Very Discouraged

heatyola
heatyola Posts: 12
edited September 19 in Food and Nutrition
:cry:

I usually weigh myself every Monday morning which I did two days ago and I was down to 166.6 from 175 (my starting point about six weeks ago).

Every week I am up two pounds, down two pounds, up three pounds, down one pound. It is soo nerve racking. For some reason I felt like weighting myself this morning and i am up 6 pounds since two days ago!! Why would this be happening. It is so discouraging. I am trying so hard: I count all my calories, exercise everyday and weight train.

I feel like any weight lose that I have is happening so slowly and it takes so much effort, I know it is hard to lose weight because I have done it before several times. But this time it is just taking much more out of me... maybe cuz I am older too. I don't know I am tired.... discouraged.... and having a personal pity party this morning. Is anyone else going through this same thing?

Thanks for listening to me wine.

Heather

Replies

  • weaverc
    weaverc Posts: 158
    I struggle with the same thing. Down 2 up 1, down 2 up 3. I feel like I am consistently weighing in within the same 2lb. range. I keep changing up my routine and stick to the food plan. I am hoping that eventually it will pay off.
  • KatWood
    KatWood Posts: 1,135 Member
    Don't be discouraged!
    Your weight will naturally fluctuate every day and I never weigh myself more than once a week and even then I do it the same day of the week, at the same time and nude:blushing: But even then there will be some fluctuation and the scale may not reflect my hard work that week. Looking at your profile you have lost 8 lbs in 6 weeks? That's more than a lb a week, so you should consider that a success!
    Don't let the scale by your determining factor of success or failure. Be sure to note your clothes getting looser, the inches that come off your body, your increase energy, decreased stress and just overall how great you feel and how proud you are for making such a postive lifestyle change!
    We all have our low moments, luckily we have our MFP friends to keep us going.
    Chin up you can do this. You are well on your way and it is only a matter of time before you reach your goals. :flowerforyou:
  • havingitall
    havingitall Posts: 3,728 Member
    Have you checked how much sodium you are eating? That can be a killer for me. If one day I have too much salt, I can gain several pounds. When that happens I exercise more and drink lots of water.
  • heatyola
    heatyola Posts: 12
    Now that I think about it, I did drink a cup of chicken broth yesturday at lunch. That was probably FULL of sodium. Do you think that did it? Thanks for all the encouragement!!

    Heather





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  • Maria061
    Maria061 Posts: 118
    heatyola,
    I am too , in a same situation. the pound going up, even knowing that I am watching what I eat. For me, some how it is very easy to gain lbs not even knowing how I got them. My be the age, metabolism, tha way how other people said in their posts.

    You had lost 8LBS = 6weeks. Just keep You work going, don't give up and don;t ask for more, You are doing very well. Did You take a measurement before You start, if not , try even now and You can see in inches. Measure Your hips, waist, neck, chest (right under a bra liner). Good luck,
  • CK07
    CK07 Posts: 10
    Weight isn't always the best indicator - sometimes it fluctuates but also, if you are working out (especially with weights or strength training) muscle weighs more than fat. So...you'll be losing fat, but gaining weight (as muscle) which can seem frightening when looking at the scale!

    Try using the "Check In" feature of the site to record your measurements around your bust, neck, hips, waist etc...that is a better indicator as you could be losing inches but still gaining weight from muscle buliding.

    And there are other reasons too, like someone else mentioned, the sodium.
  • sonjavon
    sonjavon Posts: 1,019 Member
    The sodium could DEFINITELY be doing it to you. Try really watching your sodium intake for a few weeks. Also - are you drinking enough water? And ummm.... how are your bowel movements?

    I know this is the extreme... but last summer my son had a major bowel issue.... he ended up having to go the hospital for an enema - he lost 6 pounds in one night! If you're not "going" as regularly as you should be - you'd be amazed how much that can weigh! Drinking more water will help that...

    Do your clothes feel like they're getting any looser?
  • demezat
    demezat Posts: 158
    yeah looks like we're all in the same boat, and it can be very discouraging!! I have been working my butt off and the scales are just up and down 2 to 3 lbs either way...it sucks!! my biggest problem is night time snacking...I know what I need to do to stop it, I just have to do it

    Good luck to you all!!:flowerforyou:
  • heatyola
    heatyola Posts: 12
    I haven't taken any measurements yet. I was waiting until I felt "skinnier" before doing that and that hasn't happened yet. My clothes still fit the same and I don't feel lighter.

    I know I have lost 8 pounds in 6 weeks but I dropped 5 of them in one night and the other three here and there. So to me that doesn't sound like success!!

    I keep going in hopes one day I wake up and am down another 5 pounds again. My body has to catch up to me - doesn't it?

    Heather

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  • heatyola
    heatyola Posts: 12
    I found this great article on anther site. It makes sense to me.

    Explanation for the 'whoosh' effect

    Here is a post from another board which is an explanation of the ‘whoosh’ effect. I had read something similar a few years ago. This was written by Lyle McDonald, who has written several books about body-building, fat loss, ketogenic diets, etc.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Fat cell water content and fat loss

    Ok, finally stickying this stupid post with some very minor modifications.

    It's something I've mentioned over the years, an assertion that my exercise physiology professor had made wrt: fat loss.

    Note that under normal conditions, fat cells contain ~90% triglycerides and ~10% other stuff where other stuff includes some water, the cellular machinery that makes all the stuff that fat cells make and a couple of other things that I'm forgetting right now. Basically, fat cells do not normally contain much water.

    He told us that, after triglycerides were removed from the cell, that the fat cells refilled with water in the short-term, eventually the body dropped that water and the fat loss 'became evident' (a goofy way for me to try to describe when the fat loss actually shows up on calipers, one of those dumb Tanita scales, or visually).

    If nothing else, this gives a plausible mechanism for the non-linear fat loss that is so often seen. Folks will do everything right for weeks with no results. then overnight, something happens and the scale drops a bunch. Many diet newsgroups and forums refer to this as a 'whoosh' which often follows a stall.

    A couple of empirical data points in support of this: people who use tanita scales have often reported that it will tell them that their BF has gone up right before a 'whoosh' occurs and a big drop. This suggests something goofy is going on with water balance.

    Another is that fat often gets squishy (suggesting a change in what's in there) prior to a drop in skinfolds/ improvement in appearance.

    I looked for research on the topic for a decade to no success. I made up my own plausible mechanism having to do with glycerol levels in the fat cell (glycerol is hydrophilic); if fatty acids were being lost at a greater proportion than glycerol, this mght explain how water is attracted into the fat cell. Except that, usually, glycerol and fatty acid are released in about the proportion you'd expect (3:1 FFA:glycerol).

    edit: For what very little it's worth, Colgan mentions something similar in OPtimum Sports Nutrition, something about the body 'tracking' glycerol to keep track of fat stores. It's possible that the research on this is just pre-medline. Or he and my teacher just pulled it out of the old *kitten*.

    A couple of years back, a paper came out showing an increase in water content of visceral fat with dieting. First semi-direct data I've seen. I don't recall the mechanism being mentioned but I may not have ever read the full paper.
  • ivykivy
    ivykivy Posts: 2,970 Member
    I found this great article on anther site. It makes sense to me.

    Explanation for the 'whoosh' effect

    Here is a post from another board which is an explanation of the ‘whoosh’ effect. I had read something similar a few years ago. This was written by Lyle McDonald, who has written several books about body-building, fat loss, ketogenic diets, etc.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Fat cell water content and fat loss

    Ok, finally stickying this stupid post with some very minor modifications.

    It's something I've mentioned over the years, an assertion that my exercise physiology professor had made wrt: fat loss.

    Note that under normal conditions, fat cells contain ~90% triglycerides and ~10% other stuff where other stuff includes some water, the cellular machinery that makes all the stuff that fat cells make and a couple of other things that I'm forgetting right now. Basically, fat cells do not normally contain much water.

    He told us that, after triglycerides were removed from the cell, that the fat cells refilled with water in the short-term, eventually the body dropped that water and the fat loss 'became evident' (a goofy way for me to try to describe when the fat loss actually shows up on calipers, one of those dumb Tanita scales, or visually).

    If nothing else, this gives a plausible mechanism for the non-linear fat loss that is so often seen. Folks will do everything right for weeks with no results. then overnight, something happens and the scale drops a bunch. Many diet newsgroups and forums refer to this as a 'whoosh' which often follows a stall.

    A couple of empirical data points in support of this: people who use tanita scales have often reported that it will tell them that their BF has gone up right before a 'whoosh' occurs and a big drop. This suggests something goofy is going on with water balance.

    Another is that fat often gets squishy (suggesting a change in what's in there) prior to a drop in skinfolds/ improvement in appearance.

    I looked for research on the topic for a decade to no success. I made up my own plausible mechanism having to do with glycerol levels in the fat cell (glycerol is hydrophilic); if fatty acids were being lost at a greater proportion than glycerol, this mght explain how water is attracted into the fat cell. Except that, usually, glycerol and fatty acid are released in about the proportion you'd expect (3:1 FFA:glycerol).

    edit: For what very little it's worth, Colgan mentions something similar in OPtimum Sports Nutrition, something about the body 'tracking' glycerol to keep track of fat stores. It's possible that the research on this is just pre-medline. Or he and my teacher just pulled it out of the old *kitten*.

    A couple of years back, a paper came out showing an increase in water content of visceral fat with dieting. First semi-direct data I've seen. I don't recall the mechanism being mentioned but I may not have ever read the full paper.

    putting in topics to research.:flowerforyou:
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