I Just Keep Losing and Regaining the Same 2-3 Lbs!

Hi,
Looking for tips or advice.

I've had the same set goal to lose JUST 5 LBS for over 8-9 months now. I just wanted to get down to 125 lbs But seems like no matter what I cannot hit that number for anything.

I started morning jogging on 6/22, first at 1 mile, then 2 miles, then I come in and did 10-15 mins of work work, then upped that to 20 mins, M-F.

So far everything has tightened up around my arms and legs but the lower belly (34 inches), nothing. I should also note I am 22 months post-partum from having my youngest son and 2 c-section. I'm 42.

I am a pretty light eater and try and stick closely to a 1200 cal diet (I'm 5'1) and aim to drink 60-70 oz per day.

But every week, I lose 2-3 lbs and it immediately goes right back up. Frustrating.

I guess I am trying to figure out, if my goal is too unrealistic? Is this type of belly fat is really too stubborn, or may never go away or I just need more time (6-12 months).

I plan to keep at it. Thanks for reading. Also note the belly pic attached is my first-morning belly. Its twice this size by evening.

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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited August 2020
    Losing the last little bit requires incredible patience and consistency. Your diary is closed, so I can't see it. Are you using a food scale to measure your solid foods?
  • ALZ14
    ALZ14 Posts: 202 Member
    It could be that your belly isn’t actual fat, but a common pregnancy issue called Diastasis Recti.

    From heathline.com: “Diastasis recti is the partial or complete separation of the rectus abdominis, or “six-pack” muscles, which meet at the midline of your stomach. Diastasis recti is very common during and following pregnancy. This is because the uterus stretches the muscles in the abdomen to accommodate your growing baby. One study found that up to 60 percentTrusted Source of women may experience diastasis recti during pregnancy or postpartum.”
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,443 Member
    Food scale. Get one, use it. Weigh and log everything, no skipping, cheating or forgetting. Check out this thread.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    I would also say, based on your photo, you may have better success with lifting heavy (to you) weights, rather than trying to lose more body weight.

  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
    Losing the last little bit requires incredible patience and consistency. Your diary is closed, so I can't see it. Are you using a food scale to measure your solid foods?

    So since I tend to eat the same things, I start by weighing everything, save the meal and re-log it.

    I will go and open my food diary if that helps.
  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
    Food scale. Get one, use it. Weigh and log everything, no skipping, cheating or forgetting. Check out this thread.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    I would also say, based on your photo, you may have better success with lifting heavy (to you) weights, rather than trying to lose more body weight.

    Does the photo help? I was just trying to show that I am pretty small-framed in general.

    I've been working with 12 lb dumbbells for awhile. Guess its time to step it up.

    Thanks!
  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
    ALZ14 wrote: »
    It could be that your belly isn’t actual fat, but a common pregnancy issue called Diastasis Recti.

    From heathline.com: “Diastasis recti is the partial or complete separation of the rectus abdominis, or “six-pack” muscles, which meet at the midline of your stomach. Diastasis recti is very common during and following pregnancy. This is because the uterus stretches the muscles in the abdomen to accommodate your growing baby. One study found that up to 60 percentTrusted Source of women may experience diastasis recti during pregnancy or postpartum.”

    Hmmmm. I thought I ruled this out a long time ago but maybe I should look into it again. Thanks.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    I'd also suggest using a weight trending app**, if you aren't already. They use statistical techniques to try to sort out the overall direction (trend) of weight from the "noise" of daily water & digestive fluctuations. Slow loss is common when close to goal, and it's maddeningly hard to see on the scale.

    I see that you mention staying in the same weight range for many months, but you showed us only a short snippet from what looks like the MFP weight tracker, which is why I'm suggesting the trending app. In the chunk you show (looks like abou 6/21-8/21), it's *possible* that you're actually slowly losing weight, if I try to visually approximate a trendline through those data points. If losing at half a pound a week or less, it's nearly impossible to see without a trending app (sometimes even with one), on any time scale shorter than several months. (I'll put mine in a spoiler at the end, as an ilustration of what I'm saying.)

    ** Libra for Android, Happy Scale for Apple, Trendweight with a free Fitbit account (don't need a device), Weightgrapher, others. They're not a magic crystal ball, may still mislead at times, but can be a help.

    You might also be helped by reading this, as part of the interpretation of what I'm saying:
    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    I agree with Yirara that your posture is emphasizing your stomach quite a bit (not saying there's no bloating - can't really tell).
    This is what many months of slow loss looks like. The horizontal-ish line is the 7-day moving trend. The vertical lines connect my daily weights to the trend, so you can see they're spiking up and down pretty wildly. Even the trend spikes and drops, and I could explain most of those spikes in terms of water weight issues. I suspect (since you're recently post-partum and much younger than I) that you're premenopausal. If that's correct, you'd expect wilder water weight swings - related to menstrual cycle - than anything I see in menopause.

    On my Libra chart, if you mentally zoom in on shorter chunks, there are spikes like in your weight. But over many months, helped by the trend line, you can see the slow, slow overall loss. (If there were only the individual daily weights connected, like in your MFP chart, it'd be much harder to see, especially in one or two month chunks.) This is about the biggest time span I can show you, and still have the daily weights visible. Off to the left, my weight trend had started from somewhere around 138-139 last October

    elxqosin6pgh.png

    I'm losing super slowly, at around a pound a month, as context. Right now, I'm in one of those pseudo-spikes, but I'm pretty confident I'm still going to see more losses . . . . very . . . very . . . slowly. 😉
  • SnifterPug
    SnifterPug Posts: 746 Member
    I agree with all the comments above - particularly with regard to your posture. You may benefit a lot from drastically changing your exercise habits at this point. Fairly heavy resistance training (get some bands if you can't get to a gym with weights) and a lot of core work such as planks, bird dogs, dead bugs etc may be very beneficial.
  • pwhitechurch
    pwhitechurch Posts: 72 Member
    When do you get on the weight scale?
  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    First of all your posture on the first photo doesn't look very good: your lower back is bend forward and hence the belly sticks out. This could be due to various reasons: anterior pelvis tilt and associated tight hip flexors and weak glutes, just lack of lower back muscles, or probably a couple of other reasons. If you work on those then your belly will eventually stick out less.

    Secondly: yes, still use a food scale. Portion creep is totally a thing even if you say you're eating the same every day. Maybe you're using wrong database entries, or the information on the packaging is unclear as well and you're eating double servings of something. Basically that you're not losing weight means you're eating at maintenance. And despite your size your maintenance calories are not 1200. That means you're eating more. But hey, now you know what your maintenance calories look like. Great, right?

    Btw, your diary is closed.

    Yeah. I have always noticed that big arch in my back but never thought too much of it. Guess its something to consider.

    I have opened my diary now. Note: we did treat ourselves to Red Lobster this weekend but even then, I never ate full portions. M-F though I stick to my diets usually.

    I will need to measure my food more. Thanks for checking in.
  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I'd also suggest using a weight trending app**, if you aren't already. They use statistical techniques to try to sort out the overall direction (trend) of weight from the "noise" of daily water & digestive fluctuations. Slow loss is common when close to goal, and it's maddeningly hard to see on the scale.

    I see that you mention staying in the same weight range for many months, but you showed us only a short snippet from what looks like the MFP weight tracker, which is why I'm suggesting the trending app. In the chunk you show (looks like abou 6/21-8/21), it's *possible* that you're actually slowly losing weight, if I try to visually approximate a trendline through those data points. If losing at half a pound a week or less, it's nearly impossible to see without a trending app (sometimes even with one), on any time scale shorter than several months. (I'll put mine in a spoiler at the end, as an ilustration of what I'm saying.)

    ** Libra for Android, Happy Scale for Apple, Trendweight with a free Fitbit account (don't need a device), Weightgrapher, others. They're not a magic crystal ball, may still mislead at times, but can be a help.

    You might also be helped by reading this, as part of the interpretation of what I'm saying:
    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    I agree with Yirara that your posture is emphasizing your stomach quite a bit (not saying there's no bloating - can't really tell).

    Hmm, I'e never heard of a weight trending app so I will look into that.

    Also, noted on the posture. Thanks!

  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
    When do you get on the weight scale?

    Always first thing on the morning after a morning pee or after my workout and shower.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,329 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    First of all your posture on the first photo doesn't look very good: your lower back is bend forward and hence the belly sticks out. This could be due to various reasons: anterior pelvis tilt and associated tight hip flexors and weak glutes, just lack of lower back muscles, or probably a couple of other reasons. If you work on those then your belly will eventually stick out less.

    Secondly: yes, still use a food scale. Portion creep is totally a thing even if you say you're eating the same every day. Maybe you're using wrong database entries, or the information on the packaging is unclear as well and you're eating double servings of something. Basically that you're not losing weight means you're eating at maintenance. And despite your size your maintenance calories are not 1200. That means you're eating more. But hey, now you know what your maintenance calories look like. Great, right?

    Btw, your diary is closed.

    Yeah. I have always noticed that big arch in my back but never thought too much of it. Guess its something to consider.

    I have opened my diary now. Note: we did treat ourselves to Red Lobster this weekend but even then, I never ate full portions. M-F though I stick to my diets usually.

    I will need to measure my food more. Thanks for checking in.

    Just to give you an idea what's possible here's a little exercise: Lay on your back and put one hand on your belly button and one on your pubic bone. Your lower back is probably arching upwards and hence the hand on the belly button is higher than the other hand. Now tilt your pelvis such that the hand on the belly button goes down and the lower back rests as much as possible on the floor, and the other hand goes up. Do this small movement, which basically tilts the pelvis to the front and back a few times, always alternating between an arched back and your back flat on the floor. Now try this standing and look in the mirror when your back is not arched. It's probably quite a difference. <3

    Some personal experience: I 'grew' 2cm from working on that area, just by standing more upright. It also gives a much better-looking upper back/neck look because there's less strain on the upper back as well.
  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    When do you get on the weight scale?

    Always first thing on the morning after a morning pee or after my workout and shower.

    Weighing after your workout isn't the best idea in combination with weigh-ins after waking up and peeing:
    - your weight could be 'artificially' higher if you drank a lot during your workout
    - or lower if you perspired more than you drank
    I would just stick with weigh-ins in exactly the same circumstances: in the morning after peeing.

    I see.

    But I don't drink at all during my workouts. I get up at like 5:45am, immediately get dressed and head outside for a 2 mile jog, then inside I do core and lift weights for 20-25 mins. Then head to the shower. I may have a few sips in there but not much more.

    I started weight afterwards when I noticed at least a .6lb loss after working out. Its been very consistent.

  • BahstenB10
    BahstenB10 Posts: 227 Member
    edited August 2020
    How often have you been running 2 miles? Has it been the only cardiovascular exercise you have been doing since your journey? Have you tried changing it up? HIIT - Burpees til failure - rest. Sprint as far as you can. Rest. The body gets complacent after time. Try working it into your routine 2x a week for the same amount of time as your 2 mile runs. Maybe alternate days - 2 mile run, HIIT and so forth. The last 5 lbs are the hardest and sometimes you have to up the ante.
  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
    andybing11 wrote: »
    How often have you been running 2 miles? Has it been the only cardiovascular exercise you have been doing since your journey? Have you tried changing it up? HIIT - Burpees til failure - rest. Sprint as far as you can. Rest. The body gets complacent after time. Try working it into your routine 2x a week for the same amount of time as your 2 mile runs. Maybe alternate days - 2 mile run, HIIT and so forth. The last 5 lbs are the hardest and sometimes you have to up the ante.

    Yeah, I've been doing this since June. Started at 1 mile, then up to 2 miles. Was hoping to do more but I only have so much time in the mornings. But I am going to regularly switch it up.

    This morning, I started with kettlebells. But I do think I was sticking to the same thing every morning.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    When do you get on the weight scale?

    Always first thing on the morning after a morning pee or after my workout and shower.

    Weighing after your workout isn't the best idea in combination with weigh-ins after waking up and peeing:
    - your weight could be 'artificially' higher if you drank a lot during your workout
    - or lower if you perspired more than you drank
    I would just stick with weigh-ins in exactly the same circumstances: in the morning after peeing.

    I see.

    But I don't drink at all during my workouts. I get up at like 5:45am, immediately get dressed and head outside for a 2 mile jog, then inside I do core and lift weights for 20-25 mins. Then head to the shower. I may have a few sips in there but not much more.

    I started weight afterwards when I noticed at least a .6lb loss after working out. Its been very consistent.

    So the 0.6lb is water. You're dehydrated. (Water isn't fat, so IMO it doesn't matter. Most of us want to lose fat, right?)

    If you want to weigh after workouts to get that little boost, that's fine. But do that consistently, every time. If you don't work out everyday, then you're locking yourself in to seeing more dramatic scale fluctuations, on account of that. That's still fine, but it *will* make it more difficult to see what trend your weight is on.

    Even if you weigh in consistent conditions, you'll see those spiky ups and downs in daily weight. If you weigh in inconsistent conditions (after workouts some days, before workouts others), it'll be spikier, that's all.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    andybing11 wrote: »
    How often have you been running 2 miles? Has it been the only cardiovascular exercise you have been doing since your journey? Have you tried changing it up? HIIT - Burpees til failure - rest. Sprint as far as you can. Rest. The body gets complacent after time. Try working it into your routine 2x a week for the same amount of time as your 2 mile runs. Maybe alternate days - 2 mile run, HIIT and so forth. The last 5 lbs are the hardest and sometimes you have to up the ante.

    No, your body doesn't "get used to exercise" and burn fewer calories doing the same thing.

    As you get lighter, it burns fewer calories doing things that move your body in space, because bodyweight is part of the workload.

    Beachbody, other outfits that want to sell diet/fitness programs or equipment, and some trainers like to push that "body confusion" idea. It's not true.

    People believe it sometimes because they feel the exercise as easier after a while, see their heart rate get lower doing the same exercise, and have a heart-rate based calorie estimator that tells them they're burning fewer calories doing the same exercise at the same intensity at the same bodyweight. All of that comes from improved fitness and cardiovascular capability - heart can pump more blood volume per beat, so it beats less often to deliver the same amount of oxygen to the body.

    We have to keep challenging our body to keep improving fitness, which does mean changing the program for *fitness* reasons, but that need not be intensity increase (can be other changes). The reason is not calories, and calories are what's behind bodyfat changes.

    For calorie burn, what matters is the work, in basically the physics sense of the term "work". Work requires energy, calories are energy, do the same work, burn the same calories.

    Something like jogging doesn't have huge technical efficiency variations between people. Two people of the same size, same max heart rate, but wildly different fitness levels are burning roughly the same number of calories running the same distance at the same speed. The more fit one finds it easy (and has a lower heart rate, maybe much lower) than the very unfit one, who may be struggling to do it, and seeing a very high heart rate (and possibly a higher calorie estimate from a HR-based estimator).

    There are various reasons to change workout routine: To keep pushing fitness via challenge, to combat burnout or boredom, to develop slightly different physical systems. To burn more calories because "your body is complacent"? I don't think so. In OP's case, it's a red herring. If she enjoys her routine, that's kind of magical, and she should keep doing it.