an eye on it and drink lots and lots of water each day to flush everything out.

Keep it up! You're doing great things for yourself right now.

ConfusedDieter

OK I will wait more time I guess...I know it's only been 4 days BUT I thought that it takes 3500 extra calories to gain 1 pound. I have not been going over the 1500 calories so how is that possible? I don't get it. So you think it might be sodium?

phrunch

ConfusedDieter wrote: »

OK I will wait more time I guess...I know it's only been 4 days BUT I thought that it takes 3500 extra calories to gain 1 pound. I have not been going over the 1500 calories so how is that possible? I don't get it. So you think it might be sodium?

Your weight can fluctuate several pounds per week based on how much water you're holding (or what you're wearing, or if you ate, or if you drank something). One pound is a small difference and really isn't something to worry about in a four day period.

Notaphase

Don't give up!
I'm averaging 1700 calories a day and I'm losing an average of a pound a week. Some weeks I gain a few pounds, some weeks I lose a few pounds but the average is a 1 pound loss. You have to give it time and you have to allow for some fluctuations in your weight. So many factors can affect the number on your scale (water, bloating, weight of the food in your digestive track, muscle gain e.t.c.). Once you decide to make this a lifetime commitment, a week won't matter much.

jemhh

ccarluc99 wrote: »

I would see what you are at after a full week. If you are still the same weight I would lower your calorie intake. 1500 seems a little high. Always remember to weigh yourself at the same time of day each week. Your weigh fluctuates constantly throughout the day and week. Keep at it! we didn't put this weight on in a day and it will take time to come off. It is not a quick fix

1500 is not high for a 200 lb woman of nearly any height.

OP, be patient. But yes, the sodium can make you retain more water than usual.

Gena575

A pint of plain water weighs 1lb. 2 cups. 16oz.

Look at your nutrition. If you're doing frozen meals I'd bet you're well over 2300mg. Also 2 hours of walking if that wasn't a previous habit can cause fluid retention.

Ditch the pre-made food unless you enjoy it. Drink plenty of water. Buy a food scale and eat the things you enjoy in quantities your calories allow. And give your body time to get over "wtf is she doing to me now?"

Redwineandmuscles

No you are not eating too much. Keep doing EXACTLY what you are doing (if you like your plan). As I lost weight the scale went up and down daily, but over two months the trend was down. Also, if you eat too much one day, it won't really make you gain a pound, even if the scale makes it seem like you did. Just pull up your socks and detour back to your plan again. You've got this.

ConfusedDieter

Redwineandmuscles wrote: »

No you are not eating too much. Keep doing EXACTLY what you are doing (if you like your plan). As I lost weight the scale went up and down daily, but over two months the trend was down. Also, if you eat too much one day, it won't really make you gain a pound, even if the scale makes it seem like you did. Just pull up your socks and detour back to your plan again. You've got this.

Thanks. Can anyone relate to how I'm feeling emotionally right now? I'm such a wreck. I woke up this morning feeling so optimistic, feeling like I was finally on my way to a healthy weight. My attitude was there is no deadline, as long as I am maintaining a caloric deficit every day. And I was totally crushed and shocked when I saw the weight go up because I thought it would be like 199.9 or something you know?

Bxqtie116

I totally understand how you feel, but 4 days isn't enough time to say your calorie reduction isn't working. Now if it's 2 months, then that's another story. I have lost and regained the same 3-4 lbs for 7 months. It took awhile to figure out what works for me. Not everyone loses weight as easily as most people. Just make sure to log all your food, eat back a small portion of your exercise calories and be mindful of your sodium intake. Too much sodium can make you retain water which can make the scale go up.

PAV8888

Ugh.
First things first.
Patience.
Second thing:
understanding your own weight.
Third thing:
Figuring out how much and what to eat.

Chapter 1:
Patience. You didn't get to where you are in one day. You shouldn't be trying to get out to the perfect you in one day either. There are a lot of reasons why this is a not so great idea.

Chapter 2:
You have an underlying weight level and an instantaneous scale number.

Your scale number is influenced by what you wear if anything, how much you pooped, the time of the day, whether you had food with a lot of sodium yesterday, whether your glycogen is depleted or not, whether your hormones are making you retain water, whether your muscles are retaining water to assist in the repair of micro-tears caused by exercise. Your scale number is also influenced by the position of the scale on the floor, the battery level of the scale, any dirt trapped under the scale sensors, whether the scale exhibits fake consistency and a host of other reasons.

Your underlying weight probably changes at a fraction of the speed that your scale weight can change (well it *Should* change at a fraction of the speed)

Solution?

Weigh daily at the same time and place using the same specific garments (or lack thereof), before you have eaten and after you've used the bathroom. Input the data into a free fitbit.com account which you connect to www.trendweight.com, www.weightgrapher.com and mfp (tell trendweight and weightgrapher that you want to maintain, turn off automated weight announcements on your MFP newsfeed). Or use an app such as happy scale on iphone.

Start thinking of your weight level as your weight. An alternative way to achieve something similar is to average out your weight every week and come up with your average weight per week. Fitbit does that for you. No device is necessary to get an account. I am sure they realize that using their app makes you more likely to buy one

Chapter 3:
See chapter 1. 1500 net is plenty low enough for most people to lose weight. Especially if accurately measured.

The aim of the game as far as I'm concerned is figuring out how to be the least miserable while achieving your goal of losing weight. Your mileage will vary and you should experiment.

Many people find that increasing protein to the level of 0.8g per lb of the top end of your normal weight range (or your current weight, whichever is lower), eating 25% of calories from fats (while minimizing saturated fats and transfats), and the rest from more complex carbs while making sure to eat 25g of fiber a day (female) or 38g of fiber a day (male)... is not a bad starting point.

Best of luck.

ETA: the above is not the only way, I am sure. But it is what I know from my n=1

Christine_72

ConfusedDieter wrote: »

Redwineandmuscles wrote: »

No you are not eating too much. Keep doing EXACTLY what you are doing (if you like your plan). As I lost weight the scale went up and down daily, but over two months the trend was down. Also, if you eat too much one day, it won't really make you gain a pound, even if the scale makes it seem like you did. Just pull up your socks and detour back to your plan again. You've got this.

Thanks. Can anyone relate to how I'm feeling emotionally right now? I'm such a wreck. I woke up this morning feeling so optimistic, feeling like I was finally on my way to a healthy weight. My attitude was there is no deadline, as long as I am maintaining a caloric deficit every day. And I was totally crushed and shocked when I saw the weight go up because I thought it would be like 199.9 or something you know?

I think many of us can relate to how you're feeling. You do everything right and the reward is seeing a lower number when you step on the scale, and it sucks when it doesn't show you what you want to see. I must have a dozen different looks of disgust, frustration and disappointment that come across my face when i see the scale number not move or go up lol But it is what it is, it would be so much easier to give up, but i want this weight loss, i want it baaad

Luckily for you, it's only been 4 days, so way too early to start panicking just yet. Some people don't start to lose until 4-6 weeks in and then poof, weight loss finally starts happening on a regular basis.

Keep doing what you're doing and be patient. Keep your logging tight and as accurate as possible, so you can remove any doubt that you're eating too much (more than 1500 calories), second guessing will do your head in.

ConfusedDieter

Christine_72 wrote: »

ConfusedDieter wrote: »

Redwineandmuscles wrote: »

No you are not eating too much. Keep doing EXACTLY what you are doing (if you like your plan). As I lost weight the scale went up and down daily, but over two months the trend was down. Also, if you eat too much one day, it won't really make you gain a pound, even if the scale makes it seem like you did. Just pull up your socks and detour back to your plan again. You've got this.

Thanks. Can anyone relate to how I'm feeling emotionally right now? I'm such a wreck. I woke up this morning feeling so optimistic, feeling like I was finally on my way to a healthy weight. My attitude was there is no deadline, as long as I am maintaining a caloric deficit every day. And I was totally crushed and shocked when I saw the weight go up because I thought it would be like 199.9 or something you know?

I think many of us can relate to how you're feeling. You do everything right and the reward is seeing a lower number when you step on the scale, and it sucks when it doesn't show you what you want to see. I must have a dozen different looks of disgust, frustration and disappointment that come across my face when i see the scale number not move or go up lol But it is what it is, it would be so much easier to give up, but i want this weight loss, i want it baaad

Luckily for you, it's only been 4 days, so way too early to start panicking just yet. Some people don't start to lose until 4-6 weeks in and then poof, weight loss finally starts happening on a regular basis.

Keep doing what you're doing and be patient. Keep your logging tight and as accurate as possible, so you can remove any doubt that you're eating too much (more than 1500 calories), second guessing will do your head in.

Thank you for understanding how I feel I admire you for keeping at it.

I just weighed myself again and my weight was literally 206 lb, I'm not joking. So I gained 5 lb in one day. I will admit I had a lot of junk food. However I went back and counted the calories of everything and it was 3,000 calories. I thought it took 3,500 calories OVEREATING to gain 1 pound. I can't do this any more. I keep gaining weight arbitrarily. Either that or there is something wrong with me and my metabolism is really low like 300 calories a day or something. I have had it. I tried to get to a healthy weight but my weight keeps going up arbitrarily.

malibu927

You need to give yourself some time. Four days isn't long enough to tell if things are working the way they should. And yeah, you did not gain five pounds of fat in one day. That's likely food weight plus excess water if you ate high in carbs/sodium.

Please take a look at this thread to get a better glimpse of what we're saying. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear. Patience is one of the necessities when it comes to losing weight.

elphie754

5 lbs is not unheard of, especially if you had a significant amount of sodium the day before.

Bearbo27

ccarluc99 wrote: »

I would see what you are at after a full week. If you are still the same weight I would lower your calorie intake. 1500 seems a little high. Always remember to weigh yourself at the same time of day each week. Your weigh fluctuates constantly throughout the day and week. Keep at it! we didn't put this weight on in a day and it will take time to come off. It is not a quick fix

Without knowing OP's stats, it is not possible to say 1500 sounds high. I am 5'3" and am losing at 1500-1700 calories.

OP I would keep it up and give it more time. I would also ditch the frozen food though and buy a food scale. Weigh everything and it will be accurate.

kommodevaran

Yes, you are eating too much, over time, when you don't stick to your diet for more than four days and overeat on the fifth.

Weight fluctuates. Your real weight is a range, not a number.

WinnieHue

Be patient and disciplined ! Come on..you can do it!