Feeling somewhat discouraged

Faery7

Hi everyone - I've started a 30 day challenge for myself. I had been gonig to the gym on and off and also following myfitnesspal's advise on calorie intake, but have fallen off the wagon a few times. This time, with my 30 day challenge, I decided to start drinking a gallon of water per day (this is the recommended amount for my weight) and limit the carbs I have after breakfast as well as make sure I'm doing some physical activity EVERY day (i.e. running on the treadmill, swimming, going for a walk etc).

The first few days of this were successful, I lost 4 lbs my first 2 days, I feel good, I'm not feeling weak and have been able to commit to my physical activity while staying within my calorie intake amounts.

However, over the past 3 days, I've increased my cardio. I went from doing 30 mins on the treadmill and fast walking/jogging about 2 miles per day to now doing 40 mins and almost fast walking/jogging a full 3 miles per day. But the scale hasn't changed.

I'm not eating my exercise calories, and it seems my sodium intake is a littler higher than when I was eating carbs. Does anyone have any advice? I'm feeling a little discouraged that the scale isn't changing... althought I feel a change in my body.

Thanks!

Dootzy1

It is so easy to feel discouragement. We are so "results" oriented. Your health is improving. Stay the course. Sometimes that weight seems to want to hang on a bit longer, and our efforts don't seem to be making a change. Then a weight loss will show up, if we are consistent. If you talk to anyone in the medical field, they would tell you to do this for your health, primarily, and let the numbers be secondary. When I got "hung up" on a number, and discouraged by a small gain in the maintenance phase, I let that dominate my thinking, and went back to my old habits---put my 30 pounds all back on!!!! I highly recommend not doing that to yourself. But, I'm not looking back!

fitniknik

It sounds like you already know the answer to this questions! Eat some or all of those calories back and lower your sodium! Dont be discouraged, you knew you couldnt possibly keep loosing 4lbs every 2 days!! 1lb a week is really good, sometimes it takes longer! Its a marathon remember!

fitnessjch

Are you measuring yourself? I bet you have lost inches. Normally when I up my workouts, I dont see change for a while (a week or so) also, you should weigh yourself weekly, not daily or every 2 days.

Also, salt/sodium means water retention - try to limit your sodium, and this will help massively too.

hstallings13

just remember muscles weights more than fat, so there will be times when the scale won't move. I do weight myself and feel pretty good when it moves, but I get more exctied about my measurements changing cause that proves even more that I am getting somewhere. I was an athlete all through high school and constantly weighted 10-15 lbs more than other girls the same size as me, muscle mass. I was stronger than all of them too, so while the scale will move, watch those measurements more cause they tend to be more telling You can do this

maureendonahue

Going through the exact same thing myself! The scale will move eventually. But the important part is that you are feeling better! Keep it up.

lggk01

I'm having the same struggle as you....it's not adding up. Looking to see what everyone says.

Mios3

Don't worry you've got this I think most of us fall off the wagon every once in a while. As for the scale not moving you, I think if your clothes are fitting better then that's a sign that you are doing something right. Now the water thing, I am terrible about drinking enough somedays I struggle to just drink the 8 glasses that are recomended. Kuddos to you for being able to get that much in.

Kazimira

Our bodies are self-thinking machines. Give it time to get used to the change and get out of its belief that it needs to prepare for the worst, when it just wants to hold on to every ounce and calorie possible in preparation for famine. Overall weight loss happens over time and our bodies can fluctuate greatly day by day. I would suggest only weighing once a week at max. Keep your goals gradual and you'll have an easier time meeting your 30 day challenge. I, for one, find that if I try to jump to the deep end too quickly I don't want to stick with it at all and stop.
Good Luck! You are great! :flowerforyou:

Michelle1026Lynn

It takes your body close to a week to adjust to any changes you make. Don't get discouraged and keep up the hard work. Make sure you're eating at LEAST the recommended minimum calories a day for your goals, and add a little extra when you're burning a lot of calories.

The first 10 weeks of my journey I lost right about 25 pounds with good eating and hitting the gym sporadically. The next 6 weeks I got serious about my workouts and going to the gym 4-5 times a week, EVERY week and I lost 25 pounds in those 6 weeks. Your hard work WILL pay off. Just keep pushing through. And make sure you are adding in weight training. It seems like you will build more muscle and not drop the weight you are looking to, and while you will gain lean muscle mass, you will burn calories and fat so much more effectively and quickly. TRUST ME!! lol

Good luck to you.

Faery7

Thank you all for your feedback. I really was feeling down this morning and this is what I needed. You're right, I shouldn't weigh myself daily and it makes sense that if I've up'd my exercise that my body will need time to adjust. I need to figure out some things to eat that are less sodium, but I know the water consumption is helping. Thanks again to all of you. I've never used these forums or any time of support group, but now I understand that this is a crucial part of the process for me to keep my spirits and motivation where they need to be!! THANK YOU!

sechere710

One interesting trick that I picked up because I was weighing myself everyday (maybe not posting it, but just to see) I would hide my scale out of sight until atleast a week had past. Since I'm really short - I would put it up high, somewhere where it would take some effort for me to get it back down again. So if I ever thought about it I would think to myself "whatever that's gonna tell me isn't important enough to get it RIGHT THIS SECOND" and then I would go run or do something fun. There's more to life than worrying about the numbers on the scale. I try to gauge my health on the fun/outdoor stuff that I'm able to do now that I wasn't able to do when I was overweight, bogged down by the fast food bloat and sodium. So it sounds like you're on the right track it's about focusing on balancing the nutrients (protein/carbs/fat) going into your body, not the numbers attached to them. You sound like an amazing woman. Keep up the good work!

TsamIam

There is some really good advice on this post. Don't let the numbers discourage you! There are good days and bad days that can fluctuate based on water intake, etc.

I wanted to address a different question: "If I wanted to weigh myself every day, how can I make sense of all the rapidly changing numbers and get a good idea of my progress?"

Moving averages. There is a free online book a coworker pointed me to called "The Hacker's Diet." It's written by an engineer going through his own weight loss journey who tries to make sense of weight gain and weight loss from an engineer's perspective (math, calculations, science, etc.). You can read the whole book if you like (though it can get pretty nerdy at times with how he analyzes things), but the greatest tool I took from it was his online weight tracking tool, so I'd read the section specific to that (which I refer to below).

His tool takes the numbers you enter and calculates the moving average of your weight. He compares it to how stock traders monitor the overall trend of stocks over time instead of focusing just on the daily gains and losses.
I can refer you to the explanation in the book: If you google "The Hacker's Diet" and go to the section called "Signal and Noise," look for the paragraph with the title "Dexter's Diet." It shows an example of someone tracking weight each day and how we'd all feel when we see the numbers bounce around. He then shows what the moving average of those weights looks like and that the whole time the guy was losing weight.
The tool he made was basically created with Excel, and he tells you the math to do it yourself, but I use his online version so I can go on any computer and access it. Just google "The Hacker's Diet Online."

I have no affiliation with the book or author... it was just something that really helped me see what my weight was doing (because I was too curious to stay away from the scale) and figure out which bad day was a REAL bad day. I never get any email related to signing up on that site, and its all free and the math behind all his tools are provided as well if you want to create the graphs yourself in excel.

Even if you don't want to use that tool, I'd suggest reading that section of the free book (The Hacker's Diet->Signal and Noise->Dexter's Diet) because it exemplifies the emotional rollercoaster we all feel when we are weighing ourselves and is really encouraging to see an explanation behind it.

Thought it was pretty cool, so wanted to share

Jconner30

First, set aside ONE day - such as Sunday or Saturday (preferabally the day you are not working out) to splurge on 'bad' foods that are really high in everything. Look forward to that day - dont splurge before or after that day (unless you change the day due to schedule conflicts). I use Saturday because I do a really hard workout on Friday. I call this my 'couch potato day'. You need that day for your muscles to rest and grow.

DONT feel discouraged! That leads to BINGE EATING!! If you 'throw in the towel' then you will gain all the weight you lost PLUS some and that leads to worse eating habits. Set a realistic goal. Each time you achieve those goals, scream it to the world! You need to celebrate victories! My short term goal is to reach 229 pounds. I have been in the 230's for over a month and yes I was VERY discouraged, but, that is human nature. Smile, follow the goals you set. Understand that you may only lose a pound a week or every two weeks at first - OR - you may actually GAIN some weight. If you gain and you are working out - you are gaining muscle faster than you are losing fat. The more muscles you have, the more calories you burn just because they are there.

Starting weight: 240 (7 days ago)
Today's weigh in: 231 YEA!!! only 2 pounds to go!! I will be there by Friday!!!! VICTORY!!!!!!

Faery7

Thank you for sharing! I think I'll take some time to look through this whole book. I did check out Dexter's section and wow, yeah, I can really relate to that. Thanks again