Thoughts please
moodyfeesh14
Posts: 811 Member
Help! please mfp friends:
So I am really struggling with something, I recently decreased my calories by 150kcal (6wks ago) because I wasn't losing very fast at my old amount and after reassessing on mfp with my new weight that is what it came up with. Well after 10 days of a gain and not budging up or down on the scale I decided to test something out and see what happened because I was wondering if this happening in the past was a fluke or not. I have found that after a week or two of eating at calories really well if I don't decrease or actually increase that if I eat more i.e. over my calories considerably I mean 400-500kcal over I get a big woosh like 4 to 5lbs. I am wondering if anyone has any insights as to why this is happening or if it happens to others? The woosh stays off too until the next time I post a gain for 10 days i.e. day 1 295lbs day 2-15 301lbs day 16 after eating more 297lbs day 17 292 lbs day 23 291lbs day 30 290lbs day 36-48 296lbs day 37 after eatng more 294lbs day 38 after eating more 288lbs This really messes with me psychologically because mathematically I should be eating at my calories and losing and I am worried that the scale change will be an excuse to eat more and I am terrified to have a true gain back. ANY thoughts would be helpful thanks!
Does this correlate at all to our PCOS or Insulin resistance that anyone knows of?
So I am really struggling with something, I recently decreased my calories by 150kcal (6wks ago) because I wasn't losing very fast at my old amount and after reassessing on mfp with my new weight that is what it came up with. Well after 10 days of a gain and not budging up or down on the scale I decided to test something out and see what happened because I was wondering if this happening in the past was a fluke or not. I have found that after a week or two of eating at calories really well if I don't decrease or actually increase that if I eat more i.e. over my calories considerably I mean 400-500kcal over I get a big woosh like 4 to 5lbs. I am wondering if anyone has any insights as to why this is happening or if it happens to others? The woosh stays off too until the next time I post a gain for 10 days i.e. day 1 295lbs day 2-15 301lbs day 16 after eating more 297lbs day 17 292 lbs day 23 291lbs day 30 290lbs day 36-48 296lbs day 37 after eatng more 294lbs day 38 after eating more 288lbs This really messes with me psychologically because mathematically I should be eating at my calories and losing and I am worried that the scale change will be an excuse to eat more and I am terrified to have a true gain back. ANY thoughts would be helpful thanks!
Does this correlate at all to our PCOS or Insulin resistance that anyone knows of?
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Replies
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My personal experience is that folks generally have two caloric ranges at which they lose weight, one extremely restricted and generally slowing the metabolism - this is the one most folks know really well - "not losing weight? drop your calories!" The other is generally 500 or so calories (up to 1500 calories for some folks) above the restricted one. It goes along with the theory of eat more, boost your metabolism, weigh less.
The simple fact is, if you are losing at the current program, what exactly are you questioning? The why? The science? To me, deficits should be looked at on a 7-14 day average. One day is not the end of anything. I personally don't even really track calories. It is such a flawed science. I am relearning how to eat to actual hunger.
I also find that women, since we have that lovely monthly hormone cycle, tend to lose in "whooshes" anyway. We might not lose all month, then the week after "Aunt Flo," we have a whoosh that represents the monthly balance of our actions. They say that the scale, aside from obvious water retention, reflects what you did 2 weeks ago, not 2 days ago, etc.
Also, I will go against the current popular notion that IIFYM works - and it does, but only if you set up your macros for your specific health issues. Basic "standard" macros do nor work for everyone, and particularly they generally don't work for anyone with a damaged metabolism or hormonal issues - i.e., that is generally nearly every single person with either PCOS or IR, much less both! What I mean is that I can eat 500-1000 calories MORE on a low carb plan than I can on a high carb plan and still lose weight. So if I am eating 50% of my food from carbs, I have to restrict my calories in order to lose weight. But if I am eating 5-10% of my food as carbs, I generally don't have to restrict myself beyond common reason on the calorie side. I have a damaged metabolism. I have PCOS, suffer IR, have hypothyroidism, have low stomach acid, had my gallbladder removed, and probably a dozen other things I'm forgetting. Because of that, I have to eat a specific way to support my health.
And frankly, when it comes down to the wire, I'd rather lose fat and inches than pounds on the scale any day...which is what is currently happening for me, due to a ridiculous number of factors...
Oh, and when I say that calories are a flawed science, I mean that nutritional labeling can have up to 20% errors across the board permissible. Food manufacturers often do this on purpose. They manipulate portion size to huge or tiny sizes to improve the appearance of a serving's numbers - this is why most cheese says 0 carbs, even though it is often 1 carb for 2 oz, but they can round down if they say the portion is 1 oz, etc. Same with heavy cream, and all manner of foods. Add to that the notion that the calorie itself is created in a lab as far as creating values, but this doesn't take into account dozens of other factors in the body, and without hydrostatic or specific metabolic testing, we really don't know our true caloric needs/burns/etc. So it's all an estimate. So just choose a method, be consistent, and if you are losing weight, keep it up...
So, I kind of didn't understand 100% what you were asking - and I kind of hit upon a bunch of different things here... Let me know if I answered what you were looking for, etc.3 -
You definitely gave me some good starting points and I think part of it is that I have adapted for me and my body what is a low carb lifestyle my body is weird and goes into ketosis at a higher number of carbs than most people so I can probably eat more calories but they are more nutritionally dense for lack of a better term so I am still losing. Mostly I was frustrated because "mathematically" I should be losing 2lbs a week plus since I am still over 100lbs from my goal but when I restrict my calories that much I slow down and stop losing or gain. Which drives me crazy because it "mathematically" doesn't make sense and I am worried about getting too comfortable eating at a higher calorie count and slipping back into bad habits but with my current work schedule I find it hard to fit all my calories in. Reassurance and some insight is what I was looking for and you provided both thank you1
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Ok-- first of all, ditto to @KnitOrMiss 's mention of female hormone cycles. I have 2/4 weeks a month where my weight plateau's or goes up due to hormones & then I get the water "whoosh's"...It is totally due to ovulation week & menstruation (when I'm not preggers, like now. lol). I try to look at overall monthly trends when assessing how I'm doing, even though I keep up the daily weighing habit (due to scientific curiosity).
That being said, I do have a threshold of calories that if I eat below that, I lose weight slower. For me that is a floating range of around 1600-1700 calories. If I eat closer to the 1500 mark, no matter how low carb & how much I'm lifting/working out...the scale doesn't budge...for months. I also found that I did the best when losing weight, if I kindof flexed my calorie intake every day. Some days down 150kcal, some days up 300kcal, etc. It seemed like if I got overly repetitive in how much I ate & WHAT I ate (i.e. same meals multiple days in a row), my metabolism would just give me a big "screw you" & I'd stop losing.
Just other things to keep in mind.
I'm also a mathematics/science-driven individual... but to a certain degree, with PCOS you have to let go of that. Our bodies aren't "normal"...they are not going to follow "normal" logic with attempts at weight loss. For PCOS it's not purely calories-in/calories-out, but more a breakdown of what is consumed, when it's consumed, etc.
Hang in there
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"While you're doing arithmetic, your body is doing chemistry, physics, and calculus - and probably other high-level nonsense, too!"
I stole and modified this quote. We are doing the most basic of math, and our body is doing all kinds of complicated high level stuff. So it won't always make logical sense, because we can't possible comprehend it all.
Even people eating high levels of carbs create ketones overnight. Getting deep into nutritional ketosis and staying there can be difficult for some, but once fat adapted, I don't worry about staying at keto level all the time. For me, that is the win.
And what math says we will lose never works out because this is reality...
Best of luck continuing to adjust. I maintain that if we ever stop learning, that's when we die...2 -
Lol! My metabolism told me that, too. I had lost about 60 lbs in 9 months and I thought I had it all figured out. Then I slammed into a brick wall and it just stopped. For 7 more months I followed the exact same low carb diet and could not budge. I still had 60+ to go, so it wasn't like I was slowing down because I was close.aSearch4Me wrote: »my metabolism would just give me a big "screw you" & I'd stop losing.
After a long heart to heart with my metabolism, I realized the only thing really left to do (eating less was not an option) was to start exercising. This was hard for me psychologically--all I could imagine was walking into a gym and a bunch of body builders saying, "Hey, who let the old fat lady in?"
The reality was much different of course--my first day there, there were like a handful of other 'old fat ladies' and I felt immediately comfortable. The exercise felt great, though I had to start very slow.
So its been 8 weeks now and I've lost 25 lbs...so slightly more than 3lbs/week. But if you look at my MFP chart it flatlines for a few days, then drops, then flatlines, etc. even though I have not once cheated on diet or missed a day at the gym. I have been brutally consistent, but the weight loss hasn't. As Knitormiss said, you just have to look at a longer span than a day to see the truth.
If I were smart I would stop weighing in every day, but I can't stay away. There is some deep fear in me that if I do, I'll start gaining without realizing it. I think half the battle is with our minds.
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