I lose more weight when I stop caring...

smo520
smo520 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been counting every single calorie and working out for atleast 40 minutes a day the past two weeks (cardio mostly) and haven't lost a single pound. I tried everything. Ate more, ate less sodium/carbs, drank more water, slept a lot...nothing seemed to work.
Yesterday I got fed up with the entire process and I ate what I wanted. I didn't gorge myself on junk food or anything but I did eat an entire avocado and a quesadilla for lunch and even had some Hot Cheetos like at 10pm.
This morning I stepped the scale and saw a 2lb loss!
This seems to be a reoccurring thing with me - when I try to regulate all my food choices, I stay the same but when I just eat what I feel like eating (within reason, of course), the weight drops off quicker and more naturally.
Why is this the case?
Does calorie counting not work for everybody?

Replies

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Coincidence? I don't know.

    I do know that overeating is NOT the path to weight loss.

    But if watching the calories for a couple weeks and then taking a day off works for you, do that!

    Whatever works. :)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    You lost weight with a calorie defecit - it's not "not caring" that worked - that's just timing

    If eating what you wanted and not exercising worked none of us would be overweight in the first place
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Weight loss isn't linear, and doesn't happen immediately after the behavior that caused it. The 2 lb loss could easily have been caused by the 2 weeks of good behavior.

    Or it was that time of month and you were retaining some water that you finally released.

    Try not to "regulate" yourself too much! Pick a reasonable calorie goal and weight loss rate, allow yourself some treats, and most important - give it time. If you change up what you are doing every couple of days, nothing will ever have the chance to work.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    LOL...do you really think you lost 2 Lbs of fat overnight? You were dieting for two weeks...don't you think that might have something to do with it? Weight loss isn't linear..you aren't going to lose exactly X Lbs per week and X ounces per day...you have weeks with bigger losses and weeks with smaller losses and weeks with no losses and even weeks with gains...but over the long term, the TREND should be downward. Weight loss doesn't happen immediately after some behavior...it takes time.

    Two weeks is nothing...it's literally a drop in the bucket...you need way longer than that to actually see a trend.
  • independant2406
    independant2406 Posts: 447 Member
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Coincidence? I don't know.

    I do know that overeating is NOT the path to weight loss.

    But if watching the calories for a couple weeks and then taking a day off works for you, do that!

    Whatever works. :)

    This! ^^^

    I've noticed sometimes I'll go for a whole week or even 10 days stressing about counting calories and being in a deficit and then I'll have a small cheat meal (less than 300 calories above my regular goal) and suddenly I'm down 1lb the next day. No clue why. Doesn't happen every time but just sometimes.
    Maybe its a stress release/water weight thing? Or mixing up the calorie count confuses your metabolism? Who knows. The human body is complex and weird. Just do what works as long as your doing something healthy :)
  • cookmtn
    cookmtn Posts: 156 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Weight loss isn't linear, and doesn't happen immediately after the behavior that caused it. The 2 lb loss could easily have been caused by the 2 weeks of good behavior.

    Or it was that time of month and you were retaining some water that you finally released.

    Try not to "regulate" yourself too much! Pick a reasonable calorie goal and weight loss rate, allow yourself some treats, and most important - give it time. If you change up what you are doing every couple of days, nothing will ever have the chance to work.

    This! 2 weeks is not long enough, and then all those changes During that 2 weeks...
    mvfgt62yyct6.jpg

    See my chart? If I gave up every time my weight went up, I would have given up long ago. As it is I'm down 41 lbs. Good Luck!
  • jkwolly
    jkwolly Posts: 3,049 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    You lost weight with a calorie defecit - it's not "not caring" that worked - that's just timing

    If eating what you wanted and not exercising worked none of us would be overweight in the first place
    This this and this!!!

  • stacyjh1979
    stacyjh1979 Posts: 188 Member
    cookmtn wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Weight loss isn't linear, and doesn't happen immediately after the behavior that caused it. The 2 lb loss could easily have been caused by the 2 weeks of good behavior.

    Or it was that time of month and you were retaining some water that you finally released.

    Try not to "regulate" yourself too much! Pick a reasonable calorie goal and weight loss rate, allow yourself some treats, and most important - give it time. If you change up what you are doing every couple of days, nothing will ever have the chance to work.

    This! 2 weeks is not long enough, and then all those changes During that 2 weeks...
    mvfgt62yyct6.jpg

    See my chart? If I gave up every time my weight went up, I would have given up long ago. As it is I'm down 41 lbs. Good Luck!

    I just LOVE the reports feature on this website that is what really keeps me going sometimes! I want immediate results/gratification and weight loss just does NOT work that way.
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    You lost weight with a calorie defecit - it's not "not caring" that worked - that's just timing

    If eating what you wanted and not exercising worked none of us would be overweight in the first place
    yep
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    I found that I could lose more weight if I ate closer to my planned deficit rather than way below it. It also helped when I added some fat in the form of tree nuts. The days I ate way below my target I rarely lost any weight.
  • afenderson
    afenderson Posts: 1
    I think there is a correlation between stress and anxiety and not losing weight. Stress does many things to our bodies that we don't understand. My goal is to eat until I'm satisfied (not go over that threshold), then wait until I'm hungry again. No timetable. No measuring. That way perhaps we won't stress and obsess as much about food, and the weight will come off easier.

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