Gained weight, Doing "everything right" FRUSTRATED

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Replies

  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    shelbygeorge29 wrote: »
    Sometimes the entry doesn't have a gram or ounce option, so I'll manipulate the measurement in cups/tsp/tbsp to make calories match. I weigh tomatoes and onions, but not peppers. I'm really trying to be accurate!!!

    If you enter USDA into the search bar along with the item, I think most of those entries have gram/ounce options in the dropdown box. Particularly for whole foods, you should be able to find weighted options.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    edited November 2018
    Retaining water from new workout, eating a salty meal or food/waste in the system can make you appear to gain weight. Especially if you are only weighing once a week you may not notice these daily ups and downs.

    Even though I know these things it sometimes messes with my head too. I have to just tell myself to trust the system and continue eating in a deficit and sure enough the next time I step on the scale I'm down a bit.

    Weight loss is not linear and you will see ups and downs even though you are doing everything right because our bodies retain water, food, waste in our system at any given time.

    The deal is just to hang in there and don't let it mess up your progress. You are making progress you just didn't see it on the scale this week. Take pictures and body measurements. These will help you to see non scale changes.

    Hang in there!

    Edit: Also I'd be cautious eating back 100% of your workout calories they can be wrong. Most here eat back only 50%.
  • shelbygeorge29
    shelbygeorge29 Posts: 263 Member
    I am not eating back exercise cals. Was hoping that since I'm so overweight that I could safely lose larger amounts by running at such a large deficit.

    I know I just need to stay the course, not sure if daily weigh ins or monthly is the answer for me. Tape measure? Pounds do matter.

    One thing of note, I'm very tired often. I bartend 3-4 nights a week at a very busy bar. I had been fairly sedentary other than work. I've been staying busy outside of work, on an attempt to increase my NEAT. So now I'm eating at a large deficit, exercising intensely and moving more.

    Where am,I going wrong? Is this too much?
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Being tired all the time is a sign that your body is not being fed enough. You can mess up your hormones that way.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    edited November 2018
    shelbygeorge29 wrote: »
    I'm at 304 right now, been back to logging and working out for 3 weeks. Do super intense bootcamps for 60 mins 4 times a week.

    This is a reason you could be tired as well. You are taking on by your words an "intense" workout schedule when you were just 3 weeks ago sedentary after work, you body maybe isn't used to it yet. Maybe you are doing too much too soon.

    Best of luck!
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,287 Member
    I find less is more.. I'm forcing myself not to overexercise to work off my Thanksgiving calories. I do this because I know that if I over exercise it makes my weight loss much slower. I'm better off keeping it to one hour and fighting the fat in the kitchen. you may want to keep tracking your food and lighten up on your exercise and see what happens. ...
  • Clau_Ioana1202
    Clau_Ioana1202 Posts: 40 Member
    Have you had your thyroid checked? Feeling tired and not losing weight easily are both symptoms of hypo. Not necessarily the answer, but worth checking it. I do have Hashimoto (auto-immune hypo -thyroid, not influenced by food or something) and under treatment for years. It was clearly a huge difference when the treatment was not enough and I was struggling to lose even a pound while doing everything right.

    One can lose weight with a hypo-thyroid just fine but make sure you are getting all the hormones as needed.
  • bigbandjohn
    bigbandjohn Posts: 769 Member
    I know that gains can be frustrating. There have been a couple times I gained, but my clothes fit better. Transition from fat to muscle. Also, I agree with a lot of people depending on factors you may be retaining water. Have you checked with a doctor to see if there may be other factors you should be concerned about?
  • angmarie28
    angmarie28 Posts: 2,782 Member
    edited November 2018
    shelbygeorge29 wrote: »
    I'm already using a food scale to measure everything. Everything.

    Trainer weighs me on a Rice Lake scale, you stand on and hold out 2 devices by your side for 60 seconds and it gives you this detailed report. How accurate the bf/muscle percentage is is definitely debatable. But it is accurate in that I gained this week. My period was 2 weeks ago, so it's not that.

    I just don't know how motivated I can be if it's going to be this crazy hard to lose small amounts of weight. It's not like I only have 10 pounds to lose, at this stage of weight loss it should be coming off a little easier.

    I use one of those scales, theres a guy that our work contracted with to promote being healthy, He comes monthly for everyone who wants to participate. Its really cool, and I feel its a great tool and I love it, BUT it can be quite inaccurate. It can confuse water for muscle. If I get on it a day after heavy lifting, it tells me im up like 1 to 2 lbs in muscle, but its really just water retention.

    Theres also a thing called the whooshing effect (correct me if Im wrong and just blurting out a bunch of "woo") but its where your fat cells lose fat but fill with water waiting for the fat to come back, and keeping your weight the same, but eventually with the fat not come back, the water empties and you suddenly lose like 3 to 5 lbs or more sometimes. that happened last month to me, I did everything right and sat at the same weight for 3 weeks, then the 4th week I was down 5lbs.
  • shelbygeorge29
    shelbygeorge29 Posts: 263 Member
    What is most frustrating to me is that with 150 lbs to lose, and it still being the first month, I should be losing pretty quickly. If this was a couple months into things I'd be expecting a plateau or slow down.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    shelbygeorge29 wrote: »
    Oh, trainer said I've gained 4 lbs of muscle...that doesn't make sense either.

    4 pounds of muscle in three weeks? Not the most credible thing I've ever heard. How was the gain measured?
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    shelbygeorge29 wrote: »
    Sometimes the entry doesn't have a gram or ounce option, so I'll manipulate the measurement in cups/tsp/tbsp to make calories match. I weigh tomatoes and onions, but not peppers. I'm really trying to be accurate!!!

    I'll echo the trending weight app (I use Happy Scale). And will also say for accuracy, you need a food scale. Cups and spoons don't give you most accurate read. Can't tell you how much I "thought" I was eating versus how much I actually was when I got the food scale.
  • shelbygeorge29
    shelbygeorge29 Posts: 263 Member
    I am using a food scale. In fact I recently calibrated it. I do meal prep, and everything is weighed and/or measured. I weigh yogurt and peanut butter to be more accurate. I wish it was just that!
  • MrSunshinez
    MrSunshinez Posts: 573 Member
    Take pictures, take measurements. Your body is transforming while maintaining your weight. Check this out. These people haven't lost weight but what a change in all of them. This motivates me to keep going even when the scale doesn't move. https://reddit.com/r/progresspics/search?q=0lbs&restrict_sr=1[/url]
  • shelbygeorge29
    shelbygeorge29 Posts: 263 Member
    If this was months into my weight loss or I only had a small amount to lose, that makes sense, but I'm 3.5 weeks in with 150 pounds to lose. With this much weight to lose, pounds shouldn't be such a struggle to come off at this stage.

    Sorry, but 7 lbs on a 300+ frame definitely isn't noticeable via tape measure or pictures.
  • BZAH10
    BZAH10 Posts: 5,710 Member
    shelbygeorge29 wrote: »
    If this was months into my weight loss or I only had a small amount to lose, that makes sense, but I'm 3.5 weeks in with 150 pounds to lose. With this much weight to lose, pounds shouldn't be such a struggle to come off at this stage.

    Sorry, but 7 lbs on a 300+ frame definitely isn't noticeable via tape measure or pictures.

    Maybe not right now, but in a few weeks (and years) later you'll be glad you started keeping track of this information now.

    Also, 3.5 weeks is a very short period of time. You HAVE lost weight. Just keep doing what you're doing. Just because some people lose more weight right at the beginning doesn't mean that you will. Everyone is different. Your weight loss will happen when you give your body time to react and if you stay accurate with your calorie intake.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,970 Member
    Agreed on the trend apps and learning what your normal fluctuations are (this may take a few months to really understand your natural patterns). Results like what you experienced is why I started going with daily weigh-ins, otherwise I could get so disheartened by a jump when I thought I was trying so hard - but, the jump wasn't fat, just water, but without daily weigh ins, it was much harder to tell.

    I only have about 20 extra pounds to lose, and my weight can fluctuate by as much as 3-5 pounds with the right set of circumstances. This is almost always 100% water weight. And that's with a workout routine I'm "used" to, and just maybe an extra salty meal or an extra hard workout (or worse yet, a combination of the two!).
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
    Any time I significantly up exercise I gain a few pounds. Still worth it though. It'll come off. You are doing great. It IS going to take a while and if you get upset at every fluctuation it's not going to be much fun for that whole time. Take a breath and settle in for the long haul :) We got your back and you're doing just fine.

    I find a trend weight app helps me not be crazy about the numbers. I weigh several times a week which helps a lot. At least one day is always up. When you see that regularly then you learn it's natural and weight loss is NOT linear. I like Happy Scale but I know android users like Libra.

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