Frustration - Advice/Comments Welcome

Hey everyone :)

I've been doing MFP on and off for the past year....came back to it earlier in this year and have been completing daily journals and recording (mostly) everyday for almost 2 months now. I am maintaining what MFP states to be my calorie goal to reach 1-1.5 pounds/week loss.

I suppose a few stats would be useful:

28 years old
5'5"
254lbs (last time on the scale was yesterday morning)
I havnt measured anything, though I would like to start doing so

My problem is this:

My starting weight was 265, and as such I lost 8 pounds my first month focussing on weight loss and then a subsequent 3 more pounds since then. Im coming up on the end of my second month and I have not lost the same amount as the month previous, even after adding in exercise 3-4 times a week totally approximately 3-4 hours. I am not a huge exercise person, and I really dislike it (I dont get those fun endorphins that everyone talks about) The first month of focussing on my health I lost that 8 pounds JUST by eating correctly. This month even after adding the exercise I am barely losing anything.

I am getting really frustrated. I read somewhere that when you start a fitness routine (Ive been doing it a week and a half now) you often gain weight for a bit because of DOMS and your muscles retaining water whilst repairing and getting used to being used more frequently than usual. This did happen and I went up to 256-7 for a couple days, dropped back down to 254 as of yesterday but no lower. I feel as if adding exercise in has stalled me, as I seemed to be losing weight fine and just added the exercise in for added weight loss and the benefit of getting stronger.

I do DDP yoga 3 days/week and I hike on Sunday mornings with my husband (usually 4-7km).

I am just wondering if anyone else has had issues with this and had any knowledge of how I can help jump start this again. I dont want to cut my calories because I do not want my body to not get what it needs to function at my weight, but I am getting so frustrated. It is possible I am just being very impatient with this exercise weight gain to go away. Feels like Im going backwards, or standing still even though Im working so much harder =/

Any advice or comments are welcome. Thanks MFP community.

Replies

  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
    11 pounds in 2 months is great. Understand that it won't be linear; you may lose some one week, none the next, then more the following week. Also, make sure you're really eating the calories you think you're eating. If you aren't weighing and measuring your food, you could be eating more than you think.

    Good luck!
  • Day58
    Day58 Posts: 113
    First off good for you for taking charge of your life and wanting to be healthier! I am pretty new at this. i have been working to lose weight since September lol. one thing i do notice is when i do exercise I don't lose much weight but I feel better. so one week i do lots of low impact walking, and the next week I do cardio with some kind of mild resistance. the every other thing is working for me and now I am steadily losing and feeling better. Don't give up no matter what. you are well on your way!
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    I fail to see a problem. It sounds like you understand the reasons behind the weight loss slowing down, too.

    If you don't want to exercise, then don't. I only exercise 3x a week for 30 minutes each. I get done what I need to in a short period of time.
  • candicegrant1
    candicegrant1 Posts: 13 Member
    My logical side understands what's happening with working out and retaining the water, but my heart is frustrated by it.

    I keep thinking, I have such a large amount of weight to lose, that with eating right ( I do weigh and measure my food, always! ) AND exercising, I should be dropping weight, even through DOMS retention.

    =/ Mostly it is frustration and I needed to let it out somewhere.
  • jillian_fan2425
    jillian_fan2425 Posts: 167 Member
    Oh man... if I had a dollar for every time I felt like I "should" be losing weight... I hear ya :smile:

    My suggestion would be to try out some other options for exercise. There are a lot of choices out there these days. For example, I used to try to run because I knew a lot of runners and felt like it would be a good way to lose weight. Well, I really don't like it. I decided that I preferred going to the gym. Now I prefer working out at home with circuit training DVDs because it's more convenient to do that after work than to haul myself to the gym (especially when it's so busy). Trial and error might be just what you need.