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I am beyond angry about my WI this week. My body had FINALLY let go of some weight the last couple of weeks, only to inexplicably pick it all back up this week. This last week was the BEST week I've had in a very long time, calorie-wise, and I somehow gained 3 pounds. It's not my cycle - that just ended and this should have been my BEST week for weight loss. It shouldn't be workouts, because those have remained consistent. I had some estimated foods in my tracker, but I would have had to be off by 15,500 calories to get this result. I. JUST. DON'T. GET. IT.
My weekly weight record for the last 2.5 months:
Mar 31: 259.2
Apr 7: 259.6
Apr 14: 262.4
Apr 21: 262.0
Apr 28: 258.0
May 1: 258
May 5: 259.2
May 12: 260.6
May 19: 261.2
May 26: 258.4
June 2: 257
June 9: 260
My food diary says I should have been losing this whole time, at least in small amounts, and I am not. It makes sense to me that set points don't exist, but in over more than 2 months I have not been able to leave 260 behind. I also don't believe in weight plateaus, but even though I'm 100% sure there is some error in my tracking record, I weigh and measure enough that it's not THAT wrong.
I'm baffled, mad, and so, so discouraged right now.6 -
@bobsburgersfan I know those bump ups are so incredibly frustrating!
Are you somewhere where the heat and humidity has increased? I know that tropical storm is kicking things up and making life miserable in some parts of the country, and storm activity where I am in WV can increase the mugginess and make things pretty miserable, too. I find that I retain water and struggle with bloat and swelling when the heat and humidity are high (which is why my least favorite months of the year are July and August!)
I agree there is no way you gained 3 lbs of actual body fat in 1 week.
If we throw out the first two entries and the last one, it shows around a 0.68 lb/wk loss rate in that 8 weeks. What rate are you shooting for and what activity rate do you use? And have you revisited the set-up guide recently?
Just trying to think of things that might lead to a stall. I do believe in plateaus, though I consider them to occur more for mental reasons; either we've lost enough weight that our BMR has dropped enough that what was a deficit before isn't any longer, so we are actually eating at maintenance and not deficit, or diet fatigue kicks in, we get sloppy in logging or have increased how much we're eating (my problem for the entire year of 2018 and into 2019), our activity levels have slowly dropped - little things that might upset that CI<CO balance.
I think a part of what I had so much trouble for that 18 months was hormone levels driven by poor thyroid levels - the mental war was being lost because I didn't realize I was hypothyroid; it became a whole lot easier for me to stick to the deficit and be satisfied, not to mention have the energy and the willpower to start exercising, when we got those lowered way down. So is there a possibility something medical may be creeping up on you?
Other can you think of anything in your diet that might have changed and might be leading to more water weight that is stubbornly hanging on?3 -
bobsburgersfan wrote: »I am beyond angry about my WI this week. My body had FINALLY let go of some weight the last couple of weeks, only to inexplicably pick it all back up this week. This last week was the BEST week I've had in a very long time, calorie-wise, and I somehow gained 3 pounds. It's not my cycle - that just ended and this should have been my BEST week for weight loss. It shouldn't be workouts, because those have remained consistent. I had some estimated foods in my tracker, but I would have had to be off by 15,500 calories to get this result. I. JUST. DON'T. GET. IT.
My weekly weight record for the last 2.5 months:
Mar 31: 259.2
Apr 7: 259.6
Apr 14: 262.4
Apr 21: 262.0
Apr 28: 258.0
May 1: 258
May 5: 259.2
May 12: 260.6
May 19: 261.2
May 26: 258.4
June 2: 257
June 9: 260
My food diary says I should have been losing this whole time, at least in small amounts, and I am not. It makes sense to me that set points don't exist, but in over more than 2 months I have not been able to leave 260 behind. I also don't believe in weight plateaus, but even though I'm 100% sure there is some error in my tracking record, I weigh and measure enough that it's not THAT wrong.
I'm baffled, mad, and so, so discouraged right now.
I have heard some reputable experts say that set points exist but not in the way we think. I think a set point is the "groove" or "sweet spot" where your chosen eating habits matches your TDEE and it happens pretty close to a person's ideal weight. It might leave a very short and sedentary person a little heavier than they would like but only because managing food intake to maintain a lower weight pushes past a person's desire to compromise further. My wife drinks cream in her coffee and that is currently on her no compromise list. If she had to live 20 pounds heavier than ideal to keep her cream I think she would choose the cream.
Plateaus can exist but they are caused by eating closer to maintenance. They are not the myth that people make them into being.
How much are you trying to lose each week?
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I typed up something about how water weight gain is not always predictable but I guess in all my distractions while typing that post it got deleted.
I think @bmeadows380 covered it but to recap what I wrote I normally can guess why my weight goes up but not always. There are a lot of things that go on under the hood that we may not easily identify like mild inflammation, allergies, mild constipation, low grade infections, stress, travel, etc. Other things like heat, humidity, skin exposure to sun usually happen seasonally so they might be hard to remember as causes of temporary weight gain.1 -
@bmeadows380 I do believe in that kind of plateau, where there's an underlying reason that you're not really in a calorie deficit.
No super hot or humid weather yet. I can't think of any diet changes that would have affected me much. If there's anything medical, it would have to be really recent. I have an annual checkup every December. I've had my thyroid tested many times and it has NEVER been a problem.
I adjust my calorie goal in the guided setup every new decade, so it was lowered when I got to 260.
I have my loss rate set for 1.5 lbs per week. However, I do go over my calorie goal often, and for a while during quarantine it was especially bad, so 1/2 lb loss per week seems reasonable, except I don't believe those first two weights are outliers.
I do the NEAT method (I think) where I add back my workout calories. I've always added in whatever my Fitbit says I've burned. I know a lot of people don't add the whole amount, so I suppose that could be a part of the issue, but I don't know why it would suddenly be a lot different.
Tracking is critical for me, and I think my tracking is pretty accurate, other than occasionally forgetting small things or having to estimate calories, but I suppose it could be contributing to the issue as well.2 -
Hi @bobsburgersfan !
Do you weigh daily or weekly? Weighing daily could help you understand fluctuations that are not due to fat loss or gain.
Jordan Syatt, a fitness expert, is now doing a public cut on his Instagram page. He trains and eats in a deficit and posts his daily weigh-ins. Over the past 10+ days, his weight has even fluctuated 4 lbs from one day to the next. It's totally normal. Check out his Instagram page if you are interested. He says it could be due to a very heavy workout or other reasons. I think he also has a YouTube video on it, but I haven't watched that.
Seeing his weight fluctuate really helped me. I mean, I am still happy when the scale goes down, but I am less upset when it goes up despite my consistency.
You've got this! Don't give up!1 -
bobsburgersfan wrote: »I am beyond angry about my WI this week. My body had FINALLY let go of some weight the last couple of weeks, only to inexplicably pick it all back up this week. This last week was the BEST week I've had in a very long time, calorie-wise, and I somehow gained 3 pounds. It's not my cycle - that just ended and this should have been my BEST week for weight loss. It shouldn't be workouts, because those have remained consistent. I had some estimated foods in my tracker, but I would have had to be off by 15,500 calories to get this result. I. JUST. DON'T. GET. IT.
My weekly weight record for the last 2.5 months:
Mar 31: 259.2
Apr 7: 259.6
Apr 14: 262.4
Apr 21: 262.0
Apr 28: 258.0
May 1: 258
May 5: 259.2
May 12: 260.6
May 19: 261.2
May 26: 258.4
June 2: 257
June 9: 260
My food diary says I should have been losing this whole time, at least in small amounts, and I am not. It makes sense to me that set points don't exist, but in over more than 2 months I have not been able to leave 260 behind. I also don't believe in weight plateaus, but even though I'm 100% sure there is some error in my tracking record, I weigh and measure enough that it's not THAT wrong.
I'm baffled, mad, and so, so discouraged right now.
My weight stalls or goes up and down all of the time...I am actually getting use to the stops and starts...I don’t like it but I expect it!...I am learning to “Trust in the process” more and more...if you continue to eat less and use more Calories than you eat, you will lose weight!....btw your progress pictures are very impressive and you are getting so much smaller!...I am trying to only eat back half of my exercise calories in case I estimated the amount I used by too much...I weigh and measure everything I eat every meal...I tend to be OCD about a lot of things....this week I am up 2 lbs which I hate but I have been swimming and it is very humid and hot here in Florida...don’t be too discouraged...I am sure this is temporary and you will have a WHOOSH soon!0 -
@cremorna1
The thing is, though, that she's got about 9 weeks data, and there should be an appreciable trend down during that time period; the daily fluctuations should be trending down and they aren't doing that.
@bobsburgersfan
That is the NEAT method definitely; and if that has worked up until now, then unless your fitbit has gone pretty wonky all of a sudden, I wouldn't think that would be it.
Since those numbers you gave were during the quarantine period, and you know you were struggling during that time, you've probably hit onto what the problem was. If you've gotten things back on track now, the only thing I can think is patience and give it another few weeks and see if the new determination helps the numbers drop.
Though its very frustrating to have to wait and see, isn't it?
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Oh, I see! It's so frustrating when such an unexplained spike happens!1
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bobsburgersfan wrote: »@bmeadows380 I do believe in that kind of plateau, where there's an underlying reason that you're not really in a calorie deficit.
No super hot or humid weather yet. I can't think of any diet changes that would have affected me much. If there's anything medical, it would have to be really recent. I have an annual checkup every December. I've had my thyroid tested many times and it has NEVER been a problem.
I adjust my calorie goal in the guided setup every new decade, so it was lowered when I got to 260.
I have my loss rate set for 1.5 lbs per week. However, I do go over my calorie goal often, and for a while during quarantine it was especially bad, so 1/2 lb loss per week seems reasonable, except I don't believe those first two weights are outliers.
I do the NEAT method (I think) where I add back my workout calories. I've always added in whatever my Fitbit says I've burned. I know a lot of people don't add the whole amount, so I suppose that could be a part of the issue, but I don't know why it would suddenly be a lot different.
Tracking is critical for me, and I think my tracking is pretty accurate, other than occasionally forgetting small things or having to estimate calories, but I suppose it could be contributing to the issue as well.
I would not go too far down that mental rabbit hole yet. If perfect logging were required I doubt any of us would lose weight. There is, I am sure, areas you could tighten up some more. I know for a fact there are areas in my logging that could be tighter but unless I absolutely must I would rather not. The shortcuts I have cultivated keep my logging time down to the bare minimum.
For my first year I would return to basics after my deficit breaks. I would log every bite again like I did in the beginninng for the first week back. This would help me find logging errors that were big enough to fix. I remember one of them was popcorn and I was overcharging myself by almost double.1 -
Thank you all! I did chill out a bit after ranting this morning.
@cremorna1 I do weigh daily and only officially log it weekly in MFP. I'm used to a lot of fluctuations, although I don't typically see really big ones. This week threw me because right after hitting a low last week, it went up for a few days, and then it has stayed right around 260 for 4 days. It used to be that a good calorie day (where I hit close to goal) that included a workout was almost a guarantee that my weight would drop the next morning. The last week was full of days like that and it didn't go down at all.
@NovusDies As usual, you are probably right.
Patience, Becky, patience... 2 -
Oh, I really hope you'll have a big whoosh!! Sending whoosh-ful thoughts your way!2
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Ok....I am up 4 lbs from last week...going from 267 to 271.... I eat 1500 calories a day for a 1.5 lb loss a week...the past week I started swimming and used about 600 extra calories in exercise two days...I was very conservative in my estimates and only ate back about half of those calories both days....am I doing something wrong?0
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nope; but you just restarted exercising, so the muscles need to get used to it again. Plus, did your diet change over the last few days, meaning that while staying within your calorie limit, did you eat something saltier than usual? More carbs than usual?
Hold the course! Water weight is a fiend but will eventually leave
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Hugs, Connie. I agree that starting up exercise may be causing some water retention. Hang in there!1
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I read an article today on not eating back exercise calories....I am wondering if I would have lost weight if I hadn’t eaten any calories back?...I know I am impatient but I have quite a few years on you all and I want this fat gone yesterday!...I am going to stay the course but if the scales don’t move next week I am going to look really hard about counting my exercise calories too high...an example is swimming and treading water....how can they burn the same amount of calories?...yesterday I ran back and forth in the pool and my arms are sore today not my legs lol...I want to add riding the bike at the gym a couple days next week...I can do 15 to 20 minutes but I don’t burn as many calories as swimming in the same amount of time and the biking is harder!...What is great is that I am finally looking at exercise as another option for moving around....this time last year I sat on the sofa or slept many hours of the day...I wish I was comfortable walking...my replaced knees aren’t the problem....I think it’s my hips and I am not even going there!1
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conniewilkins56 wrote: »I read an article today on not eating back exercise calories....I am wondering if I would have lost weight if I hadn’t eaten any calories back?...I know I am impatient but I have quite a few years on you all and I want this fat gone yesterday!...I am going to stay the course but if the scales don’t move next week I am going to look really hard about counting my exercise calories too high...an example is swimming and treading water....how can they burn the same amount of calories?...yesterday I ran back and forth in the pool and my arms are sore today not my legs lol...I want to add riding the bike at the gym a couple days next week...I can do 15 to 20 minutes but I don’t burn as many calories as swimming in the same amount of time and the biking is harder!...What is great is that I am finally looking at exercise as another option for moving around....this time last year I sat on the sofa or slept many hours of the day...I wish I was comfortable walking...my replaced knees aren’t the problem....I think it’s my hips and I am not even going there!
@conniewilkins56
Connie, Connie, Connie.......
I know it's hard - but you've got to have patience! Keep reminding yourself that you are striving for better health NOT just weight loss and that you have to do what you can to make the health better. You've got to give yourself time to establish that trend. Also remember - if you aren't eating enough calories for your body to meet the functional requirements you are placing on it, you will be risking a binge as your body pushes you for those missing calories. Losing at a slow but steady rate really is your friend!
Of course you would have lost weight if you had not eaten any exercise calories back - the deficit is what makes you lose weight, and the larger the deficit the more you lose. But remember that being in a deficit is very stressful on your body, and the more you lose in a faster time, the more stressful it is. So ask yourself - do you want this weight to leave quickly but risk burning yourself out, risk a binge episode, risk losing muscle mass, risk injury, etc, or do you want to be healthier at the end and not just leaner? Be firm with yourself!
And really, for sanity's sake, its really advised to ignore articles in magazines, newspapers, blogs, online, etc. They are all written to grab your attention and be "news" and most - especially the ones here on the MFP front page - are filled with bad information, bad data, and bad advice. Don't rely on the articles; rely on your experience and your own data to see what is working for you.
Now as for counting the exercise too high - that's a possibility. Whether you are letting a fitness tracker tell you what you burned or whether you are using MFP's values, its acceptable to cut those values back to 50% to 75% at first.
What I do with exercise is determine how much I'm going to count based upon my effort in addition to my time. For instance: when I do Jiu-Jitsu, if I'm working pretty much the entire time, I'll count say 75%. But if its a session where I work a lot but also spend a lot of time watching, then my effort was lower over all, so I'll only count back 50%. Id o this because MFP only has 1 entry for Jiu-Jitsu.
I don't use the elliptical entry in MFP at all when I use my elliptical because I know that I can't hit the effort intensity on my home machine that the entry is based on because my home machine just isn't capable of it. And MFP only has 1 entry - there isn't one for light effort. So I instead use walking, 3.0 mph as my time. I know its likely under-estimating, but when it comes to exercise calories, I'd rather under estimate than over estimate. I'll give it 6 weeks, see what my trend is saying, and adjust from there.
You could do the same for swimming: on days where you spend more time moving than just treading water, count back 75%, but on days where you spend a lot of time treading water, count back 50%.
But I do suggest counting back a portion of those calories - you definitely did not do 0 calories, and if you going by MFP's NEAT method and the number MFP gives you, its absolutely expected to eat back those calories once you've hit your activity level for the day.
So that's my pep talk Seriously - you are doing very very well, Connie - don't let that part of yourself try to derail you now! Look at your over all trend over the last month because you ARE losing and doing beautifully!
I understand about the great feeling about the exercise - I'm doing more than I was this time last year, too! Good job!2 -
conniewilkins56 wrote: »Ok....I am up 4 lbs from last week...going from 267 to 271.... I eat 1500 calories a day for a 1.5 lb loss a week...the past week I started swimming and used about 600 extra calories in exercise two days...I was very conservative in my estimates and only ate back about half of those calories both days....am I doing something wrong?
Nope. You seem to be doing everything right. Your body is also doing what it feels is right by retaining some extra water for the moment.
Even if your 600 calories over 2 days had been in error WHICH I DOUBT the results would have been still losing weight last week. Instead of losing 1.5 pounds you would have lost 1.33 pounds.
For fun let's do the math:
Your normal deficit is 5,250 calories per week.
Gaining 4 pounds requires a calorie surplus of 14,000
So to overcome your normal deficit and gain 4 pounds you would need to eat 19,250 calories.
Still worried about the 600 calories you ate?0 -
conniewilkins56 wrote: »I read an article today on not eating back exercise calories....I am wondering if I would have lost weight if I hadn’t eaten any calories back?...I know I am impatient but I have quite a few years on you all and I want this fat gone yesterday!...I am going to stay the course but if the scales don’t move next week I am going to look really hard about counting my exercise calories too high...an example is swimming and treading water....how can they burn the same amount of calories?...yesterday I ran back and forth in the pool and my arms are sore today not my legs lol...I want to add riding the bike at the gym a couple days next week...I can do 15 to 20 minutes but I don’t burn as many calories as swimming in the same amount of time and the biking is harder!...What is great is that I am finally looking at exercise as another option for moving around....this time last year I sat on the sofa or slept many hours of the day...I wish I was comfortable walking...my replaced knees aren’t the problem....I think it’s my hips and I am not even going there!
If you look at my math you would see that nothing you have done with food/calories would have changed the outcome.
Also, you DID lose fat weight. You gained over 5 pounds of water and it is masking it.
It is not safe to ignore exercise calories. It can trigger fatigue and/or a binge. Your sweet spot seems to be that 1.5 pounds per week. We should have a thread called "Terrible advice from the internet" and link articles like the one you read (assuming it was internet based).2 -
I am such a boob...I was back to 267.0 this morning SMH....I will continue staying the course and trust in the process...thanks for the excellent advice from both of you!..and now I am going shopping, going to the meat market, getting the mail, and picking up some meds, and going swimming and fixing dinner!...I can’t believe I can do all of this and not be exhausted!...you CAN be a winner for losing!
Knock on wood, at least I have not binged in some time and that feels really good...I know the urge to over eat will always be with me but at least for now it is not a pressing issue...
Both of you have a great weekend and let your grass grow!1
