Please reassure me it's normal

RawCarrots

My weight is going up!!

I've been on MFP for over a month now and have dropped a stone - it has me at 1400 cal a day, counting no excercise in the plan. I have about another just over half a stone to lose to get into BMI of 25, so not hugely overweight to begin with- only saying that as I know the closer I get to healthy range the slower it weighloss will become.

I've been more or less good with my diet, trying not to get calories from junk but would occasionally go over (about once a week and about 200cal over, then other days I'd be under, especially if I excercise) I've been trying to incorpoate walks every 3 days or so, but not into a routine with it yet.

So despite I feel I've been doing everything right, my weightloss have stalled last 3 weeks, end even worse - it's climbing up slightly (I'm obsessive daily "weight-in"-er)

I've read many threads on here on plateau, metabolism, etc and really don't think I should up the calories just yet. The first week I thought it was because of TOM, the second because of the takeaway which I had (and which was accounted for! only 200cal over daily limit and good rest of the days!!), this week I'm starting to worry.

Please somebody reassure me it's normal and I'll go back to the lovely weekly loss I've had so far, I'm getting very demotivated On the other hand I don't really have an option but to stick with it, "finding" back that lost stone is not an option!!!

Tips? Advice? Just encouragement to stick with it? Please?

RawCarrots

And while I'm in a moaning mood - when will it start getting ovbous I've lost weight?! I'm 5' 7.5 so that lost stone is not really visible yet! I notice difference in clothes, I've lost couple of inches off bum, waist and boobs, yet nobody notices - apart from hubby but think he is just trying to motivate me and mainly notices my confidence

Would love for people to say "Wow, you've lost weight", very shallow of me *blush*, instead I've mentioned it to a friend and she said "Really? I thought you've changed your hair or something" - she is an honest friend so don't blame her.

Rant over!

deadbeatsummer

you need to make your diary public to allow people to judge whats going on

LivingtheLeanDream

I think you lost that weight really quickly ! and well done for that. A lot of weight to begin with is water, especially for any quick weight loss. If you are keeping to 1400 and that works for you and you feel you're eating enough stick with that. I think you should try to get a bit more active though - even just walking (thats what I do - I walk 50 mins 4 or 5 times a week and its really helped me tone up). I would be pleased to have lost the weight you have and as you said yourself you didn't have that much to lose, the last lbs are the hardest to shift. Just keep up the good work, keep tracking your cal intake and you will get there
I'll wish you all the best for that

LivingtheLeanDream

ps if your waiting on compliments from others you might have to wait a while! some people are not forthcoming in that department at all and might never notice! the main thing is YOU feel the difference in your clothes - that should keep you encouraged. Take your measurements and see how they keep changing too, as for me the scales don't always show the weightloss but the waistline does! Also take pics and post them on here...there'll be lots of us that will tell you we can see how great you're doing

Have a healthy day

TimeWarp9

Wow! You've lost weight!

Fourteen pounds in a month is a great achievement. My guess is that your body is taking a bit to stabilize and in my experience, it is completely normal. When I was in my major losing mode, I would go through cycles that seemed to last three weeks or so. It didn't seem to be related to my TOM, but probably was somehow. I would lose minimal amounts for 2-3 weeks and then drop 4 or 5 all at once. Until I realized this cycle was going on, those non-losing weeks were very frustrating since I was doing everything right as far as I could tell.

Anyhow, just to be sure, double check your food diary to see if you're judging things correctly, be sure to drink your water, and consider switching up your exercise routine a little just to give your body a new challenge.

Otherwise, just keep on doing your healthy things and don't get too discouraged!

theologynerd

It's normal. You're doing great, just keep it up. Keep taking your measurements, too. Many times when my scale won't budge or even crawls up a pound or two, I find that I've still lost an inch off of my waist or hips.

KarinFit4Life

Well....you might have lost lots of water weight... Does your clothes feel more loose? Did you take measurements to compare?

Too much sodium/ TOM/ exercise can cause the scale to go up.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/630360-the-dreaded-scale-read

SamanthaD23

If you're weighing yourself every day I'd expect some serious fluctuations. I don't know what its like for men, but we are hormone factories and there's stuff going on we don't know about

It's how you feel. If people notice then bonus I suppose but you need to get that sense of accomplishment for you.

If you're on a plateau I'd review your BMR (as this will change as you lose weight), get more exercise in and then play around with your cal intake until you start losing again without feeling hungry.

Good luck x

Tebbspcad

And while I'm in a moaning mood - when will it start getting ovbous I've lost weight?! I'm 5' 7.5 so that lost stone is not really visible yet! I notice difference in clothes, I've lost couple of inches off bum, waist and boobs, yet nobody notices - apart from hubby but think he is just trying to motivate me and mainly notices my confidence

Would love for people to say "Wow, you've lost weight", very shallow of me *blush*, instead I've mentioned it to a friend and she said "Really? I thought you've changed your hair or something" - she is an honest friend so don't blame her.

Rant over!

Everyone has up/down days,yesterday i was down this morning i'm up (annoying as i feel like i've worked really hard!) so persevere!

Are you still wearing the same clothes? If so people don't tend to notice as we rarely really look at each other properly so no-one noticing although harsh is not a huge surprise. What you tend to notice is that people will start making comments from now on in. I'm about 10lb away from where i want to be & have been at this stage before when people start complimentingme on my weight loss etc so hold on and the compliments will come :happy:

mfs1011

Hi
Suggestion: Download and use Runkeeper to track what calories you are actually burning when you walk. I walk a dog daily and also have a five minute hilly walk to and from my car to my place I work. It all counts, but you've got to count as accurately as possible.
My Fitness Pal is not equipped to accurately gauge what calories you are really burning on a walk. Your walk speed is not measured and you may be walking up a mountain or on the flat - it makes a difference which Runkeeper will track as it uses GPS to work out the elevations of your run.
Enter your results from Runkeeper into MyFitnessPal and you'll know where you stand.
The two basics of losing weight are simply eat less and move more. If your weight starts to plateau you need that cardio burn to keep your body losing weight.
Good luck

RawCarrots

Thank you all for the encourgement and tips! It does help I'm all back to being motivated now, LOL!!! (the little we need some days)

I did drop ALOT in the first two weeks and it must have indeed been water weight. I didn't drink enough water to begin with, plus ate WAY TOO MUCH junk, embarrassed to even say how much. I'm now sticking to 8 glasses a day and definitely not bloated any more, huge difference there. Don't feel hungry at 1400cals, and the few days when I do I may go up 100 cals or so but would either excercise or make sure next day is good, and would try picking healthy snacks - fruit or plain water crackers if craving carbs.

Sodium is one thing I haven't kept track of, so will pay attention to it over the next few weeks. Trying to up the excercise too - brisk walks so far but weather is so crap most days, pooring rain

There is a difference in measurements (not last 2 weeks) so that's what motivates me. I was 14-16 to begin with, now conortable 14-big12, aiming for 12 (UK sizes)

Thank you all again, will stick with it for another week and maybe then review. Don't think I can cut cals under 1400 as I'd be hungry, just about managing ok at this level, also don't want to increase them - so will try more walks this week and will be back in a week or two if no change.

Capt_Apollo

stop weighing in everyday. its not good for your mental health. weigh in on friday mornings, after a nice long week of being good, and before a weekend of possible food and drinking binges.

come as close as possible to your calorie goal. going a little over is preferred to being way under. use things link nuts and fruits as snacks to supplement your diet.

don't worry too much about macro-nutrients like fats and sugar. if you do eat a lot of fruits, your sugar will be especially high. thats ok. thats the good kind of sugar; same goes with certain vegtables and fat. the good kind of fat (the kind that destroys the bad fat) is in natural foods like avocados. if you must worry about one particular area, it's sodium. track that, and try to avoid excess sodium. it may be difficult in todays processed food world, but it's possible.

re-eat your exercise calories. or drink them, with something like a protein shake if you do very strenuous exercise, or some low fat chocolate milk if you don't.

drink plenty of water.

your initial weight loss was mostly due to a shock to your system, as it adapted to new conditions. if you've been doing this for about as long as you say, you need to tweak your calorie goals just a little, and your food intake.

don't over look the benefits of strength training. it can help "jump" your system back into weight loss mode.

make sure you weigh and measure all your food and drink.

alcohol can be ok for you in moderation, but if you are counting 2-3 drinks a night into your diary, you are robbing your body of nutrients that it needs. try limiting yourself to one glass of alcohol a night.

squidgely

You're doing great. Souns like you're at the same point as me. I've lost two stone after having my son and have another half stone to go and will it shift? MFP set my calorie goal at 1250 without exercise calories, to lose a pound a week but i still couldn't lose the weight and the calorie amount was making me miserable and obsessive about food. I also wonder if I underestimated how many calories I was burning when I exercised and even though I believed I was eating my exercise calories, maybe I was taking myself into starvation mode. I have now adjusted my weight loss to half a pound a week to give me a much more manageable 1530 calories a day plus exercise calories. Hurray, I am now slowly losing the weight again. I hope you find something that works for you. I think when you are slow close to your goal weight it becomes a bit trial and error, after all, your body wants to make sure you don't go underweight.
X

RawCarrots

Thank you, will look at Runkeeper!

MFP wants to drop my cals to 1370 or so based on my lower weight but I haven't adjusted that yet, didn't think 30 cals will make huge difference. I'm only trying to keep track of total cals and carbs/sugar as I LOVE carbs.

Started strenght training last week, only done two short sessions, must read up more on it properly (only did arm excercises with dumbbells)

No alcohol so far (think 2 drinks for 5 weeks)

I know it's superficial to want people to notice but being 36 and with three small kids I just want to feel pretty again )) I've promised myself WHEN (not if!) I get to goal I'll post pictures here, I keep seeing other people's photos and it is so motivating, would love to be able to post my own

Thanks again, you've been a brilliant help!!