Just started but frustrated already

Many times when we increase our activity, our muscles temporarily retain water to help us recover. It's frustrating, but very common.

I wouldn't get discouraged, just stay on plan. If you find you don't lose weight over a longer period of time, you may want to figure out if your logging is accurate (weighing solid food, ensuring you're using correct database entries, etc).

It's not about a week it's about the rest of your life. Take heart and keep going. Increase your fiber and protein. I also take a magnesium supplement. Just add fiber and magnesium slowly. Listening to your body is a start. Feal hungry eat protein. Drink as much water as you can handle. Remember we are hear for each other. We all know how hard it is and yes we all want to just give up at times. Start over. Tell your self you can do this one day at a time

Give it a month. Purchase a scale. Learn to use the scale. There are no restrictions, by the way. All you have to do is live within your calorie budget. Exercise can help you stay within your calorie budget even if some life event put you over your budget for the day. Starting a new exercise program will cause a brief gain of water weight, as your poor, surprised, muscles respond to the insult of being asked to work by suffering injury and recruiting water to assist in healing.

It's NOT uncommon to gain weight when starting a new exercise program.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

slehde wrote: »

I'm a 47-year-old female who's been battling a slow creep of weight for about 8 years now. I finally hit the 200 lb mark and decided I need to get serious. I logged into MFP a week ago, followed all the restrictions, was way more active than usual throughout the week, and GAINED a pound. To say that was defeating is an understatement. I didn't expect to lose 5 lbs or anything, but to GAIN weight when I was being so careful, logging every single calorie, measuring out portion sizes, etc. made me want to pick the scale up and toss it out through the window and say forget it. Obviously, that would be counterproductive on several levels, so I refrained, but does anyone have any insight into why I gained weight and what to do about it? It's so discouraging.

I was in a similar position about a year ago. I am also 47 yo and my weight gain happened over about a ten year period. I just followed the calorie recommendation on here and went from 193 pounds to 139 pounds (this morning). (I lost most of the weight by April, was down to 137, but put about 7 pounds after not tracking while on vacations in the spring and summer.) I was buying size 14 last July and am now buying size 4. Just keep on doing it and it will work. I did not weight myself for about 5 weeks when I started because I wanted to see a really big loss. I told myself that I would not continue if I didn't lose a significant amount. I was blown away when I discovered I lost about 18 pounds in about 5 weeks. Maybe you should just ignore the scale for a few weeks and see what happens. I just kept at it and the weight fell off. I did not exercise in the beginning. I just focused on controlling how many calories I was eating. It sucked in the beginning, but I promise it was completely worth it.