6/18 Steps: 4896

guitargirl55 wrote: »

I seriously don’t get weight loss. I was on my game doing everything I was supposed to do for 2 weeks and no weight would come off. I got discouraged and fell off the bandwagon this weekend. I ate at an all you can eat buffet, and had a massive lasagna dinner, AND skipped my run. Monday and Tuesday I didn’t go crazy, but didn’t track very well and probably ate over my calorie goal.

Today I stepped on the scale just to see how bad the damage was, and I lost a pound! What?! I mean yay I am excited – but I just don’t understand.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

No insight, just commiseration. On Monday morning, I had lost 2 pounds for the week. I then ate the exact same food on Monday and Tuesday (others might say my diet is repetitive and boring, but it works for me). Now I am up 1 pound this morning! Undeserved! (I am 60 and way beyond PMS, etc.) I struggle when the scale fluctuates up. It is really hard on my motivation. I remind myself that this is when I must lean on my self-discipline. Discipline is a hard habit to learn, and will include days that I cave in, but over time discipline takes over when motivation wanes.

From your picture, it appears you are near your goal weight. Good for you! A lot of patience is required, so I am told (I am far from goal). But each day is another day towards a healthy body and mind, being the best you can be. Don't let the weight loss ups and downs play tricks on your mind - and thank you for reminding me of this as I struggle today with a weight gain. As they say, weight loss is never linear. I just realizing that writing on here to motivate you has helped me motivate myself today. So thank you!

pjshawley wrote: »

guitargirl55 wrote: »

I seriously don’t get weight loss. I was on my game doing everything I was supposed to do for 2 weeks and no weight would come off. I got discouraged and fell off the bandwagon this weekend. I ate at an all you can eat buffet, and had a massive lasagna dinner, AND skipped my run. Monday and Tuesday I didn’t go crazy, but didn’t track very well and probably ate over my calorie goal.

Today I stepped on the scale just to see how bad the damage was, and I lost a pound! What?! I mean yay I am excited – but I just don’t understand.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

No insight, just commiseration. On Monday morning, I had lost 2 pounds for the week. I then ate the exact same food on Monday and Tuesday (others might say my diet is repetitive and boring, but it works for me). Now I am up 1 pound this morning! Undeserved! (I am 60 and way beyond PMS, etc.) I struggle when the scale fluctuates up. It is really hard on my motivation. I remind myself that this is when I must lean on my self-discipline. Discipline is a hard habit to learn, and will include days that I cave in, but over time discipline takes over when motivation wanes.

From your picture, it appears you are near your goal weight. Good for you! A lot of patience is required, so I am told (I am far from goal). But each day is another day towards a healthy body and mind, being the best you can be. Don't let the weight loss ups and downs play tricks on your mind - and thank you for reminding me of this as I struggle today with a weight gain. As they say, weight loss is never linear. I just realizing that writing on here to motivate you has helped me motivate myself today. So thank you!

Thank YOU!! Your words have inspired me too.

I have lost 25lbs total so far, which is nowhere near as impressive as some of the other group members, but I sometimes forget to be proud of how far I have already come. I really appreciate that reminder from you.

I am about 10 lbs from my goal, and honestly this last 10 has been totally kicking my butt, so I really need the inspiration to keep going and not just call it “Good Enough!”

PW: 161.8
CW: 161.6

STEPS
6/18
7,277

Steps 6/18: 19,032

pjshawley wrote: »

guitargirl, wow, 25 pounds is a wonderful accomplishment, especially since you are so near your goal. The other day I read on this site about a woman who lost 30 pounds and was near her goal but feeling discouraged. Then, while at the gym, she walked over and hefted up a 30 pound dumbbell and realized just how much 30 pounds was. 25 pounds IS impressive!! When I need extra inspiration, I read (and re-read) the Success Stories. It reminds me of 2 things: 1) It IS possible; and 2) it didn't happen overnight. I am SO short on patience!! Arghh!! Let's keep on motivating each other. I was thankful to share with you this morning, as I am heading off to the store for my grocery shopping. I am now ready to be strong and shop well. Let's have a great day!!

That is a great point that I hadn't really thought about - thank you for commenting and sharing! I really appreciate it

Good luck shopping!

Steps 6/19
8,110

6/19 steps
13,886

Daily report:

6/20/19 Steps 15036 Run 6 km walk 3 km Ex.hr. 1 hour 45 min

Yesterday I rested fully.

LovebyDraug69 wrote: »

Weekly weigh in on 6/20/2019
Previous Weight: 243.8
Current Weight: 243.4

Not as much as I want, but I know it is mainly due to not being able to walk/work out for another five weeks.

6/19 steps: 4326

Almost half pound! Good job!!

Steps 6/19: 21,705

guitargirl55 wrote: »

I seriously don’t get weight loss. I was on my game doing everything I was supposed to do for 2 weeks and no weight would come off. I got discouraged and fell off the bandwagon this weekend. I ate at an all you can eat buffet, and had a massive lasagna dinner, AND skipped my run. Monday and Tuesday I didn’t go crazy, but didn’t track very well and probably ate over my calorie goal.

Today I stepped on the scale just to see how bad the damage was, and I lost a pound! What?! I mean yay I am excited – but I just don’t understand.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

There's so many things that can explain weight variations like this - all completely speculative!

Firstly, while we track "weight loss", because it is an easy measure to track, what we really aim for is fat loss, which is harder to measure.

Weight is a mix of fat, muscle, bone, water, contents of your digestive tract, etc and can vary throughout the day significantly, let alone from day to day - with hydration being the biggest cause for variances. Weigh yourself, have a glass of water, weigh yourself again - did you just put on weight? Yes. Did you put on fat? No.

So when weight loss stalls for a few weeks, even though you're doing everything right, you might have lost some fat but retained water at the same time so your total weight is not changing.

For many women there are key points in their menstrual cycle where their weight loss stalls or they put on weight - for me it is in the half week prior to my period. Hormonal changes cause water retention or bloating that increases weight temporarily, then there is a drop of this excess weight after my period. Did your cycle factor into the recent stall and loss?

If you look at the hormonal model, sleep and stress also play a part in whether we gain or lose fat. If on your weekend off the bandwagon you relaxed, had fun, enjoyed yourself, perhaps this was a letting go of stress that had been holding you back? Perhaps you skipped your run to get extra sleep?

And maybe you didn't eat as much as you thought you did. Some types of foods are filling but not necessarily fattening. You might have felt "full" and assumed you ate way too much, but feeling full may have led you to eat fewer snacks or eat less at the next meal or be a bit better in food choices in the days after. Diets that are high in fat often work on this principle - fatty foods fill people up, so they don't feel as hungry, and don't eat at much in total. Conversely, perhaps some of the foods you usually eat, which fit within your calorie restricted diet, are more fattening than the foods you ate on the weekend - hence stall followed by loss?

Lastly, there is also the biggest conundrum of dieting: pretty much every diet ever studied that involves continuous calorie restriction results not just in weight loss but in a lowered metabolism. There are some small studies (not solid) that suggest calorie cycling might be able to counteract the drop in metabolism. One model of calorie cycling is to diet for a week, then eat at full BMR for a week; another is an alternate day cycle (diet one day, eat full BMR the next); the 5:2 diet (eat reasonably healthily 5 days without calorie counting, then very low calories for 2 days); intermittent fasting is another variance. In theory, when your body is continuously getting a reduced calorie load it lowers metabolism so that input=output, but when it has irregular amounts of calories (sometimes plenty, sometimes a deficit), it doesn't get used to it so keeps burning energy at a normal rate regardless of energy input.

Under this theory, if you have been continuously eating reduced calories for a while, perhaps your body had started to slow the metabolism, but in having a few days of increased calories, perhaps it gave your body a reason to boost its metabolism.

At the end of the day - the long term trend is the important one, rather than short term gains and losses.

overdue weights:
@DleeMcM
@iamworthy14
@mskatz1966

Thursday’s weights
@debbiemcgu

Friday’s weights
@boehle
@brittneyalley
@cre804
@guitargirl55
@lhughes2019
@lindamtuck2018
@mustb60
@Smart_Beautiful_and_Strong