Advice from Ladies (Possible TMI post?)

aylerz

Ladies - do you find that your weight loss stalls while you are menstruating? I have been losing consistently anywhere between 3 to 5 pounds per week for the past three weeks (when I began). I understand this is high, but at a starting weight of 330 lbs, everything I have read said that it will be quick at first and then slow down. I am now on my period and seem to have hit a plateau.

I'm not sure if it's time to adjust my diet (lost about 11 lbs so far) or if it's just a matter of water retention and I should wait it out. I've set some pretty specific goals for myself (I'm going on a big overseas trip in August and would like, for once, to not be nervous when boarding the plane), so I'm trying to be proactive.

Any advice or past experience would be greatly appreciated.

toxikon

You can definitely gain some water weight during your period, nothing to worry about!

Weight fluctuations are totally normal, and that's why it's important to track your weigh-ins over weeks and months, instead of worrying about the daily numbers.

Check out the Libra app on Android or Happy Scale on iOS - they're weight-trending apps that help you see the "big picture" of your weight loss!

cheryldumais

If someone starts a program and they lose 5 pounds the first week and 5 the next then nothing in week 3 it's not uncommon to wonder what's going on. You must realize that a drastic change in your eating pattern often results in losing some fat and a lot of water the first few weeks. So what happens is that your body lets go of that weight and when the water balance adjusts and you see no loss you may be still losing fat but the water may be coming back on because your body is adjusting to the new way of eating. This is not a plateau nor is it even uncommon. It happens a lot. You can’t lose 5 pounds of fat in a week unless you are extremely overweight.

For example a hypothetical person female, 350 pounds and 5’7” tall. Their BMR is 2304 or they need that many calories to just exist. Let’s say they burn 400 calories a day in exercise and they do that consistently every day for a week. They are only eating 1200 calories a day which means for the week they burned 10,528 extra calories. This would result in a loss of roughly 3 pounds of fat (assuming 3500 calories in a pound of fat). So you see even if they dropped 5 pounds at least 2 of that would be water.

Add to this your hormones when menstruating and you arrive exactly where you are. Don't lose hope, you are doing great and your body is burning fat. Keep going and when you wonder if it's worth it take a look at the success photos and all the folks who lost weight and kept it off. You'll get there kiddo and you're gonna be amazing!

Davidsdottir

Water weight.

TavistockToad

aylerz wrote: »

Ladies - do you find that your weight loss stalls while you are menstruating? I have been losing consistently anywhere between 3 to 5 pounds per week for the past three weeks (when I began). I understand this is high, but at a starting weight of 330 lbs, everything I have read said that it will be quick at first and then slow down. I am now on my period and seem to have hit a plateau.

I'm not sure if it's time to adjust my diet (lost about 11 lbs so far) or if it's just a matter of water retention and I should wait it out. I've set some pretty specific goals for myself (I'm going on a big overseas trip in August and would like, for once, to not be nervous when boarding the plane), so I'm trying to be proactive.

Any advice or past experience would be greatly appreciated.

its just water retention from your period, just carry on as you are.

angmarie28

water weight, I started mine monday, and I gained 1 1/2 lbs from my last weigh in, and this morning I was down 2 lbs from mondays weight