Losing weight is so incredibly frustrating
Serve_the_servants
Posts: 10 Member
I could write a book about this, but I’m going to be as concise as possible. At university I gained a lot of weight and ended up being 20 stone. A few years ago I decided enough was enough and through a lot of hard work I lost 6 stone. I read up on nutrition and did lots of exercise. For the moment, I’d be happy with 15 stone. Currently, I am about 16 stone, but I’m struggling to get it back down and nothing really seems to work. I have a specific diet 5 days a week, then Friday + Saturday are laxer. I gain a bit of weight at weekends, but I lose it through the week, and I try to lose additional weight too. I did this throughout the course of my 6 stone loss.
I have observed the following with my weight loss: eating as few calories as possible doesn’t really work. My metabolism grinds to a halt. Eating the same calories every day doesn’t work. As the week goes on I just stop losing any weight. I need to try cycling calories and varying things up. Recently I started eating 2500 calories 5 days per week and exercising most nights. At first this worked well and I started losing some of the weight I gained. It stopped working though. I’ve now tried 2300 calories every day, but it doesn’t really work either. So now I am trying varying between 2000-2300 calories per day, and cycling nights of running (5 mile runs). Last week I lost a couple of pounds doing that. But this week I gained a pound. Sigh.
A typical day for me consists of a protein shake for breakfast, a couple of sandwiches for lunch, meat + potatoes & veg for tea and maybe a cup of tea before bed. I weigh absolutely everything I consume and I rely on the stated calories on packets, rather than what MFP says.
I don’t really know what else to try.
I have observed the following with my weight loss: eating as few calories as possible doesn’t really work. My metabolism grinds to a halt. Eating the same calories every day doesn’t work. As the week goes on I just stop losing any weight. I need to try cycling calories and varying things up. Recently I started eating 2500 calories 5 days per week and exercising most nights. At first this worked well and I started losing some of the weight I gained. It stopped working though. I’ve now tried 2300 calories every day, but it doesn’t really work either. So now I am trying varying between 2000-2300 calories per day, and cycling nights of running (5 mile runs). Last week I lost a couple of pounds doing that. But this week I gained a pound. Sigh.
A typical day for me consists of a protein shake for breakfast, a couple of sandwiches for lunch, meat + potatoes & veg for tea and maybe a cup of tea before bed. I weigh absolutely everything I consume and I rely on the stated calories on packets, rather than what MFP says.
I don’t really know what else to try.
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Replies
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You have to realize that weight fluctuates. Weight loss is not linear. You may go up and down at times due to different things such as your menstrual cycle (if you are female), excess sodium (from food) and even food in your system. I can gain a few pounds by just eating a normal sized meal. It's not going to be the same week to week.
If you are being accurate in your logging and weighing, and are truly in a deficit, then the weight will come off.
As long as your relaxed Fridays and Saturdays are not wiping out your calorie deficit, then you will lose weight.9 -
Measuring your weight loss within a single week ("As the week goes on I just stop losing any weight . . . ") could be one reason why you're getting so frustrated. It sounds like you may not be allowing enough time to accurately measure your results and you're getting frustrated by daily fluctuations.
If you're lax on the weekends, gaining a bit of weight is perfectly normal (temporary water weight plus just the weight of the food you're eating) and nothing to get frustrated about.
If you lose a couple of pounds one week, it's perfectly normal to maybe see a bit of a gain the next week. You need to think of this as a long-term project and monitor the trends, not day-to-day.9 -
+1 to all of the above. It's also important to remember that we don't have a "true weight". As the others have pointed out, weight fluctuations are entirely normal. Mine will fluctuate up to 2 lbs on any given day. This is why when people reach their goal weight and hit maintenance, they either aim to keep their weight within a certain range (usually +/- 5 lbs), or choose a "do not exceed" weight.
Stick to your plan and your calorie deficit, and compare your weight on a month-to-month basis, not day-to-day.0 -
Are you logging your Friday/Saturday and making sure you're still in a deficit for the week? This is likely your downfall.7
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I don't know, I find losing weight quite enjoyable. It's not losing weight that's frustrating...15
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I find that the day after a hard run, I often retain water. I generally only weigh myself after a rest day.
You might try mixing up your activity. Run if you enjoy it, but you might try weights or swimming as well to build other muscles besides your legs. Muscle burns more calories than fat does.
You may also be more lax on your weekends than you realize. A meal out can easily be 2000 or more calories without even seeming to be that unhealthy. It has been eye-opening since I started logging.4 -
I'm a 6 ft 3 man. To the people who say if you do a deficit you will definitely lose weight, I used to basically starve myself and was hardly losing any weight at all. I started losing weight when I ate MORE...and particularly when I started cycling carbs/calories.
I'll go through everything in this topic properly tomorrow.2 -
Have you tried intermittent fasting? It works like a charm for my son and for me but we quite naturally go long periods between meals. We are not snackers but tend to overeat at meals. My daily fast starts about 8pm and I typically break it between 12noon - 2pm each day so, 14-16 hours without food. I also do my exercise (walking four miles every other day) before I eat. Only exception is an occasional cup of coffee first with two tbls. of Half and Half. Two weeks this time doing this and down 10 pounds. Son is down 13 in the same period. This is the best non-diet diet I have ever done. I keep my cals at 1640 for the day and rarely eat my exercise cals. Might break the slump you're in if you think you can do it. It's not for everyone but I find it incredibly freeing. For 14-16 hours a day I do NOT have to think about what in the heck I'm going to eat. Yay! Here's a link to explain: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/09/21/intermittent-fasting-calorie-restriction.aspx4
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I find that consistency ultimately wins the day.10
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Also, we only weigh once a week. Every day is too discouraging. I LOVE to weigh every day but it is sabotage for me. Maybe you, too.0
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I tell myself I want to be FIT, because I want to FIT into my clothes, instead of I want to lose weight. As a female I do not eat anywhere near 2000 calories everyday anymore because I always fluctuated like you. At first I decreased to 1700 calories, then 1500. Once my appetite decreased it got easier because my tummy would only accept so much food in one sitting. What helped with the decrease was the good old Scarsdale diet. DON'T jump into strictly because it's too much of a drastic change for your body. Look over the plan and gradually change your eating over 2-3 weeks by doing Scarsdale 2 dys the first week (Tu & Th), 3 dys the second wk (M-W-F) and so on. DO change-up some of the veggies/meats to things you prefer i.e. if you don't like lamb then that's your ground turkey day; remember this diet was created when there was less variety. What also helped me was cauliflower, for some reason it fills me up. So I do the cauli mash and now that they sell riced cauliflower I no longer eat rice. Weekends are my free days to have pasta, pizza, etc and brunch; instead of three meals. Another thing that helped was finding dinners that were only 250 calories or less. Panda Express has a few: string bean chicken 190 calories, mushroom chicken 170, broccoli beef 150, when you buy the small a la carte size. I used to eat it over a little brown rice to make it 250 calories, but now it's enough by itself most days or I'll add the riced cauli if I only had a smoothie for breakfast that day. Also I put chia, fiber and ground flax in my smoothies, which I only have 2-3 dys/wk because of the sugar. So in conclusion, lol, just find things like this that will work for you and you'll be FIT in no time.1
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Also, when you get really close to your weight loss goal, it does get harder, but you'll get there! It feels as if it's taken me forever, but I've managed to get down, on my best days, to 151, when I was at an all-time high of 167.5 and very unhappy with how I felt and looked.0
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Serve_the_servants wrote: »I could write a book about this, but I’m going to be as concise as possible. At university I gained a lot of weight and ended up being 20 stone. A few years ago I decided enough was enough and through a lot of hard work I lost 6 stone. I read up on nutrition and did lots of exercise. For the moment, I’d be happy with 15 stone. Currently, I am about 16 stone, but I’m struggling to get it back down and nothing really seems to work. I have a specific diet 5 days a week, then Friday + Saturday are laxer. I gain a bit of weight at weekends, but I lose it through the week, and I try to lose additional weight too. I did this throughout the course of my 6 stone loss.
I have observed the following with my weight loss: eating as few calories as possible doesn’t really work. My metabolism grinds to a halt. Eating the same calories every day doesn’t work. As the week goes on I just stop losing any weight. I need to try cycling calories and varying things up. Recently I started eating 2500 calories 5 days per week and exercising most nights. At first this worked well and I started losing some of the weight I gained. It stopped working though. I’ve now tried 2300 calories every day, but it doesn’t really work either. So now I am trying varying between 2000-2300 calories per day, and cycling nights of running (5 mile runs). Last week I lost a couple of pounds doing that. But this week I gained a pound. Sigh.
A typical day for me consists of a protein shake for breakfast, a couple of sandwiches for lunch, meat + potatoes & veg for tea and maybe a cup of tea before bed. I weigh absolutely everything I consume and I rely on the stated calories on packets, rather than what MFP says.
I don’t really know what else to try.
I am no pro ,, far from it . Reading your post just made me think that your chasing the scale ( and that sucker can be mean at times ) It also reminded me about a post that stuck with me . It you know your calories are on point Have faith in the system it does work .
Good Luck
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I think you're complicating things. You need to stick with a plan for at least 2 months to see if it really works or not. Put your stars into mfp, follow the numbers they give you without yoyoing around for 2 months and you will start to see changes.3
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Try sticking to your calorie goal throughout the weekend (not having relaxed days), do more weight lifting and less cardio, make sure you are reaching your protein goal each day, and only weigh yourself once a month so you stop focusing on your weight fluctuations day to day and week to week and focus more on the process which will bring you results over time.0
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First of all, get the notion out of your head that weight loss is going to be linear and consistent. It isn't. Your weight WILL fluctuate several pounds throughout the day and from day to day. Secondly, be very careful about those "laxer" weekends and make sure you are logging those accurately or they can easily be your undoing. This does not have to be a complicated process. If you maintain a deficit, you will lose weight and your metabolism won't grind to a halt. If that was a real thing, mine would be in full reverse by now. Just make sure you are counting everything accurately and quit worrying about what your weight does over a few days and it will come off in time.2
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Weight loss happens over weeks and months, not days. As others say, you're likely not to see consistent losses due to other bodily processes causing weight to naturally fluctuate. You need consistency and patience.3
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Remember the amount of weight you actually lose each day is always eclipsed by the amount of weight fluctuation from other factors. For example I lose an average of maybe 0.2 pounds per day of body fat, but I can gain 3 to 5 pounds between morning and evening of a single day from eating and drinking, be up or down 2 to 4 pounds from day to day depending on if I've had a workout the day before (exercise causes water retention in muscles the next day due to repair processes), if I've had a bowel movement or not, how well hydrated I am, if I've eaten a lot of salt or not, monthly hormonal fluctuations, stress, how much sleep I got.... and I'm a small female so your fluctuations as a larger person will be even bigger. It will drive you CRAZY to look at daily or even weekly numbers going up and down. If you make a graph of your weight every single day it will probably look like a seismometer reading during an earthquake, but if weight loss is happening you should notice a general downward trend over time. Or you can weigh less often since the ups and downs are bugging you so much.0
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Does anyone know of a wine diet? I don't mind not eating as much, but not having my most reliable friend is torture.....0
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dantesprgatory wrote: »Does anyone know of a wine diet? I don't mind not eating as much, but not having my most reliable friend is torture.....
Fit wine into your calorie goal. I do it 3x a week. A 5oz pour of white wine is about 120 calories.4 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »
Repetition Deepens The Impression. This pic appears on these kinda posts without fail.
OP, your issue is lack of patience. If you understood how the body works, it has no alternative but to decrease in size if expending more energy than it's receiving.
Stick to eating at deficit and give it at least 3-4 weeks.3 -
dantesprgatory wrote: »Does anyone know of a wine diet? I don't mind not eating as much, but not having my most reliable friend is torture.....
I drank wine almost daily when I was losing weight. As long as you're measuring it properly and logging it to ensure you hit your calorie goals, you should be fine. If your deficit is really large, you may have to consider whether it is keeping you from hitting your nutritional goals, but a deficit works just fine for weight loss when alcohol is included.
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I drink alcohol at least weekly and figured out the calories for it - I was reading a journal article (or something) and how while alcohol is higher in carbs, your body processes it more like fat - so log it that way in my diary0
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The weekends will probably hold you back. I could quite easily blow a day's calories in a meal without thinking about it, make that a whole two days of "laxer" and you could undo a whole week's worth of restriction. I also find that now I eat less processed/packaged/fried food, that when I do treat myself to some fries or potato chips or pizza or something, I'm off for days in the sense that weight loss seems to stall and I hold on to water all probably because of the salt and it takes days and days to feel normal again. Do that every weekend and I'd never stay in the weight loss groove.1
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dantesprgatory wrote: »Does anyone know of a wine diet? I don't mind not eating as much, but not having my most reliable friend is torture.....
Alcohol disrupts the metabolism of dietary fat and has lots of empty calories - so it's not very weight loss friendly. For me it causes a lot of bloat too so I just go ahead and skip the wine altogether while in weight loss mode... but it is possible to lose weight while still enjoying it (in moderation) as long as you are in a caloric deficit.0 -
I drink beer and/or whisky every night and have lost 0.75lb per week on average since last June. I am apparently metabolizing my dietary fat just fine.0
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I know the feeling I get stuck in a rut and can't lose any more weight so incridbly frusting when u see ur friends losing weight and u can't0
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MelanieCN77 wrote: »I drink beer and/or whisky every night and have lost 0.75lb per week on average since last June. I am apparently metabolizing my dietary fat just fine.
Yeah it's more of an issue if one consumes excess calories- then it's more likely for those to be stored as body fat rather than burned for energy since the body prioritizes burning off the alcohol before using anything else.
I did say it's still possible to lose weight while consuming alcohol, just less than ideal for weight loss efforts.
I'm sure different people metabolize alcohol better or worse too- like how different people handle caffeine differently... I personally have a low tolerance for both caffeine and alcohol- super fun right?! And alcohol makes me pack on the pounds quicker than anything else, and seems to stall my weight loss when I have it (though that could just be bloat/inflammation... I always gain 2 or 3 pounds the next day after having drinks, even if I stay within my calorie goal, and it takes up to a week for that to come off). Did you know that alcohol is neither a carb, fat, nor protein? The carrier liquid usually has a lot of carbs but the actual alcohol part is it's own separate molecule, not one of the 3 food macronutrients. Carbs and proteins have 4 calories per gram, fat has 9, and alcohol has 7. Apparently the body can digest it, but sees it as a toxin that must be gotten out of the system asap, so it prioritizes metabolizing the alcohol first to get rid of it.
At least that's what I've heard from multiple sources- one of which is a chemist and food scientist.0 -
i could eat a couple of sandwiches for lunch and be over maintenance.
weigh your food.1
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