Need some help please

CudyBug

When I first started losing weight, I was pretty nonchalant about it. I just ate smaller portions and was walking alot since it was april and pretty nice out. Now its soo stinking hot I dont feel like leaving the house most days lol. I still manage some walking with my kids a few times a week. I am always wihtin my 1200 calories and I usually eat some of my burned calories (though I find it hard to). I recently got a stationary bike and have been doing that 4 times a week and burning 100-200 calories on it each time. But Ive recently had a dramatic slow down in weight loss. I lost the first 20 pretty easy. IM at 26 total now and 10 on MFP. The past month Ive been averaging a lb every two weeks! What am I doing wrong? I posted the other day about when to work out and for me Its most convenient after my kids are in bed and I was some shows, usually around 8.

Everything is open to look at and Im all for suggestions.

luv2run4fun

I've shared this article several times before...it's not necessarily what you are or are not doing...it's the changes your body is making within that can cause the scale to "lie"!!!



Why The Scale Lies
by Renee Cloe, ACE Certified Personal Trainer
We’ve been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can’t resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can’t bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence it’s readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale.
Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body’s water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don’t understand what’s happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto it’s water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water.
Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it’s easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn’t have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. That’s why, when it comes to eating, it’s wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners.
Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.
Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it’s packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it’s stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it’s associated water. It’s normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you’re prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.
Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it’s wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you’ve had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It’s the actual weight of everything you’ve had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you’ve finished digesting it.
Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it’s not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it’s likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it’s only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it’s physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you’re really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle. (NOTE: last time you did the Weight Watchers--you did NO EXERCISE!!!)
This brings us to the scale’s sneakiest attribute. It doesn’t just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you’ve lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you’re just sitting around. That’s one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.
Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn’t differentiate between the two. It can’t tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current.
If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don’t be discouraged by a small gain or only a small loss on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It’s a matter of mind over scale!

aippolito1

My suggestions:

- Track fiber and aim for at least 25g per day.
- Track protein and set it for 30% of your diet.

These two are VERY important for weight loss and you're not watching them at all. More tips:

- Drink at least half your weight in ounces, i.e.: You weigh 150, drink 75 ounces of water.
- Stop eating so much fast food. Limit to 1-2x/week and aim for healthier options. The fat is probably killing your weight loss.
- Eat healthy fats such as avocado, almonds, olive oil, anything with omega-3s (fish such as tilapia, salmon, etc.)
- Try to work out in the morning before everyone is up if time is a factor.
- Start lifting weights. You won't bulk up unless you eat a ton and lift HEAVY heavy weights. Start with 5 lbs and as you get stronger, you can incorporate 8 lb and 10 lbs dumbbells. Search self.com & shape.com's work outs for strength routines.

CudyBug

I was tracking protien untill the other day i switched to sodium and the protien was always over by a few. I think Im gonna start working out in the morning and see how it goes. If i can that is lol. My kids are up bright and early at 6-630 but I think I can work out while they watch cartoons and they will leave me alone.

Thanx everyone for the suggestions

mekhala

The less you have to loose the harder it is to shift it. I would try eating every couple of hours, say every two to 3 hours, because after 4 hours our bodies thinks they are starving and becomes very clever at keeping hold of what calories we put in. this is because our evergy stores (glycogen) can only keep us going for 4 hours, then the breakdown happens in muscle..... after the muscle its the fat.

I have started to have a snack of a 100cals, may be an orange or a snack pack of cheddars, every day between meals. you have probably heard it befor but i find a good breakfast is crucial, (a cerial i like - and doesnt feel like a chore to eat!!) oats and more mmmmm .

Following this, i am never hungry and lost 8lbs last week. (havn't started exercising yet - i dont think i could eat the extra calories!! )

I am positive it will slow down, but i have changed my eating to a way i think i can live with, even when the 'Diet' is over.

Good luck with your loss, and pull through it, sometimes your body just needs a rest.

Mekhala

Feanthros

First of all I think 1200 calories is not enough. You body could be in "starvation mode", and holding on to the fat because of it. I never suggest that a person goes under 1500 calories except in rare circumstances. Have you figured out your BMR? Sometimes a slowdown in weight loss can be fixed by raising you caloric intake. Now I don't know you specifics, but as a guide, a Woman that is 5'4" and 170 lbs and 36 years old has a BMR of 1526. That means the 1526 calories are needed to maintain your body weight if you never even left your bed, just the functioning of your organs. Even if you were in a coma the hospital wouldn't go that low, so you should not either.

I suggest that, if your stats are similar, try raising you calories to 1500 for two weeks and see how that is for you.

Hope this helps.

diamond7sky

I just started this thing yesterday... and my first day I was over 900 and then some calories ha ha ha. So, I think its really important to encourage one another when needed.
I have learned that there is a point of losing weight that you hit a point of an even playing field; where it seems almost impoosible to lose a pound. Don't get discouraged... 26lbs is awesome! I would first look at your diet... are you eating anything dif? then.. of course the time of the day you work out. Working out is awesome no matter what time you do it at, but I have found that working out in the morning is much more effective... Its like a tan.. they say when you go to the tanning bed... not to shower right afterwards..because your body/skin, continues to accelerate in tanning. So its kind of the same concept with working out. When you work out in the morning, it jump starts your metobolic accelerator so to speak.. and as you go about your daily activities... you continue to burn throughout the day. BUT if you work out, then go to bed in the evening.. your heart rate and metabolic rate slows down for rest... so maybe try getting up a little bit earlier than normal for a jump start work out.. and do something light before you go to bed! Just a thought! Keep on doing what your doing... and drink LOTS of water! :happy:

CudyBug

yea my bmr last time i checked was 1444. I was super confused about that since it stillhad me at 1200 calories a day. Logically I was thinking uhh shouldnt my calories go up to atleast 1400 but nothing changed so i figured I was wrong. As far as notnhaving much more to lose, thats not the case either since Im only 4 foot 11 inches and i weigh 174 right now. I started at 200. I dont snack and never did, im just not hungry inbetween meals and I never go hungry ever, but I think maybe this week I will. I did buy some cashews and fruit and I love having an orange before bed so I can just move that orange to between breakfast and lunch i suppose.