Up, Down, Up Down I'm just a Yo-Yo

nygr8guy

No matter what I try, WW, Keto, Low carb, Hig Fat, Low fat, High Protein, it doesn't seem to work. The older I get the more difficult I find it to lose weight. I was watching what I was eating this week, and seemed to be losing some weight very slowly. Then today, up .8 again. It gets so frustrating.
Does anyone have any words of wisdom? I would love to take off 15 pounds. I see a small gain and I give up. I am thinking of re-starting WW again on Sunday.

TavistockToad

a whole week?

maybe try one method for at least 6 weeks before you claim nothing works.

if you are eating in a calorie deficit you will lose weight.

L1zardQueen

You see a small gain and give up, that’s a problem. Yep.

Read the stickies at the top. The sexy pants one is goodie, lots of great info.

Welcome to MFP.

tulips_and_tea

An uptick of 0.8 is NOT a gain. Nor is it any reason to give up. That's a normal daily fluctuation of the body. Be consistent and patient. Fifteen pounds is not much to lose so you can do it, but it will take longer than a week!

mmapags

You didnt see a gain. You saw a fluctuation. They happen all the time. Life is going to be hard for you if you live and die by these fluctuations. Look at trends over longer periods of time.

As far as it getting harder as you get older, that's nonsense. There are plenty of people here of various ages that have gotten in a calorie deficit and done fine. I'm 67 and have lost 30+ lbs over the last few years.

Any method "works" if you eat fewer calories than you burn and have some patience. What do you mean by "watching" what you were eating? Are you accurately measuring and weighing you food and logging it? Are you in a calorie deficit?

AnnPT77

Drink 2 cups of water, weigh again: Oh, noooez - you gained another pound!!

Of water. Your body is mostly water, and it fluctuates all the time, for many reasons: Muscle repair happening from new exercise (or injury), minor infection or even sunburn, more carbs or sodium eaten (even if a perfectly sensible and healthy amount - it takes water for your body to process them, that's all), possibly even hot weather. It's even worse for women, who have monthly hormone-related water weight shifts.

Beyond that, your digestive contents in transit also have weight. Eat a bunch of healthy high-fiber food, and the fiber becomes part of your body weight until you excrete it. And fiber is good for you!

None of that is fat gain, and there's no reason to worry about it.

Read this: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

Then let MFP calculate you a small calorie deficit, for a weight loss of 0.5 pounds per week - a sensible rate with so little to lose, and stick to it for 6 weeks patiently, then assess how you're doing.

And the aging thing? Nope. I lost 50+ pounds in just less than a year at age 59-60 (while hypothyroid by the way) without increasing exercise significantly, and eating enough to be well-nourished and generally satisfied. I'm pretty sure you can lose 15.

Best wishes!

LKArgh

nygr8guy wrote: »

No matter what I try, WW, Keto, Low carb, Hig Fat, Low fat, High Protein, it doesn't seem to work. The older I get the more difficult I find it to lose weight. I was watching what I was eating this week, and seemed to be losing some weight very slowly. Then today, up .8 again. It gets so frustrating.
Does anyone have any words of wisdom? I would love to take off 15 pounds. I see a small gain and I give up. I am thinking of re-starting WW again on Sunday.

Stop giving up? And find an eating plan you can live with, forever. No poing in trying things that are going to be just a short-period diet. Even if you do lose, of course you will gain it all back when you are back to whatever you were doing pre-diet.

Pipsqueak1965

What they all said! Getting to a healthy weight and maintaining it are a lifetime's work! If you eata sensible amount of decent food you will be fine. Obviously it's not going to happen in a week. the

kiwiroz

Pick a way of eating that you can sustain for your whole life not just a couple of weeks. Do your best to eat to the calorie goal that MFP gives you. Weigh everything that goes in to your mouth that has calories. Be honest with your logging. Don't overestimate your calorie burn or underestimate your calories in. Commit for 4-6 weeks and use your data to tweak what you are doing. Welcome to MFP from a fellow yo-yoer in my case due to dishonest logging

VUA21

So you want to lose 15lbs, but keep quitting if something doesn't work immediatly?

First, you need some patience. Give a program at least a month to see results.

Second, seriously. If you want to actually accomplish something, you can't give up with any percieved setback. Think about anything that you can do....can you drive stick? If yes, did you quit the first learning how to the first time you stalled out? No, because learning to drive a stick - stalling out happens.

OldAssDude

Try these three things...

Get at least 300 minutes of exercise per week (200 cardio, 100 muscular)
Eat a well balanced healthy diet
Limit junk foods to a minimum

Do this over time and you will notice that as your fitness level improves, you will get closer to a healthy body weight.

Your goal should be total health.

Once you are at a good fitness level and body weight, you only need at least 150 minutes a week of exercise (100 cardio, 50 muscular) to maintain.

Sounds like you have tried a bunch of "diets". IMO, if it has the word "diet" in it, it's BS, and just someones way of making money.

Total health is just as much about fitness as it is about food, and a fit body will work the way it is supposed to work. Fitness is a harder approach (which is why most people turn to diets), but diets fail over 95% of the time.

Just something to think about.

Stellamom2018

I use a weight tracking app, and this has helped me a lot. I see the patterns with my weight fluctuations and when I see that I have always met my calorie goal but have an increase of any kind, I KNOW it will come off. I seem to stay right about the same and then gain 1-2lbs and within 2 days, I'll drop the gain and the 2lbs for the week. No idea why it happens, but that's my trend and I'm sticking to my calories. 25lbs down!

ladyhusker39

Words of wisdom? How about long term sustainable weight loss requires long term sustainable commitment.

DoubleUbea

nygr8guy wrote: »

I see a small gain and I give up.

Weight loss is up and down, you need to look at the long term trend.