Mental Breakdown!! please help!

Don't sweat it. Just stay on the plan. "eating back" your excercise calories is up to you...if you are still hungry, and you have some calories "in the bank" go for it.

It's likely water weight gain. Are you close to time of month?

If you are doing strength training remember muscle weighs more than fat! You could be gaining muscle while losing fat. Plus weight can fluctuate by several pounds during the day...thats why I try to only weigh myself once a week.
Just keep doing what you are doing and look for other changes besides weight..like how your clothing fits and how you feel.

I broke my scale and it's the best thing I have ever done. I judge my success on how my clothes fit not what a scale says. Once a month I hop on the scale at the gym just to see what it says. Weighing yourself every day will make you a crazy person.

Look at your foods for the last few days, is there a lot of sodium? Excess sodium makes me gain anywhere from 1 to 5 pounds. Then in another day or two it goes away again. If you have not been going over a whole lot on your calories, then you didn't gain 3 pounds in a couple of days. You would have had to eat your maintenance calories, and then eat 10,500 calories more than that, and I doubt you did.

"I just wanted to post something about what to expect during the phases of weight loss.

Overview (why I'm posting this)
Over the course of about 7 months on here, I have seen many people suceed, I have also seen some drop off the map. I expect this is because some succumb to the demon that is temptation, and some to the devil that is dissapointment. I wanted to give a few "heads up"s to both new commers and vetrans to the site. Some may know already, some may not. But either way, if this helps anyone to set more realistic goals in their own head, I feel like it has done it's job.

Phase 1. The start of a brand new day! (or week, or month, or year)
Expectations are sky high, usually so is motivation and intentions. This is where most people lose the most weight. At the start it's not uncommon to see 4 to 8 lb losses per week. The reasons for this are mostly (sorry to disappoint) water weight. You drop excess water quickly, and you can have up to 5 lbs of water weight. The next biggest reason is the fat that is right next to the blood vessels, the stuff that you put on in the last month or three, it will melt like butter usually.

Phase 2. Reality setting in.
At about week 3 to a month or so, people suddenly realize that they are no longer dropping 8, 6, or even 4 lbs a week. This is a crutial phase in your journey. Expect this, it is natural. You have shocked your body by changing both eating habits and exercise routine. Now it has had a little while to become used to the new lifestyle, it's going to compensate. Your body still doesn't believe it's permenant yet, so it will still try to store some fat, so now that it knows how to regulate it's new metabolic levels, it tryies to store fat in earnest. It's not uncommon for people to hit a wall here, no loss for weeks. Expect this as well.

Phase 3. The routine.
At about 2 months or so, your routine is pretty much set, your body is beginning to believe that you really want to STAY the way you are going now. You will start to see more consistant (but lower, usually 1 to 2 lbs a week) loss, also, you should start seeing some muscle tone (depending on how much you had to lose in the first place). If you stop to think, you should realize that you have improved dramatically in your exercise levels. If you do cardio, you should notice how much longer and harder you can work. This is important to realize as it is just as big of an indicator as weight loss. Also, by now you may notice that your clothes no longer fit right. This is also very important. The weight may not be falling off anymore, but you are becomming a smaller person. Weight is arbitrary, if you are building muscle (which your body is doing at a furious pace by now) you won't notice huge losses, but you will notice wholesale changes in the mirror!

Phase 4. Really digging in.
This is where the second wall can happen. You're probably at between 3 and 4 months by now, and if you have gone this far, you feel like you have already suceeded. This is where many people stumble. they are tired of the routine, tired of eating different things from all their friends, limiting their alcohol intake. Basically the shine has worn off. this is when your really need to plant your feet. Maybe change up your exercise routine, make a concentrated effort to find different, but still nutritional food. Talk to people. And examine how far you have come. At this point, no matter how much external motivation you receive, it's all about believing in yourself!

Phase 5. End game.
5 or 6 months in you are probably working on that "last 10 pounds". This can be discouraging for many as it is a slow burn. Remember, your body probably feels like it is where it needs to be, your brain might think you need to lose 10 more, but your body is quite proud of itself now, it feels like it has "Done enough" and it wants to stay RIGHT HERE. The body LIKES to have a little fat around just in case, especially for the ladies (sorry girls, it's just human physiology). If you feel like you still need to lose it, prepare yourself for some guerrila warfare against your body. Design an exercise regimen that is very dynamic, forget the "same thing every day". Make a plan that challenges you both physically and mentally. Make sure you give yourself a day off here and there to just veg. And by all means, remember, muscle burns fat at rest. So get some weight or resistance training involved.
The last 10 may take 3 to 6 months to lose. I know nobody wants to hear that, but it's true. And forget the idea of increasing your calorie deficite, healthy bodies need good nutrition, your body no longer has the fat reserves to handle the large deficites you could when you were 30 40 or 50 pounds overweight. Better to make it a 3 or 400 calorie deficite (NET, please count your exercise calories too!). It may take a bit longer, but your body will like you for it. Plus it feeds those new muscles and keeps them burning fat, keeps your skin healthy (elasticity is important when you want those places that were stretched out to "snap back") and keeps you from getting head aches and depressed.

Conclusion:

This is what I have learned, not just from my journey, but from others as well on here. It saddens me sometimes to see people hit one of these stages and not recognize it for what it is, a part of the process. If we all can have realistic expectations, then we are more prone to win the fight and stay healthy in the long run. Note that some people will hit these stages harder then others, some may take longer, but for the most part, this is the rule that the exceptions will come from."

Muscle weighs more than fat.. so at the weight you are working out, you are probably leaner, yet will see a weight gain, especially at your weight to height ratio. I would look at how your clothes fit and how you feel and forget about the scale at this point. oops.. I am being redundant.. sorry. my first post..

Have you had your thyroid checked.

This sounds exactly like what happened to me. I was 18, on Weight Watchers, losing weight. In a week, I ballooned back up to higher than where I was whe I started WW. It was an underactive thyroid.

Could be worth looking into.

otherwise - the advice given to you already is great - clean, regular eating, and regular exercise. Make sure you eat enough.

Good luck.

How about taking a "Diet Break"? You have been on a diet for so long that your body is now growing used to it. Try eating your maintenance calories for a week or two and THEN going back on your diet.

Try switching up your routine as to surprise your muscles again! Can help to stop a plateau.

Ask everyone on here who has lost a lot of weight how it went and they'll say like this:



Never like this:



So all is well... and nice job on your progress so far!

thank you guys...i really appreciate it...my period finished 3/4 day ago for those of you who asked...and i checked my body fat percentage, and its the lowest its been and my clothes fit a lot better than they did...but i know in the back of my mind those scale numbers still mess with my head..although its not the be all or end all

One of our members Steve Troutman is a highly respected nutrition and fitness expert. He said something that really resonated with me and has stuck with me. I don't remember the exact quote but basically is was that if you optimize health, functionality, performance and physique, weight settles where it should. It sounds like you are doing exactly that.

Maybe it's time to find a 12 step program to break the scale addiction!! :happy: :flowerforyou:

Forget the scale, weight fluctuates all the time and it's most probably just water weight that you gained. Try to limit how much you weigh yourself if it messes with your head. You say your clothes fit better and your body fat is lower, that's excellent news! Don't worry, the scale is just a number.