Help with weird weight loss or lack of

jesika0731
jesika0731 Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I eat 1200 calories a day. Weigh 312 and 5'7 and 37 years. I eat a high protein, low sugar and carb diet and stick to healthy fats. Each Friday I weigh in and lose 1 lb. Then on Friday night I binge cuz I'm pissed about the 1 lb. I sleep in on Saturday and weigh in again and drop 2 more lbs. Then the week repeats with eating perfect, Friday weigh in with a total week loss of 1 lb from the Friday before (but still up 1 lb from Saturday, binge and the next day I weigh in with a 2 lb loss.

So, what am I doing right or wrong? Should I be eating more carbs, calories and sugar to lose more weight each week? Or am I losing more on Saturday because I actually slept and released some stress? Whatever it is it's a ongoing weekly pattern so it can't be water weight or something random.

Please help!

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    Maybe weigh yourself on Monday. Weight loss is a bumpy line going downward.
  • waxwingdesign
    waxwingdesign Posts: 17 Member
    Have you tried checking in at IIFYM.com? Depending on what you are trying to achieve, they may be able to help pinpoint your issue.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    What/how much you eat will have effect on your weight many days after the day you ate it.
    I've been doing this for more than a year with spreadsheets and what-not but haven't been able to find any obvious correlation.
    So how much you ate on Friday has no effect on your Saturday weight so to speak. It was a coincidence most likely that it happened like that with you these couple of weeks.
    Track your trend as the above poster suggested and don't pay attention to any such fluctuations. They are very, very unpredictable.
  • jludwick78
    jludwick78 Posts: 34 Member
    Google weight loss woosh.
  • duanehcpiercey
    duanehcpiercey Posts: 14 Member
    jesika0731 wrote: »
    I eat 1200 calories a day. Weigh 312 and 5'7 and 37 years. I eat a high protein, low sugar and carb diet and stick to healthy fats. Each Friday I weigh in and lose 1 lb. Then on Friday night I binge cuz I'm pissed about the 1 lb. I sleep in on Saturday and weigh in again and drop 2 more lbs. Then the week repeats with eating perfect, Friday weigh in with a total week loss of 1 lb from the Friday before (but still up 1 lb from Saturday, binge and the next day I weigh in with a 2 lb loss.

    So, what am I doing right or wrong? Should I be eating more carbs, calories and sugar to lose more weight each week? Or am I losing more on Saturday because I actually slept and released some stress? Whatever it is it's a ongoing weekly pattern so it can't be water weight or something random.

    Please help!

    I believe you're eating too little calorie wise... target 7cal/lb up to 300. So ... that would be 2100 per day... when your less that that.. your body is in major slow down mode metabolism wise... and believes it not going to get food...

    Boost to 2100 and move three times a week... try tgat for just 2 weeks and you'll see some results

    DP
  • jesika0731
    jesika0731 Posts: 22 Member
    Love it! Thank you!

    http://100down.org/the-whoosh-effect/
    jludwick78 wrote: »
    Google weight loss woosh.
  • allyphoe
    allyphoe Posts: 618 Member
    jesika0731 wrote: »
    Whatever it is it's a ongoing weekly pattern so it can't be water weight or something random.

    Brains love finding patterns; that doesn't preclude it being random.

    Sleeping in causes significant water weight loss. You exhale water vapor, sweat, and accumulate urine as time passes, and the later in the day you weigh in, without having eaten or drunk in the meantime, the less water will be in your body when you get on the scale. I almost always have a lower weight on the weekends than during the week.

    I agree with the suggestions to eat enough during the week that you don't binge. Binge-and-restrict is the kind of thing that can eat you, if you let it.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    jesika0731 wrote: »
    I eat 1200 calories a day. Weigh 312 and 5'7 and 37 years. I eat a high protein, low sugar and carb diet and stick to healthy fats. Each Friday I weigh in and lose 1 lb. Then on Friday night I binge cuz I'm pissed about the 1 lb. I sleep in on Saturday and weigh in again and drop 2 more lbs. Then the week repeats with eating perfect, Friday weigh in with a total week loss of 1 lb from the Friday before (but still up 1 lb from Saturday, binge and the next day I weigh in with a 2 lb loss.

    So, what am I doing right or wrong? Should I be eating more carbs, calories and sugar to lose more weight each week? Or am I losing more on Saturday because I actually slept and released some stress? Whatever it is it's a ongoing weekly pattern so it can't be water weight or something random.

    Please help!

    Why are you pissed about the 1 pound?? :/ You should be happy, and ensure that you don't do anything to screw it up! Not binge...that just wipes out your loss.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited May 2017
    allyphoe wrote: »
    Sleeping in causes significant water weight loss. You exhale water vapor, sweat, and accumulate urine as time passes, and the later in the day you weigh in, without having eaten or drunk in the meantime, the less water will be in your body when you get on the scale. I almost always have a lower weight on the weekends than during the week.

    Yes! My dogs need to be let out around 5 a.m. no matter the day. I tend to get up on Saturday to let them out, go to the bathroom and then weigh myself before having a glass or two of water and going back to bed. When I get up a few hours later I then repeat the bathroom/weigh-in routine and, nine times out of ten, my weight is down .5-1 pounds from the 5 a.m. weigh-in.
  • STEVE142142
    STEVE142142 Posts: 867 Member
    You're looking at this all wrong. Let me give you my background January 1st 2016 my weight was 288 pounds my current weight is 208 and I've been maintaining that approximately 8 months.

    You totally need to relook at the way you're approaching this. Just like you didn't gain all the weight quickly over time you're not going to lose it quickly. 1 -2 pounds/week is the healthy way to do it.

    In my opinion if you weigh about 300 pounds and you're eating 1200 calories a day that's way too little. Plug your stats into mfp with a goal to lose wanted to pounds a week and follow those calorie limits.

    A lot of people say starvation mode does not exist but I believe that your body does slow down its metabolism if it's not getting enough food it goes into a survival mode. My cousin has a PHD in nutritional science and I talked to her about this and she says that's one of the biggest thing she has to try to get people to understand as far as healthy long-term weight loss.

    Also a binge is nothing more than an emotional response. Yes we're all human and we're going to have our up and down days but there's no need for you to punish yourself for losing a pound. over a period of a year that's 52 pounds which is significant

  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    STEVE142142 wrote: »
    You're looking at this all wrong. Let me give you my background January 1st 2016 my weight was 288 pounds my current weight is 208 and I've been maintaining that approximately 8 months.

    You totally need to relook at the way you're approaching this. Just like you didn't gain all the weight quickly over time you're not going to lose it quickly. 1 -2 pounds/week is the healthy way to do it.

    In my opinion if you weigh about 300 pounds and you're eating 1200 calories a day that's way too little. Plug your stats into mfp with a goal to lose wanted to pounds a week and follow those calorie limits.

    A lot of people say starvation mode does not exist but I believe that your body does slow down its metabolism if it's not getting enough food it goes into a survival mode. My cousin has a PHD in nutritional science and I talked to her about this and she says that's one of the biggest thing she has to try to get people to understand as far as healthy long-term weight loss.

    Also a binge is nothing more than an emotional response. Yes we're all human and we're going to have our up and down days but there's no need for you to punish yourself for losing a pound. over a period of a year that's 52 pounds which is significant

    starvation mode in the sense where people cant lose weight/fat in a deficit doesnt exist.when a person diets and eats low calories for a long period of time their body will slow down their BMR which is adaptive thermogenesis,if starvation mode existed to where you stopped losing weight and retained fat then people with eating disorders would not become deathly thin and that goes for those in the starving parts of the world(Ethiopia for one).

    when your body doesnt get enough calories it will take anything it can to use for energy(fat,muscle,etc). There is such thing as starvation but not starvation mode.
  • Luna3386
    Luna3386 Posts: 888 Member
    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    does it really matter as long as the weight is consistently going down?
    duanehcpiercey wrote: »
    jesika0731 wrote: »
    I eat 1200 calories a day. Weigh 312 and 5'7 and 37 years. I eat a high protein, low sugar and carb diet and stick to healthy fats. Each Friday I weigh in and lose 1 lb. Then on Friday night I binge cuz I'm pissed about the 1 lb. I sleep in on Saturday and weigh in again and drop 2 more lbs. Then the week repeats with eating perfect, Friday weigh in with a total week loss of 1 lb from the Friday before (but still up 1 lb from Saturday, binge and the next day I weigh in with a 2 lb loss.

    So, what am I doing right or wrong? Should I be eating more carbs, calories and sugar to lose more weight each week? Or am I losing more on Saturday because I actually slept and released some stress? Whatever it is it's a ongoing weekly pattern so it can't be water weight or something random.

    Please help!

    I believe you're eating too little calorie wise... target 7cal/lb up to 300. So ... that would be 2100 per day... when your less that that.. your body is in major slow down mode metabolism wise... and believes it not going to get food...



    DP

    No. Just.... no.

    Why? Why eat 1000 less calories when you could eat more and still lose weight? Why drop to the lowest suggested calories for an entire gender (not based on height or weight) and not give yourself any wiggle room down the road?

    1 pound a week is good! But, with that big of a deficit it should be more.

    How did you get to 1200 calories?
  • spiffychick85
    spiffychick85 Posts: 311 Member
    Luna3386 wrote: »
    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    does it really matter as long as the weight is consistently going down?
    duanehcpiercey wrote: »
    jesika0731 wrote: »
    I eat 1200 calories a day. Weigh 312 and 5'7 and 37 years. I eat a high protein, low sugar and carb diet and stick to healthy fats. Each Friday I weigh in and lose 1 lb. Then on Friday night I binge cuz I'm pissed about the 1 lb. I sleep in on Saturday and weigh in again and drop 2 more lbs. Then the week repeats with eating perfect, Friday weigh in with a total week loss of 1 lb from the Friday before (but still up 1 lb from Saturday, binge and the next day I weigh in with a 2 lb loss.

    So, what am I doing right or wrong? Should I be eating more carbs, calories and sugar to lose more weight each week? Or am I losing more on Saturday because I actually slept and released some stress? Whatever it is it's a ongoing weekly pattern so it can't be water weight or something random.

    Please help!

    I believe you're eating too little calorie wise... target 7cal/lb up to 300. So ... that would be 2100 per day... when your less that that.. your body is in major slow down mode metabolism wise... and believes it not going to get food...



    DP

    No. Just.... no.

    Why? Why eat 1000 less calories when you could eat more and still lose weight? Why drop to the lowest suggested calories for an entire gender (not based on height or weight) and not give yourself any wiggle room down the road?

    1 pound a week is good! But, with that big of a deficit it should be more.

    How did you get to 1200 calories?

    I think she was responding to the whole starvation mode thing which in this case simply does not apply....so she was right in her response. I'm not saying 1200 cal is right for OP, but the whole body starving and holding onto calories thing does not apply here
  • lovelifehealth
    lovelifehealth Posts: 71 Member
    Be happy with the 1 lb a week loss and extra happy when it shows up as a 2 lb loss. Binging is bad because of the emotional reaction and risk for eating disordered behaviors, but the pattern of periodically eating a little less or a little more helps to keep your metabolism active and burning calories. Stress reduction and quality sleep are also key for burning calories.

    The key is to stress less and be happy more. Your body's biochemical reactions are not going to always make sense or be clearly trackable. If you're losing weight you're on the right track. Be happy.
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
    How do you determine that you are eating 1,200 calories a day? Are you using a food scale, measuring cups, or just eyeballing things?

    Are you logging as you eat, or are you waiting until the end of the day and trying to remember what you ate and the portions?

    Are you logging your binges? What about things you drink, condiments, are you logging those?

    How long have you been doing this, and what kind of weight loss numbers are you expecting to see?

    It would be helpful if you opened your food journal :)
  • cedar2526
    cedar2526 Posts: 44 Member
    1 pound a week is good. Would you lose more if you didn't binge? Depends how many calories a binge is.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    At 5'7" Your maintenance is approximately 1900 calories a day. Your deficit is kinda low for your height, that might work better for a shorter person.

    1400-1500 would be a perfectly healthy calorie deficit for you to lose body fat.

    Here's the thing with calorie deficits. Your body adapts and it feels fine, but actually it's corrective action that puts stress on your body. The body is amazing and it can adapt to many things, including too much food or too little food. You can't always go on how you "feel", but you will learn. I would hate for you to learn the hard way. The bottom line is that the maintenance number is the actual number approximately calories you need to survive daily. Anything under that is stress, and corrective action to fix a health problem. If you go too long without eating up to maintenance your hormones will go insane, your metabolism will slow down, and you will binge. That does not help you achieve your goals at all. It does not promote a healthy lifestyle.

    I strongly advise that if you want to sustain a healthy lifestyle that you find a way to eat up to your normal calorie needs at least one day a week to keep your hormones stable. That means spreading your food out throughout the day because on a deficit we adapt to less food and can't eat so much all at once (unless we go so long that we binge and then that is not fun either).

    Also if you eat too low on your deficit the same thing happens. You will not gain weight if you eat up to your maintenance or just shy of it. And if you are just shy of it you will still lose weight. The biggest failure I see so many make is going too low for too long and then the binge hits them like a freight train out of left field. You feel fine, feel fine, eating low, feel fine, BAM BINGE. Then get depressed, then fast, then binge, and it's a vicious unhealthy cycle.

    If you look up the Minnesota Starvation study on the internet you will find they proved that eating too low does slow down your metabolism slightly. But also you don't have to really worry about starvation mode until you get to 12% body fat and are a lean athlete, still.. it's the right balance for sustainability.

    What is STARVATION MODE? Here is the Army study on the Theory of Fat Availability:

    The Theory of Fat Availability:
    •There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
    •The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
    •The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
    •Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
    may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

    At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].
    .
    So some things to think about as you experiment with different calorie levels, fasting periods (or simply the time between meals), and exercise are:

    How is your general feeling of well being?
    How do you feel working out?
    How well do you recover from workouts?
    Do you have the energy to complete your daily responsibilities?
    How well do you sleep at night?
    Are you binging?

    Usually it's the answers to those questions that tell you if you are too high or too low with your daily or even rolling daily average over time.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    californiagirl2012 wrote: »
    At 5'7" Your maintenance is approximately 1900 calories a day. Your deficit is kinda low for your height, that might work better for a shorter person.

    1400-1500 would be a perfectly healthy calorie deficit for you to lose body fat.

    Here's the thing with calorie deficits. Your body adapts and it feels fine, but actually it's corrective action that puts stress on your body. The body is amazing and it can adapt to many things, including too much food or too little food. You can't always go on how you "feel", but you will learn. I would hate for you to learn the hard way. The bottom line is that the maintenance number is the actual number approximately calories you need to survive daily. Anything under that is stress, and corrective action to fix a health problem. If you go too long without eating up to maintenance your hormones will go insane, your metabolism will slow down, and you will binge. That does not help you achieve your goals at all. It does not promote a healthy lifestyle.

    I strongly advise that if you want to sustain a healthy lifestyle that you find a way to eat up to your normal calorie needs at least one day a week to keep your hormones stable. That means spreading your food out throughout the day because on a deficit we adapt to less food and can't eat so much all at once (unless we go so long that we binge and then that is not fun either).

    Also if you eat too low on your deficit the same thing happens. You will not gain weight if you eat up to your maintenance or just shy of it. And if you are just shy of it you will still lose weight. The biggest failure I see so many make is going too low for too long and then the binge hits them like a freight train out of left field. You feel fine, feel fine, eating low, feel fine, BAM BINGE. Then get depressed, then fast, then binge, and it's a vicious unhealthy cycle.

    If you look up the Minnesota Starvation study on the internet you will find they proved that eating too low does slow down your metabolism slightly. But also you don't have to really worry about starvation mode until you get to 12% body fat and are a lean athlete, still.. it's the right balance for sustainability.

    What is STARVATION MODE? Here is the Army study on the Theory of Fat Availability:

    The Theory of Fat Availability:
    •There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
    •The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
    •The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
    •Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
    may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

    At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].
    .
    So some things to think about as you experiment with different calorie levels, fasting periods (or simply the time between meals), and exercise are:

    How is your general feeling of well being?
    How do you feel working out?
    How well do you recover from workouts?
    Do you have the energy to complete your daily responsibilities?
    How well do you sleep at night?
    Are you binging?

    Usually it's the answers to those questions that tell you if you are too high or too low with your daily or even rolling daily average over time.

    to make some corrections "maintenance number is the actual number approximately calories you need to survive daily" no that is BMR,maintenance is the amount of calories to keep your weight where it is now.it will lower as your weight lowers.hormones will also be fine(unless you are eating a very low calorie diet). to lose weight you are supposed to eat under your maintenance,if you are eating your maintenance calories then you will maintain your weight.for those who are obese they may be able to eat under BMR for a period of time,but it can cause adaptive thermogenesis,even dieting for a long period of time can do that.

    you dont have to eat several meals a day, some people eat one big meal a day and still lose weight, and it doesnt mean that everyone will binge if they dont eat several meals a day.once body fat gets low it gets harder to lose weight of course.

    for some those examples of how they are feeling may or may not show up until "miles down the road".now for those who eat a VLCD and Im talking low(starvation area low) then issues may crop up faster, some people the less they eat get to a point to where they no longer feel hungry. eating less than maintenance is not for most going to cause stress on the body and cause hormone issues unless they have a health issue,are eating too big of a deficit(which may result in eating less than their BMR), or not getting enough healthy fats.

    MFP usually puts peoples calorie intake over their BMR but under their TDEE so that its safe weight loss,which is why its suggested to eat calories back after exercise calories are factored in,so that a deficit does not become to large and lurk into dangerous territories.

  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    If I understand correctly, you weigh over 300lbs. Your TDEE is likely to be in excess of 3000 calories.

    At your weight you can afford to lose 2lbs per week as a healthy weight. Set MFP up with your correct stats and follow the number given. You will be able to lose weight at a far more reasonable calorie level.
  • gabriellejayde
    gabriellejayde Posts: 607 Member
    duanehcpiercey wrote: »
    jesika0731 wrote: »
    I eat 1200 calories a day. Weigh 312 and 5'7 and 37 years. I eat a high protein, low sugar and carb diet and stick to healthy fats. Each Friday I weigh in and lose 1 lb. Then on Friday night I binge cuz I'm pissed about the 1 lb. I sleep in on Saturday and weigh in again and drop 2 more lbs. Then the week repeats with eating perfect, Friday weigh in with a total week loss of 1 lb from the Friday before (but still up 1 lb from Saturday, binge and the next day I weigh in with a 2 lb loss.

    So, what am I doing right or wrong? Should I be eating more carbs, calories and sugar to lose more weight each week? Or am I losing more on Saturday because I actually slept and released some stress? Whatever it is it's a ongoing weekly pattern so it can't be water weight or something random.

    Please help!

    I believe you're eating too little calorie wise... target 7cal/lb up to 300. So ... that would be 2100 per day... when your less that that.. your body is in major slow down mode metabolism wise... and believes it not going to get food...

    Boost to 2100 and move three times a week... try tgat for just 2 weeks and you'll see some results

    DP

    Eating more is not the answer.
    There's no "slow down mode" or anyone with anorexia, anyone who survived a concentration camp, anyone who lost their appetite from cancer treatment, or anyone who had weight loss surgery would not lose weight.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    gabriellejayde wrote: »
    duanehcpiercey wrote: »
    jesika0731 wrote: »
    I eat 1200 calories a day. Weigh 312 and 5'7 and 37 years. I eat a high protein, low sugar and carb diet and stick to healthy fats. Each Friday I weigh in and lose 1 lb. Then on Friday night I binge cuz I'm pissed about the 1 lb. I sleep in on Saturday and weigh in again and drop 2 more lbs. Then the week repeats with eating perfect, Friday weigh in with a total week loss of 1 lb from the Friday before (but still up 1 lb from Saturday, binge and the next day I weigh in with a 2 lb loss.

    So, what am I doing right or wrong? Should I be eating more carbs, calories and sugar to lose more weight each week? Or am I losing more on Saturday because I actually slept and released some stress? Whatever it is it's a ongoing weekly pattern so it can't be water weight or something random.

    Please help!

    I believe you're eating too little calorie wise... target 7cal/lb up to 300. So ... that would be 2100 per day... when your less that that.. your body is in major slow down mode metabolism wise... and believes it not going to get food...

    Boost to 2100 and move three times a week... try tgat for just 2 weeks and you'll see some results

    DP

    Eating more is not the answer.
    There's no "slow down mode" or anyone with anorexia, anyone who survived a concentration camp, anyone who lost their appetite from cancer treatment, or anyone who had weight loss surgery would not lose weight.

    actually the longer you eat a a deficit ,your body will adapt to the lower calories aka adaptive thermogenesis.but they would still lose weight just at a slower pace or need less calories. which is why many go back to eating at maintenance for awhile to prevent this from happening.but less than 2100 calories like the other person mentioned is not going to be the case for everyone. 2100 for some is maintenance and for others its weight gain.

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