Should I drop my calories again?

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  • mrsmcmo
    mrsmcmo Posts: 109 Member
    edited November 2014
    Well, I weighed myself this morning: 108. :neutral_face: Not sure what to make of that. I hopped on the scale, it read 109.3 or something, got off and on about 7 additional times and every other time it said 108. something (I never care about what's behind the.). In between those times, my 2yo was also weighing himself, and every time but once the number was also the same, (and I'm sure it's fairly accurate for him). So now what?! I of course am assuming that a lot of it is water (?), but I have been religious about staying at or just under 1350 all week, so should I stay there for another week and see how I weigh in next Friday? Or up my calories? I did update on MFP.

    ETA: I know I should just judge my body by how it looks, how my clothes fit, etc. and not worry about the number on the scale so much but I am a REALLY bad accurately seeing how I look (my eyes just automatically see the "problem" areas) so I need to see physical proof of change. Measuring I find slightly inaccurate, so I really haven't been measuring myself at all (I think I did once a couple months ago).
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,301 Member
    mrsmcmo wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    Your body has some feedback loops to first keep the fat it once had, then some protection for going under a level it wants.
    More you try to go under that level, the harder the fight will be to lose that weight. Genetics there.

    And yes, any fast gain or loss is water weight, and going in to or out of a diet it's glycogen stores with water in the muscle, 1-2 lbs worth.
    Otherwise it's usually change in sodium levels eaten.
    Well, and stress elevates cortisol which retains water too. Upwards of 20 lbs actually possible there.
    So watch those stress levels, or realize what the effect is, and don't add more stress by trying to tackle it with bigger diet.

    Hence the reason you should have goal weight range, not single digit. Go batty trying to maintain a single number.

    Besides, those water weight gains in the muscle would never be seen, because they'd be so spread out.
    So don't be so tied to the scale that you miss the bigger picture which everyone else can see.
    I doubt you carry your scale around on your back with sign for all to see what your current weight is, as if they'd have a clue.
    They see you, and that is unrelated to weight.

    Thank you, great info here. :)

    Yes it is; I have been reading this thread and the a range is a much (mental) healthier way to go. Well done heybales.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    mrsmcmo wrote: »
    Measuring I find slightly inaccurate, so I really haven't been measuring myself at all (I think I did once a couple months ago).

    Oh, if you want the ultimate in inaccurate measurements - then weigh yourself 5 times daily to see just how much you fluctuate day in and day out.

    That's considered noise, and to see a trend in a bunch of noise like that would take 2 months of noise for a woman. Because your BMR literally changes through the month, so your daily burn does too.

    So you lost how much weight in how many days?

    Weight lost x 3500 (if you think it's really fat) / days to lose = calorie deficit from eating level to burning level.

    Now, do you really think you burned that much each and every day?

    That's the equation to use for any fast gain or loss, to see what it may or could not possibly be.

    For instance, many people report their first big water weight drop after going in to a diet.
    Doing the math, if it was really fat they would have to have burned say 3500 over what they ate daily - obviously didn't happen.
    Same way with gaining 3 lbs the morning after having a piece of wedding cake that weighed an actual 12 oz's.
    Even if every bit of that food was turned in to fat and it had no water content in it - it obviously can only add 12 oz's to the body (actually less when you consider processing cost and non-absorption).

    You may think measuring is slightly inaccurate - keep weighing until you see it is much more accurate that fluctuating water weight.

  • mrsmcmo
    mrsmcmo Posts: 109 Member
    Oh I'm sure I didn't lose 6lbs of fat in a week. Last Friday I weighed 114lbs. Perhaps I was carrying a lot of water last week so, and this week didn't have much extra so I weighed in "extra" light. I'm probably weighing somewhere in between. Just not sure what to make of the calories (if I should stick to 1350 or up it to 1450).
  • TossaBeanBag
    TossaBeanBag Posts: 458 Member
    Burn it off. Don't starve it off.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    mrsmcmo wrote: »
    Oh I'm sure I didn't lose 6lbs of fat in a week. Last Friday I weighed 114lbs. Perhaps I was carrying a lot of water last week so, and this week didn't have much extra so I weighed in "extra" light. I'm probably weighing somewhere in between. Just not sure what to make of the calories (if I should stick to 1350 or up it to 1450).

    Or, you unstressed your body enough and it dropped some stress-retained water.

    Head on up.

    It would take 35 days, 35 days of eating 100 calories over maintenance to gain 1 lb slowly.
    Reread that.

    And if exercising any decent amount, not even going to be all fat.

    If you gain more or faster, then you of course aren't at maintenance, and you just topped off glucose stores.

    Or your 100 extra calories was salted peanuts or chips. Don't do that method though. ;-)
  • MissJay75
    MissJay75 Posts: 768 Member
    My 2 cents is, whatever you did last week, do it again next week and the week after that. You won't be able to get an accurate assessment of what that amount of calories will do for you unless you give it time. Re-evaluate in a month, not a week. (This isn't to say don't weigh yourself, just don't change anything. 100 calories a day up or down is 1 pound a MONTH up or down.)

    I never update my weight on MFP until I get the same weight 3-4 days in a row. Because it changes all the freakin time. :)

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