New here and already discouraged :(

quiltchickie

Hi everyone. After almost a month of keeping under my allowed calories and working out (via elliptical and walking outside), today I step on my scale and find I actually GAINED weight. I am at my highest weight EVER (at 182) and am at a loss as to how I let myself get this far. I have always had a very athletic build (I was a trained dancer) and have always weighed a bit more than what the typical guidelines, but have always figured it was due to the muscle mass of my body.

A month ago I started this journey thinking I will FINALLY do something for me (after stepping on a scale and being totally flabbergasted!). I am so tired of being embarrassed of my body (btw, I'm 42 and have two kiddos age 10 & 12). Have I just hit this weight because of my age and maybe it's where I will be "stuck" the rest of my life? To the point that I have had terrible allergies and refuse to go to the doc because I know they will have to weigh me. After all this hard work for an entire month, seems like I have nothing to show for it.

ELENA01

You are not going to be stuck there the. I was 196 and had the same feeling and thoughts but I have lost 56 lbs since 01/22/13. Just check your food intake and see what works for you. I totally check everything out before I take it in and chart it to keep track. Lots of water to wash out the fat. It will happen, it just takes time. Slowly but surely it will come off.

RGv2

Opening your diary would help people give you feedback.

How do you measure your foods?

How do you measure your calorie burn?

jillianbeeee

first off, good job on the month. We did not gain this in a month so remember it will take much longer then that to see results. Are you weighing and logging all your food? When I started this I was surprised with what I thought was a few ounces or one cup. weigh everything, measure everything and log everything! When I first started MFP I logging in a sunday breakfast and was shocked to see my normal sunday breakfast was over 1000 calories! Wow what a wake up call!

FindingAmy77

don't quit. you have done good. weighing and measuring portions is key. drinking lots of water too. You could be gaining muscle, are you measuring yourself too? share your food diary and we can maybe give sugestions. Just stick with it.

quiltchickie

I have pretty much been using the scanning option on most everything. Totally cut out sugar as much as I can (finally getting used to drinking BLACK coffee), cut out almost all beverages other than water (I did see they really DO add up!). Been eating a LOT more healthier. My typical snacks are now almonds, yogurt, and bean salad (before it was mostly processed junk food).

Guess I really need to be even more careful. Hubby's supporting me but thinks it's kinda nuts that I'm logging EVERYTHING.

As for the calorie burn, my elliptical has a program that tells me about how many calories. The walking I just use the MFP to submit the time I walked.

quiltchickie

Haven't measured. I just figured I would go by the feel of my clothes. I have always hated the scale. Now I remember why.

ken_hogan

Can you open your diary so we can see how your days look?

bacitracin

Is it water retention? Have you been able to measure your body fat percentage? Do your clothes fit a little looser? Are you able to go faster and for longer periods of time? Is your diet improved?

Don't worry so much about weight. There are so many other things that make you healthy.

NYCNika

I think most likely guess is you undermeasure your calories.

I see many items in the mfp database that are "filet" or "cup" or whatever. It is all bull****.
There is only grams and fraction of oz that is a measurement which is in any way accurate.

Also, are there ever "a bite", "a taste", or ANYTHING you put in your mouth that you don't count?

Watch "Secret Eaters" on youtube, you will se how people honestly believe they are eating under calories and are buffled why they are not loosing weight, when in reality they are eating twice as much calories as they log.

Eabec

You will feel the difference in your body and your health. Ignore the scale. That could be water retention from working out or anything else. The body is fluid - literally i guess! You will go up and down. How do your clothes feel? Can you run after your kids breathing less heavily? A lot of things are the measure of your success, not the scale alone!

Hellbent_Heidi

deleted (duplicate post)

quiltchickie

Not sure how to open my log to share. The one thing that I CAN say is that I am sleeping (and feeling) a bit better. I did hear once you hit 40 it's a lot harder to lose. Didn't think it would be THIS hard.

Hellbent_Heidi

You really need to give the process time to work. A month seems like a long time, but you didn't gain all your weight in a month, so its not going to leave that quickly either.

Make sure you're logging correctly (portion sizes, etc, and not overestimating your calories burned) and watch sodium too.. Weigh yourself consistently and at the same time of day (even one seemingly healthy restaurant meal can pack enough sodium to show a weight gain the next day).

Also, you said you're staying 'under' the calories on here...but could you possibly be eating too little?

FrankiesSaysRelax

Go to settings- dairy settings- scroll down to the bottom dairy sharing and set to public.

There is always a possibility that you're retaining water from working out. Are you using a food scale to measure food? Are you eating back calories burned? It's very easy to overestimate your calories burned while under-estimating your calories.

ken_hogan

Not sure how to open my log to share. The one thing that I CAN say is that I am sleeping (and feeling) a bit better. I did hear once you hit 40 it's a lot harder to lose. Didn't think it would be THIS hard.

I'm 43 and it isn't THAT bad to lose, I don't think any way. How many calories do you get a day and how many are you eating?

CarmenSRT

Opening your diary would help people give you feedback.

How do you measure your foods?

How do you measure your calorie burn?

The above is what is needed to help. If you do not weigh your food, that's a big source of error. Using "close enough" entries from the database for homemade foods or restaurant foods is another. Volume measurements are fine for liquids, but most other foods it is too easy to mess up. Another common error is taking the calorie burn estimates MFP gives for eating back exercise cals as gospel. They were double reality for me (I got a Body Media Fit Link armband).
First step, please open your diary when asking for the community's help.

kellsbells7

It's possible that if you're following the calorie reading on your elliptical you are overestimating your calorie burn. I have a heart rate monitor, and when I wear it on the elliptical the elliptical shows that I burn 60-70 more calories during a 30 minute session that my HRM. So if you're overestimating your burn and eating those calories, that could add up.

Just a thought, it may not even be a contributing factor.

meowlymary

Give yourself a break! It takes time. One of my old trainers said it would take at least six weeks before you start noticing the change. Also, when you start eating better and working out (especially if you weren't eating enough calories/nutrients before), you can start to gain before you lose. Don't get discouraged!

RacerX_14

Don give up!! It takes a while to start seeing results. I also agree with the others, open your diary so we can see it and help make suggestions! Stay with it!!!!!

CarmenSRT

Not sure how to open my log to share. The one thing that I CAN say is that I am sleeping (and feeling) a bit better. I did hear once you hit 40 it's a lot harder to lose. Didn't think it would be THIS hard.

I'm 43 and it isn't THAT bad to lose, I don't think any way. How many calories do you get a day and how many are you eating?

Says a guy. :laugh: Mother Nature does things to the ladies starting around that age that it does not do to you gentlemen.