Gained FAST!

Dawn7664

So I went to weight watchers last week and gained 2 pounds for no good reason. I have been struggling Losing weight - one day i loss weight and the next i gain it back. When the next weight in time rolls around at WW I lose .5 pound or nothing, this stall has me very frustrated!! This week I was down 3 pounds and on weigh in day I was up 1 pound, this totally upset me, so since Wednesday I have been pigging out, eating anything I want and GAINED 6 pounds as of this morning. Doesnt take long.. Two days of pigging and not logging. I've been on my journey since April and never did this but I was mad at myself I guess. I can't take the disappointment when I work so hard.

Back to eating well and in the saddle again starting today! I hope the weight comes off by next weigh in day, Wednesday!

Thanks for listening!

KenosFeoh

I share your frustration. For awhile I was at 1400 calories per day and gaining, so I cut back to 1200 calories per day and keep losing and gaining the same 2-3 pounds.

3foldchord

From everything I have read, here and elsewhere, fluctuations of a few pounds either way is normal and just how the body works. And it takes more than 2-3 days to gain weight from increased bodyfat.
A fast gain like that. Is from the body retaining water. Which can be too much dietary sodium, to exercise, to allergies ?tissue irritation causes water retention, or something like that)

GoTeamMeaghan

I know it may go against everything you think you may know about weight loss, but you may not be eating enough calories. Using your height, weight & age, calculate your BMR (calories you would burn if you never got out of bed) . Using the Harris Benedict method to calculate the number of calories you burn in a day.. If you want to lose 1 lb a week, subtract 500 & thats how many calories you should eat in a day. I know this sounds crazy, but you shouldn't let your net calories (food-exercise) get below you BMR.. Feel free to check out my diary if you want some ideas. I suggest having 5 or 6 smaller meals so you don't feel like you're stuffing yourself. There's like a million different ways to calculate your calorie needs. I like the calculators at bmi-calculator.net

Also, don't base everything off of weight. Weight fluctuates throughout the day & can just frustrate you beyond belief. I like using the "skinny jeans test". find the smallest pair of jeans you have in your closet, & just keep trying them on every week. Don't worry about that scale (it's a meanie anyway!)

GoTeamMeaghan

so since Wednesday I have been pigging out, eating anything I want and GAINED 6 pounds as of this morning. Doesnt take long..

plus, a pound is about 3500 calories so to gain 6 pounds, you would have to consume 21,000 more calories than you burn...i seriously doubt you did that. Probably just water.

Hazel2005

Concentrate on the 60+ pounds you have already lost! If the scale can set you off that easy then don't use it. Don't use frustration, small or no numbers as excuses - use it to motivate you to move more! You got this!:bigsmile:

Brittaura

One thing that you have to keep in mind is that weight watchers allows a lot of flexibility with the extra weekly allowance and the points earned from exercise. If you are underestimating the amount of what you are using you could be charging yourself the wrong amount of points, or if you're overestimating you could not be getting enough which will make your body store more instead of shedding it. If you have been tracking, I would recommend going back through your tracker to see if you're normally above or below your daily allowance and how much of the extra points you're using. It sucks and I hate doing it personally, but I would try to be more strict with my portion accuracy for a couple weeks by using a digital food scale and measuring cups just to force yourself to be honest about what you're consuming. One thing I use to fall into was going out with friends and saying "oh I have the allowance points one dinner's no big deal" and waaay overdoing it, or being mad/ashamed of myself for what I had and just not writing it. A big thing to watch for is also fruits and veggies, they are great for you and it's awesome that they are no points, but if you're eating like 10 apples in one day that's a lot of sugar and carbs etc. that you're not counting. A problem a lot of people I've spoken to had was also not counting fruits or veggies when they were supposed to, meaning they are only free in their natural state. If you sautee them, cover em in yogart, or whatever it changes the nutritional value and the point value.

If I sound a little preachy I apologize, I love weight watchers, it changed my life and helped me lose 60 pounds before coming to myfitnesspal. I'd give anything to still be a member, but just can't afford it anymore. I stopped while they were still doing the points plus program, so I don't know anything about the 360* all I can say is please please please stick with them. Weight Watchers is the safest, smartest, most viable way to lose weight and get healthy in my opinion. Like my leader always said (and made me want to throw things at her) it's a lifestyle, not a diet.

GOOD LUCK and

Brittaura

oh sorry I forgot to say that you should also check with one of the leaders in your group or call the 800 number to make sure you're at the right daily point goal, as you lose weight it should change with you... I'm pretty sure you already know that but it never hurts to double check! =D

bearwith

Go and walk briskly or run if you can. Do this everyday for an hour, the weight will fall off as long as you do not increase your calories or eat too many of your exercise calories.
Are you drinking 8 cups of water a day?

neandermagnon

I know it may go against everything you think you may know about weight loss, but you may not be eating enough calories. Using your height, weight & age, calculate your BMR (calories you would burn if you never got out of bed) . Using the Harris Benedict method to calculate the number of calories you burn in a day.. If you want to lose 1 lb a week, subtract 500 & thats how many calories you should eat in a day. I know this sounds crazy, but you shouldn't let your net calories (food-exercise) get below you BMR.. Feel free to check out my diary if you want some ideas. I suggest having 5 or 6 smaller meals so you don't feel like you're stuffing yourself. There's like a million different ways to calculate your calorie needs. I like the calculators at bmi-calculator.net

Also, don't base everything off of weight. Weight fluctuates throughout the day & can just frustrate you beyond belief. I like using the "skinny jeans test". find the smallest pair of jeans you have in your closet, & just keep trying them on every week. Don't worry about that scale (it's a meanie anyway!)

^^^^ this

a 6lb gain from overeating for a few days is probably your body replacing your glycogen stores, which were low before that because of cutting your calories too low, and glycogen is stored with water, so you gain a lot of water weight from it (this is a good thing in fact). you would have to eat 21,000 calories over and above what you burn off in a day to put on 6lb of fat. Not sure anyone can eat that much in just a few days.

There's a thread on here called "In place of a road map" which goes into more detail about how to calculate how many calories you can eat and still lose weight. There are a lot of people on this site who have lost weight successfully using this method, and without feeling tired, excessively hungry, run down or anything. With the right amount of calories you have a lot more energy, eat more and still lose weight. You still have to eat less than you burn off (your body won't break the laws of physics) it's just that people generally don't realise how much energy (calories) their body needs in a day to run properly, and that they can eat a lot more than they currently are and still be eating less than they burn off.

nellyett

I know it may go against everything you think you may know about weight loss, but you may not be eating enough calories. Using your height, weight & age, calculate your BMR (calories you would burn if you never got out of bed) . Using the Harris Benedict method to calculate the number of calories you burn in a day.. If you want to lose 1 lb a week, subtract 500 & thats how many calories you should eat in a day. I know this sounds crazy, but you shouldn't let your net calories (food-exercise) get below you BMR.. Feel free to check out my diary if you want some ideas. I suggest having 5 or 6 smaller meals so you don't feel like you're stuffing yourself. There's like a million different ways to calculate your calorie needs. I like the calculators at bmi-calculator.net

Also, don't base everything off of weight. Weight fluctuates throughout the day & can just frustrate you beyond belief. I like using the "skinny jeans test". find the smallest pair of jeans you have in your closet, & just keep trying them on every week. Don't worry about that scale (it's a meanie anyway!)

^^^^ this

a 6lb gain from overeating for a few days is probably your body replacing your glycogen stores, which were low before that because of cutting your calories too low, and glycogen is stored with water, so you gain a lot of water weight from it (this is a good thing in fact). you would have to eat 21,000 calories over and above what you burn off in a day to put on 6lb of fat. Not sure anyone can eat that much in just a few days.

There's a thread on here called "In place of a road map" which goes into more detail about how to calculate how many calories you can eat and still lose weight. There are a lot of people on this site who have lost weight successfully using this method, and without feeling tired, excessively hungry, run down or anything. With the right amount of calories you have a lot more energy, eat more and still lose weight. You still have to eat less than you burn off (your body won't break the laws of physics) it's just that people generally don't realise how much energy (calories) their body needs in a day to run properly, and that they can eat a lot more than they currently are and still be eating less than they burn off.

^^^^THIS!!!!!

Dawn7664

Thank you every one,! Your making me feel better. Im back on today and doing better. The insight on calories has me thinking that I use to loss weight more consistently until I joined MFP. I think it could that I started counting calories and try to stick to 1,200 a day. I don't know where I got that amount fromI am trying to stay within 1,200 calories but after using the calculator for BMR and subtracting 500 calories then I'm 50 calories short so I am going to increase my calories by 50. We'll see. Thanks again for opinions, suggestions and support!

neandermagnon

Thank you every one,! Your making me feel better. Im back on today and doing better. The insight on calories has me thinking that I use to loss weight more consistently until I joined MFP. I think it could that I started counting calories and try to stick to 1,200 a day. I don't know where I got that amount fromI am trying to stay within 1,200 calories but after using the calculator for BMR and subtracting 500 calories then I'm 50 calories short so I am going to increase my calories by 50. We'll see. Thanks again for opinions, suggestions and support!

You don't subtract 500 from your BMR... you subtract 500 from your TDEE

BMR is how many calories you need to sustain your body, (i.e. what you'd burn in a day if you were in a coma)

TDEE, is your BMR calories, plus all the calories you burn moving around (general activity and exercise.

BMR + moving around calories = TDEE

You eat 500 cals less than your TDEE, or 20% less than your TDEE, to lose fat sustainably. And this number needs to be higher than your BMR in order to sustain your body.

If your BMR - 500 is around the same amount as what you're eating, then this is far too little.