Week 4 - Stalling?!

I'm currently 3 1/2 weeks into my big weight loss journey. Weeks 1-3 saw good losses (8.4lbs, 4lbs, 6lbs). After the 21st day, the scale started going the wrong way!

From Saturday to Sunday I gained 1lb! From Sunday to Monday +0.6lb, Monday to Tuesday +0.6lb, then Tuesday to today the scale didn't move.

I've been eating around the same amount of calories (slightly higher than normal the past 2 days, some friends suggested I'm not eating enough). A little research found a few people saying this type of thing happened to them around the 4th week of loss.

I was just wondering if anyone else experienced this, and may be able to talk about it? I just need to know I'm not doing something wrong! Or if I am, well, I need to know that too!

Replies

diannethegeek

This might be a useful read: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

iLoveMyPitbull1225

Small fluctuations in weight are normal. However, it seems like you already have an idea of what the source of your problem likely is. You are eating more than usual and therefore not at a deficit, thus gaining weight. Some friends suggested you are not eating enough....So what is your daily intake goal? Do you eat back exercise calories? Do you weigh/measure your food? All of these could contribute. The acronym to live by is CICO- calories in < calories out. Which means you must be consuming less than you burn in a day to lose weight, no matter what week you are in on your weight loss quest.

atypicalsmith

So when you started eating more you started gainin? Maybe there's a correlation?

z_vette

iLoveMyPitbull1225 wrote: »

Small fluctuations in weight are normal. However, it seems like you already have an idea of what the source of your problem likely is. You are eating more than usual and therefore not at a deficit, thus gaining weight. Some friends suggested you are not eating enough....So what is your daily intake goal? Do you eat back exercise calories? Do you weigh/measure your food? All of these could contribute. The acronym to live by is CICO- calories in < calories out. Which means you must be consuming less than you burn in a day to lose weight, no matter what week you are in on your weight loss quest.

Thanks for the response!

MFP set my daily intake goal at 3020 calories. I was eating around 1200-1300 daily, then the past couple days I upped it to 1500-1700 as suggested by friends.

I weigh and measure everything that goes in my mouth, aside from water.

kshama2001

In case anyone else was wondering, the OP is male, so this is not related to TOM.

LivingtheLeanDream

In the first few weeks people do experience higher weight loss then it settles and is more like 1/2 - 2lbs a week (depending on how much you need to lose), if you ate a bit more and that food contained more sodium then it could be just water weight you're holding on to. Our weight fluctuates naturally on a daily basis by a few lbs generally +/-. Keep on logging your food accurately and the weight loss will happen.

daniwilford

IMHO you are more likely to stick with it at 1500-1700, for the long healthy journey to goal. I think as you go along you can expect to average about 2 pounds a week. The closer you get to goal the more accurate your calorie intake needs to be measured. If you do not have one now, I recommend getting an electronic scale and measure by weight everything that is not liquid in grams. In my experience my weight fluctuates up a bit before a bigger drop but averages out at 2 lb loss per week.

iLoveMyPitbull1225

z_vette wrote: »

iLoveMyPitbull1225 wrote: »

Small fluctuations in weight are normal. However, it seems like you already have an idea of what the source of your problem likely is. You are eating more than usual and therefore not at a deficit, thus gaining weight. Some friends suggested you are not eating enough....So what is your daily intake goal? Do you eat back exercise calories? Do you weigh/measure your food? All of these could contribute. The acronym to live by is CICO- calories in < calories out. Which means you must be consuming less than you burn in a day to lose weight, no matter what week you are in on your weight loss quest.

Thanks for the response!

MFP set my daily intake goal at 3020 calories. I was eating around 1200-1300 daily, then the past couple days I upped it to 1500-1700 as suggested by friends.

I weigh and measure everything that goes in my mouth, aside from water.

When you were eating 1200-1300 calories/day did you feel hungry? I guess I'm not sure why you decided to add calories if you were getting results.

z_vette

iLoveMyPitbull1225 wrote: »

z_vette wrote: »

iLoveMyPitbull1225 wrote: »

Small fluctuations in weight are normal. However, it seems like you already have an idea of what the source of your problem likely is. You are eating more than usual and therefore not at a deficit, thus gaining weight. Some friends suggested you are not eating enough....So what is your daily intake goal? Do you eat back exercise calories? Do you weigh/measure your food? All of these could contribute. The acronym to live by is CICO- calories in < calories out. Which means you must be consuming less than you burn in a day to lose weight, no matter what week you are in on your weight loss quest.

Thanks for the response!

MFP set my daily intake goal at 3020 calories. I was eating around 1200-1300 daily, then the past couple days I upped it to 1500-1700 as suggested by friends.

I weigh and measure everything that goes in my mouth, aside from water.

When you were eating 1200-1300 calories/day did you feel hungry? I guess I'm not sure why you decided to add calories if you were getting results.

I started gaining weight all of a sudden. When I asked friends for advice they said I likely wasn't eating enough, so that's when I started eating a little more.

I'd get hungry, but it was manageable.

iLoveMyPitbull1225

Hm. I'm not an expert but I would imagine that if you returned to the eating habits that were working for you, you will lose instead of gain.

jemhh

z_vette wrote: »

iLoveMyPitbull1225 wrote: »

z_vette wrote: »

iLoveMyPitbull1225 wrote: »

Small fluctuations in weight are normal. However, it seems like you already have an idea of what the source of your problem likely is. You are eating more than usual and therefore not at a deficit, thus gaining weight. Some friends suggested you are not eating enough....So what is your daily intake goal? Do you eat back exercise calories? Do you weigh/measure your food? All of these could contribute. The acronym to live by is CICO- calories in < calories out. Which means you must be consuming less than you burn in a day to lose weight, no matter what week you are in on your weight loss quest.

Thanks for the response!

MFP set my daily intake goal at 3020 calories. I was eating around 1200-1300 daily, then the past couple days I upped it to 1500-1700 as suggested by friends.

I weigh and measure everything that goes in my mouth, aside from water.

When you were eating 1200-1300 calories/day did you feel hungry? I guess I'm not sure why you decided to add calories if you were getting results.

I started gaining weight all of a sudden. When I asked friends for advice they said I likely wasn't eating enough, so that's when I started eating a little more.

I'd get hungry, but it was manageable.

Well I do agree with them that you were not eating enough. 1500 is the absolute minimum that a man should be eating and, looking at your profile, I think that your calorie goal should be quite a bit above that.

Are you weighing your food on a digital kitchen scale, to ensure that you are logging the correct amounts? Are you using good data from the MFP database, such as USDA entries or the nutrition info from your food packages? If you can't weigh the food, are you using measuring cups/spoons and being sure that you aren't jamming extra food in so you get extra bites? And if you can't weigh or measure, are you estimating really well? If you are exercising, are you logging the activity using a common sense approach to the question "is this a reasonable burn?" and eating a portion of those calories?

If you can say "yes" to all of the above, my suggestion is to be patient for another week or two before making any changes. One thing you might want to do is use a calculator like Scooby's Accurate Calorie Calculator to get an idea of your overall calorie level needed to maintain your weight. For every 5 pounds per week that you'd like to lose, reduce that number by 500 calories. Keep in mind that it is commonly suggested that a safe rate of loss is 1-2 pounds per week (though I think it may be 1% per week for heavier people--check that before following it though.) Doing this will help you find a good calorie level that will help you lose but also make the process sustainable rather than turning it into a crash diet.

Brimixed

1. more water?
2. change your caloric intake or macros (iifym.com)
3. change your workout routine (add some HIIT)

maybe...

SueInAz

z_vette wrote: »

iLoveMyPitbull1225 wrote: »

z_vette wrote: »

iLoveMyPitbull1225 wrote: »

Small fluctuations in weight are normal. However, it seems like you already have an idea of what the source of your problem likely is. You are eating more than usual and therefore not at a deficit, thus gaining weight. Some friends suggested you are not eating enough....So what is your daily intake goal? Do you eat back exercise calories? Do you weigh/measure your food? All of these could contribute. The acronym to live by is CICO- calories in < calories out. Which means you must be consuming less than you burn in a day to lose weight, no matter what week you are in on your weight loss quest.

Thanks for the response!

MFP set my daily intake goal at 3020 calories. I was eating around 1200-1300 daily, then the past couple days I upped it to 1500-1700 as suggested by friends.

I weigh and measure everything that goes in my mouth, aside from water.

When you were eating 1200-1300 calories/day did you feel hungry? I guess I'm not sure why you decided to add calories if you were getting results.

I started gaining weight all of a sudden. When I asked friends for advice they said I likely wasn't eating enough, so that's when I started eating a little more.

I'd get hungry, but it was manageable.

People say this but eating more to lose weight just isn't logical. I do agree that you were eating too little but there is no such thing as a state where because you are eating too little you will stop losing weight. If there were, no one would ever die of starvation. Instead, chronically eating too little will cause a greater percentage of your weight loss to be from lean muscle mass instead of the fat you really want to lose.

It's more likely that the extra food is causing you to retain a little water which is masking your fat loss. Just keep at it for a few weeks and you should start to see an overall loss.