ARGH!! .... I guess it might be time to step off the scales?
l4ur4j4d4
Posts: 19 Member
So I started my journey at 11st ( 154lbs) and my goal was to get down to 10st (140lbs)
I’ve been going to the gym atleast 4 times a week, mostly doing spin classes, I also do PT once a week where we do weights.
I dropped to 145lbs rather quickly and now my weight keeps going up and down by a couple of pounds. I’m doing everything right, on average eating 1,200 cals a day, with a cheat day once a week....
Im just finding it odd because I’m looking slimmer, feeling better in clothes, I know I’m gonna fluctuate but Is it time to ditch the scales now? Or will it eventually come off? Am I now gaining muscle where I won’t ever get to my goal weight?
Feeling motivated when I look in the mirror and can physically see myself looking better but I get on the scales and i can’t understand when my weight has gone up. ARGH!!!
I’ve been going to the gym atleast 4 times a week, mostly doing spin classes, I also do PT once a week where we do weights.
I dropped to 145lbs rather quickly and now my weight keeps going up and down by a couple of pounds. I’m doing everything right, on average eating 1,200 cals a day, with a cheat day once a week....
Im just finding it odd because I’m looking slimmer, feeling better in clothes, I know I’m gonna fluctuate but Is it time to ditch the scales now? Or will it eventually come off? Am I now gaining muscle where I won’t ever get to my goal weight?
Feeling motivated when I look in the mirror and can physically see myself looking better but I get on the scales and i can’t understand when my weight has gone up. ARGH!!!
2
Replies
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Yes weight will always fluctuate, but if you maintain a deficit then you will still lose over time.
Given you are close to goal you should reduce your deficit, and then you just need to stay consistent.2 -
So I started my journey at 11st ( 154lbs) and my goal was to get down to 10st (140lbs)
I’ve been going to the gym atleast 4 times a week, mostly doing spin classes, I also do PT once a week where we do weights.
I dropped to 145lbs rather quickly and now my weight keeps going up and down by a couple of pounds. I’m doing everything right, on average eating 1,200 cals a day, with a cheat day once a week....
Im just finding it odd because I’m looking slimmer, feeling better in clothes, I know I’m gonna fluctuate but Is it time to ditch the scales now? Or will it eventually come off? Am I now gaining muscle where I won’t ever get to my goal weight?
Feeling motivated when I look in the mirror and can physically see myself looking better but I get on the scales and i can’t understand when my weight has gone up. ARGH!!!
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So you’re saying no cheat day!? Jesus Christ... I don’t know about that...2
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How many calories in your “cheat day”?1
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Probably about 2,000 .... I’m so good in the week though! Shall I cut out carbs?3
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As long as you stay in a deficit you will lose..CICO. As someone else mentioned as you near towards your goal you can reduce the deficit..and stay consistent. I used to look at my calories over a week range and not daily. I may have gone over one day..but under another and it still averages out to my needed deficit..hence weight-loss continued..it did fluctuate but I stayed the course and it came off.2
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So you’re saying no cheat day!? Jesus Christ... I don’t know about that...
Do you want to lose the weight?
You'd be better off creating a moderate deficit -- AKA, not restricting down to 1200, unless you're talking 1200 net -- and working in those foods that you want in moderation. And then sticking to that moderate deficit.3 -
Probably about 2,000 .... I’m so good in the week though! Shall I cut out carbs?
Carbs are fine, and it’s fine to have a day where you don’t eat at deficit, but if you’re not losing, you should definitely look at dialing that day back some. If you eat at maintenance one or two days a week you’ll slow your loss but not stop it, but if you eat over maintenance it’s possible you are wiping out your weekly deficit. You said “probably” 2000 calories on those days - are you weighing your food every day, including the cheat, and logging everything? It’s hard to lose when you’re close to your goal, so if you haven’t been diligent with your portions, now may be the time. Good luck!3 -
I don’t always log, especially if I’m having a bad day. But yeah I probably need to cut the *kitten* day out, or just still log and tone it down haha.
I only started my weight loss at the beginning of the year, so it hasn’t been long. I just thought I’d be easy to lose a stone in 2 months, need to be more patient I guess...2 -
My weight has had up to 10 pound fluctuations within a week the last two months. These always occur after "cheat days" where I forget about logging for a couple of days. I think it is my body's reaction to higher sodium levels and less water because it keeps coming down when I start logging and staying at a 1200 cal net. I bet if you stop having cheat days, then your weight will continue to go down.2
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I don’t always log, especially if I’m having a bad day. But yeah I probably need to cut the *kitten* day out, or just still log and tone it down haha.
I only started my weight loss at the beginning of the year, so it hasn’t been long. I just thought I’d be easy to lose a stone in 2 months, need to be more patient I guess...
If you log every day, you will learn where the problem is. Then you can adjust.
Close to goal, loss should be slow - that's the healthiest track - and little things make a bigger difference. With better logging, you'll have less guessing, floundering, arbitrary (maybe counterproductive) changes.7 -
I don’t always log, especially if I’m having a bad day. But yeah I probably need to cut the *kitten* day out, or just still log and tone it down haha.
I only started my weight loss at the beginning of the year, so it hasn’t been long. I just thought I’d be easy to lose a stone in 2 months, need to be more patient I guess...
If you log every day, you will learn where the problem is. Then you can adjust.
Close to goal, loss should be slow - that's the healthiest track - and little things make a bigger difference. With better logging, you'll have less guessing, floundering, arbitrary (maybe counterproductive) changes.
Log your cheat day. It will be illuminating. Trust me.
Log. Every. Thing.
10 -
Log the cheat day and log every day next week very carefully. You may find that with careful logging and taking a look at your cheat day, you are eating only slightly less than maintenance. From there you have two choices, you can stick to 1200 and clean up the cheat day a bit. Or you can distribute the calories evenly across the week, which might help you more with adherence...so you may be eating something more like 1500 calories per day, with no cheat day.
Just do a nice solid week or two of logging and review your data.
Also, when you're relatively lean, sometimes it just stakes a long time. You lost a lot a first and weight loss inst' linear so who knows...maybe the scale will drop after your period or something.8 -
Thank you everyone, appreciate the advice!0
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I don’t always log, especially if I’m having a bad day. But yeah I probably need to cut the *kitten* day out, or just still log and tone it down haha.
I only started my weight loss at the beginning of the year, so it hasn’t been long. I just thought I’d be easy to lose a stone in 2 months, need to be more patient I guess...
How often in a week do you not log?1 -
You’ll get there. I have weeks I’m on point, exercise daily, low on calories, and gain 4, then the next week take in more calories, and lose 2.
Slow and steady, and your body is morphing. If you take measurements you’ll see the progress.0 -
Just once a week... either a Saturday because the evening I’ll go out and have dinner and then go and have a tone of alcohol, which is hard to log when you wake up and can’t remember how much you’ve had. Or it’ll be a Sunday, where I’ve ate so much I’m too scared to log it hahaha.
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Just once a week... either a Saturday because the evening I’ll go out and have dinner and then go and have a tone of alcohol, which is hard to log when you wake up and can’t remember how much you’ve had. Or it’ll be a Sunday, where I’ve ate so much I’m too scared to log it hahaha.
And this is why you're not losing weight...6 -
What so I gotta have no social life to lose weight? Brilliant, may aswell give up now3
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You said it early on, "my clothes fit better, I look better, but the scale is not moving down", you are gaining muscle, losing fat, muscle weighs more then fat. As long as your body keeps changing for the better and you feel better, ignore the scale for awhile.3
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What so I gotta have no social life to lose weight? Brilliant, may aswell give up now
This is not true. Its called balance.
You can fit in any food or beverage/alcohol you wish. The key is to stay in a calorie deficit at the end of the day/week.
Many people drink/socialize and still reach weight goals just fine. Food for thought, how you eat and drink during weight loss is how you want to in weight management. So giving up all things for weight loss is not necessary and if you do and go back to old ways you gain it back. So think down the road as well.7 -
Just once a week... either a Saturday because the evening I’ll go out and have dinner and then go and have a tone of alcohol, which is hard to log when you wake up and can’t remember how much you’ve had. Or it’ll be a Sunday, where I’ve ate so much I’m too scared to log it hahaha.
You don't have to give up any kind of social life, but you might need to consider how much you're drinking if it makes you go off the rails with food. Maybe make your drinks last longer, or alternate with non-alcoholic, low-calorie drinks.
You might find this site helpful:
http://getdrunknotfat.com/
And as others have already said, log everything. All of it. Even if you don't really want to see those numbers. It's the only way you'll know where you can adjust things so you can meet your goals - if you really want to.
On the other hand, if you're happy with the way you look and feel now, don't get hung up on a specific number on the scale. But if you decide to maintain instead, make sure you weigh yourself regularly to stop it creeping up beyond a certain point.3 -
What so I gotta have no social life to lose weight? Brilliant, may aswell give up now
TIL that "not being able to get passed-out, blind drunk every weekend" = "have no social life".
Yes, losing weight does require some degree of moderation and self-discipline. If you stick to your calorie goal all week long and then completely wipe it out plus some with a drunkfest every Saturday night and massive binges on Sunday, it's not exactly a recipe for success. Of course there's wiggle room for some indulgences, but even those require some degree of common sense and restraint.
Just because you drive 5 mph below the speed limit all week doesn't mean that it's okay to do 100 mph through a school zone every Friday afternoon.10 -
What so I gotta have no social life to lose weight? Brilliant, may aswell give up now
no one is saying that...but they are saying that you need to take in less calories than you are burning in order to lose weight and your cheat days might be hampering that progress (but you can't see that because its not being logged)1 -
I have been at this 3 months and have only had 2 "overindulgence" days.
You need to get rid of your cheat day. Maybe have a indulgent ("cheat" but I don't use that word in this context) MEAL, once a week. There's a difference.1 -
What so I gotta have no social life to lose weight? Brilliant, may aswell give up now
TIL that "not being able to get passed-out, blind drunk every weekend" = "have no social life".
Yes, losing weight does require some degree of moderation and self-discipline. If you stick to your calorie goal all week long and then completely wipe it out plus some with a drunkfest every Saturday night and massive binges on Sunday, it's not exactly a recipe for success. Of course there's wiggle room for some indulgences, but even those require some degree of common sense and restraint.
Just because you drive 5 mph below the speed limit all week doesn't mean that it's okay to do 100 mph through a school zone every Friday afternoon.
I don’t get blind drunk every weekend, I’ve been out twice since the beginning of the year. Sometimes I stay in and have a ‘cheat’ night where I’ll have pizza.
All I’m saying is I’m finding it strange that one bad day can completely throw you off course. But if it means cutting it out then I guess that’s what it takes.
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What so I gotta have no social life to lose weight? Brilliant, may aswell give up now
TIL that "not being able to get passed-out, blind drunk every weekend" = "have no social life".
Yes, losing weight does require some degree of moderation and self-discipline. If you stick to your calorie goal all week long and then completely wipe it out plus some with a drunkfest every Saturday night and massive binges on Sunday, it's not exactly a recipe for success. Of course there's wiggle room for some indulgences, but even those require some degree of common sense and restraint.
Just because you drive 5 mph below the speed limit all week doesn't mean that it's okay to do 100 mph through a school zone every Friday afternoon.
I don’t get blind drunk every weekend, I’ve been out twice since the beginning of the year. Sometimes I stay in and have a ‘cheat’ night where I’ll have pizza.
All I’m saying is I’m finding it strange that one bad day can completely throw you off course. But if it means cutting it out then I guess that’s what it takes.
It doesn't have to, unless you let it. A night of drinking can easily undo a weeks deficit though.2 -
The last 5-10lbs can be frustrating.. your deficit is smaller, water weight can mask progress and it can be slower. Being more accurate can definitely help. You don't have to cut out your fun weekends.. but if you are not seeing the results you want, then being mindful of it either tracking it or easing up on the calories can help. On the other hand, if you are happy with your progress and what you see in the mirror maybe don't pay as much attention to the scale and continue.3
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What so I gotta have no social life to lose weight? Brilliant, may aswell give up now
TIL that "not being able to get passed-out, blind drunk every weekend" = "have no social life".
Yes, losing weight does require some degree of moderation and self-discipline. If you stick to your calorie goal all week long and then completely wipe it out plus some with a drunkfest every Saturday night and massive binges on Sunday, it's not exactly a recipe for success. Of course there's wiggle room for some indulgences, but even those require some degree of common sense and restraint.
Just because you drive 5 mph below the speed limit all week doesn't mean that it's okay to do 100 mph through a school zone every Friday afternoon.
I don’t get blind drunk every weekend, I’ve been out twice since the beginning of the year. Sometimes I stay in and have a ‘cheat’ night where I’ll have pizza.
All I’m saying is I’m finding it strange that one bad day can completely throw you off course. But if it means cutting it out then I guess that’s what it takes.
You can eat a little less during the week and save (or bank) extra calories for the weekend. So you could optimally eat 100 cals less each day for 5 days and have 500 cals for alcohol or pizza on the weekend. You could also forgo the calorie deficit one day a week and just lose weight a tad slower. If you exercise you get to eat these back.
Many strategies in which you manipulate your intake to work for you. As you get more experience with this it will become easier.5
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