Can someone look at my diary and give me some outside input?

linreadsy
linreadsy Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I decided to get healthier a little over a month ago and started up with MFP again. Listed myself as sedentary (desk job) and was given 1250 cal to eat per day. Since that time I have been sticking very close to that number. In the first 3 weeks I lost a whopping 17 lbs. I know that's way too much for that time period, but I assume a lot of it was water. In the last 2 weeks my weight loss started slowing down, which I expect, but then I 've gained 2 lbs over the past 3 days. I weigh everything I can. I am earning some calories through fitbit for steps and have eaten back a few of those over the last 3 days and I'm drinking around 100 oz of water a day. I'm 36 and was at 249.6 today.
Thanks for any insight. I know it's a marathon, not a sprint and I expect fluctuations. I'm just frustrated to see my weight go up 3 days in a row when I'm working so hard.

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    17 pounds over three weeks? You are doing great!

    Nothing stands out in your diary but do you use a food scale to weigh all your foods? Sometimes food scales get you on the right track.
  • Muana1005
    Muana1005 Posts: 172 Member
    For me a 2-10 pound daily fluctuation is normal (depends on food/salt intake etc). I got rejected for IVF yesterday because for some reason my weight ballooned to 84kg (puts my BMI into 30.6). This morning I weighed 81kg. Keep it up for another few weeks and you'll see that you'll drop it eventually.
  • jilleebee77
    jilleebee77 Posts: 329 Member
    Just a suggestion, going off of usmcmp, I would make it so sodium is one of the nutrients that you are seeing in your diary. That has helped me to see where I fluctuate. Some days you have NO CLUE you are eating a crap ton of "hidden" sodium, freak out when you see the number on the scale and not know why. So when you go back in you can see "oh there is it right there, I was over sodium 4 days this week!"

    You are doing GREAT!! Keep it up!
  • sunnysteph0420
    sunnysteph0420 Posts: 16 Member
    I agree with all the above statements. You are doing great don't let the weight fluctuation scare you. I too suggest only weighing yourself once a week same time of day. And its ok to treat yourself but I would not eat back your exercise calories.
  • michellesz
    michellesz Posts: 429 Member
    I would be cautious of your fat intake, revise macros to show sodium and increase protein. Keep at it and know our bodies fluctuate. Great accomplishment to date.
  • Sunna_W
    Sunna_W Posts: 744 Member
    The biggest thing is to not eat "out of the box" food, starches, sugar on a regular basis (or at all). You have no idea what additives they have that aren't on the box and some of them are endocrine disruptions.

    For example, Chicken rice-a-roni has the following partial list of ingredients:
    • RICE,
    • WHEAT FLOUR,
    • SALT,
    • SUGAR,
    • AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT (a substance that results when yeast is broken down into its constituent components. It naturally contains free glutamic acid, or monosodium glutamate, and is often used as a less expensive substitute for MSG)
    • HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN (Hydrolysis is a method of extraction that boils the soy protein in a vat of sulfuric acid. Manufacturers mix the resulting acidic substance with caustic soda to neutralize the acid content. While hydrolyzed soy protein contains most of the nutrients and health benefits of soy, when you consume this type of soy you also consume the unhealthy chemical byproducts of the manufacturing process.) IMO soy anything is EVIL.
    • ONIONS*,
    • MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE ("When an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as MSG, hydrolyzed protein soy protein isolate and concentrate, natural flavoring, sodium caseinate and aspartate from aspartame, are consumed, the glutamate receptors are over-stimulated, producing cardiac arrhythmias. When magnesium stores are low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death." ref: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/21/msg-is-this-silent-killer-lurking-in-your-kitchen-cabinets.aspx)

    According to the FDA, MSG Symptom Complex can involve symptoms such as:
    • Numbness.
    • Burning sensation.
    • Tingling.
    • Facial pressure or tightness.
    • Chest pain or difficulty breathing.
    • Headache.
    • Nausea.
    • Rapid heartbeat.

    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    The Weston A Price foundation recommends no than 100 g carbs daily. These carbs should be from complex fibrous vegetables (like yams / sweet potatoes, boiling potatoes with skin, beans, etc.)

    Ref: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/why-we-need-carbs/

    Increase your healthy fats (think butter, quality olive oil and olives in oil, avocados, organic meat with skin / fat).

    Ref: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/saturated-fat-body-good/

    See this website for more ideas: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/differences-between-the-weston-a-price-foundation-diet-and-the-paleo-diet/
  • michellesz
    michellesz Posts: 429 Member
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    michellesz wrote: »
    I would be cautious of your fat intake, revise macros to show sodium and increase protein. Keep at it and know our bodies fluctuate. Great accomplishment to date.

    why does she have to be cautious of her fat intake? fat is what helps your hormones to function properly. unless she has a health issue she doesnt need to be cautious of any of her macros

    I wasn't telling her to avoid fat completely. Maybe cautious wasn't the best word to use. Fat may help hormones function properly, but fat is also what makes you fat. Fat is good but working in a sedentary position (which I can personally relate to) she may want to be mindful of going over or over in excess as her set daily recommended macros for fat are set to benefit her expected loss. In my personal opinion, sticking to the guidelines recommended supported a 50 lb. weight loss in 26 weeks healthy and safely. I hope the same for her. You are entitled to your personal opinion.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    I second the dominos. It probably is just water retention from sodium. I'm sure those delicious bread bites were salty! If that is what it is, it should fall off in a few days. :)
  • fallingwave
    fallingwave Posts: 108 Member
    usmcmp wrote: »
    You lost a lot of water in the first few weeks and the last few days your body gained some water back. If you're going to get frustrated by fluctuations you need to consider weighing once per week. Your weight will go up if your water intake changes, your sodium intake increases, your carb intake increases, you are near your period, and if you are stressed. This will not be the last time your weight goes up along the way.

    ETA: You had pizza yesterday from a food chain, that's a crap load of sodium. It's not at all surprising your weight would be up today. I gain up to 5 pounds after having pizza and it's usually gone within a few days.

    Pizza gets me EVERY time
  • cherilee0831
    cherilee0831 Posts: 44 Member
    It sounds like water retention. Up your water intake for a few days and see what happens.
  • skellymama1
    skellymama1 Posts: 83 Member
    Pizza, Chinese food, any takeaway really will have me up on the scales the next day. Keep going, allow for fluctuations, weight loss is not linear, your body is not a machine.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    laurenebargar wrote: »
    michellesz wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    michellesz wrote: »
    I would be cautious of your fat intake, revise macros to show sodium and increase protein. Keep at it and know our bodies fluctuate. Great accomplishment to date.

    why does she have to be cautious of her fat intake? fat is what helps your hormones to function properly. unless she has a health issue she doesnt need to be cautious of any of her macros

    I wasn't telling her to avoid fat completely. Maybe cautious wasn't the best word to use. Fat may help hormones function properly, but fat is also what makes you fat. Fat is good but working in a sedentary position (which I can personally relate to) she may want to be mindful of going over or over in excess as her set daily recommended macros for fat are set to benefit her expected loss. In my personal opinion, sticking to the guidelines recommended supported a 50 lb. weight loss in 26 weeks healthy and safely. I hope the same for her. You are entitled to your personal opinion.

    No, Fat doesnt make you fat, eating more calories than your burning is what makes you fat.

    Yup, this.

    OP, it sounds like you are doing great, actually, and I'd just focus on what usmcmp said in the first response about fluctuations happening and not being a big deal.
  • bubaluboo
    bubaluboo Posts: 2,098 Member
    Well done with your weight loss. I generally follow the pattern that you have described. Huge weight loss in the first couple of weeks and from then on it's a rollercoaster with a generally downward trend. I can suddenly be up 3lb and a few days later back down 4 lb. There are a several contributing factors. Salt in food, monthly cycle, constipation (sorry tmi) can call have cause gain. It all evens out in the general trend. In the end, eat fewer calories than you burn and the weight will come down.
  • SuziQueue
    SuziQueue Posts: 64 Member
    I don't eat additional calories that I burn through the normal progression of my day (steps). I assume that's mostly accounted for in my daily allotment already. However, if I exercise I eat some or all of those -- especially with a 1,200 calories/day limit.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    SuziQueue wrote: »
    I don't eat additional calories that I burn through the normal progression of my day (steps). I assume that's mostly accounted for in my daily allotment already. However, if I exercise I eat some or all of those -- especially with a 1,200 calories/day limit.

    if those steps are part of your job then its already accounted for in your calorie goal,if its not part of your job then no it wont be accounted for.exercise calories are not included in your mfp calorie goal which is why when you do any exercises it adds on calories.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    Sunna_W wrote: »


    According to the FDA, MSG Symptom Complex can involve symptoms such as:
    • Numbness.
    • Burning sensation.
    • Tingling.
    • Facial pressure or tightness.
    • Chest pain or difficulty breathing.
    • Headache.
    • Nausea.
    • Rapid heartbeat.

    That is a list of symptoms self-reported to the FDA by individuals who think they are sensitive to MSG; it's not something the FDA actually says is real -- just that if you're going to talk about it, it's better to call it that MSG symptom complex than "Chinese restaurant syndrome," as it used to be termed.

    In fact, what the FDA says about MSG is that occurs naturally in many foods, including tomato and cheese, that it is generally considered safe, that scientific investigation (comparing intake of MSG and placebos) has not been able to confirm a connection between MSG consumption and MSG reactions claimed by people who say they are sensitive to MSG. An independent study of MSG safety in the 1990s conducted at the request of the FDA "identified some short-term, transient, and generally mild symptoms, such as headache, numbness, flushing, tingling, palpitations, and drowsiness that may occur in some sensitive individuals who consume 3 grams or more of MSG without food. However, a typical serving of a food with added MSG contains less than 0.5 grams of MSG. Consuming more than 3 grams of MSG without food at one time is unlikely."

    https://www.fda.gov/food/ingredientspackaginglabeling/foodadditivesingredients/ucm328728.htm

    Not sure if this is the study referred to by the FDA, but the results are similar:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9215242


    Are you knocking back a half teaspoon of pure MSG that's not mixed into food?

  • Dnarules
    Dnarules Posts: 2,081 Member
    .
  • karahm78
    karahm78 Posts: 505 Member
    Anytime I eat high-sodium (pizza, Chinese, sushi, pitas/burgers) I am up a few days. Drink some water and keep going, you are doing great! I removed sugar from being tracked in MFP and replaced it with sodium.

    I also second the recommendation to use a weight-trending app, using one along with MFP and the Fitbit is my winning combo. I use Happy Scale (for iPhone), and Libra is for Android. There is also a website Trendweight, but I prefer a mobile app.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    usmcmp wrote: »
    You lost a lot of water in the first few weeks and the last few days your body gained some water back. If you're going to get frustrated by fluctuations you need to consider weighing once per week. Your weight will go up if your water intake changes, your sodium intake increases, your carb intake increases, you are near your period, and if you are stressed. This will not be the last time your weight goes up along the way.

    ETA: You had pizza yesterday from a food chain, that's a crap load of sodium. It's not at all surprising your weight would be up today. I gain up to 5 pounds after having pizza and it's usually gone within a few days.

    I think the good in-between would be to use a weight-trending app like Happy Scale (iPhone) or Libra (Android). The scale and I have a rocky relationship. Weighing every day without the app would freak me out because, without the app, I didn't understand the daily fluctuations. Weighing once a week out a ton of pressure on that one weigh-in day and I found myself planning half the week to prepare for that day. Really watching my type of intake (no heavy steak or chicken, etc.). :grimace:

    I weigh daily now and with the app and the projected trend, I know I'm right on course.

    Just an idea!
  • katinsi
    katinsi Posts: 1 Member
    I am new here. Can someone explain to me how I can "read" her diary? Thanks!
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    katinsi wrote: »
    I am new here. Can someone explain to me how I can "read" her diary? Thanks!

    Only through the website, not the app.

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