I've only been counting calories (this time) for the last week (since Monday). Didn't weigh myself until yesterday, and I was at 156 lbs. This morning I was at 158.8. Is this normal? I consume 1100-1200 calories per day, and exercise at Curves for 30 minutes every day (never worked out before-- this is the first time I've done anything religiously). I keep my sodium intake down, and since it's close to my period I've been taking diurex to get off that extra bloat to keep me from getting discouraged. Should I be weighing myself everyday? In the past just keeping my calorie count down has caused me to shed weight in the first few days. This time I'm not even seeing much loss from water weight.

Any ideas?

(Also, sorry if it's TMI but I'm deff not constipated)

Sure it's normal. Let me give you a look at an entire week for me.

Nov 6 171
Nov7 170.8
Nov8 174.2
Nov9 168.4
Nov10 169.8
Nov11 169.4
Nov12 169.0


Some people don't weigh themselves every day, some do. I like to, but if you tend to get upset and discouraged over a gain instead of a loss, even if it's just water weight, I wouldn't weigh every day. Some people just can't handle it, it stresses them out. I started weighing every day because I wanted to find my bodies natural flow, and for the most part, I tend to bounce around like crazy for 4-5 days and then lose something.I can sort of tell if I'm going to be up on the scale depending on what I ate, when, and how much. If I eat a lot of bread, pasta or rice in the evening, I can pretty much guess I'll be up on the scale. Same if I eat something high in sodium. If I do, I try to drink as much water as I can get in before the evening is over. I don't know if I'm actually getting rid of the excess sodium with how many times I have to get up to pee, but it's just something I do.

You'll probably start gaining a bit when your period hits, I know I do, but then once you're off it you should see that extra bloat come off. Just keep at what you're doing.

As for the calories, you'll have to wait a bit to see. If you feel you aren't losing and should be, after your period is over, up your calories for a while, see if anything happens. Then if nothing does, lower them a bit and see if anything happens. (Sorry, I just read you said you've been counting cals for the last week? I would wait a month and see what happens, THEN try upping or lowering your cals. But wait to see what everyone else says, I'm not a genius :P)

Anyway, it all sounds normal to me, but we'll see what everyone else says. Keep up the good work btw!

My water-weight fluctuations are as much as 5lbs from day to day, sometimes more if I've been dehydrated. Also depends on your sore muscles and your sodium intake or time of the month Scales are definitely not the best method of calculating weight loss sometimes.

Yes and it's annoying- I was 200 on Monday and Wednesday I was 201.5- grr! I just started TOM and I'm sure that's where that slight gain is. Our weight fluctuates all the time- it's best to weigh in the same time each day- I usually weigh in in the mornings.

Thank you thank you thank you! I'm not one to get too discouraged from a bit of a higher number one day-- I just wanted to make sure I was on the right track. I feel much better now.

Good! and it looks like you are to me. Keep it up!

Yes what everyone else said, this happens to meh too. It really frustrated meh for long time. So what I do now to keep track of how much I'm losing is: measure myself with a tape measure (waist,hips,thighs,arms,ect). Keep track of your calorie deficit/how much you burned from exercise daily. Then when it adds up to 5 pounds remeasure. Unless you measured weirdly, (liked sucked in or just cheated) it should help show you your losing weight. I also take pictures every 10 pounds.

But I'm a extremist! If this overwhelms you I'm you'll sure be able to tell in mirror.

That was another thing I'm not too sure about-- how much of a calorie deficit should there be? I work in an office and sit pretty much all day, and then work out for 30 minutes. I read somewhere in these forums that a 1000 calorie deficit was good- and that seems kind of extreme to me for some reason (probably because I don't burn many calories) And a little update: It's officially been a week and I'm still bouncing in between 156 and 158. Now I'm starting to get a bit worried and discouraged

1000/day? That's way too much. If I do more than 750 deficit I stall it seems.

You've only been going for what is this now? Officially week 1? Since you have more to lose you have to be more diligent when you calorie count and exercise- even 1 or 2 off meals can end your loss for the week.

At 156 you burn 1560 calories to maintain, and then if you work out say you burn 300 calories in your workout, that's a total of 1860 you are burning, that means if you are eating 1200 calories per day you are making a deficit of 660 calories. Which is very good. Stick to this for 2-3 weeks, if nothing happens then I suggest upping to 1300 calories and seeing what happens.

You mind posting your meal plans? Maybe you are eating too many carbs or not enough veggies protein and that's part of your problem. I find if I eat too many carbs I stall.

This makes sense to me-- thank you for the insight.
Here's what I eat--

B- Abs Diet Power Smoothies (some combination of berries, non fat milk, non fat yogurt, sometimes peanut butter, whey powder)- around 200-250 cals
S1-raw carrots, 50 cal piece of reduced fat cheddar- 80-100 cals
L- sandwich w/ Wegmans "just turkey" (turkey w/ no additional fillers or sodium), 1 slice light swiss cheese, lettuce, tsp fat free mayo and spicy brown mustard on 2 slices of low cal whole wheat bread- roughly 230 cals
S2- raw carrots, 50 cal piece of reduced fat cheddar- 80-100 cals
Dinner- normally something with ground turkey or chicken, loads of veggies and half a serving or so of brown rice- in between 300-400 cals
S3- either a skinny cow ice cream sandwich or--I know it's bad-- one or two vodka drinks or a glass of wine.- 150 cals

I'd check your counts on the alcoholic beverages to make sure you're not consuming more calories than you think, maybe. 4oz of wine can be anywhere between 90-190 calories, but depending on how much you put in the glass, you could be getting 6-8 oz instead of 4. And what's in your vodka drinks? Vodka is about 60 calories/ounce, but shots are usually 1.5 oz, and mixed drinks can be waaaay more than that. I think it's totally fine to have some alcohol, but be very careful about measuring it if you're worried about counting correctly.

I've been very careful to measure-- my vodka drinks are one ounce of vodka, a lot of seltzer, and a splash of low cal juice (it's 30 calories for 8 oz of it) It's actually really good.

Sounds good, then! Your food sounds fine to me, so I'd keep doing what you're doing for a few more weeks to see how your progress goes. You can also try using something like Calorie Count to check your carb/protein/fat ratios to see if you're within the recommended limit for your calorie range.

Update: I've finally made it under 156. This morning I weighed in at 155.6 -- Not much, I know. But it's the first time I've gotten under 156 this week. Hopefully it'll keep moving in the right direction. Thanks again for everyones input and support