Why am I gaining?!

crcole1agmailcom6948

I have been a yoyo for years. I am 51 years old and need to lose at least 20lbs for health reasons more than just being overweight. A couple weeks ago I started getting serious. I am logging my food, exercise, and getting as much sleep as I am able to (not as much as I should be). I work out (aerobic and weight training) in the morning before work, walk at lunch, and either walk the treadmill or outside in the evenings. The first two weeks I was losing something every day. A couple ounces a pound, something. Yesterday I got up and gained almost a pound and then today another 6 ounces. I know I can't lose every day, but to gain that much in two days almost a pound and a half is scaring me! I measured when I started and only my thighs lost. Nothing else. The more I gain and the less I see change in measurements, the harder I am working. Any suggestions?

AnnPT77

Too short a time horizon. Give any new regimen (eating plus exercise) at least 4-6 weeks to learn the average result on body weight. (If you're not in menopause yet, compare body weight at the same relative point in at least two different cycles. If you're peri, things could be even more confusing than that, unfortunately.)

It's normal to gain a couple of pounds in scale weight in two days, even when in a calorie deficit. If your eating and activity are consistent and at a good level, the jump isn't fat. It's some combination of water fluctuation and digestive contents on their way to becoming waste. That's just how healthy bodies behave, as part of staying healthy.

Fat changes are gradual, water retention and digestive contents change fast, play peek-a-boo on the scale with fat loss, sometimes (IME) for weeks.

This is a good read, if you haven't read it already:

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

Over-reacting to random weight fluctuations, changing things up at every twitch of the scale, getting frustrated: Common reason for people not to succeed at long-term weight management, IMO. Patience is useful. Trends are important, trends over multiple weeks, not what happens over a day or few.

Here is a sample section from my own personal weight trending app, at a time when I was losing weight. At that point, the loss was intentionally slow, because I didn't have much to lose. The sections of my chart from when I was losing fast (2015-16) look similar, just a little steeper trend, but I didn't have a photo of that handy. The connected down-hill-ish line is the trend (calculated) the vertical lines connect my actual daily weigh-ins to the trend. Notice how the ends of the vertical lines jump up and down? Normal. Different people will vary in patterns a bit, but patterns of fluctuation are the norm.



Hang in there: You're doing fine. You'll see the results of your efforts in the average over many weeks, not over a day or few.

Bridgie3

crcole1agmailcom6948 wrote: »

I have been a yoyo for years. I am 51 years old and need to lose at least 20lbs for health reasons more than just being overweight. A couple weeks ago I started getting serious. I am logging my food, exercise, and getting as much sleep as I am able to (not as much as I should be). I work out (aerobic and weight training) in the morning before work, walk at lunch, and either walk the treadmill or outside in the evenings. The first two weeks I was losing something every day. A couple ounces a pound, something. Yesterday I got up and gained almost a pound and then today another 6 ounces. I know I can't lose every day, but to gain that much in two days almost a pound and a half is scaring me! I measured when I started and only my thighs lost. Nothing else. The more I gain and the less I see change in measurements, the harder I am working. Any suggestions?

Take a couple of days off exercise and see if you pee a lot of water weight out. Also; when is/was your period? do you still have them, are they irregular? no need to answer me, just really wondering if you're ready for a tsunami in a week and have been building up to it. (I have fibroids, so shark week involves a sou-wester and galoshes).

Also it could be that you have changed your diet to lower carbs but haven't upped the salad and so you have more food sitting in your digestive system right now?

Or perhaps your daily calorie goal is off on its calculations somehow? I imagine you have checked that a few times already tho...

In closing: making sure you have a good quality kitchen scale and you take the time to identify all foods you eat by their own packets, and don't automatically trust the macros entered by members here.
But again I imagine you have been doing that for decades, so I don't really think it's the most likely reason.

crcole1agmailcom6948

Thanks! I am in full menopause. So no cycles to monitor. I have salads for lunch or steamed vegetables. I Scan and measure everything. I eat berries in the morning in either cottage cheese or oatmeal. I have a handful of pistachios if I need a snack during the day and I have a protein and veggies for dinner. I am exercising 3 times a day in some capacity. I will keep at it.

I really appreciate the input!

crcole1agmailcom6948

Ann P, thank you so much for that link! I just read it and feel like that has been my life! It certainly puts my mind at ease. I will keep at it and hopefully see the fat drop. Again, thank you!!!

JustTrackinIt

Check your thyroid function as well if you are logging for an extended period of time and counting calories right. As you age you need to check to make sure your thyroid is functioning properly.

crcole1agmailcom6948

I do take thyroid meds and get tested every 6 months

Xerogs

For me weight loss has never been linear it always fluctuates and it can take months. So I keep track of things on a long term trend and don't focus on the scale so much. In general its more about how I am feeling and if my energy levels are higher than before. Also I can see changes in how my clothes fit now compared to a few months ago. Building muscle to replace fat might result slower weight loss but my overall health is better. For me this approach takes the pressure off 1-2lb weight fluctuations that just normally happen. Plus stress will derail my progress and path forward.

In my 40s it took time to lose weight and get in shape and I know as I age I just need to have patience with the process. The last time I went LCHF I dropped ~15lbs rather quickly and then it was ~1-2 lbs over the long haul and I even gain back weight when I started lifting again and after a long plateau I started dropping again and I looked a lot better and had a better state of mind.

Psychgrrl

crcole1agmailcom6948 wrote: »

Thanks! I am in full menopause. So no cycles to monitor. I have salads for lunch or steamed vegetables. I Scan and measure everything. I eat berries in the morning in either cottage cheese or oatmeal. I have a handful of pistachios if I need a snack during the day and I have a protein and veggies for dinner. I am exercising 3 times a day in some capacity. I will keep at it.

I really appreciate the input!

You may not have cycles, but you still have hormones (even if you're not on HRT). And their impact may be more sporadic.

Double check the scanned entries. I find LOTS of errors when I scan barcodes. The scans are only as good as the last update which might not have been for a while.

And be sure to weigh the "handful" of pistachios. Nuts are really calorie dense.

ChickenKillerPuppy

Think of weight loss like the weather. Between September and December the temperature trends down, but that doesn't mean every day is colder than the last, or even the same. You have unseasonably warm and cold days, but overall, the average temperature is moving downwards. Same with weight loss.

anneg50

Maybe check a calorie calculator to see if your intake is too high for you. I use healthline.com calculator and stick to a middle number between the lose weight and lose weight fast. Or just see a dietician who can help you set up a plan right for you. Good luck

nooshi713

If you’re losing a pound some days, that is not all fat. Some is water weight and it will go up and down.

kshama2001

Psychgrrl wrote: »

crcole1agmailcom6948 wrote: »

Thanks! I am in full menopause. So no cycles to monitor. I have salads for lunch or steamed vegetables. I Scan and measure everything. I eat berries in the morning in either cottage cheese or oatmeal. I have a handful of pistachios if I need a snack during the day and I have a protein and veggies for dinner. I am exercising 3 times a day in some capacity. I will keep at it.

I really appreciate the input!

You may not have cycles, but you still have hormones (even if you're not on HRT). And their impact may be more sporadic.

Double check the scanned entries. I find LOTS of errors when I scan barcodes. The scans are only as good as the last update which might not have been for a while.

And be sure to weigh the "handful" of pistachios. Nuts are really calorie dense.

I was so sad when I got a digital food scale and learned how small 2 T of peanut butter really is

Here's my standard answer regarding accurate entries:

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)

Pipsqueak1965

Anne is correct - 2 weeks is absolutely no time at all! Weight is affected by many factors, fat being only one of them. Keep to a sensible deficit over a few months and your weight will gradually trend down x

crcole1agmailcom6948

I'm still at it. Just over a month now. Scale is stalled. Have only lost about an inch around my waistline. Going to continue as I guess even some small progress is better than no progress. Thank you everyone for your comments!

PAV8888

My first comment is that you should use your one time name change option and privatize your account a little bit 🙀

My second question is are you using a weight trend application and how often are you feeding it data?

My first comment is that depending on your starting point 1in is far from insignificant.

My second comment is that depending on your answers we will have a better picture of what may be taking place!