What am I doing wrong?

mychellelynne

I am in week 6 of my "lifestyle change". My weight loss has been as follows:

Week 1: -0.7
Week 2: -4.6
Week 3: -2.1
Week 4: -1
Week 5: +0.6
Week 6: so far I am +1 but I do not weigh in until Monday morning

I am a big girl with a lot to lose so I can not figure out what I am doing wrong. I have been within my calorie count. I exercised everyday this week. Could I actually already be plateauing?

I am happy with weeks 1-5 and know that losing 1 lb. a week is perfectly healthy. My only issue is I went from being completely sedentary and eating fast food/restaurants a lot to only eating at home and eating food good for me.

Can anyone help me see the light here? I still want to eat well and exercise but I want to throw the scale out the window. I feel like I deserve better numbers.

Exercise has been at least 45 minutes a day (this week I am lowering it to 5 days a week) with at least an 800 calorie burn.

I opened my diary to all also.

I am thinking of not weighing in for a month to see if that helps but I don't want to get discouraged. I am doing well (except for what the scale says).

Thanks!

melsinct

Two things come to mind:

1. Weight loss is not consistent nor linear, some weeks you may lose 0 pounds others you may lose 2 pounds. You also can't think in week-to-week terms or you will drive yourself nuts. Think big picture: you are averaging a 1.5 lb loss every week, which is fantastic!

2. Your sodium is sky high. When I eat high sodium amounts for one day, an extra 2-3 pounds (water retention) sticks with me for about 2 days. (I learned this over time via MFP and weighing myself!) Try staying under the MFP goal for sodium, which will likely mean going easy on things like the boxed flavored rice, and see if that helps you out.

weird_me2

You might not be doing anything wrong. Over the course of 6 weeks you've lost 6.8 pounds if do in fact record a gain on Monday, which is still more than 1/2 a week away. You may find over time that this is your weight loss pattern. For me, I start gaining pretty steadily as soon as that time of the month hits and gain for about 4 or 5 days even when I'm doing everything "right", then mostly maintain or come down slightly the next two weeks, then drop very rapidly the week before I start and then go through the whole process over again. I've learned to focus on the big picture and be happy that my lows are lower than the month before and so are my highs.

I also have a hand held fat % monitor and can use that to see that even if my weight is up, my body fat % is down and that's most important to me.

mychellelynne

Thank you. I will try monitoring salt better. I am trying to eliminate the more processed foods. I am not disappointed yet, but I am trying to nip anything in the bud that I may be doing wrong.

nczuczu

You should be very proud with the results you have shown. Like the others have said, sodium is high and if it is close to that time of the month, you could be retaining water from that. You are drinking a ton of water, which is great. There are so many different variables. Here are a few suggestions:

You could increase/decrease your calories slightly.
Try switching up when you eat your meals. Maybe try eating a heavier lunch and a lighter dinner.
Try to stop eating any carbs after 8 p.m.
Try eating something every 2-3 hours, if possible. Maybe your body needs the fuel.
If exercising, maybe try to do something different. Instead of the treadmill, try the eliptical. Or maybe try to run on the treadmill for 30 seconds or a minute and then walk for 5 and try again.
Take your measurements. Maybe your weight isn't going down, but your inches are.
Lastly...maybe don't weigh yourself for 2 weeks

I am not an expert, just trying to offer you some suggestions.