Tell me about your stubborn scales!

LaughHappy907

I was losing weight real quick the first month, I met my goal early and was feeling super great! But, now I've been stuck at the same weight for a week and a half - then I gained a pound. I weigh myself every day (It is what has worked best for me over time.) So I know that it's water weight or some other normal thing because the weight will fluctuate just stick to it, you will lose it blah blah blah, but oh man, it's depressing.

I was hoping to hear some other people's accounts sudden stops in losing weight or preferably a story about how "I just kept to it and one week I was down 5 lbs all at once!"

Or maybe some tips to ENSURE that I am being honest with tracking. I am very diligent about tracking everything. It's gotten to the point that if I don't want to spend the time to track it I just won't have it. (This leads to a lot of dry salads! lol) But, mindless snacking is how I ended up with a lot of extra weight in the first place, so you never know. How do ya'll keep yourselves honest?

VinslomBardy

Yeah, I hear ya. I "gained" 2 pounds this week after diligently tracking each of the 1950 calories I put in my mouth each day this week. (I'm 6'3" and work out like a fiend, so that's a pretty low number for me). I was dropping weight on a very predictable and steady pattern, then blam! - a plateau. Then...wait for it...1 pound heavier. And another today. Grrrrrr!!!

The temptation is to drop your calories even more (I know that's what I'm tempted to do), but I suspect that it's due to water retention as you've stated. One interesting article I read on the subject has to do with the body's reaction to calorie restriction, which it interprets as a stressor, and naturally generates more cortisol, the stress hormone. One of the by-products of cortisol is more water retention and voila...we're heavier even though we've been saintly AF with our lifestyles.

I'm just going to ride it out and resist the urge to drop cal like they're a dead raccoon. This also gives me motivation to not go into "weekend cheat mode" that I typically do on a Friday. Let's keep this thread alive and check back in a few days to see how things progress, OK?

Cheers!

thiosulfate

In all honesty, I barely weigh myself anymore. I do an official weigh in once every 30 days. But I know my calorie counting is accurate and I trust physics. I used to weigh myself everyday. There would be times i'd gain or maintain the weight for 3+ days, drop 2 pounds, then gain a bit again the next day. Other times I'd just be losing weight everyday.

LaughHappy907

VinslomBardy wrote: »

The temptation is to drop your calories even more (I know that's what I'm tempted to do)..

Cheers!

Ditto and seconded on this - I have a desk job and when I'm not there I'm doing homework - so not a whole lot of movement for me - so my calorie limit is super low because I just don't need it, so I can't exactly eat even less and keep at a safe level. But I can't keep the thought of "Oh I stopped losing weight, let's cut back by another 300 calories - who needs lunch anyway!?" Dangerous thinking that!

I will definitely come back and report in a couple of days.

LaughHappy907

thiosulfate wrote: »

In all honesty, I barely weigh myself anymore. I do an official weigh in once every 30 days. But I know my calorie counting is accurate and I trust physics. I used to weigh myself every day. There would be times i'd gain or maintain the weight for 3+ days, drop 2 pounds, then gain a bit again the next day. Other times I'd just be losing weight everyday.

Oh man, I can't wait till I'm confident enough in my habits to get to that point. Right now I need to see the number as motivation. I have to see that cause and effect, eat a big burger - weight is up next day. Eat salad weight is stable. If I can get through every day to see that scale move, even -.2 lbs, then I've hit a little milestone and I feel renewed in my efforts. If the scale goes up - readjust my determination to make sure everything is accounted for on my food diary. (Which works until we reach a point like where I am now... Don't get me wrong I totally see the problem, but if I could stay rational about food I guess I wouldn't need all these tools)

DamieBird

LaughHappy907 wrote: »

I was hoping to hear some other people's accounts sudden stops in losing weight or preferably a story about how "I just kept to it and one week I was down 5 lbs all at once!"

So, it's not all at once in a week, but here are my Friday weigh-ins for today and the last two weeks. For about a month or so prior, my loss slowed and I was pretty on point with my logging, so it just wasn't making sense to me. In July I dropped my calories but it led to more binging, so I lost a pound total in the three weeks before this:

7/21/2017 188.2
7/28/2017 184.2
8/4/2017 182.6

I finally just upped my calories and did a week of near maintenance after I basically inhaled a bunch of mini croissants on the way home from work one day. I immediately started losing again. I thought the initial drop was a fluke and expected a rebound, but it just kept going down over about 10 days (I weigh everyday to track normal fluctuations).

The scale can be a frustrating machine and figuring out what energy balance works best for any particular person takes a lot of trial and error. I can't quite explain what happened with me, but I think that I just wasn't fueling my body enough (CI) and it rebounded by reducing my energy for movement and workouts (CO). I definitely learned not to drop calories because you think it isn't working anymore.

ladyhusker39

When the day-to-day fluctuations are driving you nuts, it's time to plug into a trending app. There are several. I use Trend Weight.

fiddletime

I plateaued for 3 months. It was a gain a few, lose a few, plateau. I was vacationing and logging but over eating. Then I'd come back and start losing again. Now that summer is ending loss is happening again. When I look at my trend line on my Fitbit site those 3 months of up and down are barely a blip in the overall picture. It's called "maintenance" and is good to get used to. With 4 pounds to go I want to really understand maintenance so I don't blow it again for the third time.

timtam163

Ugh I feel ya. I've kinda stopped weighing myself. I lost weight quickly at first, partly because of hormonal fluctuations and partly because I started strong, but then my mood swings got too bad and I stopped. I don't log accurately enough anymore. I'm hoping again that regular fluctuations are responsible for the uptick in weight but I really don't know, so I just trudge on. I feel good otherwise, so I don't know how much it's worth beating myself up over; it's just frustrating.

LaughHappy907

DamieBird wrote: »

LaughHappy907 wrote: »

I was hoping to hear some other people's accounts sudden stops in losing weight or preferably a story about how "I just kept to it and one week I was down 5 lbs all at once!"

So, it's not all at once in a week, but here are my Friday weigh-ins for today and the last two weeks. For about a month or so prior, my loss slowed and I was pretty on point with my logging, so it just wasn't making sense to me. In July I dropped my calories but it led to more binging, so I lost a pound total in the three weeks before this:

7/21/2017 188.2
7/28/2017 184.2
8/4/2017 182.6

I finally just upped my calories and did a week of near maintenance after I basically inhaled a bunch of mini croissants on the way home from work one day. I immediately started losing again. I thought the initial drop was a fluke and expected a rebound, but it just kept going down over about 10 days (I weigh everyday to track normal fluctuations).

The scale can be a frustrating machine and figuring out what energy balance works best for any particular person takes a lot of trial and error. I can't quite explain what happened with me, but I think that I just wasn't fueling my body enough (CI) and it rebounded by reducing my energy for movement and workouts (CO). I definitely learned not to drop calories because you think it isn't working anymore.

Woo! Congrats on that drop and thank you for the story - it is exactly what I was hoping someone would say. Now I just have to make sure my tracking is accurate and wait I suppose.

LaughHappy907

timtam163 wrote: »

Ugh I feel ya. I've kinda stopped weighing myself. I lost weight quickly at first, partly because of hormonal fluctuations and partly because I started strong, but then my mood swings got too bad and I stopped. I don't log accurately enough anymore. I'm hoping again that regular fluctuations are responsible for the uptick in weight but I really don't know, so I just trudge on. I feel good otherwise, so I don't know how much it's worth beating myself up over; it's just frustrating.

I guess all you can do at some point is stay with the healthy trend. I don't know about you but my junk food and ramen intake was way too high before this. So maybe at least eating more vegetables on a daily basis is a positive, even if the weight doesn't shift. Yea?

LaughHappy907

ladyhusker39 wrote: »

When the day-to-day fluctuations are driving you nuts, it's time to plug into a trending app. There are several. I use Trend Weight.

Thank you I will look into that!

LaughHappy907

fiddletime wrote: »

I plateaued for 3 months. It was a gain a few, lose a few, plateau. I was vacationing and logging but over eating. Then I'd come back and start losing again. Now that summer is ending loss is happening again. When I look at my trend line on my Fitbit site those 3 months of up and down are barely a blip in the overall picture. It's called "maintenance" and is good to get used to. With 4 pounds to go I want to really understand maintenance so I don't blow it again for the third time.

Hear Hear!

LaughHappy907

Welp, back down to .6 lbs within my lowest before the blip and all seems well. I think the lesson is to stay as hydrated as possible so by body doesn't retain water from dehydration. Also, lost an inch on waist, thigh and hips! So maybe it was like "Hold on just give me that and ill do some work, k done NOW look at it"

eyer0ll

I weigh daily:

4/30 225.2
5/1 226
5/2 226
5/3 225
5/4 226.2
5/5 226.2
5/6 226.2
5/7 226.2
5/8 226.2
5/9 226.2
5/10 226.2
5/11 225.6
5/12 224.6
5/13 223.6
5/15 221.6

Wash, rinse, repeat. Now down to 207.

Big_YEET

I have a super frustrating story. My weight plateaud for 2 months. Every day I stepped on the scale and it would either stay the same or dip a fraction of a pound down and then go back up. This has been happening since the beginning of June. The scale number actually started to creep up a few lbs around late July and I was frustrated to the point where I almost threw my scale against the wall. Lol. Didn't weigh myself for a week. Then I weighed myself a few days ago and the number dropped 7 lbs out of nowhere, and has stayed that way. Same calorie deficit the entire time.

Goober1142

Typically it's ten days same weight. Then it'll drop off a pound. I'm set to half pound a week so it's pretty close.

MeemawCanDoIt

I don't lose any weight at all during the 10 days before my period. Then I lose 5 pounds in the week following. Consistently! Horomones, water retention, what fun!

lscalercio20

In the same boat. I lost 12 lbs in month and got to 14 lbs but now the past 2 weeks I'm around the 13 pound range, back and forth in the same couple pound range. I'm so frustrated

lscalercio20

I am still losing inches though

sosteach

http://100down.org/the-whoosh-effect/

Sashslay

This is my jerk scale right now! Here's hoping it goes down. I'm being honest with my tracking and sticking to the process, if my calories in are less then my calories out I should be losing weight! I'm trying to trust the system! Fingers crossed when I weigh myself today we see some progress