Problem with weight (somehow) going UP instead of DOWN

Options
sethkey
sethkey Posts: 10
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,

When I started this program a week ago I weighed at 184 LBS and was hoping to get down to somewhere around 150. I've really been enjoying this site and have had a lot of fun monitoring my food and I was shocked to discover how poorly nourished I have been. I predict that for the past year I haven't had a single day come close to eating the 1200 necessary calories needed for my body to be healthy, so I wonder why it was that I was still gaining weight instead of losing it. Perhaps it was that my metabolism had slowed down, or that the food that I was eating were too high in carbs or fats, I don't know. So naturally now that I'm on this website I can't help but to feel a little weird about almost forcing myself to eat MORE food in order to reach my daily food requirements. Of course I understand that this is mostly just psychological and I'm certain I will lose weight this method, but I noticed that my weight has been rapidly fluctuating since I started a week ago. Just a few days into my diet I went from 184 to 177, up to 182 and then now I'm at 185.

Is this type of fluctuation normal? Maybe since I am new to this diet and my metabolism just hasn't caught up with me, or perhaps my time of the month is influencing it too, through I don't know about that because a week ago I was virtually at the same weight.

If anyone has any answers or ideas for me I'd greatly appreciate them!

Thank you.

Replies

  • Kelly_Wilson1990
    Kelly_Wilson1990 Posts: 3,245 Member
    Options
    Are you drinking enough water? Are you exercising?
  • Codefox
    Codefox Posts: 308 Member
    Options
    Sure is normal. There could be a lot of reasons for it. Even if your metabolism is functioning completely normally, you are always going to see wild swings of weight. One day your body might be holding water. You may have eaten a big meal the day before that your body is still processing. Weighing yourself daily can be risky (I personally like doing it because I'm type A and I like seeing the numbers move no matter which way they go ;) )

    Overtime what you'll see is that the peaks are lower and lower as are the valleys. So 182 is the high right now. Maybe in 2 weeks that's 180 instead. And maybe the low is 175. Then in 2 months maybe its 165. But every day its going to go up and down like a yoyo 8)
  • sethkey
    sethkey Posts: 10
    Options
    Thanks for the reply,

    Yeah I have actually been doing a great deal of exercising. I ride my bicycle on average of 35 minutes or more every single day since I have started (which is a new thing for me) - and no I am very poor at getting my daily amount of water. I usually come out with about half the water I should be getting.
  • BranMuffin21
    BranMuffin21 Posts: 157 Member
    Options
    This week I started a hardcore work out program and when I did a sneak peak of my weight I noticed I gained 21/2 pounds. I've been told not to worry because I have started to do a workout program I am not used too and muscle is more than fat. Could this be maybe whats happening? Also drink lots of water!
  • cjsgrimlin
    cjsgrimlin Posts: 246
    Options
    I would look at sodium intake it could be water weight. Also your body has been "starving" for a while it seems, you may have lost the water weight but gained weight because your body stored it as fat to feed you later when you don't have enough food intake. It will take a while to adjust that and start really losing because you got to convince your body it is getting enough to live off of instead of storing for later. It is possible that your scale went wonky too. But keep at it, you'll see a slow difference over the weeks!!:flowerforyou:
  • quara
    quara Posts: 255 Member
    Options
    Your post reminded me of this article - if you've constantly been eating much less than 1200 cals/day, this might give some insight:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/238282-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing-redux?

    (edit: can skip down to the part called "a discouraging start" which explains why you may have gained weight)
  • husker_gal
    husker_gal Posts: 462 Member
    Options
    If I understand correctly, you said you were eating less than 1200 calories for at least a year? That would have KILLED your metabolism which will cause your body to hold onto every little bit of food you take in for reserves. Give it a good solid two to three weeks of eating correctly. Once your body realizes it's not starving anymore and that you are eating a healthy amount of calories your metabolism will readjust and you will start to lose weight. :smile: good luck and stick with it! You can do it!!
  • sethkey
    sethkey Posts: 10
    Options
    Wow thanks for all the feedback guys, it is very reassuring.

    About the muscle weight though, I doubt that is an issue. My understanding is that it takes a very long time for the body to develop a significant weight of muscle from working out.
  • bloodbank
    bloodbank Posts: 468 Member
    Options
    Wow thanks for all the feedback guys, it is very reassuring.

    About the muscle weight though, I doubt that is an issue. My understanding is that it takes a very long time for the body to develop a significant weight of muscle from working out.

    You're correct. And it's unlikely that without a very careful diet and serious lifting that you would build any appreciable muscle on a calorie deficit. However! Even if you're not lifting (which you should! Even body weight exercises like pushups, dips, squats... it'll do wonders for your body composition!) if the exercising is a newer thing for you it's very likely that your muscles are retaining some water while they repair themselves, which is a possible explanation for the weight fluctuation.

    Eat a wholesome diet full of fresh foods and a decent amount of protein at a reasonable calorie deficit, work on drinking your water, keep moving your body and ignore the scale for a while. You're doing great - keep it up!
  • milaxx
    milaxx Posts: 1,122 Member
    Options
    It's not usual for weight to go up and down and you have only changed your eating habits for about a month now. I would recommend not weighing yourself more than once a week. I actually don;t weight myself more than once a month. The scale will drive you nuts. Also if you have less than 50lbs, your body won;;t give that weight up easily. You my want to expand and watch your sodium levels. Too much sodium can cause bloating and water retention.
  • DustinReiner
    DustinReiner Posts: 157 Member
    Options
    looked at your “food diary” and I noticed a few things.

    1.Right off the bat, I’d increase your caloric intake to at least 1400 calories a day. You seriously are probably not eating enough. If you don’t eat ENOUGH your body will go into “conservation mode” and store calories and start to feed upon muscle for nutrients. If you don’t believe me (Google it!) I forgot the basics a few weeks ago, and wanted to lose more weight faster, so even though I knew better I decreased my caloric intake to 1400. I stopped losing weight. I sat down on MFP and started analyzing everything. I wasn’t eating enough, I increased it to 1700 calories and started losing weight again. Give it a try, it can’t hurt you aren’t losing weight now any way,……..but I bet you will.
    2.You are only monitoring four(4) items (Calories, Carbs, Fat & Protein) you still have to more columns you can add. I would bet you are taking in a lot of sodium (2500 is the recommended daily amount). I would add sodium and cholesterol. (Trust me later in life you don’t want cholesterol problems). Watch the sodium and you’ll notice a difference.
    3.Use the report section and you can run all kinds of reports on your diet. Check what’s high and low.
    4.Make sure you are logging everything and you are doing so correctly. It can happen, I drink at least three protein sakes a day(Jay Robb Whey protein, good stuff, tastes great!) I didn’t realize that THEIR nutritional information on calories DIDN’T count the milk to mix the shake with? (My fault) that is an extra 92 calories per protein shake.

    Try these and I bet you’ll start to lose weight. Part of it is also trial and error and what works for you.

    Exercise and nutrition for beginners.
    http://exercise.about.com/cs/exbeginners/a/begnutrition.htm

    A link about nutrition
    http://exercise.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/lowcarb.htm

    A link about dieting
    http://exercise.about.com/sitesearch.htm?q=What+is+a+proper+diet?&SUName=exercise

    Another link about nutrition
    http://exercise.about.com/od/nutrition/Nutrition.htm

    I use About.com a lot for research.

    You can do it, just stay with it. Even when you get frustrated.

    Good luck in reaching your goals!

Categories