Thought I was doing good

OnlyDragonQueen
OnlyDragonQueen Posts: 75 Member
edited June 2020 in Motivation and Support
Feeling kind of out of it today. Thought I was doing good, eating in my calories, walking, and drinking way more water than normal. Yet the scale isn't reflecting those changes.

I know you're not supposed to weigh daily, but I don't know...i'm just feeling blah today, and it sucks when you start at 271 and the scale goes up two days in a row.

Plus the amount of calories I'm supposed to eat with the fitbit (that doesn't even work every day) is super confusing and throwing me off. If I'm not losing weight when eating 1400 calories how am I supposed to lose weight at 2100 calories?

Replies

  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    The A1C blood test, glycosylated hemoglobin will give you a picture of your blood sugar levels for the past 3 months. Not to be confused with the at home test. Sometimes, we're fighting against biology and other things and we just don't know it.
  • mc62412
    mc62412 Posts: 195 Member
    edited June 2020
    How long have you been at it?

    The 'increase' in the last 2 days could easily be water weight. Water is always changing, and goes up for a variety of reasons but is temporary. Could be up due to the heat, or stress, or sodium, or due to hormonal reasons for TOM/ovulation. Or if you're increased workout intensity or started a new routine: the body retains water for muscle repair.

    You won't lose weight each & every day. But your body does have patterns of how it reacts to things. If you track your weight daily for 2-3 months you can figure out those patterns. So if you weigh in often, also keep notes about what else is happening in your life. Get a really poor night's sleep? Note it. Have a day where you eat higher calories? Note it. Start a new workout routine and experience soreness for the next 3 days? Note it.

    My recent weighins - this is not everyday but I tend to get on the scale at least 5-6 days a week: 150.2, 147.8, 147.4, 146.4, 146.8, 146.3, 146.1, 148, 146.6, 146.5, 145.9, 145.5

    The goal is to have a downward trend. To weigh less now than you did a month ago, and less in a month than you do now. So keep going - you will make progress if you keep at it.

    I’m glad to read your post. My weigh ins ( while in the 2’s ) are similar to yours. Point this point that up and down all week. I’m trying to stick with it. Even though I just want to say screw it and eat pizza for god sakes ! Lol. But your right. The point it to see a downward trend. Which I do and is what I try to look at and keep going.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    I weigh daily (well, used to, now it’s a couple times a week). I enjoyed watching the graph and trends. The hiccups can be frustrating, but part of it unfortunately. Here’s my chart for the last 9 months so you can see the overall trends with blips along the way...
    ozw3iqy9h6c3.jpeg
  • Xiaolongbao
    Xiaolongbao Posts: 854 Member
    Feeling kind of out of it today. Thought I was doing good, eating in my calories, walking, and drinking way more water than normal. Yet the scale isn't reflecting those changes.

    I know you're not supposed to weigh daily, but I don't know...i'm just feeling blah today, and it sucks when you start at 271 and the scale goes up two days in a row.

    Plus the amount of calories I'm supposed to eat with the fitbit (that doesn't even work every day) is super confusing and throwing me off. If I'm not losing weight when eating 1400 calories how am I supposed to lose weight at 2100 calories?

    First of all my sympathy. I’m pretty sure many here can relate to you frustration.

    A few thoughts.

    1. “You’re not supposed to weigh daily”. That’s not true at all. For plenty of people weighing daily is a key part of their success. BUT if you are going to weigh daily then you do have to find a mental ability to deal with the fluctuations. For me I weigh daily but I only record my weight on MFP once a week. That helps me to only consider any changes (up or down) as counting if they are sustained. I’m not saying you should weigh every day - find what works for you - but don’t feel like it’s something you “shouldn’t” do.

    2. Again this is a matter of choice, so I’m just giving you something to consider, I would suggest you disconnect your Fitbit from MFP. Set yourself as sedentary and see what calories MFP gives you. Aim for those. If you do any purposeful exercise (I’m not talking a nice walk, I mean activity that gets you puffing and works up a sweat) add the calories in separately. Even sedentary humans should be moving around. Using information from a Fitbit can result in you getting extra calories for stuff that’s not really worthy of it.

    3. Hang in there. When I was younger I noticed I would pretty much only lose weight one week a month. The others I’d stay the same, lose a tiny amount or gain a tiny amount. But then I’d have a big loss that would even it all out. Clearly I didn’t only burn fat one week a month - it’s just that my cycle somehow made it so fat was replaced by water 3 weeks out of 4 and then it would drop all in one woosh.

  • podperson1
    podperson1 Posts: 207 Member
    I weigh myself daily as I find it useful to keep track of the flucuations - and trust me, there will ALWAYS be flucuations - but I only record it once a week on my weigh in day. You can't put on several pounds of fat in a night but there are lots of other things that can affect it - like water weight, TOM, sodium content etc. That's why I find it useful to track but if you're getting discouraged by the constant up and downs then maybe stick to just weighing once a week.

    For example, my weight this morning is up 1.5lbs from yesterday. I know this is because I had pizza yesterday, which is very carby and in particular is high sodium. So, today I'm sticking to under my cals, mostly protein and drinking lots of water. Generally that means I will go back down at least a bit tomorrow.

    Hang in there and am sure your overall trend will be going downwards x
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    Read this article, @OnlyDragonQueen. It helps break the power the scale can have on your mindset.

    http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    Seriously read this.

    And this is my weight graph for the past 3 months. I weigh daily. Some recent weigh ins are HIGHER than some weigh-ins 3 months ago. Sometimes for a couple/few days in a row. The article above lists some of the eighty-bazillion reasons for that.

    The dark blue line is my trend. I am losing. All is well.

    tj3t8fprddmw.jpeg
  • OnlyDragonQueen
    OnlyDragonQueen Posts: 75 Member
    Thanks guys. Logically I knew it was normal, and that this wasn't just me dealing with this...but emotionally my brain was like Screw this.

    I appreciate all the kind words and responses.