I feel like I'll never get out of this plateau

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FitnessFreak1821
FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
edited May 2020 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so Friday I weighed myself I was 140 exactly. I wasn't going to weigh myself but I wanted to set up my new scale. Weigh in is suppose to be every Sunday only. Last weekend I was 140.6. So i was happy i went down .6 of a pound and I knew that is normal for the weight I have to lose. Well all week I ate between 1500-1600 calories. I think yesterday was only day I ate 1800 calories. I worked out 6 times this week for 45 minutes each day. one day I did extra 30 minutes on top of the 45 min work out and the 6th day I did a full hour work out. So I really pushed myself. I stepped on the scale at 7:30 am this morning I'm 141.6 and says I went up in fat and down in muscle just a tad?! Then i stepped on the scale at 8am just to see how I am bit later in the morning (still not have eaten, used the bathroom best I could) and I'm up again to 142! I know I might be tiny bit constipated I think cause I haven't been drinking enough water but my weight is gone up just like that! I'm so annoyed. I was thinking maybe I would be down to 139.6 but no I'm up a whole two pounds some how. I mean there is no way I over ate.

Is it possible my body doesn't want to lose the extra ten pounds and I just got to be happy where I am ? I have been trying for 2 months basically stuck from 138-140"s.

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    Those highly annoying scales. Hugs
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Those highly annoying scales. Hugs

    Yes! I'm so frustrated. Maybe I should try and not stress. Stay away from the scale for abit and just continue doing what I'm doing. Maybe I'll be surprised next month when I do step on the scale.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,005 Member
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    are you weighing all your food on a digital scale? Don't worry about it so much. If you stick to your plan and are consistent, it will come down long term. For example, I was 184 on Monday and then went to 188 and today was back to 185.6. The scales are an enemy if you let them be.
  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
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    It is annoying, but I've gotten used to seemingly massive weight swings. After an MSG/salt laden take out Chinese food meal, my weight can swing up nearly 4 lbs. the next weigh in. Same thing if I miss a daily bowel movement. I can also swing down nearly that much if I engage in an activity that causes me to perspire excessively and don't re-hydrate properly. Sometimes, and most annoyingly, weight swings or lack of weight loss occur seemingly without cause. I've persevered for nearly a month before weight loss began again. Hang in there!
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    tuckerrj wrote: »
    It is annoying, but I've gotten used to seemingly massive weight swings. After an MSG/salt laden take out Chinese food meal, my weight can swing up nearly 4 lbs. the next weigh in. Same thing if I miss a daily bowel movement. I can also swing down nearly that much if I engage in an activity that causes me to perspire excessively and don't re-hydrate properly. Sometimes, and most annoyingly, weight swings or lack of weight loss occur seemingly without cause. I've persevered for nearly a month before weight loss began again. Hang in there!

    Thanks I will I'm certainly not just going to give up. I came way to far to do that. I do see a difference in my body when I look so I should take that into consideration as well I guess. The scale is just a number. :)
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    nighthawk584 wrote: »
    are you weighing all your food on a digital scale? Don't worry about it so much. If you stick to your plan and are consistent, it will come down long term. For example, I was 184 on Monday and then went to 188 and today was back to 185.6. The scales are an enemy if you let them be.

    I don't weigh my food. Just go by porton/calories on the back of packaging. Log every little thing I eat in MFP. I did eat some chips ,popcorn, candy yesterday for movie night. I didn't over eat at all made sure stayed in my limit but the salt and sugar probably contributed to this too.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    XoXashleighXoX wrote: »
    nighthawk584 wrote: »
    are you weighing all your food on a digital scale? Don't worry about it so much. If you stick to your plan and are consistent, it will come down long term. For example, I was 184 on Monday and then went to 188 and today was back to 185.6. The scales are an enemy if you let them be.

    I don't weigh my food. Just go by porton/calories on the back of packaging. Log every little thing I eat in MFP. I did eat some chips ,popcorn, candy yesterday for movie night. I didn't over eat at all made sure stayed in my limit but the salt and sugar probably contributed to this too.

    Since you are so close to goal you don't have as much wiggle room in your deficit so it is very easy to eat above your allowance, weighing your portions becomes very helpful so I would consider it if you aren't losing over time. Also water weight swings will be more apparent especially after increasing exercise (which it also sounds like you've done). Be sure to use other metrics besides the scale to gauge progress at this time.. take measurements and progress photos.
  • mkculs13
    mkculs13 Posts: 626 Member
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    If you did even slightly more intense workouts, you are likely retaining some fluids and will need to wait a week or two while your muscles adapt to that intensity. That alone can account for the very slight changes you mention. It may seem like a lot to you, but it's not. Plus, muscle is more dense and heavier, so there's that. What measure of fitness do you use other than weight? Maybe go back to 1x/a week if the scale bothers you too much, and remember that different scales are . . . different :) Just assume 140 on one scale is 140.6 on the other, for example, and track trend (down/up, over at least 3-4 weeks) to see what is really going on.
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the great advise!
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    mkculs13 wrote: »
    If you did even slightly more intense workouts, you are likely retaining some fluids and will need to wait a week or two while your muscles adapt to that intensity. That alone can account for the very slight changes you mention. It may seem like a lot to you, but it's not. Plus, muscle is more dense and heavier, so there's that. What measure of fitness do you use other than weight? Maybe go back to 1x/a week if the scale bothers you too much, and remember that different scales are . . . different :) Just assume 140 on one scale is 140.6 on the other, for example, and track trend (down/up, over at least 3-4 weeks) to see what is really going on.

    I was measuring myself but that doesn't seem to be changing much or at all the last month or so. Unless I'm doing it wrong. I really got to try and just step on the scale once a week. I am addicted and stepping on it alot seeing the fluctuations really does something to me mentally even though I know it's a normal occurence when trying to lose weight.
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    A few thoughts:

    1. Those BIA scales are not very accurate, certainly not accurate enough to give you a valid reading on muscle/fat changes within such a narrow weight range. I'd suggest you ignore that data, with the possible exception that it might let you see a very general, imprecise trend over many months.

    2. Increasing exercise can lead to increased water weight **

    3. Some people indeed should weigh less frequently. People who are very stressed by the scale, uncontrollably stressed, should weigh less often. Weekly weighing can still easily pick out a relative low day in one week, and a relative high day in the next, even when fat loss is clearly the steady trend (behind the scenes). I'm a daily weigh-er, and have been for years, plus use a weight-trending app****. I have many weeks I could pick out during my weight loss phase (let alone now in maintenance!) when once a week weighing would look like I was gaining, but I was actually not. I'm not saying you should weigh daily. I'm just pointing out something about weighing less often, that's important to understand. In weird circumstances, it can even happen with monthly weigh-ins.

    Believe the folks above, about what to look into or do, and trust the process.

    If you haven't, consider making your food diary MFP-public so some of the old hands here can look for potential sources of logging issues. (We all take some time to learn how to do it accurately: This is not an accusation or criticism. :) ).

    Best wishes!

    ** If you haven't read this article yet, I'd highly recommend it:
    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    **** If you don't already, consider using a free weight-trending app, which does statistical analysis to try to dampen out the effect of water weight fluctuations on scale weight. You need a fair bit of data before it will produce a valid trend, though (like around a month of daily weights, longer if less frequent). (Not a crystal ball, just smoothed estimates via statistics.). Examples are Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight with a free Fitbit account (don't need a device), Weightgrapher, others.

    Thanks for the info! :)
  • Avidkeo
    Avidkeo Posts: 3,190 Member
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    XoXashleighXoX wrote: »
    nighthawk584 wrote: »
    are you weighing all your food on a digital scale? Don't worry about it so much. If you stick to your plan and are consistent, it will come down long term. For example, I was 184 on Monday and then went to 188 and today was back to 185.6. The scales are an enemy if you let them be.

    I don't weigh my food. Just go by porton/calories on the back of packaging. Log every little thing I eat in MFP. I did eat some chips ,popcorn, candy yesterday for movie night. I didn't over eat at all made sure stayed in my limit but the salt and sugar probably contributed to this too.

    Honestly, weigh everything.
    I have a favourite brand of pita breads. A serving = 1 pita. It's supposed to be 44 grams per pita. Every single pita is around 55grams. That's almost 20% more calories.
    And this is normal for prepackaged food. If you start weighing everything you will probably find that most prepackaged food is greater than the weight listed. And when your deficit is so low, that 20% makes a lot of extra calories and can cause you to inadvertently eat at maintenance

    Good luck

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