Help! Frustrated and defeated.

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  • harvo
    harvo Posts: 4,676 Member
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    Eat smaller portions for meals and be sure to snack in between. Do not skip meals as your body will store sugar and fats to have something to compensate. It may take a week or two but once your body knows it will have nutrition every few hours it will burn off what is there quicker.
  • missmuse06
    missmuse06 Posts: 50
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    Thanks for the great info guys.

    I'm going to keep at it, using your advice.

    It's just so freaking frustrating to do all the "right" things and every morning the scale goes up.

    I'm doing cardio and hot yoga tonight, maybe I'll sweat out a few pounds ;-)
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    Thanks for the great info guys.

    I'm going to keep at it, using your advice.

    It's just so freaking frustrating to do all the "right" things and every morning the scale goes up.

    I'm doing cardio and hot yoga tonight, maybe I'll sweat out a few pounds ;-)

    If you know that you're doing the right things, eating well and sweating a lot, then maybe it makes sense to not step on the scale every morning. Perhaps just weigh yourself weekly and save yourself the frustration? After all, you KNOW you're developing healthy habits, and seeing a number that you don't like isn't going to change the fact that you're continuing to eat well and exercise.
  • kenazfehu
    kenazfehu Posts: 1,188 Member
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    If you truly are keeping accurate track of your calories and workouts, and you are within appropirate parameters for weight loss, I would advise that you keep doing what you're doing and weigh yourself less often. It can take the body time to respond to changes, especially when you are near your goal. I think of it as "digging deeper". If you're digging a hole, the stuff at the top is easier to move than the stuff near the bottom. I don't care if this isn't scientifically accurate, it's how I wait out plateaus. Maybe it will help you, too.
  • mearlie
    mearlie Posts: 224
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    I went to the doctor about 3 months ago for this reason. They did a bunch of tests and found nothing.

    Even if I'm over estimating my burn during exercise (I need to get a HRM) I shouldn't be gaining if I'm consuming under 1400 cals per day (some days more to "shock" my system). I weigh and measure my food, so I'm pretty close on the calories.

    What testing did they do?

    Get your bloodwork results. Read them yourself. Many docs are still using old science.

    If they properly checked your thyroid they should have checked your TSH, free t3 and free t4. TSH should be below 2. Many docs don't diagnose under-active thyroid until TSH is over 4 or 5. That's way too high. If they didn't check your t3 and t4 then there's no way to know if you are converting properly.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
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    Doubt your eating enough.. 1400 calories and not eating back your exercise calories..
  • denezy
    denezy Posts: 573 Member
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    what are your macros? I bet you could use more protein in your diet
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    Doubt your eating enough.. 1400 calories and not eating back your exercise calories..

    THIS.

    My guess is the OP is NET under 1200 and their body is not letting go of the extra weight.

    You have to fuel the machine to lose. You want to reach those calorie goals MFP gives you (settings to lose 1lb/week). The goal is to lose the weight and to keep it off.

    Let's say you take in 1400 calories and burn 400 calories in a workout. You're trying to fuel your body with 1,000 calories and you are not going to lose the fat. You don't want your body to start losing muscle. Drinking a ton of water daily is not fixing the fact that you are simply not feeding your body enough food (nourishment) on the days you workout.
  • Jmchao
    Jmchao Posts: 27 Member
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    Not to get too personal, but where are you in your menstrual cycle? I've gained anywhere from 5-7 pounds of water weight the days adding up to my cycle, then afterwards, it all came right back off.
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
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    Not to get too personal, but where are you in your menstrual cycle? I've gained anywhere from 5-7 pounds of water weight the days adding up to my cycle, then afterwards, it all came right back off.

    This may explain the water weight but if you read the earlier posts the OP is not eating back their exercise cals. They are taking in only 1400, plus working out. So each day it is NET lower than what their body needs. This has nothing to do with their cycles.
  • missmuse06
    missmuse06 Posts: 50
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    Not to get too personal, but where are you in your menstrual cycle? I've gained anywhere from 5-7 pounds of water weight the days adding up to my cycle, then afterwards, it all came right back off.

    "shark week" started yesterday, and I had gained 2 pounds yesterday morning, which I figured was from that. I expected to see it come back off today if it was water weight, but I gained another .6 today!
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    I had lost about 20 pounds over 3 months.... then maintained during the end of August and all of September while I was on business trips and 2 vacations. I actually lost 5 pounds during my week in San Fran with all the walking we did!

    I started back at the gym regularly and tracking calories about 3 weeks ago. I initially dropped 8 pounds very quickly, but in the last 5 days I've put 4 pounds back on, even though my workouts are increasing in intensity and I have not had any slips with food or drink.

    I'm going to try extra cardio I guess?

    Yeah, you're fine. Gaining 4lbs in 5 days is no big deal at all. It happens to me all the time. Next week it will be gone, and maybe even more. If you don't lose any weight for a month or more then it's worth thinking about.
  • LilLolo22
    LilLolo22 Posts: 229 Member
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    I'm sure the gain is water weight only.

    And how about upping your calories by 100 and trying to eat that much for about a month. See if that does anything.
  • jeme3
    jeme3 Posts: 355 Member
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    I don't eat back my calories from working out.

    Try it. See if it makes a difference. You may not be netting enough calories.
  • nomicat77
    nomicat77 Posts: 132 Member
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    my sister had the same problem, she put on an extra 200 pounds too, turns out she had PCOS which is relatively new to the medical field. alot of doctor's aren't well informed about it. do you get regular periods? do you have unusual hair growth? have you been to an endocranologist? (not sure how to spell that: doctor who studies hormones). There's no cure for it. As far as I know there's no cure. Basically, you have to eat like a diabetic, and exercise vigerously an hour a day. They used to prescribe YAZ for it, but that was banned.
  • CATindeeHAT
    CATindeeHAT Posts: 332 Member
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    How am I gaining weight when I feel like I'm doing all the right things???

    I'm so beyond frustrated.

    Yes, I'm drinking aprox 100oz of water a day. No, I'm not eating tons of salt. Yes, I'm working out every day. Yes, I'm eating enough calories. Yes, I'm eating healthy food (and I've tried different combos of protein/carbs). No, I'm not losing inches instead of pounds. Yes, I'm switching up my workouts.

    I'm at a loss, not sure what I can switch up to get things moving in the right direction.

    1.) How do you know you should be eating 1400 calories? Based upon your body composition your needs could be a lot MORE or a lot LESS than 1400 calories.

    2.) Weight-loss is excruciatingly slow. If you've been at this for less than 6 weeks come back and try again later.

    3.) How much weight do you have to lose? 5 lbs, 10 lbs, 100 lbs ? If you have less than 50 or so pounds to lose it's time to get serious about lifting weights and put cardio on the back burner.

    4.) Are you being honest about your portions? You can't answer yes to this question unless you weigh out EVERYTHING you put into your mouth, every... last... morsel... no matter how big or how small.
  • jessiekanga
    jessiekanga Posts: 564 Member
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    I weighed in on Friday at 210, and was doing the happy dance. I had lost another two pounds. I weighed in today at 216. WHAT? Clearly, I didn't gain six pounds in four days. It's not possible. I'm stressing and worried, but I expect that I'm holding water, it's that time of the month (sometimes that can affect women for up to 10 pounds in a single cycle), etc. Please be kind, gentle and patient with yourself. It'll come back off with a little time. Overall, you're doing awesome. Hang in there!
  • 50ishFoodie
    50ishFoodie Posts: 82 Member
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    There is either an undiagnosed medical condition, or your off on your counting somewhere. It's really easy to be off on your portion sizes or calorie estimates, especially your exercise calorie estimates.

    In what way? What do you mean?
  • wordena
    wordena Posts: 177 Member
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    Could be time of the month? Or if you're exercising that much you could just be sore and retaining water. I know when I work out alot, I'll keep water weight on. Then itll suddenly drop_. Keep drinking all that water. If it is water weight you're eventually going to pee it out, and it's definitely not going to hurt. Look for hidden salts in your diet. I had this one fish sauce I loved that was 100% of daily sodium in one tablespoon. Talk about a hidden source! i wasnt counting it because it was no calories! Good luck! take measurements and pictures for a while even if the scale doesnt drop you'll be able to results instead!

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