Three days in and horribly discouraged

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_caseyb
_caseyb Posts: 51 Member
in Getting Started
Morning guys,

Thought I'd introduce myself and hopefully get some inspiration from all of your wonderful success! I'm turning 25 next week, 5'6" and have always hovered around 125-130 my whole life through high school and college. After graduating college two years ago and getting a desk job, I've been stuck at 150 and cannot get the scale to budge. I tried nutrisystem for a couple months about a year ago and lost 10 pounds, then gained it all back pretty much immediately.

To make a long story short - I'm getting married in March 2015 and last week bought my dress! Except, I (stupidly?) requested that we order a dress a size smaller than I currently am.

I've been back on my diet and exercise routine for a whole three days (...I know...) and have only seen the scale go up three pounds. Extremely heartbreaking. I've got my fitbit on and am religiously logging my food on MFP - goal to net 1260 calories per day. Saturday I started C2K and light lifting at the gym. I got a little too excited day one and messed up my quads a good bit over doing it on the leg press so my motivation is pretty much below zero at this point.

I'd love to hear some of your tips, success stories or words of encouragement to help pull me out of this funk!

Replies

  • beamer0821
    beamer0821 Posts: 488 Member
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    first congrats your engagement!
    second, dont be so hard on ourselves. our mental state has a huge impact on our eating and exercise behaviors. third, only weigh once a week at the same time. your body is always fluctuating fluids, etc. Some people weigh daily, I only advise you do that when you are emotionally ready to handle not seeing the scale in your favor and also understand how your weight fluctuates day to day.

    i know its sounds so simple but really if you just go easy on yourself and not put so much pressure I think you will find it easier to stick to plan. and if you don't one meal thats ok. its ONE meal. i know the dress size does put pressure on but there is nothing you can do about that now so put that out of your head and concentrate on less pressure...you will get there!
  • csuhar
    csuhar Posts: 779 Member
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    One thing that you'll have to remember when using a scale is that there are factors that can cause your body weight to fluctuate over the course of a day. If you had a lot of salt in your food, you might be retaining more water, stuff like that. Sometimes, your weight can fluctuate by as much as five pounds.

    Especially if you're new to exercise, your body may be retaining some water as it adapts to the new workload.

    So don't freak out too much about what you weigh on a specific day. Look more to trends over time.

    You may also, as you get used to the process, want to look at measurements other than just your weight, especially because your dress isn't going to worry about how much you weigh as much as your body's dimensions. A change in the number on the scale doesn't always correlate to a proportional change in physical size.

    But a year is a good amount of time to make sensible, sustainable changes that will have the desired effect. You just need patience and commitment.
  • pinksmama
    pinksmama Posts: 40
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    2015 is a ways away so you have time to work with, if you want to get back down and stay back down, I'd make some permanent changes you can stick to/live with so you don't have to work so hard to maintain.

    Think big picture.. to the best of your ability :]
  • TayNLansNGraysDad
    TayNLansNGraysDad Posts: 138 Member
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    I do a weigh-in only on Mondays, first thing in the morning before breakfast & exercise.

    Also, as a previous poster said, it's not about the weight, the inches are what count!
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    Drop a deuce, problem solved.
  • Marcel182
    Marcel182 Posts: 143 Member
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    Congrats on the engagement!

    I think it's important not to get discouraged by weight fluctuations over a short period of time. It's been 3 days, your body
    needs to get accustomed to the new, healthier lifestyle. Maybe only weigh in once a week. And if you're still the same
    weight a week from now, that's okay too. If you follow your calorie budget diligently, and if you throw in workouts on top
    of that, it's almost guaranteed that you'll definitely see results a month from now.

    But this is key : think long term!
  • DaveInFL
    DaveInFL Posts: 84 Member
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    I always find that when I start working out again and I haven't exercised for a while that my weight initially goes up by a few lbs but over a week I lose. Patience is a virtue :)
  • SugaryLynx
    SugaryLynx Posts: 2,640 Member
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    Well, I'm willing to bet the 3 lbs is water retention from exercise. Highly recommend weighing yourself only once a week. I know how terribly frustrating it can be.i can go up as much as 5 lbs in a day, so don't let this discourage you ♡ Here's a good read to help get started, its truly been a great help to me and my current success

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    I feel ya on the hovering around 150 lbs. That is actually where I hovered before pregnancy. You can do it! Take a before picture, I did once a week and it helped me see the subtle difference when the scale lied to me or chugged along slower than I liked. Here's my story so far
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1201887-a-love-song-for-my-barbell-50-lbs-down
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
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    Congratulations on your engagement.

    I'm glad to hear you have a fitbit. My favorite chart is when you're on the dashboard and click on "Month". It'll give you a chart showing calories in vs. calories burned. As long as you burn more calories than you take in, you're going to lose weight.

    Try to focus on protein first, fiber second. The fats, carbs, and sugars will take care of themselves. A dietician told me that, and I've found it to be pretty accurate. For protein & fiber, look into chocolite protein bars (www.healthsmartfoods.com).

    Log everything down to the condiments.

    You'll get there!!
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
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    3 days isn't long!! The 3 lbs could be a whole host of things. However, I also gained 3 lbs during my 1st week (I started exercising more regularly too) - stayed the same for the next 2 weeks and now I am losing - be patient and you will drop a dress size for next March!
  • Watermelon398
    Watermelon398 Posts: 37 Member
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    Weight loss that is done in a healthful and permanent manner is a long slow road. I see weekly weight fluctuations of up to 5 lbs sometimes. So, don't let 3 lbs discourage you and remember to take things slow. An aggressive challenging plan may not be sustainable for you, it's certainly isn't in my case.

    You should focus on make manageable lifestyle changes that you can keep up with. You have plenty of time to get to next March. Slow sustained weight loss will benefit you much better than an unhealthy rapid loss that you can't maintain.

    Best of luck! Remember to be patient with yourself and go slowly, build some momentum into your fitness and diet!
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
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    Congratulations on getting engaged! I'm also relatively recently engaged and have my wedding in 2015, too!

    Stick with the eating for at least 7 days at first. Exercise for 6, take a rest day, then weigh yourself the morning after your rest day before you work out. I bet you'll see a weight loss that way! Then keep sticking to your exercise/eating program and after a while it will become habit. That's kind of my strategy-- I hate weighing myself every day (seeing the daily fluctuations screws with my head) and I've found that I lose weight steadily week to week, but day to day is sometimes not as encouraging. I've definitely heard (as others have probably already mentioned) that weighing yourself after a rest day is the best way to see a loss.

    Also, if you find your eating goal hard to stick to, reduce your weight loss goal to 0.5 lb a week, and it will give you a higher # of calories you can eat, and you'll likely still lose weight. I'm very small (5'1" and going from 116 lbs to ~108) and that's what mine is set to, but for the first month I found I was losing almost a pound a week anyway. Once you get more used to eating a little less, you could set your weekly goal to losing 1 lb a week and it will be easier.

    The first week to two weeks are the hardest as far as adjusting to eating less goes. After that, you figure out a strategy and what foods work best for sticking to your goal.

    Feel free to send me a friend request on here-- sounds like we're in somewhat similar situations and I find that support from MFP friends is super encouraging! :)

    (Edited to fix typos!)
  • maQmIgh
    maQmIgh Posts: 236 Member
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    Congrats hunny,

    First off, Weght is not a linear thing, it fluctuates on a daily basis.. dont be too hard on your self for 3lbs :)

    Also, You might wanna look into your calories, different people's bodys react in different ways (Some people have the weight drop off when consuming 1260, But every time I try that I stagnate for months)

    I personally use the BMR/TDEE method (eat above your BMR but below your TDEE) I hover just above my BMR and it seems to work for me.

    Right now your best bet is to experiment with calories, different foods, and which exercise to do (if you are only concentrating on what the scales are saying, then you dont want to lift weights as you will lose mass but not necesarrily weight)

    Good luck in your journey, Im sure you can do it :)
  • Deona01
    Deona01 Posts: 8
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    Congratulations on your engagement!!! I'm sure you are really excited to get into your wedding dress, but as the above have stated try and take it slow and not weigh in so often. I have always lost inches before the lbs ever dropped on the scale. My doctor explained to me that is was because my exercise program was increasing my muscle mass and that while I was indeed dropping inches and the lbs were barely dropping scale wise not to worry. I continued and in 6 months I dropped from wearing a sz 18 pants to a size 14. Taking a picture of myself before also helped. I am 5' 5" and have a heavy/large frame. No one believes that I weigh as much as I do since I only wear a sz 14 in pants, but I'm fighting the belly bulge and huge rear and legs. My goal is to lose enough to rid myself of the cellulite in these areas. I'm proud that my husband of 27 yrs still tells me how pretty he thinks I am ( I do not feel pretty) but I am doing this for me. Please do not get discouraged and give up as you have a long time to meet your goal and losing it slowly is actually the best way to lose it and keep it off (according to my Dr). I just started back yesterday and I will actually not weigh myself (do not even have scales) but will wait until my next Dr appt in 2 1/2 months and hope he will be proud of whatever I may lose. I will be proud if I just notice my pants getting loose :) Take your time and be patient and watch yourself transform!!
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
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    Make reasonable goals. Unless you're extremely motivated and highly devoted to changing your lifestyle right from the start, you're going to need to pace yourself. Start small. And give yourself more than 3 days to see changes...
  • pluto2626
    pluto2626 Posts: 31 Member
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    This may be a little TMI... however, I find that depending on where I am in my cycle (close to ovulating or getting my period) I swing between 3-5 lbs heavier. Not sure if this is the case with you or not, but I wouldn't worry to much about it.

    Another suggestion would be to do your measurements instead of relying on the scale. I do this every other week and even when I don't see the scale move, I always take my measurements and discover that I am in fact losing inches.

    My last suggestion would be not to weigh yourself more than once a week. If you are anything like me you might need to hide your scale so you are not tempted to step on it every time you enter your bathroom! :)

    Good luck!!

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