frustrated! Questions, advice

sean23

Hi. I wrote in about a month or so asking for advice on how my wife could start losing weight again. She has been stuck for a year or two. Whenever the scale moved down some, it went right back up a day or two later. Thanks to all the good advice we felt like she isn't eating enough and her metabolism has slowed way down. So for the past 3.5 weeks she has been adding 200 to 300 calories more to her diet. She has been eating healthy and exercising for 3 years, does some weights, and logs all her meals. Her medical stuff checks out ok. During this time, she has lost 3.5 lbs. We have been really happy with that. Although its slow, it has been steady. She weighs herself twice a week at the same time. The most encouraging thing is that she has not gained at all, everytime its been lower, even if its only a half pound. That made us think we finally found whats going to work. Then last week, she was a half pound higher for the first time. She was finishing up her time of the month so we wrote it off to water weight. Then today, 5 days later she weighed in again to find she had gained an addttional 3 pounds. She hasn't went over on her calories at all and only went over on her sodium 2 days ago. How in the world could the weight jump up so much? Needless to say she was very frustrated. What could be the cause and what can we do? She has been making a strong effort to eat her exercise calories too, because she may have been in starvation mode for awhile. Would the extra 200to 300 calories per day ( exercise cals she's eating) cause that much of a weight gain in a 4 day period? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I need to keep her positive. Also, I read that when you start to eat more you may gain weight at first. If so, why did she only gain it 3 weeks in, and if thats the case would she gain that much.

naugustyniak

Does she measure herself? I have noticed I have not lost a lot of weight but am losing inches. Maybe she should not weigh so much and depend on the scale so much. Just a thought.

yankeefamily05

Does she measure herself? I have noticed I have not lost a lot of weight but am losing inches. Maybe she should not weigh so much and depend on the scale so much. Just a thought.

I agree...I have only lost 7lb but I Have already lost 2 inches in my waist.

Good Luck....:drinker:

Larry61

I agree with the others. Stay off the scales, they can be a killer. I used to weigh myself everyday. It was very frustrating to see the weight going up and down. Seemed as though it never did a steady decrease. You should use and rely on measurements mostly. They can tell what is really happening.
Good luck and don't let the scale be a motivation killer as it has done me in the past.
Larry

SHBoss1673

first things first. Any time you take scale measurements from one week to the next you need to understand and realize that they are going to be wildly inaccurate. Normal bathroom scales just aren't precise enough to really count on them. Additionally, yes, the human body can fluctuate anywhere from five pounds above your "real" weight to five pounds below in any given 24 hour period. that's a ten pound swing. The body is a complex machine, there can be any number of reasons for a very small (3 lb) swing one way or another. If you're eating right, exercising, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, forget the scale, concentrate on how she feels, maybe take some tape measurements once a month or so, get a body fat % test done every 2 or 3 months to gauge your progress (a professional one, not one of those mickey mouse "electrical impedance" scales, they're very inaccurate as well).

In other words, don't micro manage, macro manage. That's my HO anyway.

Good luck.

JoyousMaximus

Additionally, yes, the human body can fluctuate anywhere from five pounds above your "real" weight to five pounds below in any given 24 hour period. that's a ten pound swing. The body is a complex machine, there can be any number of reasons for a very small (3 lb) swing one way or another. If you're eating right, exercising, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, forget the scale, concentrate on how she feels, maybe take some tape measurements once a month or so, get a body fat % test done every 2 or 3 months to gauge your progress (a professional one, not one of those mickey mouse "electrical impedance" scales, they're very inaccurate as well).

In other words, don't micro manage, macro manage. That's my HO anyway.

Good luck.

I agree. There have been time when I have "gained" 6lbs in a week even though I hadn't really changed my exercise or food intake then "lost" it in another week. I weigh myself but I focus more on the changes in my measurements, how I look in the mirror, and how amazing it feels when something that used to be nearly impossible is easy. It's so much more gratifying.

sean23

Thanks everyone. I am just trying to understand why things happen so we can keep moving in the right direction. I guess we just need to know we are doing the right thing and trust things will keep improving.

nicki17

Just an update. My wife was curious so this morning, one day later, she weighed herself and was back down the 3 pounds she was heavy the day before. I was a little skeptical, but everyone was right and I just wanted to say thanks for the good advice. She feels much better now also.

heatyola

I found this article on another site which I thought made sense:

Explanation for the 'whoosh' effect

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Here is a post from another board which is an explanation of the ‘whoosh’ effect. I had read something similar a few years ago. This was written by Lyle McDonald, who has written several books about body-building, fat loss, ketogenic diets, etc.
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Fat cell water content and fat loss

Ok, finally stickying this stupid post with some very minor modifications.

It's something I've mentioned over the years, an assertion that my exercise physiology professor had made wrt: fat loss.

Note that under normal conditions, fat cells contain ~90% triglycerides and ~10% other stuff where other stuff includes some water, the cellular machinery that makes all the stuff that fat cells make and a couple of other things that I'm forgetting right now. Basically, fat cells do not normally contain much water.

He told us that, after triglycerides were removed from the cell, that the fat cells refilled with water in the short-term, eventually the body dropped that water and the fat loss 'became evident' (a goofy way for me to try to describe when the fat loss actually shows up on calipers, one of those dumb Tanita scales, or visually).

If nothing else, this gives a plausible mechanism for the non-linear fat loss that is so often seen. Folks will do everything right for weeks with no results. then overnight, something happens and the scale drops a bunch. Many diet newsgroups and forums refer to this as a 'whoosh' which often follows a stall.

A couple of empirical data points in support of this: people who use tanita scales have often reported that it will tell them that their BF has gone up right before a 'whoosh' occurs and a big drop. This suggests something goofy is going on with water balance.

Another is that fat often gets squishy (suggesting a change in what's in there) prior to a drop in skinfolds/ improvement in appearance.

I looked for research on the topic for a decade to no success. I made up my own plausible mechanism having to do with glycerol levels in the fat cell (glycerol is hydrophilic); if fatty acids were being lost at a greater proportion than glycerol, this mght explain how water is attracted into the fat cell. Except that, usually, glycerol and fatty acid are released in about the proportion you'd expect (3:1 FFA:glycerol).

edit: For what very little it's worth, Colgan mentions something similar in OPtimum Sports Nutrition, something about the body 'tracking' glycerol to keep track of fat stores. It's possible that the research on this is just pre-medline. Or he and my teacher just pulled it out of the old *kitten*.

A couple of years back, a paper came out showing an increase in water content of visceral fat with dieting. First semi-direct data I've seen. I don't recall the mechanism being mentioned but I may not have ever read the full paper.

memaw66

Just an update. My wife was curious so this morning, one day later, she weighed herself and was back down the 3 pounds she was heavy the day before. I was a little skeptical, but everyone was right and I just wanted to say thanks for the good advice. She feels much better now also.

I don't have any different advice than what is given here as I am still struggling with my weight. I just wanted to let you know I think you are so sweet to be looking for answers for your wife and to help her with her weight loss efforts. Not all spouses (men and women included) are as supportive. You are to be commended. My hat is off to you!!!

Memaw:drinker: