Frustrated with eating 1200 a day and not losing weight
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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 -
Putting the scale away and weighing far less often can be beneficial to some people too. It certainly helped me. In my first 3 months of weight loss I only weighed 2 times. It taught me that weight loss will happen whether I watch it or not and to stop looking to the scale results for motivation.
I do weigh myself daily now but I attribute that to time and education.
Some people never weigh and they prefer it. They measure themselves in other ways. How clothing their clothing fits seems to be popular.10 -
Dreamwa1ker wrote: »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.
This is so cool to look at! I guess I never thought of it like that. I was in the mindset of "eat less = weigh less" so when the number jumped up I was like WTF body. I did just download an app called Happy Scale as several people here recommended it! It graphs the data in a way that's very motivating instead of fixating on one sole number a week.
I posted an update in a comment earlier that just from yesterday at 131.6 I weighed in at 130.8 today despite not doing anything different from what I'd been doing the entire week prior.15 -
Putting the scale away and weighing far less often can be beneficial to some people too. It certainly helped me. In my first 3 months of weight loss I only weighed 2 times. It taught me that weight loss will happen whether I watch it or not and to stop looking to the scale results for motivation.
I do weigh myself daily now but I attribute that to time and education.
Some people never weigh and they prefer it. They measure themselves in other ways. How clothing their clothing fits seems to be popular.
I'm considering doing away with the scale. Mentally I want to be 105 lbs again, but after giving birth to two babies in the past 3 years, my entire body shape has just changed, and not solely from weight gain. I'm sure I could get back down to that weight again, but it would take a lot of mental energy to stay there and obsessing over being a certain weight is not something I want my kids to see me worry about or feel like they should worry about.9 -
Putting the scale away and weighing far less often can be beneficial to some people too. It certainly helped me. In my first 3 months of weight loss I only weighed 2 times. It taught me that weight loss will happen whether I watch it or not and to stop looking to the scale results for motivation.
I do weigh myself daily now but I attribute that to time and education.
Some people never weigh and they prefer it. They measure themselves in other ways. How clothing their clothing fits seems to be popular.
I'm considering doing away with the scale. Mentally I want to be 105 lbs again, but after giving birth to two babies in the past 3 years, my entire body shape has just changed, and not solely from weight gain. I'm sure I could get back down to that weight again, but it would take a lot of mental energy to stay there and obsessing over being a certain weight is not something I want my kids to see me worry about or feel like they should worry about.
I think it's very important to consider what your maintenance routine would look like. To maintain at 105, you would have a pretty low maintenance calorie allowance unless you earned more calories by working out. Depending on your stats, it may also require many, many months of meticulous logging to get to that weight.
Is 105 at the bottom of your optimal BMI range? If so, you may prefer to lose weight until you get into your optimal BMI range (if you aren't already there) and then start a recomp plan to build muscle and cut fat, rather than continuing to lose weight until you get to 105. Many people feel tempted to lose down to the very bottom of their optimal weight range, but recomp is generally more likely to give them the appearance they want.4 -
What scale do you use?? I’m in the same boat. I track on MFP and I have around the same amount of calories I need to eat to lose bc I don’t weigh “that much”. I’m glad you’ve gone down again! I fluctuate a lot and I guess I could be eating more than I think I am0
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I can't get past the fact that you had a baby on 1st January and its now only 3rd April and you're fretting about not losing weight quickly enough! Your body has just done the most miraculous thing - created and nurtured a new life for 9 whole months then given birth! And now you're restricting the fuel you give it and wondering why the weight isn't disappearing at a faster rate than 1.5lbs a week? WOW!
Please please please STOP being so hard on yourself and your body. Yes its normal to want to get back to your pre pregnancy figure but please give your body longer to recover from childbirth. It might not be what you want to hear but I think you're being too hard on yourself.18 -
I can't get past the fact that you had a baby on 1st January and its now only 3rd April and you're fretting about not losing weight quickly enough! Your body has just done the most miraculous thing - created and nurtured a new life for 9 whole months then given birth! And now you're restricting the fuel you give it and wondering why the weight isn't disappearing at a faster rate than 1.5lbs a week? WOW!
Please please please STOP being so hard on yourself and your body. Yes its normal to want to get back to your pre pregnancy figure but please give your body longer to recover from childbirth. It might not be what you want to hear but I think you're being too hard on yourself.
It's difficult because when I had my first baby 2 years ago the weight came off SO fast. This time it's not.
I started back at work this past Wednesday and NONE of my work clothes fit so I had to buy a few "transition" items to get me by for the time being. 1 pair of pants and 3 blouses. I guess part of my eagerness is to get back into my old clothes because having this limited of a wardrobe is very inconvenient- I get dressed at the last possible moment so that I don't get spit up, poo-splosion, or any other baby related byproduct on my only set of clean clothes.
It's just not in the budget to buy more items (I also wouldn't have the time to go out and shop for other good priced items that fit) and the items I did get were extremely well priced. I found a pair of slacks on clearance from Old Navy for $3.27 and the three blouses from a second hand store for a total of $12.6 -
What scale do you use?? I’m in the same boat. I track on MFP and I have around the same amount of calories I need to eat to lose bc I don’t weigh “that much”. I’m glad you’ve gone down again! I fluctuate a lot and I guess I could be eating more than I think I am
It's really difficult when you don't have "much to lose". The weight takes forever to go away and your calories have to be pretty low to even make a difference.
The scale we have is not fancy, it came from my husbands bachelor pad so it's probably about 10 years old and from Costco haha.1 -
Putting the scale away and weighing far less often can be beneficial to some people too. It certainly helped me. In my first 3 months of weight loss I only weighed 2 times. It taught me that weight loss will happen whether I watch it or not and to stop looking to the scale results for motivation.
I do weigh myself daily now but I attribute that to time and education.
Some people never weigh and they prefer it. They measure themselves in other ways. How clothing their clothing fits seems to be popular.
I'm considering doing away with the scale. Mentally I want to be 105 lbs again, but after giving birth to two babies in the past 3 years, my entire body shape has just changed, and not solely from weight gain. I'm sure I could get back down to that weight again, but it would take a lot of mental energy to stay there and obsessing over being a certain weight is not something I want my kids to see me worry about or feel like they should worry about.
I think it's very important to consider what your maintenance routine would look like. To maintain at 105, you would have a pretty low maintenance calorie allowance unless you earned more calories by working out. Depending on your stats, it may also require many, many months of meticulous logging to get to that weight.
Is 105 at the bottom of your optimal BMI range? If so, you may prefer to lose weight until you get into your optimal BMI range (if you aren't already there) and then start a recomp plan to build muscle and cut fat, rather than continuing to lose weight until you get to 105. Many people feel tempted to lose down to the very bottom of their optimal weight range, but recomp is generally more likely to give them the appearance they want.
Height: 5 feet, 2 inches
Weight: 130.4 pounds
Your BMI is 23.8, indicating your weight is in the Normal category for adults of your height. For your height, a normal weight range would be from 101 to 136 pounds.
I just don't personally feel comfortable with my weight right now. I'm technically in the "normal" range, but I still FEEL quite heavy, if that makes sense? I'm sure building some muscle tone and exercising more would help, it's just not realistic for my lifestyle right now. I'm hoping once the newborn gets a little older and isn't waking up as often throughout the night, I'll feel rested enough to want to get on a better workout routine than my current 30-45 minute yoga wind down routine each night.0 -
This is so true. I’m ecstatic when I lose 1/2 pound a week. If I have a cheat meal (like I did to celebrate my birthday) I don’t lose that week.0
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