Newbie Rant

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mitzvahmom78
mitzvahmom78 Posts: 64 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is my first time on a calorie-counting program. I've done Points, Exchanges, and Selections before, but never counted calories. In my first week I had to do a lot of trial and error to figure out how to space my calories throughout the day. On a few days, I ended up very low on my calories because I had a lot left over after dinner and didn't want to keep eating when I was no longer hungry. So I lost 5 pounds that week. I knew it was just because my deficit was too large, and it wouldn't happen again. I did a much better job "budgeting" the second week. I ate a wider variety of foods and spread my calories out pretty well. I never ended up more than 100 calories short of my target. Once I went over by about 67. So I thought my loss should be on track this week, about 1.5 pounds. So what happened? I GAINED 2.5 POUNDS!!! WTF?!?! I can understand not losing, but a gain of that size? Please. My extremities tend to swell in the hot, humid weather, so maybe it's water retention. I'll watch my sodium and see what happens next week. I'm NOT going to record my weight for today; don't want my ticker moving in the wrong direction. Any comments or advice? Thanks.

Replies

  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    Weight fluctuations are normal. Give it some time.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Patience. Don't look at your weight loss isolated week by week. Take it as an average over time.
  • organic0gf
    organic0gf Posts: 87 Member
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    5 pounds your first week? most of it is water. to lose 5 pounds in a week would equal a 2500 daily calorie deficit. kind of hard to do if you don't eat that many to begin with. i have belonged to ww in the past as well. you should know your first week won't be typical. so in two weeks you have lost about 2.5 pounds.. not bad, eh?
  • bacitracin
    bacitracin Posts: 921 Member
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    Do you really think you ate (2.5lbsx3500calories per lb=) 8750 calories over your total daily energy expenditure in that week?

    I'mma go with water retention.
  • So_Much_Fab
    So_Much_Fab Posts: 1,146 Member
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    Patience. Don't look at your weight loss isolated week by week. Take it as an average over time.

    Yep. Just because you have your goal set to lose X per week, that doesn't mean you're going to lose X every. single. week.

    Also...not sure how often you're weighing, but I would weigh weekly vs. daily. Take measurements, they're often more reliable than the scale.
  • timbrom
    timbrom Posts: 303 Member
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    ^^^ That ^^^

    What I do, and there's a few who do this, is weigh every day, record it, and then look at the average weight over the last week or two. That way, those daily fluctuations get smoothed out over time.

    This only works if you don't get too discouraged by the, sometimes quite large, daily fluctuations that often occur. As long as you can remember that the daily weight doesn't matter and it's the smoothed average that actually counts then this can work well.

    Then, eventually, you'll be able to start correlating eating certain things (typically high-sodium meals) with that large weight gain, and then see it all go away over the course of a day or two.
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
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    SO I weigh myself once a week. Friday morning. Last week, just to see for myself, I weighed myself in the morning, then again in the evening. I had a 3.5LB loss on Friday morning, then I weighed myself the same evening, and BAM, I had put 2LB on! I knew it would be water retention, so I weighed myself the following morning (1 off) and surely enough, I was back to my original weight loss.

    I know what you mean about seeing the scale go up, it's not nice, even though I know it's only water retention, it still has a negative impact on me. So, I only weigh myself once a week, and I always weigh myself in the morning.

    A lot of people weigh themselves daily, that's fine. I like to weigh myself weekly. Assuming I didn't cheat myself, I'm sure to see a weight loss if I weigh myself weekly, as opposed to daily.
  • NadirToZenith
    NadirToZenith Posts: 62 Member
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    I'd agree with the water idea. I know that it's tough to get the hang of balancing. A lot of times I'll fill out my food diary in the morning with the things I think I'll end up eating just to see how the numbers add up then I go back throughout the day and change to what I really ate.

    I've been lucky to have been pretty much on target so far. Even the days that I really indulged (girls nights and I love my wine- what can I say? LOL) I was saved by the exercise I'd done. It's a long process so don't get discouraged by strange shifts from week to week. Unusually large losses and unexpected gains balance each other out over time. Just keep going :)
  • micheleb15
    micheleb15 Posts: 1,418 Member
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    The scale is a big, dirty liar. If you are going to have that reaction to the scale each week, I'd say hide it for a while and take your measurements. It's going to be a long road if you're getting discouraged already. The body is a funny thing, up 2 pounds, down 3, up 1, down 2. Don't drive yourself crazy.

    Educate yourself on weight fluctuations. Realize that it takes 3500 to gain and lose a pound, so unless you ate that much over it's most likely water. Wait until you start working out, if you haven't already. The scale is going to go crazy.
  • kckBxer396
    kckBxer396 Posts: 460 Member
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    I quit paying so much attention to what I weigh,and started paying more attention to how my clothes fit and my body feels. I still weigh myself,but not obsessing as much as I was. Your weight will fluctuate. I've been told it can fluctuate up to a 5 pound difference on given days!
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    don't always believe your scale. i weighed myself this morning i "gained" over the weekend but i knew i would (i was at a weekend long boat party) had a doctor's appointment this morning as well, got weighed there - gained 1.5lbs in an hour. it happens to everyone. our weight fluctuates. scales are evil little machines. evil i tell you!

    if your clothes are fitted better, heck if you wear jewelry and it fits better you are making progress.
  • get10fit2013
    get10fit2013 Posts: 87 Member
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    I can almost guarantee that if I eat out at a restaurant 1-2 days prior to weighing, I'll be up 2 lbs. Doesn't matter where I go or what I order, I gain temporarily because of (what I think is an increase in) sodium. If I drink 100 oz of water a day and my calories are right on, I lose it within a day or so. I'd look at the sodium content in what you're eating...that might have something to do with it. Is your food processed? Canned soup? "Diet" or lowfat meals can have a lot too. Just a thought.
  • TribeHokie
    TribeHokie Posts: 711 Member
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    I'm currently hiding my scale for five weeks just for that reason. Make sure you're drinking a LOT of water and watch your sodium.
  • mitzvahmom78
    mitzvahmom78 Posts: 64 Member
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    Thank you, everyone, for your support and helpful advice. This is a great community.

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