ugh!!! gained 2 lbs I have so had it!

mom23nuts

ok the post says it all....I really am so confused and may have to take a break from this site...it is a bit time consuming to chart every little thing that goes into my mouth only to have it show a gain in weight and a loss in time. I thought keeping a food/exercise diary would be very cathartic in seeing what is going on with my body and to move forward to my goal and it is really only pissing me off especially when the scale the measuring tape the clothes all don't show any differences!!

ang16

Hi

I can understand your feeelings of defeat, it cant be easy when you do so much and take the time to track.. but it will pay off. However, sometimes taking a break may help too?

Hope you realise how well you are doing and continue to take comfort in that..

PhoenixRising11

It is only the beginning.
I started noting everything I ate on MFP app on my phone only 2 weeks ago and have lost 6lbs and if I can do it anyone can!
Seriously don't give up and persevere for maybe 2 more weeks and see if it makes a difference. You can do it!

marthamae813

Seems to me your not eating your exercise calories? How much are you exercising and how much is you calorie allowance everyday?

Kate_UK

Have you eatten a lot of salt over the last day or two? If so that would have made you retain water an increased your weight. What about monthly fluctuations? I know that I gain anything up to 4lbs just before that time of the month.

lipt8611

remember too, the scale isn't everything. since you have been working out and strength training, you may be gaining muscle. you should be measuring yourself to see changes in your body composition too. I gained 7 lbs from the saturday morning before easter to the monday following because of holiday eating. truthfully, a lot of it was water (i drank about 15 glasses per day to curb my eating quite as much) and balanced out the next day. remember the scale is measuring one moment in time- did you drink a lot? have a little too much sodium? don't stress, don't give up! keep trying!

KidP

Are you eating all of the calories that MFP recommends each day? If you're consistently coming up short by a large amount on your recommended calories, you won't see good results. Eat back your exercise calories. There are a lot of posts on this site that explain why you need to do both of those things to get results.

Give it some more time - i didn't think it would work for me, it didn't right away, but i've seen real results by sticking to what MFP tells me to do. Sometimes that means you're doing things right, nothing happens and then for some reason it just starts working.

mrsnjd

Hi, I a not sure how long you have been trying to loose weight but here are some helpful tips. It takes 3,500 calories burned to loose a Pound of fat! IF you are working out you need to remember not to eat back the calories that you have earned. You need to have excess to total to the 3,500 calories to loose that one pound. Also if you are new to eating better you body could be in shock. IF you have been a Yo-Yo dieter then it even worse. You body has been trained to hold on to the calories and thinks you ate trying to kill it. Your body just is doing what it can to survive. If you are working out then you body is holding on even more. If you are drinking coffee with caffeine - that is another discussion. I could go on and on but I am not sure what you are doing. If you already knew all this stuff then I am sorry for rambling on.
I just know how hard it is to loose weight and I don't want to see anyone give up. I wish you the best of luck.

MyaPapaya75

Well its only the start ..you have to remember your not only doing this for weight loss but overall better eating habits and a healthy lifestyle...((im assuming))....in addition if you drop those processed foods im willing to bet your going to see a drop on the scale...

lil_missfit

Hi

I looked at your diary and it looks like Friday and Sunday you had a lot of sodium. This is probably that 2 extra pounds you're seeing. Drink lots of water....work out and weigh yourself later in the week. You will probably have dropped that off. High sodium intake will ALWAYS make you weigh more. I didn't really look to see if you are exercising or if you are eating back calories. When you said you gained 2 lbs---I went straight to your diary and scrolled down to sodium. Be careful with that.

Keep exercising..keep logging your meals and KEEP connected with MFP!!!!!

Don't give up!!! You're a winner!!!!! You can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:flowerforyou:

DianaPowerUp

Oh, I'm so sorry you are getting so discouraged! I looked at your diary, and your food diary looks wonderful! Full of healthy, balanced, nutritious stuff. That's the way to do it!

As far as the scale is concerned:

1. THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW! No, seriously. I can't tell you how many times I have stepped on the scale and seen my weight go up. I just wanted to cry. I was doing everything right! Why, why, why??? So you know what I did? I stopped weighing myself. It was just defeatest in nature. Once I felt "thinner" (and you'll know when that is), I would step back on and see where I was - lo and behold, I'd dropped 2 lbs, or 3 lbs, each time. On avg. I weigh myself once/mo, if even. I'm more concerned about my health, and I can judge where I'm at just by how I look and how my clothes fit. Also, as a woman, you're going to have daily fluctuations in weight just from hormones and water weight. So weighing yourself often can be frustrating, at best.

2. Do you have a HRM? What I also found is that the machines at the gym, and here on MFP, greatly overestimate my actual calorie burn. I don't burn near as many cal/hr in any activity that these things say I would, so if I were using that data, I'd be overeating, b/c I'd think that I have more cal. to burn than I really do. When I got my HRM, I discovered how low my burns really were, and so now my cal. expenditure is more accurate, and I eat accordingly.

Please don't give up! This is a life long journey that most of us need to be on, and you will hit many bumps in the road along the way, but ultimately, you'll get there, if you just keep going.

RichB77

Have you only been doing this for a week? It takes time, don't worr if you don't see results straight away.
Also, on looking at your diary, your carbs and sodium levels are exceeded quite often.
You'll need to look at these and make a few adjustments. Also, where is your exercise?
But don't give up, it is a marathon not a sprint.
Good luck on your journey,

:drinker:

mom23nuts

Are you eating all of the calories that MFP recommends each day? If you're consistently coming up short by a large amount on your recommended calories, you won't see good results. Eat back your exercise calories. There are a lot of posts on this site that explain why you need to do both of those things to get results.

this is the advice I am getting al lot lately to eat my exercise calories or don't over do exercise but if you read the next post you will see why I am confused

mom23nuts

Hi, I a not sure how long you have been trying to loose weight but here are some helpful tips. It takes 3,500 calories burned to loose a Pound of fat! IF you are working out you need to remember not to eat back the calories that you have earned. You need to have excess to total to the 3,500 calories to loose that one pound.

see why I am so confused the person right after her said eat the damn exercise calories!!!!!

mom23nuts

Have you only been doing this for a week? It takes time, don't worr if you don't see results straight away.
Also, on looking at your diary, your carbs and sodium levels are exceeded quite often.
Also, where is your exercise?
But don't give up, it is a marathon not a sprint.
Good luck on your journey,

:drinker:

UGH!!! no I have been doing this for almost a year but stalled on weight loss this last month or 2 and just started posting in the last month....I spin 2-3 times a week for 45 min to 1 hr I do general machines for an hour 2 times a week and weights at the gym on those days too
I do a mixed cardio class 1 time a week and walk/jog with a friend 3 times a week and take only 1 day off and sometimes I throw in a walk for exra on days I have already hit the gym

knewbill72

Are you eating all of the calories that MFP recommends each day? If you're consistently coming up short by a large amount on your recommended calories, you won't see good results. Eat back your exercise calories. There are a lot of posts on this site that explain why you need to do both of those things to get results.

this is the advice I am getting al lot lately to eat my exercise calories or don't over do exercise but if you read the next post you will see why I am confused

MANY people on this site are confused about caloric intake, including the person you quoted! It's simple when you think about it...if MFP says eat 1200 NET calories per day then you don't NEED to workout to loose weight. When you workout you create a negative caloric balance therefore you need to eat those to break even on your NET calories per day. Exercise and weight loss don't have much to do with each other. I loose weight whether I burn 500 calories or 1000 per day at the same rate because its ALL about calories.

Best of Luck!

mom23nuts

Oh, I'm so sorry you are getting so discouraged! I looked at your diary, and your food diary looks wonderful! Full of healthy, balanced, nutritious stuff. That's the way to do it!

2. Do you have a HRM? What I also found is that the machines at the gym, and here on MFP, greatly overestimate my actual calorie burn. I don't burn near as many cal/hr in any activity that these things say I would, so if I were using that data, I'd be overeating, b/c I'd think that I have more cal. to burn than I really do. When I got my HRM, I discovered how low my burns really were, and so now my cal. expenditure is more accurate, and I eat accordingly.

Yup I have a good one and I am using it faithfully.

Still I just want to freak out

pandafoo

first, congrats on having lost about 50 lbs! your tracker says you've lost 3 lbs but i saw your starting weight of over 200, and realized that you've obviously been very committed to having better health so that you could achieve such a loss! i'm guessing you only started using mfp recently.

in looking at your diary, it is obvious you are not eating enough calories. on many days, your net calories are as low as 600-800 calories! your body is prob thinking it's not getting enough fuel to function properly, which will put a major halt to your weight loss.
some mfp-ers have mentioned the idea of "eating back exercise calories" - this is a concept unique to mfp because of the way the program is designed, so it's okay if that doesn't make sense. it basically translates to: are you eating enough calories each day? even on days you exercise, just try to have your net calories be what MFP indicates it should be

other factors that i think lead to weight gain:

- eating too many refined carbs - in my opinion, the quality and quantity of carbs is the most critical aspect of our nutritional intake to be on guard about. carbs affect blood sugar and insulin levels - and major spikes in insulin will promote fat storage. try to eat whole grain carbs and eat it with some healthy proteins and fats, and be careful about portion size. a kitchen scale would be a great investment

- lack of strength training - in looking at your diary and seeing all the major calorie burns from exercise, i'm guessing you're doing only cardio workouts. while cardio is important, strength training is also very important. it helps build muscle and increase your metabolism, and increases your cells' sensitivity to insulin. without strength training, even if you lose weight, a lot of the loss could be from muscle, which means your body fat percentage might become higher over time. altho it's so tempting to look at the scale as the primary determinant of success, i think having a healthier body composition and having lower body fat % are more important than what the scale says.

no matter what, please do not give up! you've obviously shown a lot of dedication and commitment to your health so far by losing 50 pounds. mfp is a great tool that can help you identify trends in what you eat and how you exercise, and the community here is wonderful. but if you decide to take a break, i hope you will continue the progress you've already achieved, and that you will surround yourself with friends and family who will support you in your health journey. try not to be too hard on yourself. take it one day at a time, stay focused, and you'll do great!

ChelseaRW

Regardless of whether you eat back excercise calories or not, You need to have a NET calorie intake much closer to 1200 than you are hitting. Subtract those excercise calories out of what your total calories says you eat and you will see that your net is only around 600 to 800 most days. Feed that body..you are wearing it out with those awesome calorie burns you are getting! Move that net intake to 1200 (or 1300 would be better) and do it for a couple of weeks, cut back on the sodium...see what happens! I bet that scale moves for ya...don't give up though. I can tell how determined you are in your food selections and how hard you are working out! You can do this sweetheart!

lil_missfit

Hi, I a not sure how long you have been trying to loose weight but here are some helpful tips. It takes 3,500 calories burned to loose a Pound of fat! IF you are working out you need to remember not to eat back the calories that you have earned. You need to have excess to total to the 3,500 calories to loose that one pound.

see why I am so confused the person right after her said eat the damn exercise calories!!!!!

I would NOT take this advice.

I guess the real proof would be--if you are not eating back calories and you are NOT losing weight---then perhaps you need to start eating back your calories. If you are a year into this, then it may be about time to start eating back the calories. The further away from your goal, depending on how much over you were would probably have allowed you to get away with it...but if you are close to your goal then try eating them back and just see what happens. I lost 40lbs not eating back but hit a wall...it was time to start eating back. Plus it wasn't healthy---I ended up gaining it all back....at any rate- if you are not seeing results, consider eating back your calories:)) It's worth the shot!!