How is it possible?

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camerongroupj
camerongroupj Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been on a diet and exercise program since January 2 of this year (2012). In the first 2 weeks I lost 4 pounds, the 2nd 2 weeks 2.5 pounds. I have been exercising 5 days/week and only with exercise have I increased the number of calories that I am eating up from 1200/day.

How is it that this past week I have gained 1.5 pounds! This is really discouraging!

Janet
:sad:
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Replies

  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
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    the body is a strange thing and i will never understand it completely. you can have just water retention, you could not be eating enough, etc... I weigh myself daily but i have only made one day a week my official weigh in day. every monday! you are on a greta roll and are losing fast! give it another week and see what happens...
  • careyharv
    careyharv Posts: 134 Member
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    Your body goes into a sort of shock when you start eating less and working out. When I started, I gave myself a month for my body to adjust. The other thing to consider that if your muscles haven't been challenged before, they are now. The will start to soak up the nutrients it needs which in turn makes them bigger. Keep up you workouts and make sure you are eating well to fuel your body. It will go down. Good Luck!!
  • camerongroupj
    camerongroupj Posts: 17 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the kind words...I will give it a week or two and see what happens.

    This week, bread will be cut out of my diet and we'll see what happens. It will be like torture! I love bread! I am a carb junkie!
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    Thanks everyone for the kind words...I will give it a week or two and see what happens.

    This week, bread will be cut out of my diet and we'll see what happens. It will be like torture! I love bread! I am a carb junkie!

    Eating carbs causes lots of water retention. I would avoid them as much as possible if you want to have an easier time managing hunger and losing weight during your journeys.

    Plus sometimes when you're burning fat your body doesn't want to release water immediately anyways. Then one day you'll see a big weight loss. Its never linear but always with ups-and-downs, but i assure you its mostly water weight fluctuations. Unless you eat 2 pizzas in one day, you aren't gaining fat that quickly even when cheating.
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
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    Hmm.... you might want to try measuring inches and/or body fat. The scale can go up or down so easily based on time of the month or other factors that are out of your control. Stay encouraged :)
  • firesoforion
    firesoforion Posts: 1,017 Member
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    Hello fellow bread junkie! :( Sadly, I've had to restrict them from my diet, BUT, you can get La Tortilla Factory smart and delicious low carb high fiber tortillas for 50 calories (both corn and wheat) for a taste of it. Also Flat Outs. They still are bread products, but they're a lot better and taste quite good. :) It still has to be a bit of a limited thing for me but they are much better. :)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
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    I have been on a diet and exercise program since January 2 of this year (2012). In the first 2 weeks I lost 4 pounds, the 2nd 2 weeks 2.5 pounds. I have been exercising 5 days/week and only with exercise have I increased the number of calories that I am eating up from 1200/day.

    How is it that this past week I have gained 1.5 pounds! This is really discouraging!

    Janet
    :sad:

    First, weight loss isn't linear. And neither was weight gain. So you can't expect to lose every week. Next, if you are exercising, you need to be eating more than 1200 calories. The problem with eating 1200 calories while exercising causes a few problems. First, your body isn't being properly fueled and receiving good nutrition and second, this will cause you to lose a lot of lean muscle mass which will slow your bodies metabolic rate. I recommend eating 50-75% of your exercise calories so you don't experience this or reduce the affects of muscle loss. You really should be aiming to lose 10% or less muscle. So if you lose 10 lbs, 1 of those pounds can be muscle.
  • techigirl78
    techigirl78 Posts: 128 Member
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    Hang in there! You are doing good.

    In addition to what others said, watch your sodium and water intake. You could just be retaining water. Once I started watching sodium intake, my weight more consistently went down (though there were some fluctuations still). Before that it would constantly jump up and down. Also, a lot of low calorie packaged foods have a lot of salt, so does soup and soy souce is basically pure salt.

    I also wouldn't cut out anything you love to eat without having a good replacement. There isn't anything wrong eating a good wheat bread. It is good for you. Just limit the amount you eat. If you take away everything you love without finding adequate replacements, you may lose weight while dieting, but it won't last once the diet is done. My vice was ice cream. I now eat yogurt smoothies with spinich and fruit as a replacement. I actually like them better and they are good for me.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
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    PS- Carbs are not the enemy unless you have a medical condition. Carbs are the first place a body looks for energy. So having a diet rich in complex carbs (ones that burn slower) will allow your body to have a lot of energy. There is a point to how many carbs you should eat a day (generally 40-60%). I eat 200g's of carbs a day and I haven't had any trouble losing weight, inches or even body fat and I eat over 3000 calories a day.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    PS- Carbs are not the enemy unless you have a medical condition. Carbs are the first place a body looks for energy. So having a diet rich in complex carbs (ones that burn slower) will allow your body to have a lot of energy. There is a point to how many carbs you should eat a day (generally 40-60%). I eat 200g's of carbs a day and I haven't had any trouble losing weight, inches or even body fat and I eat over 3000 calories a day.

    I think its pretty obvious that sugars and refined carbs are terrible and should be completely removed except for maybe special occasions (we all gotta live and they do taste good). Complex carbs on the other hand are debatable. We don't need any of them though, so if you can tolerate cutting those out, you're probably better off.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
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    Look at it in another way; suppose you were writing about your investments:

    "I have been investing in my 401k since January 2 of this year (2012). In the first 2 weeks my account gained $10 per share, the 2nd 2 weeks $8 per share. I selected the best possible 401k options for growth in my funds.

    How is it that this past week I have lost $5 per share! This is really discouraging!"

    As my grandma used to say, a watched pot never boils.

    (btw, a 401k is an investment vehicle for retirement in the USA)
  • lisabstrong
    lisabstrong Posts: 165 Member
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    As if weight loss occurs in a nice neat straight line downwards... ha ha! don't let the ups beat you up and I only records the downs even if it takes a long time for the line to head down again!
  • trbinado
    trbinado Posts: 9
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    Please only take nutritional advice from a registered dietician and fitness advice from a certified trainer or group exercise instructor.

    Some of the comments above range from inaccurate to downright dangerous.
  • sunrise611
    sunrise611 Posts: 1,850 Member
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    PS- Carbs are not the enemy unless you have a medical condition. Carbs are the first place a body looks for energy. So having a diet rich in complex carbs (ones that burn slower) will allow your body to have a lot of energy. There is a point to how many carbs you should eat a day (generally 40-60%). I eat 200g's of carbs a day and I haven't had any trouble losing weight, inches or even body fat and I eat over 3000 calories a day.

    I am eating whole wheat breads (complex carbs) and losing weight.

    In fact, because my MFP fitness plan encourages a higher percentage of carbs than protein or fat, I have been striving for a higher percentage and it seems to be working.

    As a result, I am not hungry and don't feel deprived. I feel bad for people who feel that they have to deny themselves everything that they enjoy to lose weight. I used to be like that and now I happily know that isn't true.

    I just had a wonderful spinach omelet for lunch with ham and will now have a slice of delicious Arnold Healthy Multi-Grain bread soaked in a tablespoon of olive oil for good fat. (I also get a source of good fat from almonds that I had prior to the omelet.)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
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    PS- Carbs are not the enemy unless you have a medical condition. Carbs are the first place a body looks for energy. So having a diet rich in complex carbs (ones that burn slower) will allow your body to have a lot of energy. There is a point to how many carbs you should eat a day (generally 40-60%). I eat 200g's of carbs a day and I haven't had any trouble losing weight, inches or even body fat and I eat over 3000 calories a day.

    I think its pretty obvious that sugars and refined carbs are terrible and should be completely removed except for maybe special occasions (we all gotta live and they do taste good). Complex carbs on the other hand are debatable. We don't need any of them though, so if you can tolerate cutting those out, you're probably better off.

    You might want to take another look into carbs. Read the second line of the attached link I provided. Heck in fact, I will quote it, "Carbohydrates are one of the main types of nutrients. They are the most important source of energy for your body".

    So making a statement that it's debatable if you actually need carbs is ridiculous and uneducated.

    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/carbohydrates.html

    http://www.eatingdisordersonline.com/nutritional/carbs.php
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
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    Also, if you said complex carbs aren't need, then you are saying that it's not important to have fruits or veggies.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    PS- Carbs are not the enemy unless you have a medical condition. Carbs are the first place a body looks for energy. So having a diet rich in complex carbs (ones that burn slower) will allow your body to have a lot of energy. There is a point to how many carbs you should eat a day (generally 40-60%). I eat 200g's of carbs a day and I haven't had any trouble losing weight, inches or even body fat and I eat over 3000 calories a day.

    I think its pretty obvious that sugars and refined carbs are terrible and should be completely removed except for maybe special occasions (we all gotta live and they do taste good). Complex carbs on the other hand are debatable. We don't need any of them though, so if you can tolerate cutting those out, you're probably better off.

    You might want to take another look into carbs. Read the second line of the attached link I provided. Heck in fact, I will quote it, "Carbohydrates are one of the main types of nutrients. They are the most important source of energy for your body".

    So making a statement that it's debatable if you actually need carbs is ridiculous and uneducated.

    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/carbohydrates.html

    http://www.eatingdisordersonline.com/nutritional/carbs.php

    Except for carbs are the only source of energy you can live without. You will die without fat and protein. I know this is controversial. There are scientists and MDs with credentials who will swear by both sides of the argument. But look I've read a lot and thought it out. This side makes sense to me, the other side does not.
  • breeanreyes
    breeanreyes Posts: 228 Member
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    Be sure to measure yourself every week, it will tell the true story! And don't cut bread completely, you'll hate your life if you're a big bread fan, just switch to whole grain bread and limit it to 2 or 3 times a week, remember that you want this to be a lifestyle change so you can keep the weight off once you lose it, if you give yourself impossible rules it makes it very difficult to succeed! Good Luck!
  • LoriBarefoot
    LoriBarefoot Posts: 218 Member
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    Carbs sustain me. They are my friend. Eat consistently healthy without trying drastic tweeks is key. Patience is a virtue.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
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    Except for carbs are the only source of energy you can live without. You will die without fat and protein. I know this is controversial. There are scientists and MDs with credentials who will swear by both sides of the argument. But look I've read a lot and thought it out. This side makes sense to me, the other side does not.

    And you can feel free to post your research. I would love to see it.

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