Frustrated

etherealanwar
etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
edited December 24 in Health and Weight Loss
I have been in my weight loss journey for 2 years now starting from 200 lbs and down around 68 lbs. For the past year I have been targeting 1200 calories but I now find myself feeling worn out with such a low calorie goal and have upped my calories to 1400 with some maintenance days thrown in here and there. I figure I look decent now and only have around 12 lbs until I hit my goal so I can take it easy and aim for half a pound a week. Now the issue is, I have been steadily going up from my low of 132 lbs and am currently at 136 lbs and I am not going to lie this is starting to worry me a tad.

I would like to point out that I did not drink enough and am trying to get more water each day which is adding to my "weight" I think? A long with more food in general I SHOULD be expecting to go up in weight but I don't know how much is normal and if I should be worried I am gaining fat. This new calorie goal has been in place for 2 weeks now....should I give it more time before I need to be concerned that it is fat gain? I do weigh everything I can, and I say everything I can because I do eat out frequently. This has always been the way I ate throughout my weight loss though so I feel like it shouldn't be a huge issue going forward? For those of you in maintenance did your weight go up at all and hit a new normal when you upped your calories? Sigh, I was so excited to be close to the 120s and now it might be several months longer away.

Replies

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    You need to give it a bit more time, around 4-6 weeks that will give you a better idea.
  • etherealanwar
    etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    If you were previously losing 0.5lbs a week a rise of just 200 cals can't have put you in a genuine calorie surplus so you aren't adding fat.

    You are correct to look for water related causes of seeing your weight rise, adding more carbs (which store with water) might be one of those water factors too.

    Two weeks is not enough time to evaluate the change, you really should be giving a month to see the true impact.

    No don't change your logging, consistency works as well as precision. Wait to find if something is "broken" before trying to fix it.

    Personally my weight didn't go up at all when I adjusted to maintenance but it does for many.
    (I lost weight with an irregular eating pattern and was pretty high carbs too so I may not be typical if there is such a thing as typical.)

    I have averaged a weight loss of 0.5 lbs this year so far but I am not always hitting 1200 calories a day. Maybe I do need the buffer since I eat out frequently but I swear the amount of food I eat on a day to day basis seems miniscule. I will give it another 2 weeks to evaluate how I am doing. I have myself set as sedentary but I usually get 6-8k steps a day. On sedentary my maintenance is supposedly 1650 calories which is quite sad if I do say so myself ( I am 5'4").
  • etherealanwar
    etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
    jessalittlemore wrote: »
    If you have a menstrual cycle keep in mind that this will make you gain water weight even when eating a deficit! I'm in deficit and I still have peaks and valleys every month that are easily tracked to my cycle.

    While eating out frequently never hindered your weight loss before, also keep in mind that you had more wiggle room then between your deficit and maintenance. Now the numbers are creeping closer and closer together and any errors in your calorie count are really going to make a difference.

    I have an IUD which has nearly eliminated my period (well any bleeding) but I do get the side effects of one such as cramping and a little bit of bloat. The most I have gone up from period bloat is 1-1.5 lbs, it doesn't seem to affect me as much as it does other women.
  • etherealanwar
    etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    You should not expect to be able to trend your weight for at least 6 weeks. Just keep doing what you are doing and trust the process.

    Also, it never hurts to do the math... in order for you to have gained 4 pounds of fat in 2 weeks you would need to have been eating at least 1000 calories above your maintenance each day the entire time. Does that sound like something that may have happened or is it far more likely it is mostly water weight?

    Yeah I was saying that to myself but I wasn't really expecting to shoot up 4 lbs of water weight so quickly with it looking like it might not slow down. My irrational side is winning this fight so far mainly because these last 18 lbs over the year have been a struggle to lose and any regain would be devastating to me at this point. I think I will try to really cut down on eating take out so I can be certain of my calorie intake each day. I was also curious to see how much others have gone up in water weight before evening out when they upped their calories.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    FWIW I am only 5ft 2, active (average 10-12k steps), 50yrs, and maintain on 1850-1900 cals. If I were more sedentary I would still maintain on around 1500 cals.

    My weight can spike up overnight by 3-5lbs due to hormones/ sodium/carbs etc, even in maintenance. It sometimes can take almost a week to get back down again but month on month my weight trend remains within 1or 2lbs.

    Your maintenance is likely higher than you think but with taking eating out into the equation and perhaps under counting of intake it'll take time to figure yours out. I still would say to give it more time, then re evaluate in another months time, that's when you know if you need to adjust intake.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    etherealanwar wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    If you were previously losing 0.5lbs a week a rise of just 200 cals can't have put you in a genuine calorie surplus so you aren't adding fat.

    You are correct to look for water related causes of seeing your weight rise, adding more carbs (which store with water) might be one of those water factors too.

    Two weeks is not enough time to evaluate the change, you really should be giving a month to see the true impact.

    No don't change your logging, consistency works as well as precision. Wait to find if something is "broken" before trying to fix it.

    Personally my weight didn't go up at all when I adjusted to maintenance but it does for many.
    (I lost weight with an irregular eating pattern and was pretty high carbs too so I may not be typical if there is such a thing as typical.)

    I have averaged a weight loss of 0.5 lbs this year so far but I am not always hitting 1200 calories a day. Maybe I do need the buffer since I eat out frequently but I swear the amount of food I eat on a day to day basis seems miniscule. I will give it another 2 weeks to evaluate how I am doing. I have myself set as sedentary but I usually get 6-8k steps a day. On sedentary my maintenance is supposedly 1650 calories which is quite sad if I do say so myself ( I am 5'4").

    I am 5'5" and my maintenance calories are around 1350. Just saying that it isn't always what the system tells you. I'm older and set for sedentary. I went up to 1500 and gained weight. I would give it a couple more weeks as long as you are really watching the calories because saying you have "maintenance days" makes me think you might be getting a bit too relaxed about it. With a higher intake you likely have some water issues and perhaps more food in your system so that might be all it is but be cautious about relaxing too much. I gained 10 pounds in a matter of a few months even though I thought I was keeping pretty good track. I was logging daily and measuring most of my food but I had gotten the "I can relax a bit now" attitude and it cost me big time.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    etherealanwar wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    You should not expect to be able to trend your weight for at least 6 weeks. Just keep doing what you are doing and trust the process.

    Also, it never hurts to do the math... in order for you to have gained 4 pounds of fat in 2 weeks you would need to have been eating at least 1000 calories above your maintenance each day the entire time. Does that sound like something that may have happened or is it far more likely it is mostly water weight?

    Yeah I was saying that to myself but I wasn't really expecting to shoot up 4 lbs of water weight so quickly with it looking like it might not slow down. My irrational side is winning this fight so far mainly because these last 18 lbs over the year have been a struggle to lose and any regain would be devastating to me at this point. I think I will try to really cut down on eating take out so I can be certain of my calorie intake each day. I was also curious to see how much others have gone up in water weight before evening out when they upped their calories.

    You have been pretty fortunate with weight fluctuations thus far it seems. 4 pounds is down the middle of what I typically fluctuate. My roller coaster of weight fluctuations over the past (nearly) 2 years has helped desensitize me to them. That doesn't mean I love it when it happens or that there is not a remnant of irrational thought that creeps up over the edge occasionally over it though.

    You need to fight it though or this is going to potentially drive you crazy for years to come. You can't course correct every 2 weeks over the scale. Are you going to restrict eating out each time you have an uptick on the scale?


  • jhanleybrown
    jhanleybrown Posts: 240 Member
    edited November 2019
    I needed to lose 20 lbs and have lost about 12 so far. 6' 188 lb male. Want to get back to high 170s for both health and cycling.

    I'm tracking pretty accurately. And its working but it's not linear.

    So I lose 0.5-1.0/week. Also...this is the average. Despite what appears to me to be consistent behavior I actually lose 0.0-1.5 week to week.

    And my low to high in a given week fluctuates a solid 3.5 lbs.

    What helps me is to weigh in daily first thing in a.m. And I look at my 7 day average and don't (...let me rephrase that....*"try not to"*) put too much on any one day.

    But I also get frustrated with the "heavy days". And on the flip side...each week I have a light day...I no longer consider the light day my "weight".

    So follow the trend average and have patience. If the trend moves then change up what you are doing.

    (Note...I say this as someone who *often* fails to follow his own advice and also gets frustrated. And I'm not an inherently patient person but using this as a way to develop it....)
  • natasor1
    natasor1 Posts: 271 Member
    Try fasting for one day than for 2 days and for 3 days. Your weight goes quickly down and you are not going to decrease your metabolism. Different happens, your metabolism will go up and will be very easy loose weight in the future. When you consume no food at all you hormones increase metabolism to survive. The other benefit of fasting: you don t need to count your calories so meticulous
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    girlwithcurls2 wrote: »
    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    My weight can spike up overnight by 3-5lbs due to hormones/ sodium/carbs etc, even in maintenance. It sometimes can take almost a week to get back down again but month on month my weight trend remains within 1or 2lbs.

    QFT.

    I am trying to lose the last of the weight at .5 pound per week as well. It's nearly impossible for me to tell if it's working. It's taking months of trending. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, there will be a 4-5 pound spike UP. It's so hard to know when you are trying to lose so slowly and you inhabit a female body. Hang in there and trust the process.

    Right? I specifically time my weigh-ins around my cycle to avoid the uptick that we often get in water weight. I know logically that it's water weight, but it still helps my sanity to not have to see the higher number on the scale.
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