3+ Weeks, no cheats, no days over, gained 2 lbs

1) Do you measure foods or do you weigh them?
2) How tall are you? How did you calculate your daily calorie goal?
3) You eat quite a bit of sodium, which is likely causing these few-pound fluctuations. Would you consider reducing that by eating more whole, home-prepared foods instead of prepackaged and takeaway?

Every body is different, so I don't want to sound like a diet newb who believes it's *all* about water weight. That said, when my weight goes up like that, it's usually because I'm having too much sodium and/or not drinking enough fluid, even if I am exercising and eating alright. As soon as I get back on the 8-or-more-cups-a-day train, I lose the weight I gained plus another pound or two. But I'm also in the very beginning of my journey and haven't seen much result just yet, so my two cents should be taken with a spoonful of salt.

Are you eating enough lean protein? It's tough to get that when eating vegan and if you aren't getting protein to build lean muscle then you won't have muscle to burn fat when you aren't excersicing (the other 23 hour of the day :P) Just a thought.

It's not true that you need to eat at certain times to lose weight or make your metabolism run "efficiently." Your metabolism is always running. If skipping breakfast helps you achieve your calorie goals for the day, doesn't leave you hungry or icky-feeling, and isn't causing you to undereat, you just do you!

khelwig wrote: »

Sometimes when you think you are eating healthy, you actually are not. Noticing your food diary, I see you do not eat breakfast. Bad idea. I also see that you eat almost 700 calories for lunch, dinner, and snacks. Try spreading out your food intake and instead of eating 700 calories for lunch, have 300 calories for breakfast, have a 300 calorie snack mid morning, 300 calories for lunch, 300 calorie snack mid afternoon, and have a 300 calories for dinner. Your body will metabolize the calories much more efficiently if you spread out your calories. This also gives you some calories to bank if you want a snack at night or want to add a few calories to your meals during the day. Also, drink water. If you weight 200 pounds, you should at least drink 100 ounces of water. It can help counteract the sodium intake as well. One last tip - increase your protein. A lot. Eating protein not only helps build muscle after workouts, it is a better source of calories and keeps you fuller for a longer period of time. Hope this helps and good luck!

You don't have to eat breakfast to lose weight.

OP, I agree with everyone about the food scale.

Depending on how you're measuring foods, its possible that your margin of error is juuust enough to put you at maintenance, rather than a deficit. Weighing is more reliable than volume measurements due to fluctuations in air content, size of items, etc. It's worth thinking about. The closer you get to your goals, the less wiggle room you'll have with calories, so every bit of accuracy counts!

I find the biggest fluctuations in my weight come from sodium content and when I weigh during the day. If I had a lot of sodium the day prior, I'm likely to see a 2-3 lb fluctuation in weight. That weight will quickly drop off in a couple days, and I'll usually see an all-time low if I commit to keeping the sodium down. When I weigh also contributes. I used to weigh first thing in the morning as that's what others recommended. However, I do intermittent fasting and eat all of my food later in the day. As a result, I haven't been fasting as long as most people by the time I wake up, and most of that food is still in my system. After some experimenting with multiple weigh-ins each day, I found my lowest weight tends to be right after I get home from work, so that's when I weigh in now.

Last suggestion is to consider taking measurements. If you're also working out, you may have some slight increase in muscle mass, especially since it seems like you're eating close to or possibly just over your maintenance.

Interesting video you might enjoy. If your not into the sciency stuff just watch the last 30.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ceFyF9px20Y

Keep in mind the formulas used to calculate those numbers is an average and everyone is different. It's possible your metabolism is a bit lower than average. I'd suggest going a little lower or not eating back any exercise calories for a week or two and see what happens.