Been at it for 3 weeks and weight going up!

Sebani
Sebani Posts: 24 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So i've really been trying hard to tracking my foods and for the most part i'm trying to be as accurate as possible. when I go out for meals i just guesstimate and I think I'm more on the high end than low end of estimates. Well for the most part my weight stayed steady, then it went down 1 lb and immediately, the following 3 days i shot up 1.5lbs.

I can tell you that I am not over eating. I am basically starving myself cause all i think about is how hungry I am. Additionally I am the most active i have ever been thanks to the fitbit, yet I am STILL not losing, but gaining? what?

Please give me some advice. This is extremely discouraging since I'm hungry all the time.

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    I think your guesstimating is off by quite a lot...

    And it could be water retention.
  • Sebani
    Sebani Posts: 24 Member
    @isaackgmoon, like I said, I'm pretty sure i'm guesstimating on the high side.
  • Fitandtoned130
    Fitandtoned130 Posts: 2 Member
    Hi Sebani, What's your daily calories on MFP? The reason why I love MFP is because it gives me enough calories to work with so that I'm not hungry; especially when you sync your Fitbit to it it gives you more calories that you can eat because of exercise. Are you eating healthy foods?
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Some potential reasons:
    1. how is your sodium? High sodium leads to water weight.
    2. how is your stress/sleep? Both can lead to water weight.
    3. Is it TOM? Hormones/bloating lead to water weight.
    4. Are you new to working out, or recently increased the intensity of your workouts? Water weight for muscle repair.

    If you're sure you're eating at a deficit, then a net gain of .5 pounds in 3 weeks is likely no reason for concern. Keep going - but do make sure you're eating a reasonable amount. Not that you could be eating too little to lose weight, but if you feel like you're starving then you're likely not going to stick with this long term. Set yourself up for success. If you have a 2 pound/week goal now, try changing to 1.5 or 1 to allow yourself more calories to eat. And then check progress over the next 3-4 weeks.
  • vespiquenn
    vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
    edited August 2015
    You may think you're on the high end of guesstimating, but it's likely that is not the case.

    But what are your stats and goals? It's hard to judge what may be going wrong, such as too aggressive of a weightloss goal, without knowing any other information. So the rest of this is just going to be general.

    Are you weighing the food you are not guesstimating? As in, an electronic food scale, not measuring cups (they aren't accurate).

    And just because you are hungry does not mean you are starving.. Or under calories. If that were the case, all of us would be insanely obese. You are adapting to eating less. Not saying you shouldn't pay attention to cravings because they often tell a story, but I think you need to spend a few hours on some of the newbie sticky threads to get a more realistic expectation of weightloss.

    Lastly, it is possible you are retaining water, especially if it is new that you are walking or exercising more. 3 weeks is nothing compared to the overall picture. Just keep focusing on exercising and weighing food for accuracy, and it should begin to show. Patience is key.
  • runninggirltoo
    runninggirltoo Posts: 12 Member
    Maybe your metabolism is messed up due to not eating enough - since you say you're always hungry. I'm no expert but I think maybe you should try eating smaller meals but more often - like every couple of hours. That way you are not hungry and your body will start losing weight since it realizes you're not starving.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    edited August 2015
    Fluctuations are natural, sp 1.5lbs either way is nothing to be worried about you need the trend over weeks. Sraci pointed some reasons that can affect what the scale says.

    If I was a betting person I'd just say its the same as everyone else, eating more thna you think, burning less and not being patient. Most people here use a scale to meaure food, you seem confident in your guesstimating, but the scale it telling you otherwise. If you are not losing weight then you certainly arent starving yourself.

    Stop using quick calories.
    Syop eating your execise calories back for a few weeks or eat only 25% of them.
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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,972 Member
    Guessing isn't accurate. Weight gain when starting a new exercise program is NOT unusual. If you're starving, you're not eating either enough, or may need to change your frequency.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    Looking at your food diary I noticed that just about every day you have at least one quick add entry. Are these the times that you are eating out?

    Based off of what you are logging that you do eat at home, I highly recommend that you get a food scale and start weighing everything, including your fruits. Also go to the helpful posts announcement on this board and read the posts about Logging Accurately and Calorie Counting 101.

    Depending on where you are going out to eat, you may be able to find the nutritional information on here or online. It's still an estimate but it is better than nothing.

    If you are hungry all of the time you might want to take a look at what you are eating and find some more filling foods. Protein and healthy fats will help with that.
  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
    Seems like accuracy is not there. You can't have no macros when your quick add calories are 600. It could be sodium and water retention, or even time of the month. 1.5 lbs. isn't a whole heck of a lot, so if you are truly sure that you're "overestimating", then I'd give it another week. If you are always hungry, you have to either reevaluate what you're eating and get more nutrient dense foods (veggies, healthy fats, and proteins) into your diet or you may have a medical issue that needs attention (i.e. insulin resistance). You should first tighten up your guess-timates and actually use a scale. This will remove the guess work and help you get a handle on what you are actually consuming. Since you didn't lose anything in the first 3 weeks, I would bet that you're over estimating what you are physically doing (exercise-wise) or underestimating what you're eating.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    Check your logging accuracy. You already know that you're not being accurate because of the guessing.

    I love going out to eat, but I don't think its a great idea when you're first starting off. Can you try to forgo the restaurants and prepare your own food for a few weeks? Or at least cut back a little? It's just impossible to tell if you're eating at the right calorie goal for you when you have to guesstimate your calories so often.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
    Avoid eating out for one week. Food at restaurants is not only high in calories but is also usually high in sodium which can make you retain water. If possible try and reduce your carbs a little bit. I try and stay 100 or less for the day. Make sure you are drinking your 8 glasses of water per day. Use a scale to weigh everything you eat. Eat a lot of protein and fiber as that will help you to fill full. Keep water and low calorie snacks with you at all times so your not tempted to eat out. Prelog your food the night before and try to stick to that. Play around with three large meals VS multiple meals throughout the day and see what makes you feel better. I found three equal size meals with a snack inbetween each meal kept me from not being hungry. When I ate multiple little meals all day long I constantly felt hungry and never felt full. I felt like I needed to snack all day and I was constantly thinking about when I could eat again. Make sure you are using the correct MFP entries as some of them are terribly off.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    I agree, stop eating out so often. Guesstimating is not accurate. Eat at home and weigh and measure everything. Also, start looking at the calorie counts at restaurants (online) that are similar to the ones you eat at. Or at least similar food items. This might be quite eye opening. As others have said, I'll bet your guesstimating on restaurant meals is on the low side, rather than the high side. Also, there is a TON of sodium in almost all restaurant food, so you are probably retaining a lot of water. Eating at home will help with this, too.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    Stay away from all the quick adds, there wasn't 1 day in the past week you didn't have at least 1.

    When logging food unless you made the recipe don't select Homemade entries, you have no idea what was used to create the recipe.

    For the hunger it looks like you get a lot of your daily calories from snacks. One day you had 440 calories in M&Ms while they are delicious they are not filling, so yes you will be hungry.

    McDonalds iced coffee with milk for only 20 calories?
  • jkwolly
    jkwolly Posts: 3,049 Member
    Weigh/measure all the foods
    Track every bite that goes into your mouth
    Watch sodium levels, higher levels and you'll easily retain water.
    Have you started a new workout regime? Also causes water retention.

    Weight loss is NOT linear! Just keep at it!
  • earthnut
    earthnut Posts: 216 Member
    If you are hungry, you are probably not eating filling foods. You need to eat foods that have less calories per volume. Candy and fatty foods have a lot of calories per volume. You won't be able to eat much to stay within your calorie goals and will therefore be hungry. High fiber or watery foods like fruit, vegetables, soups, etc have a lot less calories per volume. You'll be able to eat a lot more volume while staying within your calorie goals.

    Also, fiber, water, and protein help keep you full for longer. Sugar, starch, and fat wont satiate you for as long and you'll get hungry again sooner.

    For restaurants, don't use quick calories. Experienced people can eyeball volume but no one can eyeball calories. Bring a measuring cup and find the best match in the database.
  • plyadnov
    plyadnov Posts: 16 Member
    How often do you weigh yourself? I fluctuate like there's no tomorrow. Over the weekend I was 196, today I'm 194. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. You eat more carbs one day, few days later your water levels are higher and you weigh more. Try to stay consistent with your diet. Eat out less and when you do, try to check out nutritional menus to guide you. If it's night time and you still have 1500 before you hit your calorie intake goal, guesstimating is totally fine...but if you have 500 calories to go, I bet you will be over your goal.

    One thing I've learned is not to rely solely on that scale. My best scale are my pants, belt, and the mirror. I have been sitting in the 193-196 range for few months now, however I went down one belt notch...so waist is getting smaller. In the mirror my vascular definition is coming through more...again...fat is coming down, but it's also being replaced by muscle.

    So keep at it. Don't concentrate on your weight. If 2 months later you are still looking the same and weight the same, then something must be going on and your diet needs to be fine tuned, or workouts changed. Otherwise keep moving forward. I have seen too many New Years resolution people quit coming to the gym too soon. They don't see drastic results in 1 month, so they stop. Keep at it!
  • Dday0829
    Dday0829 Posts: 30 Member
    Try to plan ahead when you go out for meals, look on-line for caloric values. Try cutting back on foods that have no nutritional value like white flour and sugar ( I know you will get the "a calorie is a calorie" vibe from this site, but it does not work for everyone. Some people, like myself, do better with less carbs. Filling up on healthy foods will take away the hunger feeling because you are feeding your body what it needs. Drink the recommended amount of at least 8 glasses of water daily, hunger sometimes equal thirst. You may need more water if you are sweating from working out. Don't give up!!! Good luck!
  • glovepuppet
    glovepuppet Posts: 1,710 Member
    when I put on weight fast, it's almost always pms.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    So the OP never came back?
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    @Sebani if you HAVE to eat out, I recommend maybe trying to be more accurate with it. For instance, only go to restaurants where they post their calories and nutrition online (Applebees, Denny's, fast food, etc. for example). OR see if you can choose diners that serve breakfast 24-hours a day. 2 eggs, toast and butter is a little easier to enter correctly into your food log (though always always always add a ton more butter to your log, since it's likely on everything). 3 egg omelets are reasonably easy to log in the region of accuracy (again, overestimate cheese and butter).
  • Sebani
    Sebani Posts: 24 Member
    Sorry I've been at work. I do have a food scale so everything that isn't quick adds are almost always measured out. That includes the steaks, salmon and fruits I've been logging.

    Yes the quick adds are when I eat out, but I'm asian and asian restaurants don't provide calorie info. How do you guys manage to have a life while doing this? My friends/fam almost always eat out which is why there are so many quick adds...
  • besee_2000
    besee_2000 Posts: 365 Member
    Yeah 400 cal is nothing in fast food cal counting... I mean Applebees advertises "lite" dishes as anything under 500 and they are petite. I would agree with an above poster that you need to try a week not eating out. It sucks but eating out won't give you the results you want.

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