I just don't understand it. i stood on the scale today and I weighed 322 again. I was just 318 a couple days ago. Why'd it go back up? And now all I'm hearing from my roommate and mom is how they're losing weight and they're not doing anything. They're eating KFC chicken, burgers, Dutch Bros coffees, half bags of mnms and losing weight without walking. And here I am struggling to lose weight and I'm DIETING AND EXERCISING! I'm staying on plan, i haven't gone off the wagon yet! And now my mother is saying "Maybe you should eat more to lose weight..." wth?!
Misty,
There are a lot of reasons you may have gained.
1) Too much sodium causing water retention.
2) Not consuming enough food can slow down the metobolism.
3) That time of the month may be near, again water retention.
4) If your exercising a lot you may be building muscle, which weighs more.
5) Some meds cause weight gain also, especially anti-depressants.
Remember everyone is different and loses weight differently. Don't give up, hang in there and it will come off.
You can't make any determinations on a day-to-day basis. The weight of the food and water you drink varies day to day (and that's just one variable). What might look like a gain can actually just be water and waste you just haven't peed or pooped out yet (graphic I know, but it gets the message across clearest).
Also, the body needs more water to digest carbs than proteins and fat, so if your carb intake varies, so can your weight. After a few days of low-carb you can lose extra water, and eating higher carb, you can gain extra water.
What you do today, will not necessarily show up on the scale tomorrow, or even next week. It can take weeks and even months to see patterns.
It's why a lot of people will say "I dieted and exercised for two weeks and lost nothing, then I went out and pigged out and lost three pounds, I might as well not diet and exercise at all." It wasn't the pigging out that caused the weight loss, it was the two weeks of diet and exercise, but coincidence made it seem like the binge caused the weight loss rather than the two weeks work prior.
To see real patterns you have to look at the bigger picture. Look for trends over weeks, not days.
I am by no means a pro at this weight loss thing, but I been in that place myself: struggling with the number on the scale. The best thing I ever did for myself was to tell myself "No matter what the number on the scale might say, I am making positive choices and am getting healthier, change will happen regardless of the scale showing it or not" So far, it's working
I can totally see your concern. Actually, since you are just beginning and at your starting weight, (if you are eating a low calorie or low carb diet), the weight technically should be melting off at this point. (Doesn't alway work that way though). Even with daily fluctuations and TOM/PMS and all that water retention stuff, if you are 100% following your plan you should be losing fairly quickly at this point. Even if your calories are too low, (Fat is fuel for times of famine) even with excercise, (it takes months to build enough muscle to effect the scale). If you are eating less than 2500 calories a day at your starting weight you should be losing steadily.
Have you been checked out by a doctor lately?
Oh and about your friends losing eating KFC...well, did you actually see the numbers on their scale?
It's why a lot of people will say "I dieted and exercised for two weeks and lost nothing, then I went out and pigged out and lost three pounds, I might as well not diet and exercise at all." It wasn't the pigging out that caused the weight loss, it was the two weeks of diet and exercise, but coincidence made it seem like the binge caused the weight loss rather than the two weeks work prior.
I totally agree with this.
When people say this, I always think...heck, if you wouldn't have pigged out, that big ol whoosh would have probably been double that!
Your mom and roomate will eventually see what happens when you eat everything in sight, they may be losing now but soon it will land on their hips. I used to be able to all those things but I didn't get away with it forever.
I also wanted to add that they may be losing weight, but skinny fat is a common term: for those people with a 'healthy' weight whose bodies are very unhealthy because they don't eat well. Even at the higher weight if you're exercising and eating well, you are Healthier. That's important too.
Holy cow a lot of responses. Ok. Umm. First off I realised AFTER I posted and ranted to mom about it she reminded me "well you're gain could just me TOM thing..." and I'm STILL having my TOM and it's been... 2 weeks? Maybe more. YES I've talked to my doctor about it going on for longer than it's supposed to and we have yet to figure out the cause because last time this happened it went on for 2 months or so. NO I have not talked to him about my weight loss. YES I have an appointment to talk to him on monday. WOOT! I think I was 334 when i was weighed last at the doctor's office. Idk, we'll see. YES I did see the number on the scale and my roomie has lost 30 or so pounds just by eating everything in sight. Or so it seems. My mother's the same way and she's losing a bit. Both weigh less then me. Mother slightly less, my roomie about 50-60 more. But still... it's annoying. Um.. What else... I'm afraid to eat MORE in case my body goes "More food! PACK ON THE POUNDS!" I was checking this topic on my phone in the car and discussing things with my mom (yea I was talking to her about how i ranting about her... We're very open about things like that. lol) and she said "well maybe you should bump up your calories to 1800..." among other things... lol.
Do you guys think that's a good idea?
Oh, forgot to add what my plan is... what I'm doing right now so far is walking 2.3 miles about every day and eating 1500-1650 calories a day.
I think you should find a calorie level on which you can lose relatively comfortably (without feeling starved). For me, that's an 1800 - 2000 calories carb-conscious exchange plan.
I experience less hunger and physically feel much better (I have a lot of health issues and high-carb eating seems to aggravate most of them).
For sanity's sake, you do have to learn not to compare your weight loss to anyone else's. Everyone has a unique situation. Even identical twins won't lose weight exactly the same (though they do tend to come pretty close). You also tend to notice other people's mistakes more than your own.
It's possible that they're cutting calories more even though they're eating less stereotypical "diet" food, or it's possible that they have different metabolisms.
Doesn't matter, you've got to deal with your situation whatever it is. Comparing yourself to others will just make you crazy (especially since you're not likely to notice the people who seem to have a more difficult time of it than you. Another fluke of human nature, you see the people ahead of you, not the people behind you. Everyone finds it easier to recognize those who seem to have it better, than to recognize the people who have it tougher. You can find both if you look, but it's an unnecessary distraction in weight loss, because it doesn't matter how anyone but you loses weight. You can learn some things from watching successful people, but often you're stuck wiht your own experiment of one.
Yea thanks for that and your right. I don't know what else they eat throughout the day it just seems like they eat everything in sight. Then again I guess so do I and I don't eat over 2k calories so... hm. I'm having to many issues with that dang scale it's frustrating. I won't know if I'm really losing weight until my TOM decides to shut off. How can you tell if you've lost weight if the entire time you've been on a diet you've been... you know?
Misty, I have PCOS and I'm older than you so I'm also peri-menopausal, so I have lots of experience with long TOMs and water retention. It just means that I have to accept, as others have said, that I'll have to wait a month or so to know whether I've lost this month.
With your calorie intake and exercise, you should definitely be losing, but if not that'll be another question for your doctor. But you'll have to give it some time before you can say conclusively that you're not losing.
I diet and exercise, they eat KFC and lose.
