Last two pounds

sevfam
sevfam Posts: 76 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Why cant I keep off these last two pounds? I reach my goal weight, then I gain two back. I can hold at this weight but I really dont want these extra two pounds. Why is it that I can hold here, but not two pounds lighter?

Im not that upset by it but it does bother me. Thanks. :wink:

Replies

  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    Our weight is not static - it fluctuates daily even when eating the same calorie amount for a number of reasons (storing food, water, glycogen, etc.). If I drink alcohol or consume a lot of carbs, I will add a few more pounds than on days I don't. As long as you return to your baseline weight, there isn't any reason to worry.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Our weight is not static - it fluctuates daily even when eating the same calorie amount for a number of reasons (storing food, water, glycogen, etc.). If I drink alcohol or consume a lot of carbs, I will add a few more pounds than on days I don't. As long as you return to your baseline weight, there isn't any reason to worry.

    This^^^ Nobody weight exactly XXX Lbs all of the time. When I maintain I can fluctuate up or down 2-3 Lbs...if you put it on a graph, it looks like a series of waves...if you draw a line through the middle, that's about what my true weight is. But it's not static, just as weight loss isn't linear.
  • sevfam
    sevfam Posts: 76 Member
    Thanks guys, that makes good sense. Im a bit OCD and for me not to see the same number every time on the scale, it make me nuts! Lol!
  • LadyPakal
    LadyPakal Posts: 256 Member
    As soon as you stop restricting calories your glycogen reserves start building up again and you gain a little. I was always told to lose a couple more pounds than your goal to eventually 'stabilise' (although you will go up and down a bit over time) at the weight you want.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I so hear you. I have a 5 pound 'goal zone' I'm planning on staying within. Hit the top of it 3 weeks and kept bouncing higher and out of the zone.

    HOWEVER, three weeks later, I've been in it four days in a row. I think I'm dropping again.

    Some things I noticed about myself . . .

    I feel like I've finished - hit the goal - so have gotten a tiny bit sloppier. I log always, but don't always do all those tiny things that add up, like the mayo on the sandwich or the bite of food while I'm cooking. It adds a few hundred calories.

    Have you updated your goals? MFP doesn't update your calories if you log weight loss in small increments. When I do it manually, it always knocks another 30 calories off my day :( This makes a difference. If I hadn't changed manually, I'd be eating 270 calories more a day than I should be.) That puts me in maintenance and not on a deficit.

    I am hitting my goals, but closer. I used to often be 100 calories or so lower than my goals - or more. Now I'm within 5 calories or so.

    And then there's water weight and salt.

    All of which is why I have a success 'zone'. I am happy at 155. I am going to go down to 150 so when I bounce up and down I'll always be under 155. I don't want to bounce above that.
  • sevfam
    sevfam Posts: 76 Member
    Lots of great info here, thanks to you all.

    @ NXD10 I keep my goals set at loose 1 pound a week. I have to stay at or around 1200 calories a day or I gain. I can never seem to set it at maintain.
  • pushyourself14
    pushyourself14 Posts: 275 Member
    Thanks guys, that makes good sense. Im a bit OCD and for me not to see the same number every time on the scale, it make me nuts! Lol!

    I know exactly what you mean haha.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I fluctuate around 4 or 5 pounds. My pattern tends to be down to lowest weight, then back up 3 lbs, then gradually back down. I lost down to 129 (my goal was 130) and then stopped, but I'm happy as long as I'm in the 129-133 range.
  • linnaeus
    linnaeus Posts: 36 Member
    If you want to see a steady line, try using http://www.weightgrapher.com/about you can enter in past weight too. It'll help smooth out what looks like constant gain/loss.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I fluctuate around 4 or 5 pounds. My pattern tends to be down to lowest weight, then back up 3 lbs, then gradually back down. I lost down to 129 (my goal was 130) and then stopped, but I'm happy as long as I'm in the 129-133 range.

    Exactly my pattern too. I weigh every day, but I just know I'm going to cycle like this. I keep bouncing lower and lower.

    I have a feeling I'm never going to get to maintenance either, even when I hit my final weight. I think that may be why I very slowly gained the weight I did over the last 15 years. My calorie allowance to lose a pound a week is now down to 1230. But at this, I am now only losing maybe half a pound a week because I am essentially at my goal (I'm back to where I was when I was slim and graduated from college and my doctor told me I am at a good weight and shouldn't lose more than 5 more pounds.)

    If I went back up to 'maintenance' I'm sure I would gain. As I am happy where I am (plus or minus a few pounds), I think I might be better off eating at this level but allowing myself a day or so a week where I don't worry about going over by 200 calories or so. Oddly enough, after doing this for 9 months, those extra 200 calories seem extravagant!

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