Gaining on 1230?!
BeGrandLike
Posts: 184 Member
Hi all. So I know that there may be a perfectly good explanation for this- and if so, PLEASE tell me! I'm only on my second week of measuring everything I eat and working to lose weight. Things were going really well the first week, I lost about a pound. But this week it seems to be going into reverse?! I'm still being very careful about measuring my calories- I'm not eating anything processed and every single ingredient I use is getting weighed and put into MFP, so I can't see how I could be going over my allowance.
So I decided to weigh myself every morning for the first few weeks, just to get the data on how this is working for me. Things were looking good, until the past three mornings! The loss stalled three mornings ago. I didn't weigh myself yesterday, but today I just got off the scales and I'm 100g up?! What's going on?!
The way I'm doing things: as I'm 5'3" and overall sedentary, my basic allowance is 1230. I do an hour of yoga every day- MFP gives me about 180 cals for that but I cut it down to 130. I also tend to get out and about walking the dog or doing errands in town most days, but I don't bother counting that. So most days I end up with a total basic-plus-exercise allowance of about 1360 calories. I'm a little bit under that almost every day, sometimes over by ten or twenty calories.
Anyone have any ideas about why I've stalled and gained this week? I'm only in my second week and I don't want to get discouraged so quickly! And as my allowances are close to 1200 anyway, I would feel really hesitant about reducing my intake any further. The only thing I can think of is that I started taking some psyllium husk capsules (2000mg) before meals this week cause I was having a lot of trouble with feeling really hungry and I read that they can help with that. Could that be causing this? Or could it be something else?
So I decided to weigh myself every morning for the first few weeks, just to get the data on how this is working for me. Things were looking good, until the past three mornings! The loss stalled three mornings ago. I didn't weigh myself yesterday, but today I just got off the scales and I'm 100g up?! What's going on?!
The way I'm doing things: as I'm 5'3" and overall sedentary, my basic allowance is 1230. I do an hour of yoga every day- MFP gives me about 180 cals for that but I cut it down to 130. I also tend to get out and about walking the dog or doing errands in town most days, but I don't bother counting that. So most days I end up with a total basic-plus-exercise allowance of about 1360 calories. I'm a little bit under that almost every day, sometimes over by ten or twenty calories.
Anyone have any ideas about why I've stalled and gained this week? I'm only in my second week and I don't want to get discouraged so quickly! And as my allowances are close to 1200 anyway, I would feel really hesitant about reducing my intake any further. The only thing I can think of is that I started taking some psyllium husk capsules (2000mg) before meals this week cause I was having a lot of trouble with feeling really hungry and I read that they can help with that. Could that be causing this? Or could it be something else?
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Replies
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Same thing happening to me.. No explanation though...0
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Suggested calories are generalized. Based on 'averages' . Statistically the average almost never happens.
Drink LOTS of water. Lower sodium. And skip to once-a-week weigh in. Try measuring your body vs weighing your body. As an example, your yoga might be generating muscle. The extra heft wont show on your scale but the fat-loss is the important part. Make sense?
I've lost about 11.5lbs in seven weeks. But my pants are REALLY loose, my shirts are tighter - around my arms because I've been weight training. So I'm losing fat and building muscle - so my scale thinks "wtf? aren't you supposed to be lighter??"
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Weight loss isn't linear. Weigh daily and track the trend with something like trendweight.com It's not uncommon to gain and lose several lbs throughout the week due to water fluctuations and a number of other factors. If after a couple weeks you are not trending down in weight, reexamine your accuracy in counting and your calorie goal.9
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I guess when it comes to doing a weigh-in only once a week, I worry that if I'm eating way more or less than I need to be to lose at a sensible rate I won't know for ages? I guess I'd hate to have spent a week or a fortnight putting all the work into measuring and tracking (and saying no to the delicious pastries that people seem to keep bringing to the house.. yes, I have said no to every croissant 'cause I already had my food plan made and no way am I gonna miss out on a great big filling plate of salad, say, for the sake of a few bites of buttery pastry deliciousness..) and then realise that I've been doing it wrong all along. This is hard enough, you know?
I'll try getting myself a measuring tape and see if that gives a more optimistic picture, though. Is that another thing to do once a week, or would it be alright to do it daily?0 -
Weight loss isn't linear. Weigh daily and track the trend with something like trendweight.com It's not uncommon to gain and lose several lbs throughout the week due to water fluctuations and a number of other factors. If after a couple weeks you are not trending down in weight, reexamine your accuracy in counting and your calorie goal.
This.
OP I put on 2kgs (4lbs) last week. My TOM and higher sodium days killed my weigh ins, but it was just water retention which has already disappeared and my weight has gone back down to normal now.
Your gain of 100g is nothing, that's less than a glass of water, our weight goes up, down and all around, it's never a perfect downward trend. Be patient, make sure your food logging is accurate and you'll be fine.11 -
100g as in .2 pounds? This is water fluctuations on the scale. It is not been quite two weeks yet?. To be considered in a stall, it needs to be 3 - 4 weeks. And even then if all the conditions are met with 100% accuracy as what you stated in your OP, weight loss has not stopped it has slowed down.
If you really want to start using your scale daily to see you weight trends, start using a weight trending app like Happy Scale, weightgrapher, libra, etc.
There are things like, carb intake, sodium, hormones, muscle repair, getting enough rest, food in gut/waste not eliminated, hydration or lack there of..that's gonna show on the scale in some form or another.
Do not ever lower calories, because the scale is not moving. eating even less will compound this further. The only time you lower calories is at each 9 - 10 pounds loss.2 -
I don't think weighing every morning is a good idea. weight usually fluctuates. I would say weigh on the same day every week, at the same time, wearing the same clothes. that works for me.
and sometimes, the scales don't tell us everything, so I would make a point of using a tape measure.2 -
Daily weigher here too to track the trends. Last week I was 2lbs+ over my lowest weight for 5 days, TOM ended, had a couple rest days from exercises and whoosh, 3lbs dropped off and I've been trending down around that new low since.
Very few people lose weight in a linear fashion (weekly weigh ins would be pointless for me, they'd tell me nothing, I don't lose every 7 days, I don't think I have ever had two Mondays in a row track downwards from each other for example).
Use other metrics to track progress, photos, tape measure, clothing, fitness goals. And be patient. Two weeks isn't enough time to tell anything about anything.3 -
100 grams is about 3.5 ounces. Roughly equal to the weight of a small glass of water or one good bathroom trip. Really, OP, this level of worry over a tiny and very normal weight fluctuation is beyond excessive. And I say that as someone who has quite a lot of experience in being excessive about scale fluctuations.9
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Hehe, thank you all so much for the reassurance!
This is my first time ever trying to lose weight systematically- basically over the last couple years my weight crept up to a stone and a bit overweight (about 16 pounds) cause of a combo of illness and a more sedentary life- think going from a teacher who plays roller derby in her spare time to someone with a desk job and no derby! Add to that that cooking is one of my favourite things to do, and... well, you see where this is going.
The other week I got on a scales and was like eeeeeeeep! I was recommended MFP by a friend who'd found it worked really well for her. But having never done this before, I've hardly any idea about what's normal and what to expect.
I think I'll take all of your advice to stop weighing every day, and to just focus on eating well to my calorie guidelines. And yeah, I do have a bit of a tendency to worry a lot about things, especially if they're new and not so familiar. Thanks so much everyone for the advice!
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No one has addressed this issue....HOW are you measuring food? with a food scale, or cups and spoons? I agree, don't worry about daily fluctuations.0
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Colorscheme wrote: »No one has addressed this issue....HOW are you measuring food? with a food scale, or cups and spoons? I agree, don't worry about daily fluctuations.
A digital food scale! I bought one specially for MFP 3 -
AoifeFitzy wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »No one has addressed this issue....HOW are you measuring food? with a food scale, or cups and spoons? I agree, don't worry about daily fluctuations.
A digital food scale! I bought one specially for MFP
Well, if you're sure you're weighing everything, I'm inclined to say to just be patient and give it a couple of weeks. If you've started a new exercise routine, that can cause some fluctuations while your body adjusts.0 -
I also want to put in that depending on when you weigh during the day, TOM, you can be different weights based on even how you stand on the scale. I have done a test myself and weighed myself 5 times in a row without changing anything except stepping on and off the scale, and that much shift in my weight or more will possibly happen.
Another difference can be your shoes, what you are wearing, or if you are still wet from a shower or not (just for some simple suggestions). I suggest like everyone else, that maybe weigh every week or so, but don't panic about any little shifts as lots and LOTS of factors can cause that without it being true weight gain. Just watch for the long term downward trend, not for marked daily drop.
Good healthy weight loss I have read is like 1-1.5 pounds per week. That divided out will be the amount you're stressed about which can also be just fluctuations in weighing circumstances. I understand your personal feeling of urgency and wanting to see a change, but don't mentally kill your drive by over analyzing. It will come.1 -
"So I decided to weigh myself every morning for the first few weeks, just to get the data on how this is working for me. Things were looking good, until the past three mornings! The loss stalled three mornings ago. I didn't weigh myself yesterday, but today I just got off the scales and I'm 100g up?! What's going on?!"
100g? That is really nothing to get upset over, bodyweight fluctuates naturally. I have gone up a lot more than that overnight from all the sodium in restaurant foods. The worst was 5 lbs overnight, but I knew it was water weight from all the sodium because I didn't overeat. Pretty much the next day, 3 lbs dropped, then 2 the next.0 -
If it helps OP, I lost 3 lbs my first week and nada the second week. I'm on week 3 and I'm chugging along. If I lose, great. if I stay the same, eh whatever. I know weight loss is not linear.2
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DetroitDarin wrote: »Suggested calories are generalized. Based on 'averages' . Statistically the average almost never happens.
Drink LOTS of water. Lower sodium. And skip to once-a-week weigh in. Try measuring your body vs weighing your body. As an example, your yoga might be generating muscle. The extra heft wont show on your scale but the fat-loss is the important part. Make sense?
I've lost about 11.5lbs in seven weeks. But my pants are REALLY loose, my shirts are tighter - around my arms because I've been weight training. So I'm losing fat and building muscle - so my scale thinks "wtf? aren't you supposed to be lighter??"
She's not "generating muscle" from two weeks of yoga while eating at a deficit. And there's nothing wrong with weighing daily. If you get used to the fluctuations, I find it more comforting as your once-a-week weigh in might be on a randomly high or low day.
OP, give it more time. And get used to seeing fluctuations, as they happen for a myriad of reasons. Stick to what you're doing, and you'll see the losses soon enough.7 -
Just to drive home the point that weight loss isn't linear, here's my last 30 days. I "weighed" more on the 29th than I did on the 11th. Also, I weighed more on the 8/8 than I did on 7/8. There are so many variables that go into your weight at any one point in time. And if you're a woman, add at least one more to the mix. You can try, but you can't control for every single one. The important thing is the long-term trend. Get at least a month of data and draw a best-fit line. Or, there are apps that will calculate what's called a moving average. These could give you peace of mind.
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AoifeFitzy wrote: »Hi all. So I know that there may be a perfectly good explanation for this- and if so, PLEASE tell me! I'm only on my second week of measuring everything I eat and working to lose weight. Things were going really well the first week, I lost about a pound. But this week it seems to be going into reverse?! I'm still being very careful about measuring my calories- I'm not eating anything processed and every single ingredient I use is getting weighed and put into MFP, so I can't see how I could be going over my allowance.
So I decided to weigh myself every morning for the first few weeks, just to get the data on how this is working for me. Things were looking good, until the past three mornings! The loss stalled three mornings ago. I didn't weigh myself yesterday, but today I just got off the scales and I'm 100g up?! What's going on?!
The way I'm doing things: as I'm 5'3" and overall sedentary, my basic allowance is 1230. I do an hour of yoga every day- MFP gives me about 180 cals for that but I cut it down to 130. I also tend to get out and about walking the dog or doing errands in town most days, but I don't bother counting that. So most days I end up with a total basic-plus-exercise allowance of about 1360 calories. I'm a little bit under that almost every day, sometimes over by ten or twenty calories.
Anyone have any ideas about why I've stalled and gained this week? I'm only in my second week and I don't want to get discouraged so quickly! And as my allowances are close to 1200 anyway, I would feel really hesitant about reducing my intake any further. The only thing I can think of is that I started taking some psyllium husk capsules (2000mg) before meals this week cause I was having a lot of trouble with feeling really hungry and I read that they can help with that. Could that be causing this? Or could it be something else?
You're on the right track. Two weeks is nothing, you are in the trial and error period right now. Weight naturally fluctuates, and wight loss is not linear.
See the bold part above- for anything other than steady state cardio, you don't count the calorie burns because they are part of your activity level. Besides this, MFP, and most other internet apps, notoriously overestimate calorie burns.
Give it time.
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DetroitDarin wrote: »Suggested calories are generalized. Based on 'averages' . Statistically the average almost never happens.
Drink LOTS of water. Lower sodium. And skip to once-a-week weigh in. Try measuring your body vs weighing your body. As an example, your yoga might be generating muscle. The extra heft wont show on your scale but the fat-loss is the important part. Make sense?
I've lost about 11.5lbs in seven weeks. But my pants are REALLY loose, my shirts are tighter - around my arms because I've been weight training. So I'm losing fat and building muscle - so my scale thinks "wtf? aren't you supposed to be lighter??"
Sure does not make sense. You are not going to gain muscle with that kind of deficit.1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Daily weigher here too to track the trends. Last week I was 2lbs+ over my lowest weight for 5 days, TOM ended, had a couple rest days from exercises and whoosh, 3lbs dropped off and I've been trending down around that new low since.
Very few people lose weight in a linear fashion (weekly weigh ins would be pointless for me, they'd tell me nothing, I don't lose every 7 days, I don't think I have ever had two Mondays in a row track downwards from each other for example).
Use other metrics to track progress, photos, tape measure, clothing, fitness goals. And be patient. Two weeks isn't enough time to tell anything about anything.
I've also noticed a loss after taking rest days. I walk a lot during the day and my workouts are intense so I know I must be retaining a lot of water. I've decided to make Friday and Saturday and weigh on Sunday morning.0 -
See the bold part above- for anything other than steady state cardio, you don't count the calorie burns because they are part of your activity level. Besides this, MFP, and most other internet apps, notoriously overestimate calorie burns.
Give it time.
Hehe, learning patience is.. well, it's a process, isn't it?
As for the yoga- I go to a yoga class every day, and it's reasonably intense. As in, I get pretty warm & sweaty and feel reasonably worked by the end of it, and I know it's have some kind of effect on muscles 'cause I do notice a little bit of achiness when I'm working on advancing my poses and whatnot. I know it's not as calorifically-burning as properly intense cardio or resistance work, but I definitely figure it must be doing something more than just sitting on my bum. Though I'm hoping to start a c25k next week so that'll be adding three runs a week to my plans- I definitely miss getting some good cardio in, but I didn't want to start it straight away after starting my eating plan either, 'cause I know that slowly adding changes works better longterm.
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I'll just post some useful threads that I have bookmarked.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear/p1
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10359984/women-menstrual-cycle-weight-and-fitness-matters/p1
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10179969/weight-loss-flow-chart-2-0/p1
If you are going to weigh every day you absolutely need to understand that your weight will fluctuate. Your weight will not drop every day. Less than half a pound of gain on the scale one day is nothing. Be consistant and patient.1 -
Weight fluctuates. I am a daily weigher. I prefer daily to weekly because I get a better idea of how my weight fluctuates and I can usually tell if it will be up or down. A high sodium meal, ovulation, TOM or even being constipated can cause your weight to go up. If you have started new exercise and your muscles are sore then you are probably retaining some water for muscle repair. There is nothing wrong with weighing daily. But if the fluctuations bother you then that may not be for you. If you do decide to weigh daily then I would recommend using a trending app like Libra or Happy scale. This will allow you to see that your weight is trending down and maybe you won't worry about the fluctuations so much. You also will need to learn patience. Two weeks is not enough time to decide you need to change your goal. You may not lose every week, but you should start seeing a trend.1
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here is an image of my last month.
I pretty much weigh everyday.
you can see on the end where my weight spikes WAY up over 200lbs... that was my TOM. This morning, I am 196.
I can go up as much as 8lbs when TOM is on the way...
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hellenova14 wrote: »I don't think weighing every morning is a good idea. weight usually fluctuates. I would say weigh on the same day every week, at the same time, wearing the same clothes. that works for me.
and sometimes, the scales don't tell us everything, so I would make a point of using a tape measure.
https://trendweight.com/
You can weigh everyday, as long as you understand the weight fluctuates all the time. Use a WIFi scale to get the neat chart above.1 -
the chart above (in my post) is from Weigh Grapher.
you don't need a wifi scale... which is why I use it0 -
tracymayo1 wrote: »the chart above (in my post) is from Weigh Grapher.
you don't need a wifi scale... which is why I use it
Aahhh.....very cool!0 -
AoifeFitzy wrote: »Hi all. So I know that there may be a perfectly good explanation for this- and if so, PLEASE tell me! I'm only on my second week of measuring everything I eat and working to lose weight. Things were going really well the first week, I lost about a pound. But this week it seems to be going into reverse?! I'm still being very careful about measuring my calories- I'm not eating anything processed and every single ingredient I use is getting weighed and put into MFP, so I can't see how I could be going over my allowance.
So I decided to weigh myself every morning for the first few weeks, just to get the data on how this is working for me. Things were looking good, until the past three mornings! The loss stalled three mornings ago. I didn't weigh myself yesterday, but today I just got off the scales and I'm 100g up?! What's going on?!
The way I'm doing things: as I'm 5'3" and overall sedentary, my basic allowance is 1230. I do an hour of yoga every day- MFP gives me about 180 cals for that but I cut it down to 130. I also tend to get out and about walking the dog or doing errands in town most days, but I don't bother counting that. So most days I end up with a total basic-plus-exercise allowance of about 1360 calories. I'm a little bit under that almost every day, sometimes over by ten or twenty calories.
Anyone have any ideas about why I've stalled and gained this week? I'm only in my second week and I don't want to get discouraged so quickly! And as my allowances are close to 1200 anyway, I would feel really hesitant about reducing my intake any further. The only thing I can think of is that I started taking some psyllium husk capsules (2000mg) before meals this week cause I was having a lot of trouble with feeling really hungry and I read that they can help with that. Could that be causing this? Or could it be something else?
You're on the right track. Two weeks is nothing, you are in the trial and error period right now. Weight naturally fluctuates, and wight loss is not linear.
See the bold part above- for anything other than steady state cardio, you don't count the calorie burns because they are part of your activity level. Besides this, MFP, and most other internet apps, notoriously overestimate calorie burns.
Give it time.
Steady state cardio is not the only way to burn calories.
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