Frustrated with eating 1200 a day and not losing weight
sngresak
Posts: 12 Member
My weight has gone up this week and I am frustrated and can't figure out why.
2/4/2019 starting weight: 145.8 lbs
3/26/2019: 131.2 lbs
4/1/2019: 131.6 lbs
I’m eating the same foods as before in the same quantities so no idea what the deal is. I’m feeling really frustrated and unmotivated. I’m also practicing IF of 16:8.
Sorry guys, just needed to rant and get some feedback from you all. I’ve even stepped up my waking game this last week (not that I expect walking to burn a ton of calories) but my usual step count is 5,000ish and now I’m averaging around 8,000 a day. I’ve also been doing a different nightly yoga routine just to mix things up a little bit and engage different muscle groups.
Adding food log link for reference - https://imgur.com/a/C5TjdgL
I ate various amounts throughout the week, but a 7 day span equals to roughly 1,289 calories a day- so how is it possible that I’ve gone up a half pound since last week?
2/4/2019 starting weight: 145.8 lbs
3/26/2019: 131.2 lbs
4/1/2019: 131.6 lbs
I’m eating the same foods as before in the same quantities so no idea what the deal is. I’m feeling really frustrated and unmotivated. I’m also practicing IF of 16:8.
Sorry guys, just needed to rant and get some feedback from you all. I’ve even stepped up my waking game this last week (not that I expect walking to burn a ton of calories) but my usual step count is 5,000ish and now I’m averaging around 8,000 a day. I’ve also been doing a different nightly yoga routine just to mix things up a little bit and engage different muscle groups.
Adding food log link for reference - https://imgur.com/a/C5TjdgL
I ate various amounts throughout the week, but a 7 day span equals to roughly 1,289 calories a day- so how is it possible that I’ve gone up a half pound since last week?
10
Replies
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If you weigh yourself once a week its not very reliable data. Either don't get bothered by it or weigh yourself daily in the morning and calculate a weekly average. Half a pound is very much in the ballpark of acceptable margin of error due to water retention. Also there is no way of knowing if you are indeed eating 1200kcals or more since we cant actually see anything in your diary.14
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First: are you weighing all of your food using a food scale?
Second: less than half a pound increase on the scale in one week may or may not be meaningful, as it's well within normal weight fluctuation. Your increased exercise alone likely contributed to extra water weight.
Third: at 131 pounds, you likely don't have much weight to lose and therefore should not expect more than a half pound per week loss.17 -
Hi sngresak, hate to hear your frustration. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into self protection mode and will hold on to your weight. Do you know how much you were eating before you started cutting foods out? Also, are you just walking and doing yoga? What is your goal?
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You have lost 14 pounds in 2 months. That is a rate of about 1.5 lbs/week. First off, I highly recommend switching to 0.5-1 lb/week rate of loss. It is not healthy to lose more than 1% of your body weight a week.
Next, check out this article. It explains why our weight will fluctuate and why it is important to look at the trend over time.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/21 -
Weight loss is neither linear or consistent. So many factors affect the scale; water weight, TOM, other hormones, etc. if you weigh every day you willl learn how your body fluctuates. However, you have to be able to deal with seeing the scale go UP sometimes when you weigh daily, so if this will bother you don’t do it. It often takes longer than 7 days to see weight go down. Your body just isn’t that regimented. You just have to be patient. It will eventually happen, unless you give up. Also, you don’t seem to have much to lose. It takes much longer if you have only 10-15 pounds to lose (you don’t say what your goal is or how tall you are). Do you WEIGH all your food? When you eat at 1200 this is critical to make sure you aren’t eating more than you think you are.7
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Hi sngresak, hate to hear your frustration. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into self protection mode and will hold on to your weight. Do you know how much you were eating before you started cutting foods out? Also, are you just walking and doing yoga? What is your goal?
The body doesn't work lik that... it is true that after prolonged under feeding your body will find ways to burn less (lower BMR, and NEAT), but you would still lose, just not at the rate you would anticipate.
most likely you are seeing water weight fluctuations. one day I step on the scale and was 161.4, next morning I was 162.8, I didn't eat at a surplus, it was either a change in water retention or more food in my system that didn't pass yet, or both17 -
First: are you weighing all of your food using a food scale?
Second: less than half a pound increase on the scale in one week may or may not be meaningful, as it's well within normal weight fluctuation. Your increased exercise alone likely contributed to extra water weight.
Third: at 131 pounds, you likely don't have much weight to lose and therefore should not expect more than a half pound per week loss.
Yes, I weigh everything down to the gram on my food scale. I don't eyeball anything and for beverages I drink water or unsweetened iced tea.0 -
Your weight will fluctuate daily due to all sorts of normal reasons, NOT fat gains related. Things like digestion periods, potty timing, water retention (from sodium intake, adding new excercise or adding intensity to your current exercise routine), hormones-PMS, tom etc, what time of the day you weigh yourself etc etc etc.
OP, get a trending app (Libra for android or Happy Scale for apple), and look at your monthly trends. See where you're at the beginning of the month vs the end of the month, to get a more accurate idea of where you're at.5 -
Hi sngresak, hate to hear your frustration. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into self protection mode and will hold on to your weight. Do you know how much you were eating before you started cutting foods out? Also, are you just walking and doing yoga? What is your goal?
Before I started on 1200 a day, I wasn't tracking my food intake at all because I was pregnant/had recently given birth and literally did not care lol.
I just had my second baby on 1/1/2019 so I was just kinda in "survival" mode eating whatever was quick or convenient until I decided to dedicate time to my health on 2/4/2019 which is when I started to track my eating. Just as of March is when I also incorporated walking more and nightly yoga routines. I otherwise don't exercise or go to the gym, with a 3 month old and 1.3 year old I just can't manage to find the time or resources to do it yet.2 -
First: are you weighing all of your food using a food scale?
Second: less than half a pound increase on the scale in one week may or may not be meaningful, as it's well within normal weight fluctuation. Your increased exercise alone likely contributed to extra water weight.
Third: at 131 pounds, you likely don't have much weight to lose and therefore should not expect more than a half pound per week loss.
Yes, I weigh everything down to the gram on my food scale. I don't eyeball anything and for beverages I drink water or unsweetened iced tea.
You don't have much weight to lose. If you're weighing just once a week, you have to be prepared for weeks where your weight won't have gone done or maybe will have even gone up. It's just the way it is when you're close to goal. It requires a lot of patience and consistency for most people.7 -
I have seen my weight fluctuate as much as 2 pounds a day, especially after a day of hard exercise when my muscles retain water. I always weight after my rest day and usually see a loss (even if it is only tenths of a pound).7
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Hi sngresak, hate to hear your frustration. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into self protection mode and will hold on to your weight. Do you know how much you were eating before you started cutting foods out? Also, are you just walking and doing yoga? What is your goal?
This isn't how the body works.11 -
If you weigh yourself once a week its not very reliable data. Either don't get bothered by it or weigh yourself daily in the morning and calculate a weekly average. Half a pound is very much in the ballpark of acceptable margin of error due to water retention. Also there is no way of knowing if you are indeed eating 1200kcals or more since we cant actually see anything in your diary.
I'm not eating a strict 1200 each day, some days are 1600 and others are 1000. I'd read that it's good to mix up the calorie amount you eat throughout the week so your body doesn't get "used" to what you're doing.
What I meant was over the course of the past 7 days, my caloric total was 9,023...or roughly equaling 1,289 calories a day.23 -
Hi sngresak, hate to hear your frustration. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into self protection mode and will hold on to your weight. Do you know how much you were eating before you started cutting foods out? Also, are you just walking and doing yoga? What is your goal?
Hi and welcome to MFP. You will notice at the bottom of your post that you will start accumulating many "woo" votes (none from me). This is because you have posted a myth that is scientifically impossible. Don't feel bad. Many people, myself included, have believed things that have turned out not to be true and it has hampered us in our weight loss.
Our bodies run on energy and so there is no way it can just absolutely refuse to let go of energy stores when we are in a calorie deficit. What is actually happening in the OP's case can easily be explained by this:
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
17 -
Hi sngresak, hate to hear your frustration. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into self protection mode and will hold on to your weight. Do you know how much you were eating before you started cutting foods out? Also, are you just walking and doing yoga? What is your goal?
This isn't how the body works.
this. you cant break the rules of physics
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If you weigh yourself once a week its not very reliable data. Either don't get bothered by it or weigh yourself daily in the morning and calculate a weekly average. Half a pound is very much in the ballpark of acceptable margin of error due to water retention. Also there is no way of knowing if you are indeed eating 1200kcals or more since we cant actually see anything in your diary.
I'm not eating a strict 1200 each day, some days are 1600 and others are 1000. I'd read that it's good to mix up the calorie amount you eat throughout the week so your body doesn't get "used" to what you're doing.
What I meant was over the course of the past 7 days, my caloric total was 9,023...or roughly equaling 1,289 calories a day.
This is wrong. You don’t need to play calorie games with your body, just make sure you eat at a deficit. And you should never eat below 1200 calories.13 -
If you weigh yourself once a week its not very reliable data. Either don't get bothered by it or weigh yourself daily in the morning and calculate a weekly average. Half a pound is very much in the ballpark of acceptable margin of error due to water retention. Also there is no way of knowing if you are indeed eating 1200kcals or more since we cant actually see anything in your diary.
I'm not eating a strict 1200 each day, some days are 1600 and others are 1000. I'd read that it's good to mix up the calorie amount you eat throughout the week so your body doesn't get "used" to what you're doing.
What I meant was over the course of the past 7 days, my caloric total was 9,023...or roughly equaling 1,289 calories a day.
Your body doesn't need to avoid getting "used" to a certain amount of calories in that way. If you find it easier to meet your goal mixing it up, then that's fine. But no reason to do it otherwise.
If you are eating a different amount each day, that can add a bit more unpredictability into what you will weigh on each individual day (a higher calorie day will leave you with more food in your body overall and may have more sodium or carbohydrates than other days). So your amount of temporary water weight may be fluctuating more than if you ate the same amount each day. This is another reason why weighing just once a week may not give you the best possible picture of how you're progressing.13 -
In the recent past, I've weighed myself in the morning and afternoon and had close to a 10 pound discrepancy. I went from 233 to 224 in one day. I did a lot of sweating and flushing water, and I'm not sure what else dictates daily weight fluctuations.
Anyway, other people's advice on here is great. Don't weigh yourself so often, or don't take it so hard when things don't change all that much. This is a slow process that likes when you are patient and consistent.1 -
If you weigh yourself once a week its not very reliable data. Either don't get bothered by it or weigh yourself daily in the morning and calculate a weekly average. Half a pound is very much in the ballpark of acceptable margin of error due to water retention. Also there is no way of knowing if you are indeed eating 1200kcals or more since we cant actually see anything in your diary.
I'm not eating a strict 1200 each day, some days are 1600 and others are 1000. I'd read that it's good to mix up the calorie amount you eat throughout the week so your body doesn't get "used" to what you're doing.
What I meant was over the course of the past 7 days, my caloric total was 9,023...or roughly equaling 1,289 calories a day.
It really doesn't matter if you eat a consistent amount of calories everyday or not, as long as on average you are at a deficit. You experienced a normal weight fluctuation. Considering you were losing weight aggressively fast, it was to be expected. Read the link that's been posted a couple of times above, it will explain normal fluctuations. Just keep going, and honestly you should probably eat a little more and slow your rate down to more like 1 lb per week, but that's just an opinion
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Hi sngresak, hate to hear your frustration. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into self protection mode and will hold on to your weight. Do you know how much you were eating before you started cutting foods out? Also, are you just walking and doing yoga? What is your goal?
Hi and welcome to MFP. You will notice at the bottom of your post that you will start accumulating many "woo" votes (none from me). This is because you have posted a myth that is scientifically impossible. Don't feel bad. Many people, myself included, have believed things that have turned out not to be true and it has hampered us in our weight loss.
Our bodies run on energy and so there is no way it can just absolutely refuse to let go of energy stores when we are in a calorie deficit. What is actually happening in the OP's case can easily be explained by this:
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
Thank you, this is a very helpful breakdown!3 -
JustinAnimal wrote: »In the recent past, I've weighed myself in the morning and afternoon and had close to a 10 pound discrepancy. I went from 233 to 224 in one day. I did a lot of sweating and flushing water, and I'm not sure what else dictates daily weight fluctuations.
Anyway, other people's advice on here is great. Don't weigh yourself so often, or don't take it so hard when things don't change all that much. This is a slow process that likes when you are patient and consistent.
OP appears to be only weighing once per week, or else did not post all of their data. Frequency of weighing is a personal preference that does not affect weight loss, but many people find that weighing daily and using a trend weight app like Libra or Happy Scale helps them understand normal weight fluctuations that OP seems to be experiencing.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »If you weigh yourself once a week its not very reliable data. Either don't get bothered by it or weigh yourself daily in the morning and calculate a weekly average. Half a pound is very much in the ballpark of acceptable margin of error due to water retention. Also there is no way of knowing if you are indeed eating 1200kcals or more since we cant actually see anything in your diary.
I'm not eating a strict 1200 each day, some days are 1600 and others are 1000. I'd read that it's good to mix up the calorie amount you eat throughout the week so your body doesn't get "used" to what you're doing.
What I meant was over the course of the past 7 days, my caloric total was 9,023...or roughly equaling 1,289 calories a day.
Your body doesn't need to avoid getting "used" to a certain amount of calories in that way. If you find it easier to meet your goal mixing it up, then that's fine. But no reason to do it otherwise.
If you are eating a different amount each day, that can add a bit more unpredictability into what you will weigh on each individual day (a higher calorie day will leave you with more food in your body overall and may have more sodium or carbohydrates than other days). So your amount of temporary water weight may be fluctuating more than if you ate the same amount each day. This is another reason why weighing just once a week may not give you the best possible picture of how you're progressing.
Yes, this is a good point. Yesterday I ate at an all time high for the week at a little over 1700 since hubby and I actually got a sitter and went out for a nice date day lunch so I guess it would make sense that as of this morning the number may be a little skewed. I find it challenging to weight myself less than once a week. I want to obsess and check every single day and it feels like waiting for a good test score when I finally weigh myself for the week and the number is higher than I'd expect for it to be.1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »If you weigh yourself once a week its not very reliable data. Either don't get bothered by it or weigh yourself daily in the morning and calculate a weekly average. Half a pound is very much in the ballpark of acceptable margin of error due to water retention. Also there is no way of knowing if you are indeed eating 1200kcals or more since we cant actually see anything in your diary.
I'm not eating a strict 1200 each day, some days are 1600 and others are 1000. I'd read that it's good to mix up the calorie amount you eat throughout the week so your body doesn't get "used" to what you're doing.
What I meant was over the course of the past 7 days, my caloric total was 9,023...or roughly equaling 1,289 calories a day.
Your body doesn't need to avoid getting "used" to a certain amount of calories in that way. If you find it easier to meet your goal mixing it up, then that's fine. But no reason to do it otherwise.
If you are eating a different amount each day, that can add a bit more unpredictability into what you will weigh on each individual day (a higher calorie day will leave you with more food in your body overall and may have more sodium or carbohydrates than other days). So your amount of temporary water weight may be fluctuating more than if you ate the same amount each day. This is another reason why weighing just once a week may not give you the best possible picture of how you're progressing.
Yes, this is a good point. Yesterday I ate at an all time high for the week at a little over 1700 since hubby and I actually got a sitter and went out for a nice date day lunch so I guess it would make sense that as of this morning the number may be a little skewed. I find it challenging to weight myself less than once a week. I want to obsess and check every single day and it feels like waiting for a good test score when I finally weigh myself for the week and the number is higher than I'd expect for it to be.
The scale number is not skewed. It is totally accurate. We don't actually weigh one number we weigh a range of numbers. It is common, I do it too, to measure our weight loss by the lower number on the range but you can go weeks without hitting that part of your range. I usually only see a new low weight about every 3 weeks. I don't think about it much anymore because I have been losing for over a year and this is me being me. I try not to be results driven and focus on being process driven. My priority is today and what it will take for me to get through it as happy and satisfied as I can. I am better off ignoring weight loss most of the time.13 -
My weight fluctuates between 132 - 135, and I am consistent with my exercise and eating no more than 1200 calories a day (yes I weigh EVERYTHING and only drink water). There comes a point where you may not be able to lose more on the scale while staying healthy.
This pic post keeps me from getting frustrated and making poor eating habits to get skinnier. Since December I have focused on fitness habits more, as the same number on the scale can look very different on a fit body!
https://www.boredpanda.com/same-weight-fitness-incredible-transformations/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »If you weigh yourself once a week its not very reliable data. Either don't get bothered by it or weigh yourself daily in the morning and calculate a weekly average. Half a pound is very much in the ballpark of acceptable margin of error due to water retention. Also there is no way of knowing if you are indeed eating 1200kcals or more since we cant actually see anything in your diary.
I'm not eating a strict 1200 each day, some days are 1600 and others are 1000. I'd read that it's good to mix up the calorie amount you eat throughout the week so your body doesn't get "used" to what you're doing.
What I meant was over the course of the past 7 days, my caloric total was 9,023...or roughly equaling 1,289 calories a day.
Your body doesn't need to avoid getting "used" to a certain amount of calories in that way. If you find it easier to meet your goal mixing it up, then that's fine. But no reason to do it otherwise.
If you are eating a different amount each day, that can add a bit more unpredictability into what you will weigh on each individual day (a higher calorie day will leave you with more food in your body overall and may have more sodium or carbohydrates than other days). So your amount of temporary water weight may be fluctuating more than if you ate the same amount each day. This is another reason why weighing just once a week may not give you the best possible picture of how you're progressing.
Yes, this is a good point. Yesterday I ate at an all time high for the week at a little over 1700 since hubby and I actually got a sitter and went out for a nice date day lunch so I guess it would make sense that as of this morning the number may be a little skewed. I find it challenging to weight myself less than once a week. I want to obsess and check every single day and it feels like waiting for a good test score when I finally weigh myself for the week and the number is higher than I'd expect for it to be.
It's okay to weigh yourself more than once a week if you want the data. The only reason to avoid it is if you find it is making you unhappy or stressed. Many people find they prefer having more data. When I was losing weight, I weighed daily and then entered the weight into a weight trending app (I used Libra). Helps filter out fluctuations so you can focus on the actual trend.6 -
Hi sngresak, hate to hear your frustration. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into self protection mode and will hold on to your weight. Do you know how much you were eating before you started cutting foods out? Also, are you just walking and doing yoga? What is your goal?
Hi and welcome to MFP. You will notice at the bottom of your post that you will start accumulating many "woo" votes (none from me). This is because you have posted a myth that is scientifically impossible. Don't feel bad. Many people, myself included, have believed things that have turned out not to be true and it has hampered us in our weight loss.
Our bodies run on energy and so there is no way it can just absolutely refuse to let go of energy stores when we are in a calorie deficit. What is actually happening in the OP's case can easily be explained by this:
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
This is one of the kindest posts I've seen on MFP as far as clearing up misinformation goes. You are a great human being!15 -
Update for future readers:
2/4/2019 starting weight: 145.8 lbs
3/26/2019: 131.2 lbs
4/1/2019: 131.6 lbs
4/2/2019: 130.8 lbs10 -
As several people mentioned in various posts, using a weight trend application or web site and concentrating on the trend as opposed to individual weight ins would be helpful in this and similar situations.
When using such applications providing more data (daily) is probably better for the purpose of establishing an accurate trend; however, our mental comfort is more important than anything else so if daily is too much... it is too much!
Many users do find, once they "force" themselves to weigh daily and understand how and WHY their weight fluctuates, that they eventually get desensitized to "adverse" fluctuations that are explainable based on past observations.
The physiqonomics article referenced above does cover most of the reasons weight fluctuates and is a very good summary of the whole issue. http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/4 -
Echoing the popular advice to weigh yourself daily. =]
It will fluctuate a lot (I've had days where I'm 4 lbs heavier despite eating less, and days where I'm 4 lbs lighter despite eating more), but as long as you promise yourself you won't become disheartened by the fluctuations, you'll be able to build a better appreciation for how your weight is trending overall.
The key is to not see a huge upwards jump in one day, say "screw it!" and give up on yourself. Just let these fluctuations happen, stick to your plan, and keep an eye on the trend line!7 -
You gotta look at more than one week. I weigh daily and there are definitely weeks where if I picked two points a week apart it would look like I had gained weight. But my overall trend has still been down and near 1lb/week. You can see for yourself - this is from my fitbit app (my scale syncs to it, which then syncs to myfitnesspal) - I like that it shows a trendline as this is very helpful for seeing if I'm actually still tracking downward or not. But it does take more time to see trends - if I looked at this picture zoomed in on a 1 week timescale it would be hard to tell if I was losing at all.
I do like using a scale that automatically syncs to my phone without me having to type the number in (I use Renpho) - not just for convenience but because then I don't need to think about the daily weight as much.5
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