Frustrated at lack of progress

I eat well. I track everything. I weigh everything out.
I eat at proper times, although lunch is a little weird, with my job, but I do eat it.
I don't eat at night, after dinner.
I am walking daily, after dinner, but also try for one in the morning, as well.
I track exercise, and eat a bit more on days that I am more active.
I stay above 1200, although days I do less exercise, I eat less and stay close to that. But usually I am around 1350-1500.

It has been months. I am down some lbs, although no where near the 2 a week I would like to lose, but I am not even at 1lb a week.
I'm not as concerned about the scale, but I have been tracking measurements as well, and I keep gaining inches.
I know about muscle gain and swelling, but instead of losing over the past 4 months, I have gained, and more than I should be. I'm bigger than I was before I started with my weight loss!
How does one lose lbs but gain inches? They are not inches I want.
It's really messing with my head.

Any thoughts and or solutions?
I can give more info if needed. This was just a base level of info for what has been going on.

Replies

  • davew0000
    davew0000 Posts: 125 Member
    edited August 2021
    Didn’t read OP properly, sry
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,997 Member
    My first question is do you need to lose weight quickly?
    If not, then a slow and steady loss is probably better.

    My next question is building on @Redordeadhead’s comment. If you’re measuring yourself, are you absolutely certain that you’re gaining inches?
    Perhaps standing at the exact same spot in the exact same pose in front of a full length mirror and taking a series of daily or weekly selfies would be helpful?
  • KelpieLass
    KelpieLass Posts: 24 Member
    How much do you have to lose? 2lbs a week might be way too ambitious unless you have a lot of weight to shed.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    open your diary.

    without being able to see it, the most any of us can say, truly, is that your logging is likely to be inaccurate.

    in the vast majority of cases, people think they are logging accurately, and they are not.


  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,687 Member
    edited August 2021
    What’s you’re starting weight and goal? If you’re within 20lbs, give or take, of goal, those are the most tedious to shed.

    You’re making progress. It’s never going to be as fast as we want it.

    How accurate are your food weighing skills, or are you even weighing at all?

    Are you actually measuring yourself or just doing visual comparisons?

    I’ve shed many many sizes. I can look down and see a “big” belly, but it’s in comparison to the rest of my body being so much slimmer than before. My right brain screams “Emergency!!! ya got fat again!” while left brain soothingly reels me in,”well, Spring, that’s hardly likely to have happened overnight, now is it?”

    @kshama2001 would you mind sharing your frumptious little graphic once again?
  • SoulOfFire1514
    SoulOfFire1514 Posts: 29 Member
    My first thought if you have lost a few pounds but seemingly gained inches would be it's hard to measure yourself in exactly the same spot every time and you may just have picked slightly different areas.

    What is your current height and weight?

    This isn't my first rodeo with it. I've lost 85lbs before, after my son.
    I know I am measuring in the same spots.
    It helps, since I'm covered in tattoos, that I can pick a reference point and utilize that. So I do.

    I'm 5'3 and 180lbs. I'm down 16 now.
    But have gained 8 inches.
    Goal weight is 135.
  • SoulOfFire1514
    SoulOfFire1514 Posts: 29 Member
    My first question is do you need to lose weight quickly?
    If not, then a slow and steady loss is probably better.

    My next question is building on @Redordeadhead’s comment. If you’re measuring yourself, are you absolutely certain that you’re gaining inches?
    Perhaps standing at the exact same spot in the exact same pose in front of a full length mirror and taking a series of daily or weekly selfies would be helpful?

    I would like to lose the weight quickly but know it is not really feasible. I have been wanting 2lbs a week, but 1 would be more feasible for me.

    This isn't my first time in this battle.
    And I do have those pictures and measurements.
    And yes, I'm absolutely sure I'm gaining inches. Even my clothes are fitting tighter.
    It's frustrating, for sure.
  • SoulOfFire1514
    SoulOfFire1514 Posts: 29 Member
    KelpieLass wrote: »
    How much do you have to lose? 2lbs a week might be way too ambitious unless you have a lot of weight to shed.

    I was aiming for 60 ok be, although 70 would be my ultimate goal.
  • SoulOfFire1514
    SoulOfFire1514 Posts: 29 Member
    open your diary.

    without being able to see it, the most any of us can say, truly, is that your logging is likely to be inaccurate.

    in the vast majority of cases, people think they are logging accurately, and they are not.


    No thanks.

    I know my logging is accurate. I input everything properly. According to scale (I have two, so I double check randomly just in case one doesn't work, or the batteries are dying), and I utilize the nutritional facts, or I research it.
    I don't rely on what's posted on this site, as too many are numbered wrong.

    I've been logging data for 15 years. I know what I'm doing in that sense.
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,155 Member
    I wonder if it might be time to consult a doctor, if you haven't?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    What’s you’re starting weight and goal? If you’re within 20lbs, give or take, of goal, those are the most tedious to shed.

    You’re making progress. It’s never going to be as fast as we want it.

    How accurate are your food weighing skills, or are you even weighing at all?

    Are you actually measuring yourself or just doing visual comparisons?

    I’ve shed many many sizes. I can look down and see a “big” belly, but it’s in comparison to the rest of my body being so much slimmer than before. My right brain screams “Emergency!!! ya got fat again!” while left brain soothingly reels me in,”well, Spring, that’s hardly likely to have happened overnight, now is it?”

    @kshama2001 would you mind sharing your frumptious little graphic once again?

    This graphic?

    9kjwnia17qv9.jpg
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    What’s you’re starting weight and goal? If you’re within 20lbs, give or take, of goal, those are the most tedious to shed.

    You’re making progress. It’s never going to be as fast as we want it.

    How accurate are your food weighing skills, or are you even weighing at all?

    Are you actually measuring yourself or just doing visual comparisons?

    I’ve shed many many sizes. I can look down and see a “big” belly, but it’s in comparison to the rest of my body being so much slimmer than before. My right brain screams “Emergency!!! ya got fat again!” while left brain soothingly reels me in,”well, Spring, that’s hardly likely to have happened overnight, now is it?”

    @kshama2001 would you mind sharing your frumptious little graphic once again?

    Starting weight was 196. I'm at 180 now.
    Definitely not within my last 20.
    I weigh absolutely everything that goes into my body.
    And yes, I'm actually measuring myself. In the last two weeks, I gained 3 inches all around. Since I really started this cut, I've gained about 8. It's very strange.
    I don't expect this to happen over night.
    I'm not a newbie to this.
    I've been a body builder in my younger days. A swim team competitor. A soccer player. An extreme mountain biker.
    I got pregnant and gained a ton from many problems.
    Lost it all, and felt pretty good, but all the health issues that I had after my son caused me to have 12 surgeries in 7 years. I gained a ton, had a hysterectomy, and went into early menopause.
    Add in a horrible marriage, a nasty separation, a fight for custody from a drug addict, and working 18 hour days, 7 days a week, for years, does wicked things to the body.
    I've spent the last year reprogramming my brain, and body, to accept change.
    Training to eat at proper times, instead of once a day. Training to sleep, instead of having insomnia. Preparing for working out, etc, by walking, scheduling my work differently, etc.
    In the last 4 months, I have lost 16lbs, but have gained 8 inches.
    Strange.

    Thanks for mentioning the hysterectomy, so that rules out uterine fibroids.

    Where exactly are those 8 inches?
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,886 Member
    My first thought if you have lost a few pounds but seemingly gained inches would be it's hard to measure yourself in exactly the same spot every time and you may just have picked slightly different areas.

    What is your current height and weight?

    This isn't my first rodeo with it. I've lost 85lbs before, after my son.
    I know I am measuring in the same spots.
    It helps, since I'm covered in tattoos, that I can pick a reference point and utilize that. So I do.

    I'm 5'3 and 180lbs. I'm down 16 now.
    But have gained 8 inches.
    Goal weight is 135.

    Losing weight but gaining inches is highly unusual. What parts of your body are gaining inches and how much?
    Did you start strength training? Swelling from that seems the most likely option. (without knowing where you're gaining inches).
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,997 Member
    open your diary.

    without being able to see it, the most any of us can say, truly, is that your logging is likely to be inaccurate.

    in the vast majority of cases, people think they are logging accurately, and they are not.


    No thanks.

    I know my logging is accurate. I input everything properly. According to scale (I have two, so I double check randomly just in case one doesn't work, or the batteries are dying), and I utilize the nutritional facts, or I research it.
    I don't rely on what's posted on this site, as too many are numbered wrong.

    I've been logging data for 15 years. I know what I'm doing in that sense.

    well since you are perfect i guess youve got all this under control and dont need our help.

    best of luck.

    Ooof…. 😖
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,997 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Whether 2lbs or 1lb down is appropriate, we are dealing with 16lbs down and 8" up.

    Not 16lbs down and 0, 1 or 2" up. Not 0lbs down and few inches up; but 16lbs down and 8" up.

    Now if 8" is 0.5 to 1" up from 16 spots I would still vote for measurement error because 16 scale lbs is not minor but a 0.5" tape error is fairly easy to see happening for people without spotting tattoos.

    But if 8" is from one or two spots and 16lbs? This ain't making much sense because all these inches caused by water also have weight.

    So... original scale issue? Sounds unlikely.

    So either it's the body measurements (and if clothes are tighter this would argue against), or I'm joining the get checked out by dr contingent....

    Good job on all the changes you're making!

    X2
    I would ask a doctor about this.
  • Anya_000
    Anya_000 Posts: 725 Member
    Sarcopenic obesity? (Loss of muscle, gain in fat tissue.) I see this in a lot of elderly, and people with chronic illness. I hope you can see your provider, because this seems beyond the scope of us on MyFitnesspal. Wish you the best.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    Depending on where the measurement p
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Whether 2lbs or 1lb down is appropriate, we are dealing with 16lbs down and 8" up.

    Not 16lbs down and 0, 1 or 2" up. Not 0lbs down and few inches up; but 16lbs down and 8" up.

    Now if 8" is 0.5 to 1" up from 16 spots I would still vote for measurement error because 16 scale lbs is not minor but a 0.5" tape error is fairly easy to see happening for people without spotting tattoos.

    But if 8" is from one or two spots and 16lbs? This ain't making much sense because all these inches caused by water also have weight.

    So... original scale issue? Sounds unlikely.

    So either it's the body measurements (and if clothes are tighter this would argue against), or I'm joining the get checked out by dr contingent....

    Good job on all the changes you're making!

    Where the measurement points are may matter, too, as well as how many. I don't know how things look for OP right now, but when I was losing, my fat areas got kind of soft and droopy (where they used to be firmer and rounder at max weight). To the extent there might be some of that going on, I can imagine that possibly certain measurements would increase via gravitation effects on looser body tissue, but that it would eventually pass, as more fat was lost.

    As far as lost pounds, to the extent that a person started with internal visceral fat (inside the body cavity), my understanding is that that fat can be lost first (a boon for the health effects), but potentially there wouldn't necessarily be a corresponding decrease in external measurements.

    However, I do think water retention weirdness is somewhat more probable, and a check-in with the doctor a good idea, out of an abundance of caution.

    I can understand why you'd be frustrated, OP, and I hope you'll hang in there, see how progress goes from here.
  • jak1958
    jak1958 Posts: 82 Member
    » show previous quotes

    well since you are perfect i guess youve got all this under control and dont need our help.

    best of luck.

    @callsitlikeiseeit how compassionate! I guess you think you have it all figured out.. let us know when you get over yourself