PO'd about the scale

Scales suck! That's all I have to say! :laugh:

I am having scale trouble myself...two Saturday mornings ago I did an unofficial weigh in and showed a 7 pound loss for the week...did my "official" weigh in the next morning and showed only a 2 pound loss for the whole week...weighed in again on officialy weigh in day of Sunday and showed a 7 pound loss...

I am scared that it was a false reading so I weighed this morning and show an 8 pound gain...I know our weight can fluctuate depending on time of day and what you ate and what you're wearing and how much you exercised and what color your toenails are painted...but I am kind of fearing weighing in on Sunday because I'm not sure my last two readings have been accurate...I am trying to prepare myself to show a gain this week (even though as long as I am 4 pounds down from where I was 2 weeks ago I will still be on track) but I know that showing a gain is really going to be discouraging...

Don't really know why I rambled all that lol...I guess what I meant to say is..."I feel your pain" lol

maybe I just have one of those bods that dont fluxuate but I weigh myself nude after peeing everymorn and for some reason my weight is never more than 6 oz fluxuated up or down, even during my tom. I make sure i am also not wearing any jewelry or anything.

OK, I have been lowering my intake of foods. 900-1200 cals a day. Exercising like crazy. I bought a new scale.
It states 230.5??? Are you insane? I weighed in Sunday 219??

OK I am so over it.

Going drastic now!!!


No more weighing in, and strickter then the norm for me for a while....

lowering your cals that low is most likely the problem! 900 - 1200 is way too low, especially if that's all you're eating AND you're exercising like crazy and burning more on top of that. Go to the "tools" tab on the header menu and find out what your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is. Your BMR is how many calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day — basically, how many calories you burn just to stay alive. For me that's like 1300. So for absolute sure, I can NOT eat below 1300 calories a day, period. Your body NEEDS that many calories at the very least to survive. Otherwise your body goes into starvation mode, holding on to every little thing and impeding your weight loss progress. THEN, if you exercise on top of that... say you burn 400 calories... that's an additional 400 calories you need to consume that day to keep yourself from going into starvation mode.

For me, if my BMR is like 1300 cals and I burn 400 doing exercise today, that means I need to consume at least 1700 calories to keep from going into starvation mode.

Does that make sense? There's a really good article around here called 700 Calories a Day and Not Losing that explains this (along with Banks' articles on the subject.) Check out that thread here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

That might help explain all of the science behind why you need to up your calories more! Lowering them to 900 - 1200 a day and adding exercise onto that is probably why you're gaining instead of losing. Up your cals to keep your body fueled and you'll see those pounds melt away instead

good luck!

Have you seen a doctor recently and had blood work? If the scale is correct and you have gained that much and have not been over eating, something may be wrong...

Also, do you weigh your food? You may be taking in more calories than you think.

LOL thanks Tam...that makes me feel a LITTLE better lol

Good! :bigsmile:

Seriously....they are an OK guideline while you are losing weight but all it takes is eating a little too much sodium and retaining water and it wreaks havoc. The number we get isn't even accurate and it sets the tone for the entire week. We can't let a little scale control our lives like this.

Just do everything you know is right and your body will catch up and the scale will catch up too. It HAS to eventually if you are doing everything right.

Trust me on this!

Oh I trust you...I have to lose what you've lost plus another 80 pounds or so...you are my hero lol...if I could I would pay you to make my meals and do all my shopping for me so I always knew I was eating the Tam way and that I'd lose the weight lol...I'm sticking with this new lifestyle though...whether or not I have you as my personal assistant and chef lol

On a side note though, I am not as concerned about the scale number as I am about getting healthier and feeling better...I just think it's important to have a somewhat accurate weight to put into my HRM and my MFP to calculate my BMR and how many calories I can have per day...don't want to have my weight wrong and miscalculate and overeat without knowing it...

Thats not true...my BMR is 2100 and I've had nutritionists telling me to eat 1200-1500 calories a day. You have to burn off more than you take in to lose weight. Eating your BMR plus all the calories you exercise off will make you maintain your weight.

It's definitely true, however, everyone is different so you may have a different case and of course everyone's body is different -- but in general what I said is true and what I've learned here at MFP. There's loads of nutritional research here in these threads posted by Banks and others that point to the fact that you need to eat at the very least your BMR (which varies depending on person, case, site you use to calculate your BMR, and whether or not we're talking/confusing maintenance calories, etc.) and that you should be eating all or most of your exercise calories -- but at the very least, your BMR. BMR and Maintenance calories, for example, are often used interchangeably, however, they are not the same thing. (see this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6832-eating-all-of-your-calories-bmr for more on that)

Here is a response taken from this thread here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions?page=1
"Question #1:

Should I eat all my calories?

Yes. MFP is already figuring a deficit for you to lose weight. This deficit is based on what you need to eat based on your everyday activity, not counting exercise. In the end, it's all about "net calories" (you can view yours under reports)

Example: you need to eat 2,000 calories to maintain your current weight (random number)
MFP will tell you to eat 1,500 to lose one pound per week (500x7=3500=one pound loss).

Let's say you exercise, and burn 500 additional calories.
UH-OH, now you are at a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. You need 2,000 calories to maintian, are already restricted to 1500, so now your net calories are a 1,000 a day. This is starvation central. Your body, which is very good at keeping you alive, will store and save calories. You WILL stop losing weight. You WILL want to throw your scale out the window.

Eat your exercise calories. At least eat most of them. "

This thread by Banks explains why you need to eat your BMR + exercise calories because too often people don't eat their exercise cals or think they're not supposed to. MFP calculates a deficit for you and often it's not clear why eating your exercise cals is necessary ... but it is. Again, keeping in mind that not every single person's bodies are the same and if you have a special case or a nutritionist has told you otherwise, that's what you need to listen to. But 2100 for a BMR sounds more like maintenance calories to me, rather than BMR. So 2100 is more like what you need to maintain, and 1200-1500 like your nutritionist told you is what you need to eat to lose a pound a week, based on your age, weight, height, etc. MFP calculates your deficit for you.

Check out Banks' explanation here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/8977-your-body-s-thoughts-on-calories

That link explains it all, and is really important! your maint cals are what you need to maintain. your BMR is the amt of cals your body burns in a day when you do nothing but lay in bed. It's going to be lower than maintenance calories. and then what MFP or a nutritionist calculates that you need to eat daily (for example, your 1200 - 1500 cals) is what you need to eat in order to lose a pound a week (or lose weight healthily based on your body) and already includes the deficit which means you'll lose and not maintain by eating those cals. Plus you need to eat all or most of your exercise cals since that deficit from 2100 to 1200-1500 has already been figured in. Does that make sense?

Really helpful list on all of this:
Links in MFP you Want to Read Over and Over again: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again