Frustrated

jbest73

So I have been working really hard exercising, staying just under my calorie goal, monitoring sodium, fat, carbs, etc. I gained 1 pound, lost no inches. I have been at this for a month, lost pounds in the first couple weeks but nothing as of yet. My weight seems to fluctuate daily and it is pissing me off. I want to throw away the scale.

Help, what am I doing wrong? I know I should only care about how I feel and about being healthy but no matter what, the scale does matter.

I will keep on plugging but would love some advice or encouragement. AHHHHHHHHH

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

MarthaJ77

I hear you...REALLY I do. I have a totally different mind set than I did any other time I have tried to do this, but the pounds aren't coming off like I would like. But there are a couple things that you may or may not be doing that could effect the weight loss.

1. Only weight yourself ONCE per week. Our bodies have to adjust to the things we do to it, and sometime they will hang on to water or other things. Plus, as ladies we have more issues with water, so try once a week.
2. Be sure you are drinking enough...the more water you drink the less you retain. (the more you pee too ;-)
3. Be sure you don't over count exercise calories...all of the calculators are estimates.
4. Be sure you are eating enough. Sounds weird but your body will go into starvation mode if it thinks you aren't eating enough. If you are working super hard you might want to add something small like an apple or and orange.

It is a frustrating challenge but think of the wonderful things you can do when you are done. I am looking forward to running and I know that I will get there. SO can you! Keep going, try what I suggested and see what happens!
Later

WonderNoodle

Everyone's weight fluctuates throughout the day and from day to day. PLEASE choose a day of the week to weigh and report, the rest of the week keep the scale in a cabinet. It is proving to be a negative for you so don't let it!

We can't let a number define our efforts. You are making smart food choices. You are moving. You should feel proud of yourself for the actions you are taking, the choices you have made and relish in it. If the scale does not reflect a loss, does it change the great things you did? HECK NO!

I have a girlfriend who is 127...she has been jogging at least 3 times a week for 2 miles at a time for 3 months. He number has not changed. Her food choices are awesome. Her number has not changed. She has had to go by SMALLER running clothes. Her number has not changed. What HAS changed is her mind, her physical body, her attitude, her pride in herself. The number doesn't mean anything to her. She feels great and could care less if the number ever changes because she KNOWS SHE HAS. :flowerforyou:

Take your victories in life, not in numbers! Live smart today! :drinker:

thenebean9

a friend and i are working together to no longer be "fat kids" as we liked to call ourselves. While I started losing weight right away, she was pretty stagnant for a while, but now it's starting to fall of of her as well! our bodies are finicky! Keep doing what you're doing and like the others said, don't weight yourself daily - try once a week, and to make sure you are not putting your body in starvation mode! be sure to eat your calories!

best of luck - you can do it!

knittygirl52

You're right .... the scale shouldn't matter, but to us, it does.

There are a couple of things that could be going on. First of all, are you doing strength exercises? If you are, for instance, lifting weights, you could be building muscle (a good thing), which weighs more than fat. So you could be losing fat and gaining muscle. One way to check this would be to keep track of your measurements. If you are losing inches but not weight, that's likely to be the case.

I recently discovered another thing, though. I recently happened upon a website called Shape Up America. It has a number of interesting tools, but one page is about metabolism and how our dieting can sometimes lower our metabolism. There is a resting metabolic rate calculator that showed me I was actually eating a bit too little. (For all that this website we are on right now is a wonderful tool, it merely does calculations, and doesn't know everything!) Here is the link to that page -- you might find out that you are actually eating too little: http://www.shapeup.org/atmstd/sud10v3/sud10s7.php

WonderNoodle

Knitty...that is a great site! Thanks!

Crickks

2. Be sure you are drinking enough...the more water you drink the less you retain. (the more you pee too ;-)
3. Be sure you don't over count exercise calories...all of the calculators are estimate
4. Be sure you are eating enough. Sounds weird but your body will go into starvation mode if it thinks you aren't eating enough. If you are working super hard you might want to add something small like an apple or and orange.

I thought I was eating enough but on week 5 of CE, I would wake up with hunger pains... and that HURTS... As weird has it may sound, you have to eat the total of your daily calories and your workout calories combine. Also, I have a bodybugg to track the calories I'm burning during my workouts because the Exercise Database listing are estimated.

But back to your calories intake, you have to eat in order to lose weight, you have to eat close to or all your daily calories and exercise calories in order to lose weight. This is a fact: The first nutritional demand of your body is energy. Without adequate energy, your body will convert muscle protein into energy to feed your brain, nervous system and red blood cells.

These particular tissues do not possess the metabolic machinery to burn fat. They only burn carbohydrates. When your intake of carbohydrate falls below these tissues demand, the body begins to convert tissue protein into carbohydrate to meet their need. The net result is a loss of muscle tissue. Yes, the scale may say you have lost "weight", but you have lost the very tissue that burns fat.

Muscle tissue burns 70% of the fat in your body; so losing muscle sacrifices your ability to burn body fat. In fact, the "weight" you lose on a diet can represent up to 10 to 20% of those pounds in muscle loss. ... poor dieter will not only regain this weight, but then some (there's that mystery). All because they have compromised their ability to burn body fat.

Our bodies seem to have a mind of it's own,, Hope this helps...

jbest73

Thanks for all the advice. I have changed my weight loss goals from 2 pounds a week to 1 pound. Maybe that will help. I will try that and see how it goes. Thanks everyone.

I will fill you all in... Keep your fingers crossed.

So glad that I have all of the support here.

Beleau

Hi Jbest73,

Words of encouragement, you can definitely overcome this obstacle in the road to a healthier you. We are all in this together with an abundance of support and great advice as noted above.

Yes you can, yes you can, yes you can!

B