[Zemelle]

I gained 2 lbs overnight. Really. Even though I used the treadmill for 70 minutes and supposedly burned 450 calories and had a yogurt for breakfast, mandarin oranges and Special K cracker chips for lunch and a salad for dinner + a WW ice cream sandwich for a snack and calculated my intake at 1300-1375. So in 3 weeks, I've lost only 2 lbs. What am I doing wrong. Am I just not meant to eat. Frustrating, because when I did eat crap foods, like tortilla chips, candy, pizza, I maintained, but when I give it up I can't win either.

[andrew80k]

How long have you been doing it? It would take eating 7000 calories over what you need to gain 2 pounds of fat. At 1300-1375, it's not fat, it's water. You're retaining some water. Try to drink more water and it should go away. It's frustrating, but hang in there. You don't want to maintain, you want to reach your goal. It takes time. Exercise programs can cause you to retain a bit of water in the beginning as well. Water is HEAVY. Stay the course. You'll get there.

[kandyrews]

Originally Posted by emelle

I gained 2 lbs overnight. Really. Even though I used the treadmill for 70 minutes and supposedly burned 450 calories and had a yogurt for breakfast, mandarin oranges and Special K cracker chips for lunch and a salad for dinner + a WW ice cream sandwich for a snack and calculated my intake at 1300-1375. So in 3 weeks, I've lost only 2 lbs. What am I doing wrong. Am I just not meant to eat. Frustrating, because when I did eat crap foods, like tortilla chips, candy, pizza, I maintained, but when I give it up I can't win either.

I know how you feel, the same thing has happened to me. I walk/jog on the treadmill 6 days a week for 30 minutes, lift weights 3x a week and eat 1350 calories a day and didn't lose a single pound last week. I'm going to hang in there though, I think the fat is being stubborn and trying to hang on, so I'm not giving up. I'm going to continue what I'm doing and give it a few more weeks and see how it goes.

[Zemelle]

Thanks, I hate to give up, and I won't (yet). I really don't understand what I am suppose to eat in order to lose apparently. I hate water, ugh, but I am going to make an effort to drink some.

[carter]

2 pounds loss in 3 weeks is just fine. Some weeks you'll lose more, some weeks you will lose less. Day-to-day fluctuations can be interesting but they are not an indication of whether your plan is working.

Your body weight fluctuates for many reasons, many of which are out of your control. Fluid swings of 2-4 pounds in a day are not uncommon. You can retain fluid because of exercise, hydration, hormones, salt intake, even the weather. The food you eat and the water you drink also contributes to your body weight, while it sits inside you being digested. So your body weight can change by a pound or two just because of the bulk of undigested food that is or isn't sitting inside your intestines.

Meanwhile, you might lose fat at a rate of 0.5 to 1.5 pounds a week.

That means that a fluctuation in your total body weight - including fluid retention and food mass - can easily hide several weeks' worth of fat loss.

You simply have to learn to take a longer view. It would be lovely if our body weight marched cooperatively downward by 1-2 pounds week after week. But the fact is that very, very few people experience weight loss this way. Instead, it occurs in fits and starts, because your actual body weight on any given day depends upon more factors than how many calories you ate and how much zumba you did.

So, some weeks you will perceive no loss, or even a gain. Other weeks you will perceive nice losses. And on average, over time - a long enough time to be meaningful, months and not weeks - if you stick to your plan, you will see real losses begin to emerge.

You don't necessarily need to change your plan, you just need to develop a little more patience to deal with fluctuations - because they will happen, and they have nothing to do with fat loss.

[pattyhues]

yo-yo weight is not uncommon when trying to lose weight.
first of all your body is adjusting to the changes.
Secondly, for that much (and consistent) weight gain, you may want to rethink your weight-loss strategy.
Make sure it is healthy, steady, gradual and for the long-haul.
If you are starving yourself...then you can expet to gain plenty of weight as your body goes into starvation mode and does all it can to retain fat !

[Zemelle]

I got panicky and started thinking about doing Atkins instead of WW. Almost. Ok, weighed today, and all is good, back on track. I even blew my diet yesterday and didn't exercise.