Seesaw weight

kengrace10

I have been able to maintain my weight for a little over a year now after losing 60 lbs. I now have my settings on my fitness pal at 1.5 lbs per week and I'm eating way under my calories and still every morning I weigh myself I'm gaining weight. I don't get what I'm doing wrong if I have been this successful for a year following mfp, why is this starting now. I eat healthy, make good choices except for candy every so often and I cheat once a week but I he done that over the last year and still maintained. I am 40 yrs old and went from 260 to 200 and now at 205-210. Can someone please give me some tips. Thanks all!!!!

malibu927

How are you measuring your calorie intake? Are you counting your cheat days?

dejavuohlala

How many calories a day have you had when you was losing weighg

Charis50

Kudos on your weight loss and for maintaining for a year--fantastic!

First of all, it's good that you're not panicking. Seeing the scale tick up can be alarming, but stress isn't helpful. Remain calm, and give yourself time and room to figure out what's going on. You'll be able to hold on to your hard-won success.

I agree that figuring out how much you're really eating is a good place to start. Is it possible that the amount you're eating on a cheat day has crept up, or you're having candy a bit more often than you were? You've been maintaining for quite a while; it's easy for these things to inch up so slowly that you might not notice.

If you're keeping your intake the same, consider your output. Is your activity level the same?

If neither intake or output are potential solutions, then your metabolism may have slowed a bit--it can happen if you're losing muscle mass. That was certainly my experience when I started my 40's, and it's my understanding that men can also lose muscle as they age, too. (This is why many calculators ask your age in addition to your height, weight, and sex.)

In that case, if weight lifting isn't already part of your program, I'd suggest adding it!

sllm1

Tighten up on logging.

Weigh your food with a food scale.

Eliminate the cheat day.

Need2Exerc1se

You say this happens every morning but you don't say for how long. If it's only been a short time it could be many things. Since you have been maintaining successfully, and just began lowering calories it seems unlikely that you'd be overeating, but that is one possibility.

Have you started a new exercise routine? If so, this could cause temporary water weight gain. Hormones fluctuations can also do this (PMS or TOM).

If you've been gaining without reason for a while you might want to check with your doctor. Unexpected weight gain or loss could be a sign of a medical disorder.

SolotoCEO

sllm1 wrote: »

Tighten up on logging.

Weigh your food with a food scale.

Eliminate the cheat day.

And...stop eating way under calories - this can do a number on your metabolism.

kengrace10

Not counting cheat days....I will follow a simple diet plan all day and cut loose at night.

kengrace10

Love eating under my calories. .....makes me feel achieved. I can see how that can also hurt my weight.

heathervallon

I don't really subscribe to that adage that of you eat under your basal caloric need your body got into fight or flight mode and you hold or gain weight. My reasoning for this is if you look at POW's (generally any, but WWII is a good example) were often given >500 calories a day and none of them came out of incarceration heavy. Just saying.

Fat is a fuel. When you consume less calories than you take expand through work or basal lifestyle, your body turns to its fat reserves for said fuel, That weight gets burned off first.

Maybe double check and weigh everything for awhile. Maybe shake your diet up by going vegan for a couple weeks or kill wheats and gluten for a bit and see what happens.

best of luck.