Impatient or Incorrect? My weight isn’t decreasing

ambergoodman13 · March 2019

So I’ll be very honest. I’m not good at the whole diet and working out thing. I reach a point, lose weight, then stop, then slowly gain the weight back, then start dieting and stuff again, so on and so forth.
In summer 2017 I was about 130 something pounds, and lasted around that weight for a while. In October I took a birth control (depo shot) that kind of contributed to my weight skyrocketing. Eventually I stopped taking it because my weight was going up by several intervals (130 to 140 to 159). It still hasn’t worn off completely, and currently I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been (170s, which is a lot for a person only 5 ft).

Anyway, it made me get serious about my health and weight loss, and even as a sugar and carbohydrate addict I’m trying to incorporate more healthy things into my diet while staying between 1200 to 1400 calories a day. I started taking a spin class, walking more now that the weather is clearing up, and I’m even trying to learn how to swim. It’s all in great fun, and I’m happy that I’m attempting to do something about my health, but something feels off.

I’ve been logging results for 15 days now, and I kind of expected different results. 15 days ago, I was around 176, teetering around 177 or something. At one point when I started my weight was going down to 172, then it went up to 173, and for the last few days it’s been around 175. Maybe it’s too early to say, but I expected a little more progress than this? Maybe maintain that 172? What am I doing wrong? I’m trying to lower my dairy intake. Should I lower something else, too? What can I do to see consistency? Am I getting way too worked up too soon? And how can I curb my sweet tooth? I love fruits and stuff, but I love chocolate, too. However if the sweets are doing this to me what can I do to curb the train?

Thanks for your help!

collectingblues · March 2019

You've lost 4 pounds in two weeks. That's a perfectly normal and typical loss.

You didn't put on 40 pounds in a month. You're not going to lose it quickly either.

kimny72 · March 2019

Impatient. You should be expecting to lose an average of 1-2 lbs per week. Some weeks more, some weeks less, some weeks you might even gain. That's just real life. And you should expect the rate of loss to slow a bit as you get smaller.

lalalacroix · March 2019

Your weight loss is great. And honestly weight loss is so slow. I definitely recommend lots of patience.

You don't have to remove entire food groups to lose weight. You can eat dairy, carbs and even fruit and chocolate and lose weight. Just weigh and log all your foods and save some calories for a sweet snack.

AnnPT77 · March 2019

ambergoodman13 wrote: »

So I’ll be very honest. I’m not good at the whole diet and working out thing. I reach a point, lose weight, then stop, then slowly gain the weight back, then start dieting and stuff again, so on and so forth.
In summer 2017 I was about 130 something pounds, and lasted around that weight for a while. In October I took a birth control (depo shot) that kind of contributed to my weight skyrocketing. Eventually I stopped taking it because my weight was going up by several intervals (130 to 140 to 159). It still hasn’t worn off completely, and currently I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been (170s, which is a lot for a person only 5 ft).

Anyway, it made me get serious about my health and weight loss, and even as a sugar and carbohydrate addict I’m trying to incorporate more healthy things into my diet while staying between 1200 to 1400 calories a day. I started taking a spin class, walking more now that the weather is clearing up, and I’m even trying to learn how to swim. It’s all in great fun, and I’m happy that I’m attempting to do something about my health, but something feels off.

I’ve been logging results for 15 days now, and I kind of expected different results. 15 days ago, I was around 176, teetering around 177 or something. At one point when I started my weight was going down to 172, then it went up to 173, and for the last few days it’s been around 175. Maybe it’s too early to say, but I expected a little more progress than this? Maybe maintain that 172? What am I doing wrong? I’m trying to lower my dairy intake. Should I lower something else, too? What can I do to see consistency? Am I getting way too worked up too soon? And how can I curb my sweet tooth? I love fruits and stuff, but I love chocolate, too. However if the sweets are doing this to me what can I do to curb the train?

Thanks for your help!

Yup to the bolded.

You're logging and eating in a calorie deficit. That should slowly lower body fat. (Fast is not only optional, it could potential be a health risk, if too fast.)

You added exercise. That may temporarily increase water retention (for muscle repair). That can temporarily mask fat loss on the scale.

It's a good idea to stick to a new regimen without tweaking major parameters for at least 4-6 weeks, before making adjustments based on average results. The only exception is if you appear to be losing super fast, and have negative symptoms alongside that (weakness, fatigue, etc.), in which case you should eat more before the time is up.

If you're a premenopausal woman, you want to monitor at least a full menstrual cycle, because hormone variations through the month can cause water weight swings (several pounds, for some). That water retention, too, can mask fat loss on the scale.

Sugar doesn't prevent weight loss, as long as you're within an appropriate calorie intake. (Too much added sugar can drive out nutrition, on reduced calories; don't let that happen.) Fruit is good for you. Get enough protein, get enough fats, then eat lots of nice veggies and fruits. It's fine to have some chocolate, too, as long as it isn't enough to prevent getting good nutrition.

Weight loss is all about calories. What foods you get those calories from matters for satiation, appetite, nutrition, and body composition. Your food choices don't matter much for weight loss, except as they affect satiation and therefore compliance.

sijomial · March 2019

It's great that you are making very positive changes to your diet and exercise but you need a strategy to cope with the times when motivation is low.

IMHO there's two things you need to learn.
1/ Be more patient and take a far longer view than a couple of weeks.
2/ When/if diet fatigue sets in and it feels too hard you need to learn to maintain weight and not allow the regain. Regard it as a break from your diet, not an end to your diet. Regaining 10 or 20lbs doesn't happen suddenly, you need to avoid an upward drift turning into a major slide.

hungrywombat · March 2019

To help with consistency and adherence, I find that pre-logging my meals in the morning helps me to see how much wiggle room I have for snacks. That way I can make an informed choice about whether I can make that glass of wine or piece of cake or whatever fit into my day. Just knowing that I don't have to completely cut out treats makes a big difference. Being organised with meal prep is an important part of this. Because I prep a few different meal options at the beginning of each week, I can make sure that my nutrition is balanced and I am getting variety while still having some flexibility for snacks AND maintaining a deficit. It also helps me remain mindful of my nutrition and intake when maintaining - I've maintained 20kg of weight loss for about 6 years now, and just working on a couple more vanity kgs which are coming off slowly but thats ok

Another thing I have done is get some really nice teas that I can have when I feel like I need something, but don't have the calorie room left. Drinking my fancy teas makes me feel like I'm indulging rather than depriving myself. I also have a real sweet tooth, so I add a bit of sweetener and that works for me.

jelleigh · March 2019

Im not sure if it's been mentioned yet but you should also kniw that your weight will bounce around a lot and it dowsnt mean you are doing anything wrong. Hormone changes, sodium intake, how much food is in your system being digested etc all will make your weight fluctuate by maybe even 5 lbs. You can still be losing fat in the background - you just cant see it on the scale yet. If you get a weight trend tracking app (like Libra or Happy Scale) and weigh every day , it will show you overall whats happening and you will be able to even anticipate spikes and valleys in the number on the scale.

kshama2001 · March 2019

I gain at ovulation and right before my TOM. Because of this (and because Lyle McDonald said to) I compare myself to last month, not last week.

quiksylver296 · March 2019

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

ambergoodman13 · March 2019

Thanks for your help everyone! I now have more insight as to what I should do and expect!

Theo166 · March 2019

Focus on logging ALL your calories, and you will know exactly what is doing it to you.

Since you have a sweet tooth it's extremely important that you log all the sweets, to build your awareness of the calories they give you. I just started logging again a few days ago. Being honest about my fast food yesterday and then donuts today at the staff meeting is really helping me make better decisions. I'm already starting to skip fast food on the way home and only had two donuts this morning, all because I knew I had to log the calories.

Impatient or Incorrect? My weight isn’t decreasing

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