So Discouraged :(

CharlotteHotcakes

I've been at it for 7 wks now, eating really clean with NO CHEATING. I've been working out, too. I've lost 18 lbs, but for the last week I haven't lost a lb. I know that we can hit plateaus. Do I need to keep doing what I'm doing, or do I need to beef up something? I'm 68, 5'2". I weighed 178 and weight 160 now. My goal weight is 145-150. MFP says I should eat 1200 a day and many times i'm under and add a peach, apple, something to get within range. I've ordered a FitBit that is coming in 2 days, hoping that that will give me a boost to keep on keepin' on. Any suggestions?

Panini911

our weight fluctuates for a TON of reasons other than fat gain//loss/minatenance. one week stable doesn't mean much of anything big picture as it's likely water fluctuations:
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

Weight loss is not about cleaniness of calories but eating at a calorie deficit regularly over time. Are you weighing all your food?

You are close to normal weight range and with only 15lbs to lose should be looking at 1lb/week rate of loss. at 1200 you've probably asked MFP for a rate closer to 1.5/2lbs week which is too aggressive at this stage.

sunfastrose

You have little to lose so you have to reset your expectations. You will not lose every week and when you lose it will be small amounts. Do you weigh your food? You need to be very on point with portions at this point.

tinkerbellang83

One week without losing is not a plateau. You don't need to change anything, just keep at it. Weight loss isn't linear and there will be weeks where you see no loss or even a gain, because there is more to your body weight than fat.

http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

PS. If you're working out you should be eating some of those calories back, you don't need to "eat clean" to lose weight either so consider upping your calories a little and adding some higher calorie foods if you can't manage more in volume.

NovusDies

You are actually losing weight too fast. Even if you factor in 5 pounds of water weight you have lost 13 pounds in 7 weeks which is 1.8 pounds per week. If there is no water weight involved you have lost 2.5 pounds a week which is even more unsafe.

You are probably miserable and that is why you are focused more on the fact that you went a small amount of time with no loss instead of realizing you have already made a lot of progress albeit too much progress.

CharlotteHotcakes

Thank you for the comments. I really liked that article and it explains things well. That's kinda what I thought. I don't weigh my food, but have a pretty good idea about portions. Been in the kitchen for many years. I only weigh myself once a week, trying not to be strangled by the numbers. Thanks for the encouragement, I feel like I'm doing the right thing because my body says so. I'm wearing some of my "skinny" clothes and my knees don't hurt! I think the low carb eating in the beginning cause a great water loss which looked good on the scales. I'm gonna focus on loosing fat, not weight....thank you!

Panini911

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

Sharon_C

chandlerselectric wrote: »

Thank you for the comments. I really liked that article and it explains things well. That's kinda what I thought. I don't weigh my food, but have a pretty good idea about portions. Been in the kitchen for many years. I only weigh myself once a week, trying not to be strangled by the numbers. Thanks for the encouragement, I feel like I'm doing the right thing because my body says so. I'm wearing some of my "skinny" clothes and my knees don't hurt! I think the low carb eating in the beginning cause a great water loss which looked good on the scales. I'm gonna focus on loosing fat, not weight....thank you!

If you don't weigh yourself every day how do you know you haven't lost weight? You could have been 3 pounds lighter a few days before you weighed yourself. This is why I think its so important to weigh yourself every day. I understand you don't want to get lost in numbers but the more data you have, the better able you are to understand your weight loss.

Three days ago I weighed 161. Yesterday I weighed 165. If I just weighed myself on Mondays I would have been discouraged. But I know I weighed 4 pounds less just a few days before. I also know I ate high sodium foods between the two weights.

AnnPT77

chandlerselectric wrote: »

Thank you for the comments. I really liked that article and it explains things well. That's kinda what I thought. I don't weigh my food, but have a pretty good idea about portions. Been in the kitchen for many years. I only weigh myself once a week, trying not to be strangled by the numbers. Thanks for the encouragement, I feel like I'm doing the right thing because my body says so. I'm wearing some of my "skinny" clothes and my knees don't hurt! I think the low carb eating in the beginning cause a great water loss which looked good on the scales. I'm gonna focus on loosing fat, not weight....thank you!

It's great that you're seeing weight loss benefits!

Thing is, even allowing for a big water weight loss at the start, you've been losing quite a bit faster than many people here would feel is a health-risk-managing rate for your current size. (A common rule of thumb is no more than 1% of current weight per week on average, and less than that when within around 50 pounds of goal weight.) One potential effect of very rapid weight loss is more frequent or severe water weight fluctuations (because of the physical stress, I believe).

I lost weight too fast for a while, eating 1200, when I started MFP at about your current weight, at age 59-60. It was pretty easy for me to stick to 1200, and I felt great . . . until suddenly, I didn't. I got weak and fatigued, then it took several weeks to recover normal energy and strength. I'm not even a little bit into moaning about aging, but I do think that my current age (I'm 63 now), my body does have a bit less tolerance to various forms of stress, and the penalty for overdoing is a bit higher, because I maybe don't bounce back as rapidly as I did at age 20.

Losing weight too slowly can be very frustrating. Loosing weight too fast can be a health risk.

Best wishes for continued health improvement and progress!

heybales

chandlerselectric wrote: »

I've been at it for 7 wks now, eating really clean with NO CHEATING. I've been working out, too. I've lost 18 lbs, but for the last week I haven't lost a lb. I know that we can hit plateaus. Do I need to keep doing what I'm doing, or do I need to beef up something? I'm 68, 5'2". I weighed 178 and weight 160 now. My goal weight is 145-150. MFP says I should eat 1200 a day and many times i'm under and add a peach, apple, something to get within range. I've ordered a FitBit that is coming in 2 days, hoping that that will give me a boost to keep on keepin' on. Any suggestions?

To ditto the comment about losing too fast for the amount you have to lose - at this point with 15 lbs left - setting to 1/2 lb weekly would be the smartest thing to do.

And then tighten up accuracy with food logging as commented.

Or you'll likely stress your body out enough that come time for maintenance, you'll become like the slight majority that fail to maintain their weight loss after a diet.

Have you been ONLY eating the 1200 eating goal on days you are Sedentary like you probably told MFP?

But since exercising you are eating more than that on days you workout? (using the tool as designed)

brenn24179

you are doing great, weight loss slows down after a while. I lost 30 lbs last year fro 190-160, would like to be 155 but cant seem to stay there. I remember last 10 lbs came off much slower, had to be patient.

lgfrie

chandlerselectric wrote: »

Thank you for the comments. I really liked that article and it explains things well. That's kinda what I thought. I don't weigh my food, but have a pretty good idea about portions. Been in the kitchen for many years. I only weigh myself once a week, trying not to be strangled by the numbers. Thanks for the encouragement, I feel like I'm doing the right thing because my body says so. I'm wearing some of my "skinny" clothes and my knees don't hurt! I think the low carb eating in the beginning cause a great water loss which looked good on the scales. I'm gonna focus on loosing fat, not weight....thank you!

I think this is the explanation right here. Every person I know who's tried any kind of low/lower/lowest carb dieting experienced rapid, sometimes insane, initial weight loss -- which came back with a vengeance and then some as soon as they recalibrated the carb balance in their diets (i.e. got tired of Keto/Atkins/etc. or just got tired of dieting). Carbs store a ton of water so any change in the macro balance is gonna have an outsized impact on the scale, but it's mainly just water. Meanwhile, you're losing fat and that's what counts.

That all said, it's frustrating to watch the scale slow down after the first month or so, but it goes with the territory & everyone who diets has to confront that moment at about the 3-4 week point when they realize that that first month was half water loss and isn't gonna continue at that pace (or much worse, they think they really lost all that weight and now think their weight loss just stopped all of a sudden, which makes the whole diet experience seem random and subject to unseen, inexplicable forces beyond one's control - basically magical thinking), and then they must decide whether they're in it for the long haul at the pace the human body is willing to relinquish fat safely, 1-2 lbs/week.

kshama2001

Another vote for changing your weekly weight loss goal to a half pound per week and being patient.

nooboots

I can empathise. Im yet again in a 'fluctuation' as I like to call it.

For the past 16 days I have gone down a pound, up a pound, down a pound, up a pound.

And this is during a time when I had cut down the calories to lose a bit faster over the next 6 weeks or so (was 7 weeks at the time I planned this). I can afford to do that due to my size.

However I can tell again from my ankles that there is water about and I presume it must be that. After exercise I am very stiff and swollen so that doesnt help, although thats only at weekends!

I am discouraged and a bit despondent but from what Ive read on here, I just have to keep on at it and wait and trust the system.

kimondo666

your body can adjust to your weight loss, so for few days you will not get weight loss with those calories, then after that your body will start losing again. Don't cut further.