Frustrated! Help me out?

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plutoniansmash
plutoniansmash Posts: 23
in Health and Weight Loss
My parents just bought a brand new scale and it's registering me at a 3-4lb weight gain... I'm really frustrated because I don't know why! I started the 30DS on Monday and have done that every day but yesterday (I moved yesterday so didn't have time to log or work out.)

I'm worried it's because I started eating back my exercise calories... I've been guesttimating what I burned at work (I work in food service - combination of periodic lifting + constant moving + lots of walking) as well as putting in the 30DS. Eating back calories in the first place made me uncomfortable (I haven't done that in the entire 3 months I've been trying to lose weight) and this is just making me feel worse about it.

I can't see the difference on my body - if anything my abs are looking better for the 5 days I've been working with Jillian - but 3-4lbs just seems so extreme for such a short period of time to me! I weighed in last Friday - barely a week ago!

My diary is open - I would appreciate any and all comments.

Replies

  • lazyspice
    lazyspice Posts: 8,515 Member
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    Other peoples scales rarely agree with mine, they all seem to be calibrated differently. Can you not keep using the old ones?
  • plutoniansmash
    plutoniansmash Posts: 23
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    I was using the scale at my gym - I no longer have gym access. :( Not to mention that scale is now 2 hours away a different city.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
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    There can be so many things, but I would say two things to you:

    1. You should include your work in your daily activity when you set up your profile stuff or whatever - so your daily activity might be set to lightly active or active. That shouldn't be in your exercise calorie burn.

    2. A lot of people gain weight when starting 30DS, or other intense exercising. Apparently, it has to do with muscles tearing and water storage for repair or something. I can't explain it well, but I've seen lots of good explanations about it. So, it's not real weight gain and it's not muscle gain, it's basically water weight that should level off. Many people have also said they didn't lose weight on 30DS until L3, or didn't lose much but lost inches.

    So just some ideas. I would check your activity level and make sure it matches what you tend to do most days, then stop adding in working to your exercise. MFP takes the info you give it - weight, daily activity level, etc - then calculates a deficit for you so that you should lose WITHOUT exercise - you are already given a calorie deficit. That's why when you exercise you should eat at least some of your calories back (maybe not all if you are concerned about accuracy), because you already have a deficit and the exercise calories you eat are fueling your body properly given the extraenergy that you have expended on top of your daily activities.
  • dsjohndrow
    dsjohndrow Posts: 1,820 Member
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    I have a scale that likes me better too! Be sure to do some measurements, that is the real story. I lost 5 inches off my waist and only went down 5o lbs. I lost another inch, and haven't registered a loss in a month. Hang in there.
  • plutoniansmash
    plutoniansmash Posts: 23
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    Veganbaum, you make a good point! I have my profile set to 'active'.... I'm not working anymore regardless lol so I'm not sure where to even start with that, if I should bother changing it or not.

    I haven't heard that about 30DS but it makes sense! I wasn't eating back all of my exercise calories (I don't think so, anyways - and it's a moot point now haha) so I wasn't packing on a ton extra.. It was literally only about 3-4 days of eating back calories anyways that's why I was so surprised at the change. :/ I could understand 1-2lbs but 3-4 really!!

    I'll see if there's a tape measure around... I don't know if I have one handy.
  • missballast
    missballast Posts: 10
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    I know this is frustrating, but add in the current weight into the weight tracker. Often when we switch scales its just not the same, same if you switch up the time of day you are weighing yourself. If you are really concerned you need to either weigh naked or with the exact same clothes each and every time as there can be a variable too.

    Log your food and exercise. If you don't eat the right number of calories (yes eating back) you won't be able to lose anything. You'll get stuck where you are or gain. Also, you might find it useful to measure your body with a measuring tape. Muscle weighs more than fat, as you gain muscle you will lose inches but your weight may stay more steady.

    Hopefully it will be helpful to know that I have been doing this for almost two years now, after the initial weight loss my number of pounds evened out but I still lost pant sizes!
  • nrvo
    nrvo Posts: 473 Member
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    They sell tape measures at the grocery store for like a buck or two if you are in the market for one!

    I looked at your diary - your sodium is kind of high, which can make you retain water and gain lbs. Maybe try cutting sodium and drinking extra water for a couple of days?
  • plutoniansmash
    plutoniansmash Posts: 23
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    Missballast - I've been logging my food/exercise religiously for over 3 months now, so that's not the problem. My mom says we have a tape though so I'll do some measuring later..

    Nrvo - the sodium is from ginger ale I think :/ I was drinking it often because of stomach problems I've been having... I'm off it now so hopefully that will help it stay down! I usually never drink anything other than water!
  • smknitter
    smknitter Posts: 88 Member
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    I have been doing the shred for 15 days and bought a new scale in the middle of that time. I can completely comiserate with you. You can search 30DS in the forums and see lots of posts regarding the shred, but something I found in most of them is that the weight loss doesn't seem to start happening until late level 2 or early level 3, but physically my body is changing tons. Don't forget to take before and after pictures. The scale thing is really hard, but I adjusted it back for myself and the last couple of weeks have been hard, but I am more accurate now.

    You are doing great!!! I look forward to seeing your progress.
  • AimingHighWeighingLow
    AimingHighWeighingLow Posts: 192 Member
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    Are you due on your period? People normally put on around 2-5lb during the week before they are due on.
  • sneezles
    sneezles Posts: 165 Member
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    The sodium's not from the ginger ale but the bread and processed foods you eat. If you were to reduce your sodium to even 2,300mg/day I think you'd see a change. Plus you seem heavy with the carbs and light on protein. Regardless of what the MFP stats are for carbs it's pretty high for weight loss.
  • plutoniansmash
    plutoniansmash Posts: 23
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    smknitter - I'm glad I'm not the only one having that problem haha! I *just* switched to level 2 today (i have to cut it a little shorter than 30 days as I'm leaving the country on the 23rd) so we'll see!

    tme85 - No, it ended about... 5 or 6 days ago? So I'm well out of that realm.

    Sneezles - My carb/protein is not the standard MFP set, I scaled it back using the custom settings. I rarely exceed those! I understand the bread (I'm a pb&j addict - have been all summer!) but I don't eat much processed food at all so I'm not sure where you're getting that! I'll work on the sodium but I had it on my tracker all summer - I took it off last week I think - but I never exceeded the recommended amount, so. :/ I'm really not sure. I still have 20lbs to lose so I thought I had about 10 more lbs to go before I had to be that nit-picky about my diet - this is the first time in 3 months I've registered any weight gain whatsoever!
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Veganbaum, you make a good point! I have my profile set to 'active'.... I'm not working anymore regardless lol so I'm not sure where to even start with that, if I should bother changing it or not.

    If you're pretty sedentary but have your profile set to active AND you're entering your exercise, you could be double dipping and ending up eating too much if you eat up to your allowed cals (including the exercise cals). I hope that makes sense.
    I have a deskjob but I exercise a lot these days. I set my profile to sedentary and I enter my exercise separately, this way if I want to eat up to what MFP tells me I'm allowed, I know I'm generally eating the correct amount.
  • sneezles
    sneezles Posts: 165 Member
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    Bread is definitely a processed food and the one you list is extremely high in sodium. You have Nature Valley Granola Bars, Special K bars, canned soup, Subway, Applebees, and other ready to eat items that are processed. Any of those will not only be higher in sodium but also contain chemicals that make them shelf-stable.

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