Losing only water weight ??

sknt_journey

hi
I started my weight loss journey around 1 year back where i was 170lbs in december 2017.
I lost 15lbs mostly through eating less portion sizes etc and my weight loss plateaued at 155lbs from august last year.
I started working out and i do some workout for about 2months and then i get distracted by work /personal issues etc. whenever i workout or do low carb diet, i lose 5 lbs and then once i stop workout /diet i gain it back within few days.
so my weight is stuck at 155lbs and any change i do it for 2-3months , i only lose that 5lbs and gain it back super fast. how to overcome this problem?
Iam losing motivation to workout/diet without seeing results beyond that 4-5lbs of water weight
Thanks!!

RelCanonical

Why are you going back to your old habits?

MichelleSilverleaf

You need consistency and patience. The less you have to lose the slower it's going to come off. Change your expectations and commit to the long game. If you're already in the healthy range for your height and are still unhappy with your shape recomp might be a better option, but again that will require consistency and lots of patience.

sknt_journey

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

You need consistency and patience. The less you have to lose the slower it's going to come off. Change your expectations and commit to the long game. If you're already in the healthy range for your height and are still unhappy with your shape recomp might be a better option, but again that will require consistency and lots of patience.

what is recomp ?
i am overweight for my height. I am 5'4 and weigh 155 lbs

cwolfman13

Losing weight requires consistency...stopping your diet and stopping exercise isn't consistency.

sknt_journey

RelCanonical wrote: »

Why are you going back to your old habits?

i dont completely go back , even if i eat heavy meals for 2-3 days i gain back the water weight.
thats what im saying

puffbrat

Do you use a food scale? When you have less to lose your logging needs to be more accurate.

RoxieDawn

As far as motivation, helping to understand water weight fluctuations will help, but ideally I think those last pounds will come down to either cut more portions or create your deficit in MFP and start tracking/logging food.

Those 5 pounds can be water weight loss/gain and depending on your eating, some weight creep as well. Exercise causes us to retain some water, stop exercising lose water, eating low carb will have us lose water but going back to higher carbs will have us gain that water back.

sknt_journey

RoxieDawn wrote: »

As far as motivation, helping to understand water weight fluctuations will help, but ideally I think those last pounds will come down to either cut more portions or create your deficit in MFP and start tracking/logging food.

Those 5 pounds can be water weight loss/gain and depending on your eating, some weight creep as well. Exercise causes us to retain some water, stop exercising lose water, eating low carb will have us lose water but going back to higher carbs will have us gain that water back.

makes sense. thank you. I have atleast 10lbs to lose . im overweight according to my BMI. So i dont think its because its last few lbs.

quiksylver296

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

Kathryn247

Since no one has posted this yet:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

OP, weight loss takes dedication and patience, especially since you are relatively close to the normal BMI range. It sounds like you're being inconsistent with your eating and exercise, which can be like "spinning your wheels" but not going anywhere.

cheryldumais

I would suggest quitting the low carb diet and just going to a balanced diet with 250 less calories a day than you need to maintain. This will result in very slow weight loss (1/2 lb per week) which is what you want when you are on the last 20 lbs or so. You didn't say how tall you are so if you feel you need to lose more than 20 you can eat 500 less per day and lose about 1 lb. a week. The trouble with low carb is if you can't live there permanently it creates that water issue. It's common and has something to do with replenishing the glycogen in your cells. When there is no carb it's depleted and takes water with it but as soon as you eat carb it's restored and brings the water back. Exercise is for health but really doesn't give a lot of extra calories so it's a good idea but not vital for weight loss. The last few pounds take a long time to drop patience will get you there. Remember you are building new eating habits so the longer it takes the more you learn. You can NEVER go back to the way you used to eat unless you want to gain the weight back. Good luck.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

sknt_journey wrote: »

RelCanonical wrote: »

Why are you going back to your old habits?

i dont completely go back , even if i eat heavy meals for 2-3 days i gain back the water weight.
thats what im saying

weight fluctuates so you need to understant that and if you only want to lose 10 lbs you are going to have to be extremely accurate in your intake of food and a food scale can help that. you need to stick with it. and when you exercise you WILL retain water to help repair muscle. so get a food scale and weigh ALL solids and semi solids, find the accurate entries and do your workouts. give yourself a few months and see what happens. also with wanting to lose only 10 lbs weight loss WILL be very slow. you wont see results as quick as you may want. but keep with it. if you dont you wont get anywhere

Opalescent_Topaz

Hey, that's about the weight I kept getting stuck at the first time I started trying to lose weight on MFP. (I'm also 5'4.)

What eventually worked for me was being super consistent. I don't do low carb or anything like that. But, I did have a bad habit of having an "all or nothing" mentality. Try logging every day, even when you think you've "messed up". It eventually became second nature to log my food. I didn't actually use a food scale until my weight loss stalled at 136-ish, but I wish I would have started earlier because it makes things easier and dirties less dishes than cups and measuring spoons.

Oh, and what works for me with exercise is to find exercise I enjoy and will stick with. I love yoga, hiking, and walking my dog; so I do yoga and walk my dog daily, and I hike on the weekend if the weather isn't bad. I'm going to give some other things a try again, but these work for me right now.

Good luck. I have faith in you. And if you haven't yet, check out the link quiksylver296 posted. It has some great info.