Just started but frustrated already

slehde
slehde Posts: 1 Member
edited November 21 in Introduce Yourself
I'm a 47-year-old female who's been battling a slow creep of weight for about 8 years now. I finally hit the 200 lb mark and decided I need to get serious. I logged into MFP a week ago, followed all the restrictions, was way more active than usual throughout the week, and GAINED a pound. To say that was defeating is an understatement. I didn't expect to lose 5 lbs or anything, but to GAIN weight when I was being so careful, logging every single calorie, measuring out portion sizes, etc. made me want to pick the scale up and toss it out through the window and say forget it. Obviously, that would be counterproductive on several levels, so I refrained, but does anyone have any insight into why I gained weight and what to do about it? It's so discouraging.

Replies

  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • HDBKLM
    HDBKLM Posts: 466 Member
    There could be any number of reasons for this, right down to temporary water retention due to the change of routine your body is undergoing. Don't take any drastic action, discouragement-wise, until you've given it a month. You could even refrain from weighing yourself until you've been through the month in order to help you keep faith in the process.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Many times when we increase our activity, our muscles temporarily retain water to help us recover. It's frustrating, but very common.

    I wouldn't get discouraged, just stay on plan. If you find you don't lose weight over a longer period of time, you may want to figure out if your logging is accurate (weighing solid food, ensuring you're using correct database entries, etc).
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • CharGillott
    CharGillott Posts: 56 Member
    It's not about a week it's about the rest of your life. Take heart and keep going. Increase your fiber and protein. I also take a magnesium supplement. Just add fiber and magnesium slowly. Listening to your body is a start. Feal hungry eat protein. Drink as much water as you can handle. Remember we are hear for each other. We all know how hard it is and yes we all want to just give up at times. Start over. Tell your self you can do this one day at a time
  • edup1975
    edup1975 Posts: 486 Member
    Slow steady and consistent !
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Give it a month. Purchase a scale. Learn to use the scale. There are no restrictions, by the way. All you have to do is live within your calorie budget. Exercise can help you stay within your calorie budget even if some life event put you over your budget for the day. Starting a new exercise program will cause a brief gain of water weight, as your poor, surprised, muscles respond to the insult of being asked to work by suffering injury and recruiting water to assist in healing.
  • CHELLETW1980
    CHELLETW1980 Posts: 11 Member
    I to am new n getting frustrated jus try in to figure the app out only set up my acc tonite n can't figure it out yet only took me 4 hours to find the forums
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    It's NOT uncommon to gain weight when starting a new exercise program.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
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    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • gloriaallen36
    gloriaallen36 Posts: 123 Member
    Hello add me : )
  • CaliMomTeach
    CaliMomTeach Posts: 745 Member
    slehde wrote: »
    I'm a 47-year-old female who's been battling a slow creep of weight for about 8 years now. I finally hit the 200 lb mark and decided I need to get serious. I logged into MFP a week ago, followed all the restrictions, was way more active than usual throughout the week, and GAINED a pound. To say that was defeating is an understatement. I didn't expect to lose 5 lbs or anything, but to GAIN weight when I was being so careful, logging every single calorie, measuring out portion sizes, etc. made me want to pick the scale up and toss it out through the window and say forget it. Obviously, that would be counterproductive on several levels, so I refrained, but does anyone have any insight into why I gained weight and what to do about it? It's so discouraging.

    I was in a similar position about a year ago. I am also 47 yo and my weight gain happened over about a ten year period. I just followed the calorie recommendation on here and went from 193 pounds to 139 pounds (this morning). (I lost most of the weight by April, was down to 137, but put about 7 pounds after not tracking while on vacations in the spring and summer.) I was buying size 14 last July and am now buying size 4. Just keep on doing it and it will work. I did not weight myself for about 5 weeks when I started because I wanted to see a really big loss. I told myself that I would not continue if I didn't lose a significant amount. I was blown away when I discovered I lost about 18 pounds in about 5 weeks. Maybe you should just ignore the scale for a few weeks and see what happens. I just kept at it and the weight fell off. I did not exercise in the beginning. I just focused on controlling how many calories I was eating. It sucked in the beginning, but I promise it was completely worth it.
  • NapalmZygote
    NapalmZygote Posts: 17 Member
    alwaysbloated wrote: »
    NapalmZygote wrote: »
    Those cliches about "it's never as bad as it seems / it's never as good as it seems" and "don't get too high / don't get too low" have a lot of truth to them, in my opinion. What was most interesting for me is seeing the graph of my weight after a couple months. There are "good" and "bad" days (and weeks) -- and I have no idea why! to be honest -- but I'm most interested in the overall trend. Once you've been doing this for a bit longer, even those "wtf?!" weeks won't be discouraging, because you know that it all evens out in the end... you'll see a week where you drop much more than usual. It's gonna happen. I take a sheet of paper and hold it up to the graph... disregard the peaks and valleys... and look at the overall downward trend. Stick with it and trust the process... 47 y/o male, down 25 pounds in three months... keep on :)

    How many times have you copied and pasted this? I saw you wrote this exact post or something VERY similar on another thread.

    Exactly zero times copied and pasted. Could be I posted something similar, or VERY similar, but that would have been at least four weeks ago. Every time I post, which is infrequently, I briefly note my current thoughts, opinions, and / or anecdotal evidence on topic in hopes of being at least somewhat helpful to the OP. I think that's the least of what people here deserve in trying to reach out, especially when it has to do with such things that are quite personal. I'm not an expert but I think sharing is the key to the usefulness of this board. Thanks for your concern and your query :)
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