Slow Weight Loss

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mangobadango
mangobadango Posts: 294 Member
in Motivation and Support
My weight loss has been frustratingly slow. On average around .1 pound a day. Most of the time I am fine with it and I weigh myself every day knowing that the scale will bounce around and I'm happy when I see that my higher number is getting lower.

Last week I was getting to a point where my higher number was lower and I was happy, but then I went away for the weekend and didn't have a lot of control over what food I ate (Family Reunion, at my parent's place, and generally let myself have treats a bit too much) and now my higher number is back to where it was on May 7th. I'm only talking a difference of a pound or two. I don't think of my weight as being in the 190s, today I am at the high end of the 192s (192.9) and I hope to be in the 190s (190.1-190.9) by the end of the week. As of Friday my high end weight was in the 191s (191.1) and I was happy.

I guess I'm just sad because my weight loss is so slow and I feel like I have now undone a week or two worth of work. I know that the weight will go down again and that going slow means I will be able to keep the weight off. But, I don't want to be in the 192s, I want to be in the 190s. I'm also really hoping the gain I see is just some water weight that will go away quickly.

And if you look at my diary for this past weekend you can tell why the weight went up and I know why the weight went up. Just whining about it I guess. If you want to look at my diary for anything before this past Friday and give suggestions on my choices then feel free to comment. I have been tracking everything for the past 43 days.

Replies

  • tigerlily8045
    tigerlily8045 Posts: 415 Member
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    . Congrats on the weight you have already lost! I wouldn't worry about weighing yourself every day. You will drive yourself nuts

    Heck I gained .5 lb this week, but no worries I know it will come off next week. Just get back on track with your eating and I am sure that it come off. You are right about one thing. As long as you are changing your lifestyle, slow will keep it off better.

    Keep it up!
  • Nikkei24
    Nikkei24 Posts: 282 Member
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    Don't get discouraged. It took us all a long time to put on the weight it is going to take a long time to take it off.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    girl join the club.

    slow weight loss is why i changed my ticket goal :laugh: i got tired of seeing my little lady all far away from the goal and never really moving. i switched the goal for now to my half way point.

    keep in mind that weight can fluctuate anywhere from 3-5 pounds depending on meals, sodium, sugar, etc. exercise can also affect those fluctuations as well. but as long as you havent eaten significantly over your maintenance calories for several days then it isnt fat. drink a lot of water and take a good poop and you'll be back to normal

    also you want to use other methods besides the scale to monitor progress, since like i said the scale can fluctuate several pounds. keep track of your measurements using measuring tape or fat calipers
  • jasonp_ritzert
    jasonp_ritzert Posts: 357 Member
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    0.1 lbs/day translates into about 0.7 lb/week, which is a good, healthy weight loss method. Maybe you are weighing yourself too many times per week and getting discouraged with seeing daily fluctuations. I only weigh myself once per week or once every other week at the same time, such as I always weigh myself on Saturdays at 8 a.m. before I hit the gym so I am consistently measuring my body weigh at a similar time to prevent daily fluctuations from affecting the outcome on the scale. Also, don't discount how much healhier you feel on the inside, how your pants/shirt fit, how much more energy you have, etc.
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
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    What you're seeing could be any number of things. If you did not go over your goal by 3500 - 7000 calories (1-2 lbs.) that weight gain you're seeing is not actual gain. It could be because you had a diet higher in sodium, for instance. It could be that you're at a particular part of the hormone cycle where you're gaining water weight. IOW, don't worry about it.
  • the_other_kitkat
    the_other_kitkat Posts: 31
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    My weight loss is also maddeningly slow, about the same rate as yours. I also weigh myself every day so I can see the overall trend. It's frustrating. I've been working at this for a loooong time and would just like to be done already, but I also know that sticking with it really does work. I'm 5' 2.5" and at my heaviest I was over 175 (I didn't have a scale so I'll never know how much I was over by) and my current low is 132. This past month has been a wash, but that just motivates me to work even harder. Keep at it, you'll get there! And so will I.
  • WorkitoutBev
    WorkitoutBev Posts: 29 Member
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    Girl, you are doing good. Please just get back on track and you will be fine. Looking at everyone weight lost, I'm getting sad. I've only been doing this a week, but only lost 3 lbs. and I'm hungry all the time. I'm getting discourage and I need to STOP feeling like this and get better at this.
  • mangobadango
    mangobadango Posts: 294 Member
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    Thank you for the encouragement everyone! I'm not quitting this journey because really if I quit then I will be seeing a lot higher numbers.

    Normally I'm very upbeat and optimistic and can deal with the weight fluctuations. Just got a little frustrated today.

    Once again, thank you for the encouragement ladies! Slow and steady wins the race. Just gotta whine about the slow part every once in awhile.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    Girl, you are doing good. Please just get back on track and you will be fine. Looking at everyone weight lost, I'm getting sad. I've only been doing this a week, but only lost 3 lbs. and I'm hungry all the time. I'm getting discourage and I need to STOP feeling like this and get better at this.

    3 pounds is pretty darn good for 1 week. i get about 1 pound is that much

    @mango : what's also been helping me is setting some nonscale goals. stuff like no added salt for a week, travelling 60 miles doing cardio, perfecting my squat, etc. these are things i know i can get done and are in my control. since weight loss isnt as controllable i use the mini goals as a substitute
  • 1oriana
    1oriana Posts: 10
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    Three pounds in a week ain't bad. That is an awesome achievement. Typically people lose at least a pound a week. Makes sure you aren't eating and drinking empty calories. Find a low or no calorie drink to help with the calories you are "wasting" and use those to eat more food. Drink plenty of water. Sometimes we are thirsty and our brain tells us that we are hungry. Good luck to you.
  • hamiltonba
    hamiltonba Posts: 474 Member
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    I did notice that your food diary has a lot of processed foods. Maybe that is the problem. Hot dogs, macaroni salad, brownies, icecream. Maybe cut those out just a little bit more. Maybe have them once a week and drink extra water? Try that for 2 weeks and see if you notice a difference.
  • Lou186000
    Lou186000 Posts: 2
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    Agh, I too feel that pain of slow progress. I've been working at this on and off for a few years now and have refocused myself these past 6 weeks with good success. I feel like my chances for long term success are high because I've made some fundamental changes that i won't change back because the benefits (not just the few pounds I've lost) have been huge. For example, I've cut way way down on coffee. Through experimentation I realized that even a single cup in the morning can impact the quality of my sleep at night. With this information in hand I reduced my coffee input and have been getting better sleep. The follow-on result is I'm better rested and have the energy to rise a bit earlier in the morning for exercise and have time to fix lunch. I guess my point is: are there other ways for you to measure your success besides weight? My progress feels slow too, but I ask myself: will I go back to eating junk food literally every day? I can't --- even though I'm a hundred pounds overweight I feel so much better eating healthy food I just can't see going back to the old ways. Hope that helps some, best of luck to you!
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    This is very normal. I know it's disheartening to feel like in one weekend, you erased two or three weeks of work, but much of that is temporary, and what isn't WILL come back off.

    Here's a post I did showing my gains (which included entire MONTHS where my net result was a gain). And yet, my trend line is still going DOWN.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/558333-weight-loss-isn-t-linear-it-s-ok-to-have-a-gain?hl=linear#posts-7894188
  • mangobadango
    mangobadango Posts: 294 Member
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    I did notice that your food diary has a lot of processed foods. Maybe that is the problem. Hot dogs, macaroni salad, brownies, icecream. Maybe cut those out just a little bit more. Maybe have them once a week and drink extra water? Try that for 2 weeks and see if you notice a difference.

    If you look at my food diary prior to Friday, May 18th you will see that most of the time I do not eat processed food. I have worked very hard to make those an every once in awhile thing.
  • csndrsn
    csndrsn Posts: 12
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    You know, there's absolutely nothing wrong with venting. We all need to do it some times, and I am one who needs to do it quite often...LOL so I understand. I can also understand your frustration. I'm in a place now that I hadn't been in before. I am obese, and I'm not as confident as I once was. Understandably, we should learn to be happy in our skins, but how does one be happy in his or her own skin if it's a skin that he or she is not used to living in? My advice to you, as well as to myself, is to just keep doing our bests and never give up. Everything will fall in place. :-) Hard work pays off sooner or later.
  • Jlwebb07
    Jlwebb07 Posts: 38 Member
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