The scale hasnt moved much....

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asweetbrandy
asweetbrandy Posts: 21
in Getting Started
The last month I have gotten back on track. I workout 6/7 days for 1-2 hours a day. I have been eating under my calorie goals, and have changed my diet considerably. I am not eating all clean, but pretty clean, and measuring my foods. I lost a few pounds last month, 7lbs and 4.5 inches off my body. I weighed in on may 1 and then today, and I am up 3lbs! How does that happen? Am I doing something wrong? ugh, its so frustrating to be putting so much effort in and not seeing results. I have been stuck in this weight, give or take 5 lbs, for MONTHS, and nothing seems to get me losing again. Any advice on what I can do, to kick start the weight loss again??

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  • donyellemoniquex3
    donyellemoniquex3 Posts: 2,384 Member
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    Open your diary.
  • nicole_kills_zombies
    nicole_kills_zombies Posts: 3 Member
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    My weight can fluctuate as much as 5lbs depending on the time of the month, and a few pounds depending on the time of day and how much water I have consumed.

    When you are weighing yourself, are you weighing in at the same time of day? Are you accounting for water weight by time of month?
  • Chewieee
    Chewieee Posts: 1 Member
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    This happens to me a lot, I would re-weigh in a couple of days and see if it's gone back down. It could just be water weight?
  • asweetbrandy
    asweetbrandy Posts: 21
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    my diary is open to friends, just not public. I am trying to just weight myself once a week, but its so hard, I find myself weighing myself constantly. I usually only take the numbers from early morning weigh ins. maybe I need to just hide my scale until its that time of week to weigh in. My husband said it was probably water weight as well. I just find it non-encouraging (?) to see the scale going up, when I am working so hard!
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    Then you are eating at maintenance
  • TheThriftstorian
    TheThriftstorian Posts: 20 Member
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    Like everyone said, it could be water weight. Especially when stressed out, I find that I retain a LOT more water than necessary.

    Also, only weigh yourself once a week. Pick a day, and stick with it. If you weigh yourself every day, or every few days, you are going to drive yourself absolutely crazy--- I know, because I have struggled with that before. In addition, weighing yourself often and not seeing results might discourage you, which will mean you're only sabotaging yourself in the long run.

    One step at a time. Don't be discouraged. If you are eating well and correctly, you WILL see results. Just have patience and faith in yourself.
  • asweetbrandy
    asweetbrandy Posts: 21
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    I just changed my fitness profile from active to slightly active, and it lowed my daily calories a lot! I'm hoping maybe that's what my problem was? I was eating more than I should have been, without realizing it.
  • _mlee_
    _mlee_ Posts: 90
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    My weight fluctuates up to 5 pounds any given day. I do notice iam at the higher end about a week before my period. I think small weight fluctuation is perfectly normal. Don't let it get to you,you're doing great :)
  • NH_Norma
    NH_Norma Posts: 332 Member
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    7 pounds in a month is nothing to dismiss. Sounds like you are weighing too often and expecting too much. If you were up 3 this morning from just a few days ago, look at your sodium intake vs water intake from the last 48 hours.
  • dramm674
    dramm674 Posts: 9 Member
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    How do your clothes feel? I have been told by many to not just look at the number on the scale, but how your body is changing. I understand your frustration though. My scale will not budge. To add to that frustration, my husband decided to lose 8 pounds and it happened by just going out to mow the lawn. :angry: UGH lol.
  • funnybun1
    funnybun1 Posts: 62 Member
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    Bump! I too have been trying really hard again for the past month but haven't lost. I'd be happy with a point of a pound lost. I weigh in the same time of day every week. I'm just plugging away and trying to change up my activity & exercises. Will be watching this post to see if anyone offers suggestions that I may be able to try using to get back to the weight loss track.

    cheers :drinker:
  • bjhazel
    bjhazel Posts: 3
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    Maybe you are building muscle? If you see a difference in you measurement but the scale doesn't move just maybe your toning. I am not an expert on this, but When I went to my DIet Dr. many years ago and only lost one lb but had lost lots of inches this is what he told me. Bless his heart he has passed now. Maybe you need to change you exercise routine. There are a lot of succ:flowerforyou: ess stories on here. I hope they can help you. Good luck and keep up the good work.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I just changed my fitness profile from active to slightly active, and it lowed my daily calories a lot! I'm hoping maybe that's what my problem was? I was eating more than I should have been, without realizing it.

    The problem is using the tool wrong then.

    Those MFP activity levels don't ramp up high enough in calories to include exercise unless it's very little.
    They are intended ONLY for your work day, non-exercise maintenance estimate.
    That is the part for your Diet profile, your fitness profile is the goal number of minutes and times of exercise - which has no bearing on the diet profile part of how much you eat.

    You are supposed to log your exercise and eat those calories back.

    So you have created a huge massive deficit likely that has freaked your body out, especially with the counter-productive 1-2 hrs 6 days a week schedule you have.

    Yeah, inaccurate logging isn't wiping out that much deficit, stressing your body out so it adapts to match your intake likely has.

    http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage

    You may not be totally there yet - but you are working your way there.

    And sadly, no you are not building muscle in a massive deficit, and not even doing progressive overload weight lifting, and as a woman.
  • amy8400
    amy8400 Posts: 478 Member
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    After losing 30 pounds, I've been kind of in a stall for a few weeks. Don't let this discourage you. If anything, make it your challenge to find a solution. I have been pretty good with my macros and rarely go over on calories but my exercise (number of days per week and time working out) really took a hit due to my schedule. So now I know I need to ramp up exercise in May, which I am. This month I'm focusing on weights, getting at least 100mg of protein daily, and changing up my cardio routines to include some interval training. Sodium is something to watch as well so you're not encouraging the body to retain water.

    Don't give up...if you're serious about this, you're in the for the long haul and this is just a blip on the time line :flowerforyou:

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