How is this possible??? Need opinions!!

lucid_wings

I'm so confused. I've managed to gain 1.6 lbs this week. I've been carefully tracking my food intake, weighing and measuring mist of what I eat. I've even been under my calorie goal. How can I be gaining weight if what I'm consuming is supposedly less than what I would need to maintain my weight? This has been something that I've been struggling with for years and it is so demoralizing.

Most days I'm so busy that I end up just eating dinner for the most part, but even so, I'm careful to not go over. I'm a mother of 5, so getting time to go work out is really difficult.

Thoughts?

TavistockToad

Water weight

alid8333

I would say it's water weight as well. I typically fluctuate a couple pounds sometimes.

ogtmama

New work out? Time of the month? Lots of salt? Any of these things could result in water retention and that's completely common in the beginning. That's why most advice posts say not to freak out for the first few weeks.

I had a stall for 3 weeks one time because of a perfect storm involving all the above options and then lost 6 pounds in the 4th week.

lucid_wings

It's not my totm, I'm drinking 80+ ounces of water a day. Most days I'm under sodium limits. I did have 2 meals this week that were on the salty side though. Could that have derailed it?

cerise_noir

Going thorough your diary, I see a lot of cup and spoons used for solid foods. Weigh everything that isn't a liquid.

Make sure you don't eat under 1200 calories. I see a few 800 calorie days.

Also, excess sodium and hormonal changes play a huge part in water weight.

RosyTea

cerise_noir wrote: »

Going thorough your diary, I see a lot of cup and spoons used for solid foods. Weigh everything that isn't a liquid.

Make sure you don't eat under 1200 calories. I see a few 800 calorie days.

Also, excess sodium and hormonal changes play a huge part in water weight.

@cerise_noir I agree.

callsitlikeiseeit

weight loss is not linear.

ive lost 80+ pounds in 2 years. do you think every week was a loss? no. my weight naturally fluctuates within a 5 - 7 pound range. everyone has a range they fluctuate within.

that said, if you are not weighing, on a scale (or for LIQUIDS, in a cup), EVERYTHING you put in your mouth, you are likely eating more than you think you are....

CafeRacer808

I agree with the others. If you're not weighing everything, you can't really be 100% sure that you're staying at or under your daily calorie goal.

Also, remember that our weight is in a constant state of flux. It's not uncommon to see 1-3lb fluctuations (or more) on any given day.

But yeah, first things first: tighten up your logging and see if that makes a difference in the next 3-4 weeks.

rileysowner

Weight loss is not linear. There are a bunch of factors at play in terms of weight changes than have nothing to do with whether you are losing fat or not.

spzjlb

Also, before you get really discouraged - take your body measurements so you have additional data. We all can wind up being discouraged by the scale at some point... Hang in there!

AnvilHead

rileysowner wrote: »

Weight loss is not linear. There are a bunch of factors at play in terms of weight changes than have nothing to do with whether you are losing fat or not.

^ This. Look at long term trends rather than short term fluctuations.

red99ryder

Maybe this is why people say slow and steady , this is a life style change , we gotta keep eating the correct calories no matter what the scale says

good luck

dejavuohlala

A digital food scale is a must

lucid_wings

I do have a food scale and weigh most things. I've run into the problem of not being able to find the correct unit when logging sometimes. I'll see if there are more things that I can weigh. It's usually just things like teaspoons and tablespoons that I'm measuring, or liquids. Can not weighing things like lettuce cause issues?

lucid_wings

I should also add that the recipes I create, the ingredients are weighed. I'll try and be even more careful, it's just upsetting when you feel like you are and then it seems like nothing happens. Thanks everyone

kshama2001

lucid_wings wrote: »

It's not my totm, I'm drinking 80+ ounces of water a day. Most days I'm under sodium limits. I did have 2 meals this week that were on the salty side though. Could that have derailed it?

If you're around two weeks before your period, you could be ovulating - many women retain water at this time as well. Weighing every day and charting this in Excel taught me that I gain water weight at ovulation as well as premenstrually.

When I eat foods like Chinese Pu Pu platters I can count on a water weight gain that takes almost a week to come off.

leanjogreen18

Food, water, waste in your body at any given time will make your weight fluctuate.

IF you are logging accurately and staying in a deficit, your weight will go down. Just not as fast as you want and not in a straight line down.

CafeRacer808

lucid_wings wrote: »

I do have a food scale and weigh most things. I've run into the problem of not being able to find the correct unit when logging sometimes. I'll see if there are more things that I can weigh. It's usually just things like teaspoons and tablespoons that I'm measuring, or liquids. Can not weighing things like lettuce cause issues?

Volumetric measurements for anything other than liquids is an inaccurate way of logging your food. Even if the nutritional label on your food lists a serving in tsp or tbsp, you should still be weighing it. I can say with a good degree of confidence that the calories for the tablespoon of walnuts on your log from a couple of days ago is wrong.

And yes, not weighing things like lettuce can cause issues. It's not that lettuce is calorie dense and being off by a couple of grams will put you over on calories for the day. It's that the mentality of, "Well, I can weigh some things and not others," means you're likely taking other short cuts as well, and those short cuts can add up to a significant calorie hit. Logging is about accuracy and consistency so it's kind of an all or nothing thing, especially when you're first starting out.

usmcmp

Yesterday you had 3.5 slices of pizza. That's a massive amount of sodium especially compared to the rest of the week. I'm surprised your weight isn't up by 3-5 pounds.