Discouraged :(

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  • amberdragonfire
    amberdragonfire Posts: 9
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    One of the trainers at my gym said a gallon water weighs about 9 lbs....so if you got a few quarts of water in you (that hasnt made its way out of you yet) when you got on the scale, that might be part of it.
  • BeSophisticate
    BeSophisticate Posts: 132
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    I browsed your log (very briefly).

    I just had one thought on your feeling that you're starving. Your target calories are very close to mine, so I can relate. The single most important thing for me has been my snacks. If I skip a snack, I become ravenous and then over eat. I see that you are including snacks, but that they aren't the type that are very filling.

    My favorite go-to snacks that do the trick are a piece of fruit and cheese (string cheese is my fav), and homemade granola bars. The granola bars are higher in calorie than the junk granola bars you can buy at the store, but they are made with rolled oats, nuts, and dried fruit and they are very filling so I never feel the need to go back for seconds. Plus, they are my all-time favorite pre-workout snack that helps keep me going strong all the way to the end.

    Hope I've helped some!
  • BeSophisticate
    BeSophisticate Posts: 132
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    Sounds like water weight to me. About a month ago I did a 150 mile bike race, after the race i was 13 lb heavy, i was back to normal in 3 or so days. when you subject your body to lots of stress, its response is water. Limit your sodium and HFCS intake, be consistent in your diet, work out at least 3X a week and I promise you will lose weight. As some encouragement, i did just that and went from 295lb to 203lb in a year. the key is consistency, no compromises!

    Good Luck!

    That reminds me. I read recently that, after you workout, you retain water in your muscles as part of the recovery process. If you've been hitting the gym especially hard, that might account from some of the excess water.
  • KarateChicky
    KarateChicky Posts: 17 Member
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    I looked at your diary. I would reset your percentages of Protein:Carb:Fat to 40%/40%/20%. I bet you will see a difference. I have been doing it for the past 12 days and have lost 11 lbs. I think the protein intake and carb reduction really helped. I'm more satisfied and not hungry all the time.
  • Christine1110
    Christine1110 Posts: 1,786 Member
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    Unless you ate a bunch of junk, over ate, or ate out you probably really didn't eat enough to gain 3 pounds. Make sure your drinking lots of water. Measure yourself...sometimes you see changes in your body when the scale isn't moving. Are you eating lots of processed or premade foods....they are very high in sodium and you will show a weight gain on the scale.

    Don't give up, or give in!! This is much to important to you!!

    Good luck
  • sunshinemelis
    sunshinemelis Posts: 4 Member
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    Hi :-). Would you be willing to share how you make your homemade granola bars? Thanks! Oops! This was supposed to show up for "Besophisticat." Hope it goes through :-).
  • Cathleenr
    Cathleenr Posts: 332
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    I do a variety of workouts...Wii Active (cardio and band use), Wii Fit plus, running, zumba, volleyball (in the summer), hiking (in the winter), running. Now that I am on track I just don't understand why I am not making any progress.

    You do an awful lot of cardio. You said your endurance is better, which means you are much more efficient at processing the energy you take in through food. Stop your cardio and start strength training. You can begin with bodyweight exercises....lots of videos for that on YouTube. For heavier weights, try water or sand-filled gallon milk jugs or go buy a straight bar and some weight plates. it's a small investment and doesn't take up much room. You will need to eat to support an increase in muscle activity, too, so don't reduce your calories and like others have said, you need to keep your protein around 1 gram per pound of bodyweight (lean BW or goal BW, doesn't really matter at this point)
  • Mr_Stephenson
    Mr_Stephenson Posts: 23 Member
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    Muscle does not weigh more than fat.

    It could be water retention

    You could have hit a plateau

    Are you eating enough daily?

    Human skeletal muscle weighs apx 1.06 g/cm3 while fat weighs 0.90 g/cm3, so an given an equal volume of fat and muscle the latter will weigh more. The best way to measure your progress is with callipers and a tape measure :)
  • ajedrd
    ajedrd Posts: 5 Member
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    Thank you for all the feedback! Yes, I am a vegetarian. I do eat milk, cheese, eggs, and fish. My other protein includes beans, hummus and tofu. I do weigh or measure EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth. I do usually eat raw fruit...but lately after 3 bags of plain old YUCK apples I gave up went with the pears and applesauce. Some of my foods I choose from what is already available in the food diary of MFP as long as the calories match (maybe I should enter my own)...but most of my stuff is homemade and I try to choose a homemade product similar to what I have made. For example...the macaroni bean soup today was homemade broth (no salt) from boiled vegetables...then the veggies were pureed into the water they cooked in....then I added chunks of carrots, onion, fresh garlic, the beans were dried that I soaked overnight (not canned). when the soup was done I added 12 oz fresh kale. I have a garden during the nice weather so all my veggies are from there. Unfortunately not the salad stuff anymore. So that is my difficulty calculating what I have made with what is available.

    PS...please don't think the pumpkin pie (for breakfast) is a norm...I had "poetry and pie" with my sons class today :heart:
  • tashiaberman
    tashiaberman Posts: 48 Member
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    No that I am one to be giving any advice, but you might try getting to bed a little earlier to make sure you get plenty of rest, then getting up early and exercising in the morning rather than late at night. I have former karate instructor who gets up every morning and the minute she rolls out of bed -- after a trip to the restroom and drink of water, of course -- hits the treadmill for at least 30 minutes or 1 mile, depending upon how she feels.

    This revs her metabolism so that she is burning more calories all day long. By exercising at night, you're probably not able to be as strenuous, because you're already tired and go right to bed, which is burning almost no calories at all. Better to rev your metabolic rate early in the morning and burn all day.

    If you want to do a little workout at night, try some strength training, as opposed to cardio, a couple nights per week. You can do it while you're watching TV and never even miss a step.

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