Please tell me where I'm going wrong.

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osualex
osualex Posts: 409 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all, my diary should be public. I am trying to (safely and healthily) win a weight loss competition at my gym, but my scale is barely budging. My weight has bounced from 218-220-217-218-219 in the past week. I'm exercising an hour a day and trying to keep to ~1500 cals or so. I haven't made my goal every single day but I have tracked down to the last gram (I weigh/measure EVERYTHING...unfortunately this is not my first rodeo) and my weight is not budging one bit. What am I doing wrong?

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  • Anniebotnen
    Anniebotnen Posts: 332 Member
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    The main thing I see in your diary is that you’re not weighing all of your non-liquid foods. Quite a few entries are “cups” or “containers”. This doesn’t make much difference with lettuce, but it can make a big difference with more calorie dense foods. And weighing in grams, rather than ounces is more precise than ounces.
  • osualex
    osualex Posts: 409 Member
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    Good point on the non-liquid food weighing, but much of it is in containers or the entries are set up in a way that more precise entry and weighing isn't quite as feasible. I will make a greater effort in this.
  • osualex
    osualex Posts: 409 Member
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    I do realize I am being impatient, but the 218-220 I did literally gain in 1 day. I am not expecting to be down 5 lbs or anything yet, I would be happy with 2, but my weight is bouncing so far over the place that I have barely seen any loss at all. Surely 1500 cals with fairly frequent exercise should yield something...
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    osualex wrote: »
    I do realize I am being impatient, but the 218-220 I did literally gain in 1 day. I am not expecting to be down 5 lbs or anything yet, I would be happy with 2, but my weight is bouncing so far over the place that I have barely seen any loss at all. Surely 1500 cals with fairly frequent exercise should yield something...

    Weight loss isn't linear...
  • osualex
    osualex Posts: 409 Member
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    Thanks all for replying. I do realize I am making myself crazy, but I actually feel like I'm a good candidate to WIN the competition and it's just a little frustrating that the water weight seems to keep making its way on to me no matter what I do. I know it's not real weight and that I've been diligent with tracking. I just wish the scale would show SOMETHING instead of all these ups and downs that make it hard to gauge if I'm doing this right.
  • Jackie9003
    Jackie9003 Posts: 1,110 Member
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    If you're sticking to your deficit then you're doing it right and it will show eventually, be patient. I would recommend weighing less often if it causes you grief, I weigh daily using an app and now I'm used to the fluctuations don't worry about them but it freaked me out at first, some days I gained 4lb but then lost 6 over the next few days.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    osualex wrote: »
    Hi all, my diary should be public. I am trying to (safely and healthily) win a weight loss competition at my gym, but my scale is barely budging. My weight has bounced from 218-220-217-218-219 in the past week. I'm exercising an hour a day and trying to keep to ~1500 cals or so. I haven't made my goal every single day but I have tracked down to the last gram (I weigh/measure EVERYTHING...unfortunately this is not my first rodeo) and my weight is not budging one bit. What am I doing wrong?

    There are weight averaging apps like Happy Scale, Weight Tracker, etc. Fluctuations in water weight can be frustrating. Some many reasons our body retains fluid.
  • whit4kids
    whit4kids Posts: 15 Member
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    This is what my weight loss looked like this past week. Up, down, up...then this morning I took the dive. I stick strickly to my macros, weigh and measure everything, and try to drink 1/2 my weight in water a day. My goal is to lose 1.5 lbs a week. So far I haven't been disappointed. knfixn2z0j9v.png
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    osualex wrote: »
    Good point on the non-liquid food weighing, but much of it is in containers or the entries are set up in a way that more precise entry and weighing isn't quite as feasible. I will make a greater effort in this.

    Every food should have an option for grams in the database. If not, you can create one.

    If you choose not to weigh foods, that's one thing. But don't let the database be an obstacle because it isn't.

    If you choose not to weigh your foods, you may see your progress is less consistent than if you were. This is because you're choosing a less accurate method of calorie estimation.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    osualex wrote: »
    Thanks all for replying. I do realize I am making myself crazy, but I actually feel like I'm a good candidate to WIN the competition and it's just a little frustrating that the water weight seems to keep making its way on to me no matter what I do. I know it's not real weight and that I've been diligent with tracking. I just wish the scale would show SOMETHING instead of all these ups and downs that make it hard to gauge if I'm doing this right.

    +1 on weighing solid food suggestions.

    Did you consider that being in a weight loss competition might not be a great idea? Weight loss takes time and patience and a healthy amount of each. You need to be able to look at the scale and tell yourself it does not matter what it says today even when it is up because eventually if you are in a deficit it will give you good news. Eventually is the key word. It can take weeks in between new low weights.

    The other thing to keep in mind is that you don't actually weigh one number. You weigh a range of numbers. At any given time your weight will slide up and down that range. Sometimes you will be able to figure out the reason and others will probably always be a mystery.
  • TrishSeren
    TrishSeren Posts: 587 Member
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    It took me one month before the scale budged, so not much happens in a week. I can also be up to 1.5kg heavier from one day to the next.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,382 Member
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    whit4kids wrote: »
    This is what my weight loss looked like this past week. Up, down, up...then this morning I took the dive. I stick strickly to my macros, weigh and measure everything, and try to drink 1/2 my weight in water a day. My goal is to lose 1.5 lbs a week. So far I haven't been disappointed. knfixn2z0j9v.png

    Congrats, that looks 100% normal. Below is a chunk from my weight loss period. The dots are daily weights: Note the ups and downs. The solid line is the statistical trend: Note the mostly steadily downward slope.

    Did you just start losing (this round) this week? Did you just start the exercise, or increase it because of the challenge? If so, the scale will roller-coaster a bit on that account from water weight and digestive contents changes. If you happened to hit a crucial phase of your menstrual cycle, that will also cause water weight fluctuations (at different times in the cycle for different women).

    You have a current weight range, and a long-term weight trend. Worry about the trend. ;)

    e2jpsjhwb9b3.png
  • shaneozouf
    shaneozouf Posts: 59 Member
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    Another thing to note, is when it comes to logging food in the database, you should always check the item that you're adding (unless you've already checked it and are confident) yourself. The barcode scanner is nothing but empty confidence, trust it as little as you'd trust typing the item name. On most occasions, it's perfectly fine, but on some occasions the item might be wrong or someone may have entered the wrong data, the barcode could even change!

    In extremely rare cases, even the manufacturer may write incorrect data on their products. It happened to me recently. I now check the USDA food database whenever I come across a new product I'll be using a lot and just make sure there's nothing wrong. Once it's in my diary once, in grams, it should always be easy to find.

    USDA is great for finding things like "banana", "cabbage", or "chicken breast". You can always do a quick cross reference to their website if you're in doubt.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    Read this article, OP, in reference to your scale weight bouncing around.

    http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

    And watch the video in this thread, reference weighing your food.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
  • osualex
    osualex Posts: 409 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your comments. I weighed in today at 215 so it really was just the scale messing with me. Sticking to once a week weigh ins from now on!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,382 Member
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    osualex wrote: »
    Thanks everyone for your comments. I weighed in today at 215 so it really was just the scale messing with me. Sticking to once a week weigh ins from now on!

    That's one option, and probably the right one if fluctuations mess with your mind. (Keep in mind that when you weigh weekly, you can unknowingly hit a low-ish day in week 1, and a high-ish day in week 2, and be in about the same "wtFlip?!" spot, thinking you've gained.)

    Another option is to continue to weigh daily, same time, same conditions, strive to treat it as neutral, interesting data, and gain some insights into how your very own unique body operates. In this latter scenario, I'd strongly recommend a weight trending app (Libra for Android, Happy Scale for iOS, Trendweight with a Fitbit account, Weighgrapher, others . . .); and recommend not paying it much heed until you have at least a month's daily weights in it, because it's just statistics, not a crystal ball. ;)

    Your call on which strategy is better for your personality. As you'd guess from my Libra graph posted earlier, I like door #2. :)

    Best wishes!

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