HELP! Having issues with weightloss and diet... maybe?

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I have been logging consistently for over a week. I began really trying about two weeks ago. I have given up regular soda, I stopped snacking at night (which is huge because I am still nursing my 1 year old). I began drinking more water and eating fairly clean. I have been a deficit for my calorie intake every day and I am also working out for at least 30-45 minutes everyday including lifting weights. I feel like I have been a saint about my diet and exercise, but somehow I gained a pound in the last week. I run around like crazy, I am a mom of two young boys.

I am just getting nervous that this won't make a difference. Of course, when I feel defeated I want to just eat whatever. It makes it difficult to stay on track.

Any advice, ideas, help for me to get the ball rolling on this?
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Replies

  • 18sacrifices
    18sacrifices Posts: 11 Member
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    Your hormones are possibly all over the place plus the added weight could very well be water rention, food ij your stomach or even lack of a bowel movement. Give it 2 more days
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Be patient. Weight loss isn’t linear. If the exercise is new you’re likely retaining water from it.
  • h1udd
    h1udd Posts: 623 Member
    edited February 2018
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    did you start working out about 2 weeks ago as well. ??

    Its too early to tell as its only been 2 weeks, but its most likely water retention ... if you stress your body it holds on to water.

    (1) sudden change in diet - water retention
    (2) start lifting weights OR change routine OR up the weight - guaranteed water retention
    (3) time of month - everything retention (big weight gain)
    (4) stress - water retention

    number 2 is the most likely cause, your muscles are going to need repairing, this requires water and if you are using them regularly they will be storing more glycogen to meet demands - again water

    keep going and reassess in the next 2 weeks ... but dont panic, most people temporarily gain weight when they start in the 1st couple of weeks
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,105 Member
    edited February 2018
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    If you're nursing (other veteran poster mum's may want to chime in on this because I am not a mum at all) I do believe that in itself will create a deficit for you (around 300 calories per day if I remember correctly) because it increases your metabolism and you shouldn't really be trying to add a further deficit on top of this.

    As already mentioned you're probably still experiencing hormonal water retention on top of the normal weight fluctuations you would experience anyway in addition to any water weight from new exercise too (normal fluctuations can be anywhere up to 5 pounds for most of us), 1-2 weeks is not enough time to establish if weight loss is happening, you need a good 4-6 weeks weigh in data to look back over.
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  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    You're logging your food consistently, that's great! :smile: keep on doing that, a week is too soon to tell.

    It takes a month to see true loss/progress on the scales as weight fluctuates so much for a variety of reasons. For us women TOM really can make the scale throw a wobbly and veer up by several pounds masking any true loss.

    All the best.
  • thejerrapist
    thejerrapist Posts: 13 Member
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    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    I would say to give it another week. We all want fast results, but unfortunately it rarely works that way. Taking your post at face value, it sounds like you are on the right track, but just need to be a little more patient. And just for a bit of perspective... some weight fluctuation is very normal, up to 5lbs or more for some people. I wouldn't worry about 1lb here or there.

    All that said... how confident are you in your estimates/logging? Are you weighing/measuring what you eat? Is your daily calorie goal reasonable? Are you logging your exercise and then eating back those earned exercise cals?

    Lastly, consider using a weight trend app (I use Libra on Android) - it'll track your individual weigh-in numbers and create a trend... this helps take some of the emotion out of the individual numbers and help you see what's actually happening. Long term trends are MUCH more meaningful when using weight as an evaluation of progress.

    I am fairly confident in my estimates. I log everything as I am eating. I have been measuring out all my portions. I did start working out at the same time. I kind of started hard too; kickboxing, weight lifting, cardio. I think MFP set my daily calorie goal at about 1300 calories. I am logging exercise but not eating back all of the calories I lose while doing so. Thanks for the advice. I will look into a weight trend app.
  • thejerrapist
    thejerrapist Posts: 13 Member
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    h1udd wrote: »
    did you start working out about 2 weeks ago as well. ??

    Its too early to tell as its only been 2 weeks, but its most likely water retention ... if you stress your body it holds on to water.

    (1) sudden change in diet - water retention
    (2) start lifting weights OR change routine OR up the weight - guaranteed water retention
    (3) time of month - everything retention (big weight gain)
    (4) stress - water retention

    number 2 is the most likely cause, your muscles are going to need repairing, this requires water and if you are using them regularly they will be storing more glycogen to meet demands - again water

    keep going and reassess in the next 2 weeks ... but dont panic, most people temporarily gain weight when they start in the 1st couple of weeks

    I did start working out at the same time. Thank you for the advice. I will stick with it longer before I start getting super concerned.

    I think that my biggest thing is that I have a lot of weight to lose. Roughly 60-70 lbs. I lost my first 30ish after having my son in January of 2017 fairly quickly. Then I have just been stuck. I figured if I changed my eating, drinking, and exercise habits it would get me out of the rut I was in.
  • thejerrapist
    thejerrapist Posts: 13 Member
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    Is having too much of a deficit a bad thing. I was not considering that I already, most likely have a deficit from nursing my son. What is a good amount of deficit to have?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Is having too much of a deficit a bad thing. I was not considering that I already, most likely have a deficit from nursing my son. What is a good amount of deficit to have?

    that very much depends on how much weight you have to lose?
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,105 Member
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    Is having too much of a deficit a bad thing. I was not considering that I already, most likely have a deficit from nursing my son. What is a good amount of deficit to have?

    What are your stats? Age, Height, Weight.

    Sometimes a deficit can be too agressive and whilst that won't stop weight loss, it will impact sustainability, because this is when you are more likely to have deflated eat everything moments! Fairly sure too much of a deficit can also impact milk production.
  • thejerrapist
    thejerrapist Posts: 13 Member
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    I have about 60-70 pounds to lose.
  • bobshuckleberry
    bobshuckleberry Posts: 281 Member
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    It is really to early to see significant changes on the scale. Tons of things factor into what you see on the scale. Make sure you are eating enough to sustain your body and your activity. How do you look, how do you feel, how do you perform are other indicators of positive changes. Don't hang all your progress and success on one factor.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,105 Member
    edited February 2018
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    Perhaps just set yourself for a half pound loss per week and use the Breastfeeding entry in your log (Search food for "Breastfeeding" and there are some entries that will take 250 cals off your total for the day. That way you should be around a pound loss per week which is a nice steady rate of loss. Aim to eat at least 50% of your exercise calories back and review your loss in a few weeks time and adjust from there.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I have about 60-70 pounds to lose.

    you can add breastfeeding to your food diary to get extra cals. its usually something between 200-500 cals.

    or set MFP to lose 1lb per week, and dont add the breastfeeding back. you dont want a larger deficit than that though.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    I would say to give it another week. We all want fast results, but unfortunately it rarely works that way. Taking your post at face value, it sounds like you are on the right track, but just need to be a little more patient. And just for a bit of perspective... some weight fluctuation is very normal, up to 5lbs or more for some people. I wouldn't worry about 1lb here or there.

    All that said... how confident are you in your estimates/logging? Are you weighing/measuring what you eat? Is your daily calorie goal reasonable? Are you logging your exercise and then eating back those earned exercise cals?

    Lastly, consider using a weight trend app (I use Libra on Android) - it'll track your individual weigh-in numbers and create a trend... this helps take some of the emotion out of the individual numbers and help you see what's actually happening. Long term trends are MUCH more meaningful when using weight as an evaluation of progress.

    I am fairly confident in my estimates. I log everything as I am eating. I have been measuring out all my portions. I did start working out at the same time. I kind of started hard too; kickboxing, weight lifting, cardio. I think MFP set my daily calorie goal at about 1300 calories. I am logging exercise but not eating back all of the calories I lose while doing so. Thanks for the advice. I will look into a weight trend app.

    Estimates are still not accurate. When I first started I was confident that the 2 Tbsp of peanut butter I measured out were really that, but when I weighed it the serving I had was almost 3 Tbsp. Same thing for my oatmeal and my meats. A food scale is a really good investment.
  • thejerrapist
    thejerrapist Posts: 13 Member
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    Thanks all! I'll keep at it and try adding the breastfeeding into my calories.
  • adambrown01
    adambrown01 Posts: 24 Member
    edited February 2018
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    ...I feel like I have been a saint about my diet and exercise...
    I am fairly confident in my estimates.

    I'm going to be pragmatic here. Your feelings have no effects on facts. If you can say something like "I am almost certain that my food journal reflects my diet" then I would say start looking into why your diet and exercise routine is not working. For now, take some extra time and make sure your food journal is accurate and honest. Every single thing you put in your mouth effects your weight.

    Please don't get me wrong here - I'm not trying to be offensive or jump to conclusions. But you have to make sure that Step 1 in the diet process is being done correctly or your hard work in the gym is going to waste.

    Keep up your hard work. Be patient and smart. Good luck.
  • opalastrophel
    opalastrophel Posts: 12 Member
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    Hormonal cycles can cause your weight to fluctuate upwards by up to around 10lbs, and that's only one thing, so you gotta focus on the trend. For now, I'd recommend just focusing on how your new diet and lifestyle makes you feel (better, hopefully!). Your body's adapting to new food and your muscles are probably retaining water as they get used to the exercise.

    It takes a while to see results; that's why finding a sustainable routine is key!

    It takes a while to see results, which is why