down and confused

ktilton70130
ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
in Motivation and Support
I have been staying within my calories and have worked out everyday and instead the scale went up by an entire 5lbs. I am trying to convince myself it's water but mentally it's taking a toll. Am i losing it? Can anyone offer any suggestions, motivation or inspiration how to get through this part of the journey

Replies

  • katemcd495
    katemcd495 Posts: 36 Member
    Measurements! Take your measurements once a month and that will help you see progress.

    Also, and this might not work for everyone, but I weigh myself every day. Fitbit tells me my weekly average weight and that is the only thing I pay attention to. My daily weight goes up and down by several pounds, but my weekly weight slowly goes down. If I only weighed once a week I could happen upon a bloated day and get discouraged.

    Hang in there!
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    katemcd495 wrote: »
    Measurements! Take your measurements once a month and that will help you see progress.

    Also, and this might not work for everyone, but I weigh myself every day. Fitbit tells me my weekly average weight and that is the only thing I pay attention to. My daily weight goes up and down by several pounds, but my weekly weight slowly goes down. If I only weighed once a week I could happen upon a bloated day and get discouraged.

    Hang in there!

    Thank you I need to look up what I need to take measurements and how to properly take them. Thank you again for your feedback and suggestions.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,885 Member
    How long have you been trying to lose weight? If it's been less than a month, you need to give it more time.
    Exercising every day, if this is new for you, is a classic reason why the scale might go upwards: water retention for muscle repair.

    PS: some long-term advice: don't do anything to do lose weight that you can't keep up long-term. Exercising every day might not be realistic, and if you're not used to it, could cause you to burn out. So instead of trying to go from 0 to 60mph 'instantly', perhaps give yourself time to ease into new habits gradually? Not just for exercise, but diet as well. We see many people go 'gung ho', overhauling their diet in one go and, on top of that, aiming for a very quick rate of loss. Unfortunately, those are more likely to give up and then regain afterwards than those who take a more gradual approach, changing their habits gradually.
    Not saying this necessarily applies to you, but the 'exercising every day' part rang some alarms bells for me :smile:
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    How long have you been trying to lose weight? If it's been less than a month, you need to give it more time.
    Exercising every day, if this is new for you, is a classic reason why the scale might go upwards: water retention for muscle repair.

    PS: some long-term advice: don't do anything to do lose weight that you can't keep up long-term. Exercising every day might not be realistic, and if you're not used to it, could cause you to burn out. So instead of trying to go from 0 to 60mph 'instantly', perhaps give yourself time to ease into new habits gradually? Not just for exercise, but diet as well. We see many people go 'gung ho', overhauling their diet in one go and, on top of that, aiming for a very quick rate of loss. Unfortunately, those are more likely to give up and then regain afterwards than those who take a more gradual approach, changing their habits gradually.
    Not saying this necessarily applies to you, but the 'exercising every day' part rang some alarms bells for me :smile:

    oh no no not new to this weight loss journey started last year actually, took a break over Christmas and January due to health issues and got back to it for 2022. Overall SW 308 in 2021. 2022 sw 289 cw 234 I love to exercise it's my therapy and I walk all day anyway I work in healthcare. I do agree it may be water retention for muscle repair because that's been my main focus strength training but 5lbs like wow. My goal is to lose 1-2lbs a week I read that goal is more ideal .

    I understand about the exercising every day part ringing an alarm,lol. I have been strength training 4 days a week and walk 3 days a week again it's my therapy life is stressful and instead of eating it's either exercise or read a book.

    right now I am reviewing my food log maybe i am intaking to much sodium .
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,885 Member
    I'm still not sure over what time frame you've not lost weight/gained those 5 lbs?

    Strength training is even more likely to cause water retention than cardio, especially if you've changed your routine/frequency and/or intensity :smile:
    You've been losing weight for a while now. Have you taken a maintenance break in the past months? That can help with stalls sometimes (losing weight is stressful for the body, which can also lead to water retention, and a prolonged deficit can also mess with your hunger signals).
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    I'm still not sure over what time frame you've not lost weight/gained those 5 lbs?

    Strength training is even more likely to cause water retention than cardio, especially if you've changed your routine/frequency and/or intensity :smile:
    You've been losing weight for a while now. Have you taken a maintenance break in the past months? That can help with stalls sometimes (losing weight is stressful for the body, which can also lead to water retention, and a prolonged deficit can also mess with your hunger signals).

    I gained the 5lbs over this week 5 days to be exact...Yes you are correct I did change my intensity of strength training..I am thinking like you that's what it is ...

    the last break I took was in Dec/Jan due to health issues
  • BoundlessBow
    BoundlessBow Posts: 21 Member
    Are you using a food scale to measure your portions? It could very well be water weight, maybe you had something with a little extra sodium. I blow up when I have something a little salty. Could also be where you are at in your monthly cycle.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,885 Member
    5 days is nothing, short term fluctuations are due to water weight fluctuations and/or variations of food waste in your system :smile: I use a weight trending app to smooth out short term fluctuations (Libra for Android, there is also Happyscale for iOS)
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    5 days is nothing, short term fluctuations are due to water weight fluctuations and/or variations of food waste in your system :smile: I use a weight trending app to smooth out short term fluctuations (Libra for Android, there is also Happyscale for iOS)

    thank you for sharing I will looking into these apps, I did not know they even existed.
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    BoundlessBow wrote: »
    Are you using a food scale to measure your portions? It could very well be water weight, maybe you had something with a little extra sodium. I blow up when I have something a little salty. Could also be where you are at in your monthly cycle.

    oh yes definitely use a food scale and you are correct after reviewing my food intake this week I noticed that I was over on sodium the entire week. ..totally sucks that I did not note that before so it's definitely water retention sooo now I am increasing water and trying to find some dandelion tea to help me get through this
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    ktilton70130 wrote: »
    BoundlessBow wrote: »
    Are you using a food scale to measure your portions? It could very well be water weight, maybe you had something with a little extra sodium. I blow up when I have something a little salty. Could also be where you are at in your monthly cycle.

    oh yes definitely use a food scale and you are correct after reviewing my food intake this week I noticed that I was over on sodium the entire week. ..totally sucks that I did not note that before so it's definitely water retention sooo now I am increasing water and trying to find some dandelion tea to help me get through this

    Potassium rich food helps with cutting sodium
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    thank you @Chef_Barbell i have bananas at home already will look into some others foods thanks again
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    ktilton70130 wrote: »
    BoundlessBow wrote: »
    Are you using a food scale to measure your portions? It could very well be water weight, maybe you had something with a little extra sodium. I blow up when I have something a little salty. Could also be where you are at in your monthly cycle.

    oh yes definitely use a food scale and you are correct after reviewing my food intake this week I noticed that I was over on sodium the entire week. ..totally sucks that I did not note that before so it's definitely water retention sooo now I am increasing water and trying to find some dandelion tea to help me get through this

    I would not advise any extraneous meds/supplements to try to reduce the water retention, unless a person has a doctor-diagnosed relevant health condition and needs meds the doctor recommends..

    Water weight shifts are part of how a healthy body stays healthy. Healthy bodies know what they're doing.

    Please don't try to interrupt or game your body's perfectly normal, healthy methods for managing your health, just in order to see an arbitrary number on a scale, or to look better. It's a bad plan.

    Sure, get some nice electrolytes from food (like potassium-containing foods), make sure you're well hydrated (don't go crazy with it).

    Trust your body, learn how it operates. For one suggestion, please read this:

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

    Other MFP-ers talk about their personal experiences here:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    ktilton70130 wrote: »
    BoundlessBow wrote: »
    Are you using a food scale to measure your portions? It could very well be water weight, maybe you had something with a little extra sodium. I blow up when I have something a little salty. Could also be where you are at in your monthly cycle.

    oh yes definitely use a food scale and you are correct after reviewing my food intake this week I noticed that I was over on sodium the entire week. ..totally sucks that I did not note that before so it's definitely water retention sooo now I am increasing water and trying to find some dandelion tea to help me get through this

    I would not advise any extraneous meds/supplements to try to reduce the water retention, unless a person has a doctor-diagnosed relevant health condition and needs meds the doctor recommends..

    Water weight shifts are part of how a healthy body stays healthy. Healthy bodies know what they're doing.

    Please don't try to interrupt or game your body's perfectly normal, healthy methods for managing your health, just in order to see an arbitrary number on a scale, or to look better. It's a bad plan.

    Sure, get some nice electrolytes from food (like potassium-containing foods), make sure you're well hydrated (don't go crazy with it).

    Trust your body, learn how it operates. For one suggestion, please read this:

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

    Other MFP-ers talk about their personal experiences here:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

    Thank you. :smile:
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    ktilton70130 wrote: »
    I have been staying within my calories and have worked out everyday and instead the scale went up by an entire 5lbs. I am trying to convince myself it's water but mentally it's taking a toll. Am i losing it? Can anyone offer any suggestions, motivation or inspiration how to get through this part of the journey

    Start with simply doing the math. To gain 5 Lbs of actual fat you would have had to consume 17,500 calories over your maintenance requirements over the last 5 days...I'm pretty sure you would know if you did that.

    New exercise causes inflammation of the muscles and water retention which aids in repair of broken down tissues. It can also be caused by more sodium than usual or more carbohydrates than usual...or it could be nothing at all as bodyweight fluctuates naturally all on it's own. Your body is comprised of roughly 55-65% water and that composition will always fluctuate. You will always have varying degrees of inherent digestive waste in your system, etc. Not to mention, and I'm assuming you're a woman, you will have monthly hormonal changes which cause water retention.

    At this point, with 5 days, you don't have enough data to perform any kind of meaningful analysis.
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    @cwolfman13 everything that you stated is correct. Thank you for the great feedback and assurance.
  • ktilton70130
    ktilton70130 Posts: 211 Member
    Happy to report that I am down the 5lb and another 1lb. I am so relieved. Thank you all for words of encouragement and support. I continued my plan, added bananas to my meal plan and of course focused on ensuring I got my water in and remained on a calorie deficit . Thank you all again. :blush:
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,885 Member
    See, good things come to those who wait :smile:

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