Two weeks of weight gain after losing 30lbs. Help!
sbengsto
Posts: 7 Member
I started trying to lose weight in mid January. I had 60lbs to lose total. My plan was to try and do primarily cardio until Id lost 40lbs and then focus on strength training. Well, I've lost about 30lbs. At the lowest I was at 207.6. That was on July 7th. Since the 7th I have been steadily gaining weight. I am now fluctuating around 210 (208-212). My diet hasn't changed and I am always between 1300-1500 calories a day. I go to the gym for a significant workout at least 4 days a week, I do one in home workout a week and two days where I walk 3 miles. My intensity has been a little lower intensity the past week (no HIIT) because I am dealing with a minor knee injury.
Is this normal? I was fine dismissing it as normal fluctuation, for a week, but tomorrow will be two weeks of gain, let alone loss. Im getting incredibly discouraged and starting to find it hard to motivate myself. I feel like a failure, which isn't fair, but im finding difficult to dismiss that feeling.
Id appreciate any advice or help understanding what I might be doing wrong....
Is this normal? I was fine dismissing it as normal fluctuation, for a week, but tomorrow will be two weeks of gain, let alone loss. Im getting incredibly discouraged and starting to find it hard to motivate myself. I feel like a failure, which isn't fair, but im finding difficult to dismiss that feeling.
Id appreciate any advice or help understanding what I might be doing wrong....
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Replies
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Two weeks isn't really long enough to call it a stall, I would say it's probably normal fluctuations. Are you weighing and measuring diligently? If not, you need to start so you can be sure that your calorie count is correct if you continue to gain. Best of luck!
edited for spelling0 -
Yes, I just started MFP but have been using another calorie tracker and Im diligent about using it. Im actually probably weighting a little too much (I often weigh myself several times a day).
Thanks!0 -
Ok, I'd just sit tight for another couple of weeks and see if you start losing again.
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Yes, I just started MFP but have been using another calorie tracker and Im diligent about using it. Im actually probably weighting a little too much (I often weigh myself several times a day).
Thanks!
Weigh once a day at most. First thing in the morning - after you use the bathroom. If you weigh later in the day after you've had something to eat or drink, you will weigh more because you now have food/liquid in your body.
By "weighing and measuring diligently" I think the other poster meant weighing your *food*. If you aren't weighing your food it's very easy to underestimate and you could be eating more than you think.2 -
Yeah, I record the weight that I am in the morning, very first thing after waking up. I usually do fasting cardio (not for any other reason than working out after eating always makes me feel sluggish and nauseated), so sometimes I'll wait and weigh myself after that.
Ah, that makes sense, too. Yes, I have a food scale that I use to weigh what I'm preparing meals. The only thing I dont measure is olive oil, but I use it really infrequently and always try to over estimate rather than under estimate how much I've used.0 -
TresaAswegan wrote: »Yes, I just started MFP but have been using another calorie tracker and Im diligent about using it. Im actually probably weighting a little too much (I often weigh myself several times a day).
Thanks!
Weigh once a day at most. First thing in the morning - after you use the bathroom. If you weigh later in the day after you've had something to eat or drink, you will weigh more because you now have food/liquid in your body.
This statement is true sometimes, sometimes not. Keep in mind that when you burn calories, there are many ways it leaves your body, including in your sweat, during respiration and so on. Most of the time I actually weigh less later in the day than earlier despite eating more than 50% of my allotted calories.
Furthermore, unless you are looking for a specific time of day to weigh for habit's sake, when you weigh yourself makes not one wit of difference because fluid fluctuations don't automatically time themselves for just after the bathroom in the morning. There is no such thing as consistent conditions - there are too many things going on. If it takes 4-6 weeks or more to see a trend in weight, how in the world would time of day on any given day matter? (Sorry, but this is a little bit of my own soapbox - same time of day to weigh is fine, but it doesn't really matter).0 -
I suppose I should reiterate my concern that the weight just seems to have stopped coming off and started coming back on without anything changing. I successfully lost 30lbs, so I know that I can do it. I know what I was doing worked. I haven't found myself cheating- I think I'm even doing a better job with my diet than I was in the beginning. Ive gotten more creative with low calorie meals, healthy snacks, etc and have found myself having a lot different cravings than I had before (like a year ago I'd have never found myself going "Man, I really just want some baby carrots and hummus!"). I guess I need to just wait it out a bit longer, but its a frustrating hurdle to have hit.
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TresaAswegan wrote: »Yes, I just started MFP but have been using another calorie tracker and Im diligent about using it. Im actually probably weighting a little too much (I often weigh myself several times a day).
Thanks!
Weigh once a day at most. First thing in the morning - after you use the bathroom. If you weigh later in the day after you've had something to eat or drink, you will weigh more because you now have food/liquid in your body.
By "weighing and measuring diligently" I think the other poster meant weighing your *food*. If you aren't weighing your food it's very easy to underestimate and you could be eating more than you think.
I weigh myself a lot during the day too. Just because I love data and it's intriguing to watch the fluctuations during the day.
You probabmy haven't really gained weight...probably just nornal fluctuations. Have you adjusted your calorie intake since your ibtitial 30lbs loss? Maybe you need to take a peek at that or set the expectation that your weight loss will slow down the more you lose.0 -
Is it possible that hormones are impacting your numbers on the scale?
Salt levels?
You could be looking at totally normal water weight fluctuations. Each month I have about 10 days with a jump of anywhere from 7 to 10 lbs.0 -
Yes, this is possible. I have had the implant for 2 years and it has resulted in me having some really unpredictable cycles. I suppose this could be a case of really dramatic PMS.ashliedelgado wrote: »Is it possible that hormones are impacting your numbers on the scale?
Salt levels?
Salt is a likely culprit too, though I dont think my salt has increased over the past 2 weeks. Ive never made much of an effort to cut salt in my diet. Ive always had particularly low blood pressure (passing out from just standing up too quickly is a normal occurrence), so my doctor has actually told me to not reduce my salt intake to partially combat this.
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Have you adjusted your calorie intake since your initial 30lbs loss? Maybe you need to take a peek at that or set the expectation that your weight loss will slow down the more you lose.
^^^ This ---- After losing 30 lbs your body might be ready to adjust your food intake. Are you keeping an eye on your sodium and water intake? The same thing happened to me a while back and I realized that even though I was sticking within my calorie limits, I was consuming more sodium than usual and wasn't drinking as much water.
Also, I'm not sure if you have been doing the same exercise routines all this time.
I've noticed that for me after a few months of doing the same exercises and losing weight, I don't burn as many calories as I did in the beginning. So now I try to push a little harder and longer than before.0 -
Yes, this is possible. I have had the implant for 2 years and it has resulted in me having some really unpredictable cycles. I suppose this could be a case of really dramatic PMS.ashliedelgado wrote: »Is it possible that hormones are impacting your numbers on the scale?
Salt levels?
Salt is a likely culprit too, though I dont think my salt has increased over the past 2 weeks. Ive never made much of an effort to cut salt in my diet. Ive always had particularly low blood pressure (passing out from just standing up too quickly is a normal occurrence), so my doctor has actually told me to not reduce my salt intake to partially combat this.
There is no reason to really monitor or cut salt if you don't have underlying health issues (which your hypotension seems like maybe you should monitor to insure enough, not cut). However, if you have increased a little bit, your scale will show it. Same with carbs. Also, if you've changed workout routines, your muscles may be holding water to repair tissue. Like I said, 2 weeks elevated is not necessarily an uncommon fluctuation for a woman of child bearing age.
When things are wonky, the first thing I do is make sure I'm logging as tightly as possible, and go from there. 9 times out of 10 things have gone wonky, tighter logging solved the problem.0 -
I've had some weeks like this since October when I started losing. I find after a while the weight drops off almost overnight.
I would try increasing water intake, being more active when possible, and just patient.0 -
Also, I'm not sure if you have been doing the same exercise routines all this time.
I've noticed that for me after a few months of doing the same exercises and losing weight, I don't burn as many calories as I did in the beginning. So now I try to push a little harder and longer than before.
That's interesting, I hadn't heard that before. Yes, I primarily do the same exercise. I have a fun combination of a bad knee and an old back injury. For cardio I usually do 30-40 min of recumbent cycling. This has been the easiest on my bad knee and back. Probably once or twice a week I'll do 20 min of cycling plus 20 min of something else (rowing, arc trainer, treadmill) and I definitely feel it afterwords, both in my muscles but also in my bad knee.
I've started incorporating more strength training into my workouts in the past month or so. Id say I do 15 min of strength training 3-4 times a week on top of the cardio, which I know isn't very much but its certainly more than I had been doing.0 -
Others have said this already, have you recalculated your daily calorie goal in MFP to check it's not changed.0
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A couple of thoughts:
(This one was already mentioned...) Have you recalculated your calorie goal since your loss? A smaller body needs less calories.
Have you changed your workouts? Muscles retain water to aid in repair, so if you've changed things up you might have that going on.
You mentioned a knee injury--inflammation also can cause you to retain water.
And your profile doesn't mentioned where you are located--I'm in Boston, MA and 2 weeks ago was the start of the really humid summer weather. I've been retaining water like crazy because of it.0 -
Also, I'm not sure if you have been doing the same exercise routines all this time.
I've noticed that for me after a few months of doing the same exercises and losing weight, I don't burn as many calories as I did in the beginning. So now I try to push a little harder and longer than before.
That's interesting, I hadn't heard that before. Yes, I primarily do the same exercise. I have a fun combination of a bad knee and an old back injury. For cardio I usually do 30-40 min of recumbent cycling. This has been the easiest on my bad knee and back. Probably once or twice a week I'll do 20 min of cycling plus 20 min of something else (rowing, arc trainer, treadmill) and I definitely feel it afterwords, both in my muscles but also in my bad knee.
I've started incorporating more strength training into my workouts in the past month or so. Id say I do 15 min of strength training 3-4 times a week on top of the cardio, which I know isn't very much but its certainly more than I had been doing.
Your body does indeed adapt to exercise. As you become more fit, both with cardio and with strength, your body does exercises more efficiently, meaning that it burns less calories than before to do the same motion or lift the same weight. It's why strength training works if it's progressive and why cardio improves with added distance and/or intensity.
Also, when your body loses weight, it's less work to do the same thing (that's just a law of physics - and if you don't care to read anything about physics you should stop here. Energy is proportional to force and distance. Force is proportional to Mass, so when mass decreases, force decreases for the same distance. So to burn the same amount of Energy, you have two choices: increase the force/intensity, and/or increase the distance - or the time the force is applied).0 -
Thank you all for your feedback. I feel like there are some significant take-aways:
1) Recalculate calorie requirements. I did this, and it turns out Im about 100 calories over my daily budget with 30 less pounds on me. Im usually 200-300 under my (old) daily requirements anyway, so this wont make a huge difference but its a good thing to be aware of.
2) Change up my cardio routine and make it longer and/or more difficult.
3) Consider environmental factors. I live in Houston which has recently been 100 degrees and 90% humidity so I spent my entire day sweating and am perhaps not replacing enough of that water.
4) Be patient!1
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