Okay, the stupid freakin' scale went up a pound. That's one week of working my tail end off for a pound gain. I swear every time that the scale will not make me cry and I blubbered like a damn idiot this morning. How ridiculous. I can go a few days with no loss or small gains. But I go for a week and I freak out. Because what if I work this hard for another week and don't lose? What if I have to work even harder to lose? Then what if I get lower and stall again? I know, it's only a week. But I NEED to see a move. If it was a stupid 1/4 lb loss I'd be happy. A gain? I freak. Especially this soon into the game. I had hoped to lose two lbs. a week and I'm going nowhere but up.
Oh Karma! Whine away. There's lots of reasons to have a small stall or even a gain. Take this oppotunity to evaluate what you've done in the last few weeks. You might need to do nothing to have a loss this week or next or you could just have to tweak a little something.
How do your pants fit?
It's just dumb to get so upset about one pound. Really think about it. How often have you lost a half pound or a pound, just from using the toilet?
I get up in the morning and weigh. I usually don't eat for a few hours and I weigh one more time just before I have my first meal of the day and I'm usually down by 1 to 2 pounds, from that morning's weight! What have I done differently? Emptied my body of some water or solid matter. My body didn't change by that many pounds. So am I going to get upset about one pound either way? Heck no!
I once gained 4 pounds in the space of a few hours, just from eating some salty beef jerky that tended to hold onto water. Two days ago I was 3 pounds lighter than I am today. Why? Because I ate a salty meal that evening. Am I going to let those 3 pounds defeat me? No! Why should I? It is simply that my body is a little more hydrated today than it was a couple of days ago. Does that mean I've gained weight? No, I've gained water. My fat is still melting away, I haven't cheated on my diet, and in time that minor fluxuation will go away too.
You really need to relax a little here. One pound up or down is nothing.
In fact if you are "working really hard" at it like you say, then I assume that means you are exercising. Exercise is great! It helps to melt the fat away. BUT it also makes your body need to hold onto a little more water so if you ARE exercising you may find that the scale doesn't move down as much (at first). As long as you continue to exercise seriously, then you weight may stay a little higher, (although your body proportions will continue to decrease). Which is really more important to you when you think about it? Do you CARE about a little number on a dial? Who is ever going to see that but you anyway? What matters is how you look, how your clothes fit and what you can and can't wear.
So be assured that your efforts ARE paying dividends, you just may need more than one way to calculat the benefits. Fat calipers are one good tool for measuring progress, as is a tape measure. But mainly RELAX, stress can prevent weight loss and if you are going to stress about every little pound, you are creating that cortisol hormone that fights weight loss.
Trust me ladies, I know about all this. I've been doing this for years. (I lose weight in a healthy weigh, then yo-yo). Thanks for the responses. It's not really the lb gain that upset me is because I've only gone up for a week. There really haven't been fluctuations, just a small steady gain. That's a week of aerobics for 40 mins six times, weight lifting, and eating absolutely no more than 1600, usually 1400 a day. Fluctuations up or down don't usually freak me out this bad, really. But it's the NOTHING but gain for a week that has me down. I lost 10 lbs. last month. That was great. But I get to thinking that if I can get on the scale and only go up in a week at this level of activity, how hard is it going to get?
And logically I can say muscle weighs more than fat, but I've kept my weight lifting up over the years and am probably not putting on new muscle. So I doubt it's that. I've added in aerobics and a lot of them. I put my heart into it enough that my shirt and hair are sopping wet. That ought to be good enough!
Well, whatever. I know I am working hard. I know I am not cheating except my weekly planned cheat meal (which I tried to keep reasonable). I am just whining because I can tell myself that a week of no loss isn't a big deal till the cows come home, but when I put this much effort into something it still feels like a big deal.
Well, whatever. I know I am working hard. I know I am not cheating except my weekly planned cheat meal (which I tried to keep reasonable). I am just whining because I can tell myself that a week of no loss isn't a big deal till the cows come home, but when I put this much effort into something it still feels like a big deal.
I know the feeling. True, a 1-pound gain is no big deal, it's probably just water. But I know what it feels like to "FEEL" you've done great and jump on the scale expecting to see a slight loss and you've actually gone up a pound from before. You're like, "WHAT!?!?! How the **** did I GAIN a pound, I've been busting my butt and eating right and everything!"
lol, yeah, I know the feeling. Even though those little fluctuations usually don't mean much, they can still be discouraging.
Don't sweat the small stuff, hon. Just keep doing what you're doing and it will come off eventually
Oh Karma I'm soooo with you. For 3 weeks now I've been stuck. I was steadily losing 2-3 pounds a week and then nothing. And like you said it's not just fluctuations, the scale has actually gone UP some. Before it would bounce 202 and now it's up around 205. I've been doing cardio 5-6 days a week, weight training 3 times, and staying between 1600-1800 calories and nothing (and I've been doing the exercise since October so it's not from being new as someone mentioned). It's so discouraging. If I hadn't already lost as much as I had I probably would have given up by now. Anyway, just hang in there. I'm just going to keep on doing what I'm doing and hopefully one of these days I'll just pop into onderland!
Thanks so much! Okay, I'm feeling renewed. Hey Stacy, WE CAN DO THIS. ONEDERLALND HERE WE COME! The journey there might take a little longer, but with a little fairy dust (protein powder) and happy thoughts (and working our tales off) we can FLY, we can FLY, we can FLY
Karma....putting that much effort into something and not seeing even a little reward is very frustrating!!
I dont doubt for a minute that you are working very hard at this, so some of the first things I thought of were ....check your food, and the ratios, are you weighing in the morning of your cheat meal, or the day after? That meal could make a huge difference on the scale. Lastly 1600 is good, but maybe try dropping it down 1 or 2 days a week to 1000 - 1200. Keep your body guessing! It might be time already to trick your body?
Dont let this get you down....and have you measured? Did it show a loss? I suggest you get on the scale in 3 days after you have made a few changes, and see if it has moved down....if not, take another look at what you are doing, and tweak it again.
Thanks Robin. I added up my calories and I'm actually lower yesterday, which is fairly typical. I was at 1250. Hmmm.. I think I'm going to be very careful to "fuel" my workouts. Small carb before, carb protein mix after. We'll see if that works. I hope so. Water is good. Almost two gallons a day! I knew this was a set point for me. I just hoped this time my body would kindly ignore the fact that it hates being below this weight and get on with it! Ha!
Same thing happened to me when I started Body for Life. Scale went UP. Stayed up too throughout the whole program. I had to get finished with it, take a couple or weeks off and do Atkin's induction level to get back to where I was before I started the intense exercise. Believe me I was frustrated too. But although the scale was higher the fat was lower, and my clothing became smaller.
I have never been able to understand those people who say that their weight fluxuates 5 pounds or so back and forth, like, "Oh, I'm always 135-140." I mean, I can probably gain or lose 5 pounds in a day or two! I guess some of us just have more stable bodies than others.
The scale is such a mixed blessing. On one side, you want to know if you're going up or down because you want to make sure that all of your work is worth it. On the other side, you don't want to have your whole world thrown upside-down because the scale for some reason or another decided to tack on an extra pound or two. You could try making a rule to only look at the scale once every week or two so you don't see that daily fluxuation, but come on. We're all tempted to hop on every time we pass it!
Is it close to menstruation time? I find I stall just before, maybe even up a smidge. Then afterward, I'll have a nice 3-4 pound loss. (water retention covering up my weightloss, then two weeks worth of loss show up all at once)
Sadly I'm weeks away. I wish it were that. I've banned myself from Behemouth (my nickname for my scale) and I will no longer weigh except on Sat. mornings. Then I'll only have one day a week to hate myself and the rest of the world. LOL!
Allow me to Whine
