Getting nowhere except frustrated
doutri2
Posts: 186 Member
I have been a frequent on/off user of MFP for many years now. My weight has fluctuated within a 5-7 pound range for all of those years.
However, within the last few months (since Jan. 1), I have made a more conscious effort to eat more proteins and less gluten (truthful replaced with rice) and have increased the number of workouts, length of workouts and increased weight training.
I cannot lose a pound or two and keep it off. If I lose it one day, it's back 2 days later with still the same diet. Yesterday, I went for a 34 mile bike ride (4 hours) burnt over 1,000 calories and I weigh more today than I did 2 days ago.
What am I doing wrong? (besides being obsessed with the scale?)
However, within the last few months (since Jan. 1), I have made a more conscious effort to eat more proteins and less gluten (truthful replaced with rice) and have increased the number of workouts, length of workouts and increased weight training.
I cannot lose a pound or two and keep it off. If I lose it one day, it's back 2 days later with still the same diet. Yesterday, I went for a 34 mile bike ride (4 hours) burnt over 1,000 calories and I weigh more today than I did 2 days ago.
What am I doing wrong? (besides being obsessed with the scale?)
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Replies
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Do you use a food scale?
You don’t say anything about your calorie target. Are you tracking calories?0 -
Yes, I do track calories too.0
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I haven't used a scale in over 10 years, and find I'm much better off because of it. Your weight can fluctuate day to day based on what you ate, when you ate, how much water you drank; and building muscle will actually make you gain weight even when you're losing inches!
I've found that being conscious of how I feel in my body and whether I like how it looks in the mirror is a much better measure of where I'm at than the scale. Maybe try a different tactic for measuring your fitness level?2 -
I can't seem to eat less calories. I even cut out starches from my dinners so that it is only protein and veggies. I have a small portion of dessert bc I'm using still starving from dinner. I'm struggling with what to eat to fulfill me, but not to consumer too many calories.
Oh, and my pants are definitely on the tighter side - not by choice.2 -
Have you had a physical lately to rule.out any other causes?0
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You say you cannot eat less calories. So, does that mean you cannot stick to your calorie goals or does sticking to your calorie goals not seem to lead to a loss in weight and you wonder if you should cut calories down further?0
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You won't lose 1/3 of a pound when you burn 1000 calories in a day. It doesn't work like that. Likely your body retains more fluid from muscle repair, you might have been dehydrated a bit and not had a poop, maybe ate a bit more salt, leading to more fluid retention, lots of other reasons. Your weight constantly fluctuates. That means you need to keep this up for weeks to see if it's working to ride out normal weight fluctuations and don't give up after two days.4
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Nothing except being obsessed with the scale. But you said that. A word of warning- focusing on the number on the scale instead of fitness goals caused me trouble that took years to correct.2
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Keep up your good exercise! And keep up your (honest) logging of your meals. Maybe you should limit your weighing on the scale to once or twice a week at the same time of day. You can lost the extra weight. Keep trying and keep a positive attitude. Good luck.1
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mikhnpaitsmum wrote: »Have you had a physical lately to rule.out any other causes?
No, I haven't been in to a doc in about 3 years. I really should up-to-date on some things.
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AndreaTamira wrote: »You say you cannot eat less calories. So, does that mean you cannot stick to your calorie goals or does sticking to your calorie goals not seem to lead to a loss in weight and you wonder if you should cut calories down further?
Even when I think I'm cutting calories, I find that I'm not cutting calories. Meaning, I think I'm making good choices for food, but when I log them, I find out that I am over my calorie goal unless I do a major workout.2 -
Water weight always fluctuates between 5-7lbs and excess sodium causes your body to retain water. And don’t forget, muscles outweighs fat cause it’s denser.0
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Hey, callsitlikeIseeit! That was a really informative post. I do have a food scale, but I have rarely used it for my own food intake. I do cook for a living, so I've used it for that mostly. I will be referring back to the flowchart you shared. Helpful. Though I will be honest that I've never understood the "eating back the calories you burned part" of the weightloss program. So, I eat more, but it doesn't seem to work that way in the formula on the Diary page. For example, on Sunday when I biked almost 34 miles for 4 hours, MFP said that I burned 1,024 calories. I still stuck to a mostly protein, veggie, fruit diet, but felt that I earned my gluten free cupcake with frosting. However, when I logged everything, it only gave me 155 "points" towards my exercise and then I was over though I didn't overeat after my bike ride. I just don't get it.0
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You won't lose 1/3 of a pound when you burn 1000 calories in a day. It doesn't work like that. Likely your body retains more fluid from muscle repair, you might have been dehydrated a bit and not had a poop, maybe ate a bit more salt, leading to more fluid retention, lots of other reasons. Your weight constantly fluctuates. That means you need to keep this up for weeks to see if it's working to ride out normal weight fluctuations and don't give up after two days.
Lots of truth in this. During the bike ride, it was sips of water here and there. Barely ate. Made sure I took an Imodium before biking so I wouldn't have to poop in that 4 hour window. It gets so frustrating bc we talk about calories in vs calories out and I definitely had almost a day's worth of calories out. And, same for the a few days prior to that, but the scale barely moves. I don't expect to lose 5 lbs, but I was really hoping to keep off the 2-3 pounds I had lost, but instead it came right back on the day after my ride. I feel like I'm doing it all wrong.0 -
AndreaTamira wrote: »You say you cannot eat less calories. So, does that mean you cannot stick to your calorie goals or does sticking to your calorie goals not seem to lead to a loss in weight and you wonder if you should cut calories down further?
Even when I think I'm cutting calories, I find that I'm not cutting calories. Meaning, I think I'm making good choices for food, but when I log them, I find out that I am over my calorie goal unless I do a major workout.
Maybe you are one of those people for whom pre-logging their foods is the best way to go. You could plan your meals, prep them in advance and know (as you measured and weighted everything) how many calories you will be eating tgat day in advance. That way you would not have unhappy surprises.Hey, callsitlikeIseeit! That was a really informative post. I do have a food scale, but I have rarely used it for my own food intake. I do cook for a living, so I've used it for that mostly. I will be referring back to the flowchart you shared. Helpful. Though I will be honest that I've never understood the "eating back the calories you burned part" of the weightloss program. So, I eat more, but it doesn't seem to work that way in the formula on the Diary page. For example, on Sunday when I biked almost 34 miles for 4 hours, MFP said that I burned 1,024 calories. I still stuck to a mostly protein, veggie, fruit diet, but felt that I earned my gluten free cupcake with frosting. However, when I logged everything, it only gave me 155 "points" towards my exercise and then I was over though I didn't overeat after my bike ride. I just don't get it.
I am a bit confused there. When I exercise and MFP says I earned X calories this is the calories I am adding. There are no other points to deal with. Ard you using a smart watch or something like that tgat could contribute to that confusion? (I don't, so if that's what is going on not sure what the problem is.)0 -
You won't lose 1/3 of a pound when you burn 1000 calories in a day. It doesn't work like that. Likely your body retains more fluid from muscle repair, you might have been dehydrated a bit and not had a poop, maybe ate a bit more salt, leading to more fluid retention, lots of other reasons. Your weight constantly fluctuates. That means you need to keep this up for weeks to see if it's working to ride out normal weight fluctuations and don't give up after two days.
Lots of truth in this. During the bike ride, it was sips of water here and there. Barely ate. Made sure I took an Imodium before biking so I wouldn't have to poop in that 4 hour window. It gets so frustrating bc we talk about calories in vs calories out and I definitely had almost a day's worth of calories out. And, same for the a few days prior to that, but the scale barely moves. I don't expect to lose 5 lbs, but I was really hoping to keep off the 2-3 pounds I had lost, but instead it came right back on the day after my ride. I feel like I'm doing it all wrong.
You did intense exercise (which can lead to fluid retention) and on top of that you tried to ensure you didn't eliminate any waste (which can also impact your weight temporarily). I think the issue is that you're looking at this in terms of mere days, when weight management is really a longer term thing.
Weight loss isn't created by one really long bike ride or a couple of days of limiting your calories. It's the combination of your day-in-day-out choices and even while we're losing weight, stuff like intense exercise or elimination patterns can also impact our weight in small ways that can keep us from seeing immediate weight loss.
The only thing you're really doing "wrong" is having unrealistic expectations and, possibly, focusing on the TYPES of foods you're eating to the exclusion of focusing on calories (since a calorie deficit is what creates weight loss).
If you want to have a cupcake after your bike ride, that's fine. But if you're trying to lose weight, you'll just want to make sure you're still in a calorie deficit.4 -
I think a 5 lb leadway sounds good. You may be too hard on yourself. I am staying about 5 lbs more than I want to also but I guess I am not willing to eat less food or give up some of my carbs. Congrats on keeping the weight off. All of us are different, I like weighing daily. I know where I stand. One time I didnt weigh for a few months and gained 20 lbs. Dont want that.1
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Hey, callsitlikeIseeit! That was a really informative post. I do have a food scale, but I have rarely used it for my own food intake. I do cook for a living, so I've used it for that mostly. I will be referring back to the flowchart you shared. Helpful. Though I will be honest that I've never understood the "eating back the calories you burned part" of the weightloss program. So, I eat more, but it doesn't seem to work that way in the formula on the Diary page. For example, on Sunday when I biked almost 34 miles for 4 hours, MFP said that I burned 1,024 calories. I still stuck to a mostly protein, veggie, fruit diet, but felt that I earned my gluten free cupcake with frosting. However, when I logged everything, it only gave me 155 "points" towards my exercise and then I was over though I didn't overeat after my bike ride. I just don't get it.
You mean you only got 155 extra calories on top of your base calorie goal after that bike ride?
What activity level are you set at? The MFP activity level is meant only for non-exercise activity, so you can do a ton of exercise, but if your non-exercise activity is lower than your chosen activity level, you'll 'lose' calories in your calorie adjustment.0 -
I would definitely recommend NOT eating your exercise calories. Exercise, but don't log it in your diary. Then, you won't be as tempted to eat them. Besides, as someone mentioned, I am certain that MFP overestimates calories burned in exercise. If I had logged and eaten my exercise calories, I am certain I would have gained weight while staying with the recommended calories to lose a pound a week.1
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A 34 mile bike ride is going to cause water retention, even in someone who is well trained and in good shape...it's still a lot of work and you're still breaking down muscle which needs to be repaired which causes inflammation and water retention.Hey, callsitlikeIseeit! That was a really informative post. I do have a food scale, but I have rarely used it for my own food intake. I do cook for a living, so I've used it for that mostly. I will be referring back to the flowchart you shared. Helpful. Though I will be honest that I've never understood the "eating back the calories you burned part" of the weightloss program. So, I eat more, but it doesn't seem to work that way in the formula on the Diary page. For example, on Sunday when I biked almost 34 miles for 4 hours, MFP said that I burned 1,024 calories. I still stuck to a mostly protein, veggie, fruit diet, but felt that I earned my gluten free cupcake with frosting. However, when I logged everything, it only gave me 155 "points" towards my exercise and then I was over though I didn't overeat after my bike ride. I just don't get it.
I'm assuming you have a device linked to MFP? If that is the case, your adjustment is only a reconciliation between what you set as your activity level on MFP to what your estimated actual activity level is per your device. IE, if you are set to active on MFP, you're likely to get only very small adjustments because that generous amount of activity has already been accounted for in your activity level.
Synced devices do not send over calories for a specific exercise or workout...they only send over an adjustment to reconcile MFP and your device.1 -
Lots of truth in this. During the bike ride, it was sips of water here and there. Barely ate. Made sure I took an Imodium before biking so I wouldn't have to poop in that 4 hour window. It gets so frustrating bc we talk about calories in vs calories out and I definitely had almost a day's worth of calories out. And, same for the a few days prior to that, but the scale barely moves. I don't expect to lose 5 lbs, but I was really hoping to keep off the 2-3 pounds I had lost, but instead it came right back on the day after my ride. I feel like I'm doing it all wrong.
When you have a very active day it sometimes seems like you should be able to eat almost anything. You can definitely eat more, but you really have to log carefully or it's easy to go over. And, a 1000-calorie bike ride can make you hungry!
Also, imodium makes you retain water, so you might get a little weight bump from that. (Which should go away in the next day or two.)1 -
@doutri2, if you haven't already read this article, I think it might be informative:
https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations
It links to some other material that's good, too, and that may be applicable to your situation.0 -
I would definitely recommend NOT eating your exercise calories. Exercise, but don't log it in your diary. Then, you won't be as tempted to eat them. Besides, as someone mentioned, I am certain that MFP overestimates calories burned in exercise. If I had logged and eaten my exercise calories, I am certain I would have gained weight while staying with the recommended calories to lose a pound a week.
Zero is definitely an incorrect exercise calorie estimate, if a person does exercise on top of a calorie goal that wasn't predicated on that exercise (which would be true of an MFP calorie goal, if one follows the instructions).
Eating too little is not a path to thriving, and since bodies are dynamic systems, eating too little can sometimes backfire, by creating a subtle fatigue that reduces calorie expenditure in daily life.
I estimated exercise carefully while losing, then ate every delicious exercise calorie, and lost weight fine. Figuring out how to account for exercise calories is a useful thing to do before reaching goal weight, too, IMO, unless a person plans to stop exercising at that point. For me, it makes maintenance easier to understand that, because I can easily maintain weight in periods of quite high exercise, or very little/none.
I think it's good advice to run a patient experiment of a month or more, estimating exercise with a consistent method along the way, then adjust calories as needed based on one's own multi-week results data. MFP's onr any other calculator's estimates are not gospel, they're a hypothesis that needs to be tested. Not everyone is average. (Turns out that had I not eating back exercise calories, I would've lost weight way, way too fast. Others' experiences may differ, and do.) Even fitness trackers can get all-day calorie estimates wrong, if a person turns out to be very non-average.3 -
Thanks for everyone taking the time to chime in. I really appreciate it. If no one had said anything, I would have even been more frustrated and just threw in the towel. This gives me more inspiration to stay on track.
If one thing to remember is to look at the long tern and not just day to day losses and gains.3
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