Getting anxious about scale fluctuations...please help...

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  • SchroederNJ
    SchroederNJ Posts: 208 Member
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    You went down .2 lbs in a month ... not seeing the problem

    I weighed myself yesterday and was 188 - weighed myself today, it was 186.8 --- however, i had a big dinner on sunday nite.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    I am exceptionally small boned...and no muscle at all. I am trying to change that. hence, why I am starting the gym. I know I will gain weight my doing some lifting, etc. I am okay with that...because that will be muscle.

    If you are in a caloric deficit, you will not put on muscle....you may even lose some of the muscle you have, since you are so small....
    You have very little, if any, fat to work with on this.

    In order to obtain full benefit from your gym time, you will need to up calories....
    And you may put on a bit of weight in the process.
    So if you are currently ~100 lbs.
    Hitting 110, you will still be small.......

    Don't kid yourself on this one.
    You are not going to put on muscle at this point.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    Thank you for sharing that. I am inclined to ditch the daily weighing.

    :noway: :noway: :noway: :noway:

    Daily weighing?

    At your stage of the game, I would only do once every 2 weeks.
    And even then, I would plot that over 3 - 4 months, to get a trend.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    Don't!!! As long as your clothes fit, who cares about the number :wink:
  • rosemary98
    rosemary98 Posts: 632
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    You went down .2 lbs in a month ... not seeing the problem

    I weighed myself yesterday and was 188 - weighed myself today, it was 186.8 --- however, i had a big dinner on sunday nite.

    I think it is the scale just taking over my head...making me obsessed. Thank you for you input.

    To all: I appreciate the support. sometimes I just need someone else to tell me the fluctuations are normal. I am excited but nervous to start exercising. It will be new and different.

    Note: I know I don't weigh a lot. I understand that. I have had a physical not long ago. They did all the blood work possible (all normal), and my doctor said I was healthy. And my gyno told me I was healthy as well, but should get some more vitamin D (people in my region are typically deficient).
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    98 pounds at 5'5" with a 1450 calories for maintenance makes me really sad. You need to talk to a doctor or something. That's not healthy at all... small boned or not.

    If you want to build muscle you're going to have to eat more than that.
  • sidney7305
    sidney7305 Posts: 36 Member
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    I am ditching the scale myself. This morning I got really upset when I saw I had gained 2 lbs since Sunday. Especially after being down two pounds on Friday. It's like an emotional roller coaster. I have decided to focus on my workouts and my eating habits and just trust the process.
  • mommabenefield
    mommabenefield Posts: 1,329 Member
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    http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation_articles.asp?id=1951&page=3....


    Too much to read, so based off your subject line visit this link... that is all
  • rosemary98
    rosemary98 Posts: 632
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    I am exceptionally small boned...and no muscle at all. I am trying to change that. hence, why I am starting the gym. I know I will gain weight my doing some lifting, etc. I am okay with that...because that will be muscle.

    If you are in a caloric deficit, you will not put on muscle....you may even lose some of the muscle you have, since you are so small....
    You have very little, if any, fat to work with on this.

    In order to obtain full benefit from your gym time, you will need to up calories....
    And you may put on a bit of weight in the process.
    So if you are currently ~100 lbs.
    Hitting 110, you will still be small.......

    Don't kid yourself on this one.
    You are not going to put on muscle at this point.

    Thank you for the info. First thing I will be doing is getting a personal trainer. Someone to weigh and measure me and give me some guidance on muscle building (which, i would think, would include calorie intake).
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    Note: I know I don't weigh a lot. I understand that. I have had a physical not long ago. They did all the blood work possible (all normal), and my doctor said I was healthy. And my gyno told me I was healthy as well, but should get some more vitamin D (people in my region are typically deficient).

    That is fine, and good to know.

    But you are exercising, and weight lifting.

    You will still have healthy markers if you put on some weight.....and since you will be weight lifting, all the more reason to up your caloric intake.

    If you are currently ~1450 cal/day.
    Then up it 200 calories.....go for about 2 - 3 weeks.
    See how you look, feel, and to a LESSER degree, what you weigh.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    I am ditching the scale myself. This morning I got really upset when I saw I had gained 2 lbs since Sunday. Especially after being down two pounds on Friday. It's like an emotional roller coaster. I have decided to focus on my workouts and my eating habits and just trust the process.

    Might be the best thing for you to do.
    If you know your caloric and macro intake is right for your goals.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    98 pounds at 5'5" with a 1450 calories for maintenance makes me really sad. You need to talk to a doctor or something. That's not healthy at all... small boned or not.

    If you want to build muscle you're going to have to eat more than that.

    this

    i am 5ft 5 and slim at 135lbs, i cant imagne what i would look like if i lost 30lbs....
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    No. Trying to maintain weight. I haven't started to work out. I start that process today by touring the gym and signing up. (big step for me) and hoping to increase muscle and tone. I am 5'5.5.''

    At 5'5.5'', you should not be maintaining at 100 pounds and worrying if you gain one pound or not. Go see a mental health professional.

    Posters, please note this and stop encouraging her as if she was trying to maintain a healthy weight.
  • rosemary98
    rosemary98 Posts: 632
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    Note: I know I don't weigh a lot. I understand that. I have had a physical not long ago. They did all the blood work possible (all normal), and my doctor said I was healthy. And my gyno told me I was healthy as well, but should get some more vitamin D (people in my region are typically deficient).

    That is fine, and good to know.

    But you are exercising, and weight lifting.

    You will still have healthy markers if you put on some weight.....and since you will be weight lifting, all the more reason to up your caloric intake.

    If you are currently ~1450 cal/day.
    Then up it 200 calories.....go for about 2 - 3 weeks.
    See how you look, feel, and to a LESSER degree, what you weigh.

    yes, I haven't started yet, but will be soon. I suspect I will look better...and I will ignore the scale (at least for awhile).
  • mrsamanda86
    mrsamanda86 Posts: 869 Member
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    Once you start lifting, either eat at maintenance plus calories burned or even eat to gain like .5 pound a week. You will gain weight when putting on muscles so I would go with how you feel/what you see more than the scale numbers. It seems like it stressed you out, so maybe only weigh in like once a month instead. My trainer does measure me once a month, weighs me in, and gets a bf% analysis. The bf% might be best for you to look for, seeing how that'll give you the best peace of mind to make sure you're gaining in a good way?
  • Greywalk
    Greywalk Posts: 193 Member
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    After reading a nice article about why do I weigh more in some areas then in others I realized my expectation that the scale is always right and accurate is nonsense. So now I worry only if a trend is being reported by the scale.
    I do not like seeing the increase when it is there but it alerts me to watch

    1. to see if I am not following my plan.
    2. If the plan is followed then in the next day or two the increase will decrease if it is still there in 3 or 4 days it is time to analyze the plan.

    I like my scale though so I weigh daily but only report weekly.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    Note: I know I don't weigh a lot. I understand that. I have had a physical not long ago. They did all the blood work possible (all normal), and my doctor said I was healthy. And my gyno told me I was healthy as well, but should get some more vitamin D (people in my region are typically deficient).

    That is fine, and good to know.

    But you are exercising, and weight lifting.

    You will still have healthy markers if you put on some weight.....and since you will be weight lifting, all the more reason to up your caloric intake.

    If you are currently ~1450 cal/day.
    Then up it 200 calories.....go for about 2 - 3 weeks.
    See how you look, feel, and to a LESSER degree, what you weigh.

    yes, I haven't started yet, but will be soon. I suspect I will look better...and I will ignore the scale (at least for awhile).

    If you hit >125 lbs, and are not toned or have some definition (since you are gonna be doing weights).......Then I would get concerned.
    Until then.....do yourself a favor and throw the scale away before you become a neurotic freak.... :wink:
    Keep your sanity.
  • rosemary98
    rosemary98 Posts: 632
    Options
    No. Trying to maintain weight. I haven't started to work out. I start that process today by touring the gym and signing up. (big step for me) and hoping to increase muscle and tone. I am 5'5.5.''

    At 5'5.5'', you should not be maintaining at 100 pounds and worrying if you gain one pound or not. Go see a mental health professional.

    Posters, please note this and stop encouraging her as if she was trying to maintain a healthy weight.

    I don't think the posters' intentions are to support my weight at all. I think they were just trying to let me know that regardless of my weight...fluctuations are normal. I did get some positive feedback as well about needing to increase my calories if i want to increase muscle...no argument there.
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    I wasn't going to comment on this but I feel as though I must..

    Being a recovered anorexic/bulimic, I believe that you are not eating 1400 calories per day or you are WAY overestimating your intake our of fear of gaining an ounce. I'm only 5ft2 and when I was anorexic, I got down to 98 and I was very, very frail and I have a medium sized bone structure. I thought I looked really good. It makes me ill when I see photos of me back then. YOUR brain is making you think you look OK. Please believe me.

    Obsessing about a 1-2 pound fluctuation over months, is likely another sign of an eating disorder/body image issue.

    You weigh too little, you don't eat enough and you wont build muscle until your body is repaired/healed. You may be doing permanent damage to your body that you will regret, if you live long enough.

    I am not saying this to be rude, mean or ignorant, but you seriously need to get some help to cope with this before you DIE.

    Good luck and big <hugs>
  • rosemary98
    rosemary98 Posts: 632
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    I wasn't going to comment on this but I feel as though I must..

    Being a recovered anorexic/bulimic, I believe that you are not eating 1400 calories per day or you are WAY overestimating your intake our of fear of gaining an ounce. I'm only 5ft2 and when I was anorexic, I got down to 98 and I was very, very frail and I have a medium sized bone structure. I thought I looked really good. It makes me ill when I see photos of me back then. YOUR brain is making you think you look OK. Please believe me.

    Obsessing about a 1-2 pound fluctuation over months, is likely another sign of an eating disorder/body image issue.

    You weigh too little, you don't eat enough and you wont build muscle until your body is repaired/healed. You may be doing permanent damage to your body that you will regret, if you live long enough.

    I am not saying this to be rude, mean or ignorant, but you seriously need to get some help to cope with this before you DIE.

    Good luck and big <hugs>

    I appreciate you comment/concern. I honestly do eat around 1400 a day (some days less) (but some days more--like vacation). But outside of vacation, I typically don't deviate too much in calories.

    I think maybe this thread is going off track a bit. Thank you for everyone who has posted. I wish you luck in your weight loss/maintenance and exercise endeavors.

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