Originally Posted by HungerWerks:
That's the beauty part. You can decide when you get to the place where you are comfortable. You seem to have a lot of control, so that will help quite a bit with maintenance.

That's why I don't have a stated goal weight. I have no idea where that will be, just that it will be a BMI of 18.5 or above, since that's considered medically safe.

I don't want to slip back into bad habits (i.e. underweight/not eating much). Sometimes it starts with a diet and goes too far. Hopefully none of you have been there. There should be some kind of "be careful" sticky in the featherweight section.

Originally Posted by JenFZ09:
I don't want to slip back into bad habits (i.e. underweight/not eating much). Sometimes it starts with a diet and goes too far. Hopefully none of you have been there. There should be some kind of "be careful" sticky in the featherweight section.

I've never had that problem, just the opposite one, but please do take good care of yourself!

That's good to hear!

Yes, Jen! the opposite problem. So hard to go down!

126 today.

Hey everyone,

I was active here a few years ago and find myself popping in when I'm having trouble. Well.. I'm having trouble!!!

I generally stay around 125, sometimes dip down a bit to 123. A few weeks ago I started moving up towards 127, which is my red line. I have been quite careful the last 1-2 weeks about what I'm eating, and eaten extremely carefully the last week, and I AM STILL GAINING. Yesterday I was 128. This afternoon, without clothes, I was 130. This is after eating a salad and coffee today, two salads, an egg, a glass of wine, and a small rice and bean dish yesterday. This is how it's been going for the past week or two.

It's not just about the scale, it's just my whole body feels soft and thick, my measurements are up, my stomach looks like I just ate a big meal. Ugh. I seriously do not know what's going on.

I know my body really well and I know how to kick myself into gear when I start gaining. I've been quite good and careful for a week now, and I usually lost 1-2 lbs of water weight after at least a few days of very clean eating, then a couple more pounds over the next few weeks of actual weight. This time I am GAINING.

I don't get t. Nothing has changed. I guess I just need to be patient. Would love encouragement :(

ETA: It's not a matter of not eating enough either. I'm not actually hungry, and I tend to snack a bit. So even though I have just had a salad and coffee today so far (it's 4 PM where I am right now), I was planning on having a few baked chickpea patties for dinner- probably total of around 1300 calories today. I'm not starving, I'm not hungry, I am just GAINING :( :(

Hi Indiblue, I honestly do not get the whole weight loss thing. I think I just put in the effort, and my body does what it does. Last month in December, the weight was just melting off. This month in January, down less than 2 pounds. And yesterday, I stayed within my 1200 calorie range, and the scale went up 1/2 pound. Your diet sounds pretty good. I admit my low calorie range includes a lot of sweets and fats, along with healthier things too. When I gain, that is my red flag to not 'estimate' calories, but to avoid eating anything unless I know and record the amount. I just do this if I start gaining. Otherwise, I'm a little more lax.
On the brighter side, it does sound like you are feeding your body good stuff. I hope you get it figured out, or if not, that the gain will stop and you'll lose it soon! :)
Also, I'm not the expert, but maybe calorie cycling to throw your body off a bit, as it seems like you ARE pretty consistent with intake? Just a thought.

kifli thanks for the supporting words :) I am almost exactly your height and weight (126 right? I'm 5'2.5) and I definitely plateau when I get to 125-126ish. I wrote a post a few years ago, one of the last before I peaced out of here for a while, about realizing that this is really where my body is. I would LOVE to be 119 but it's super hard for my body to do that without giving up a lot of things (wine, enjoyable relaxing dinners with friends, an occasional splurge to try a new restaurant, and most of all, peace of mind and just relaxing about my relationship with food). Sometimes our goal weight and our body's ideal weight are different. And it's tough to find a balance.

I'm happy to say at one point yesterday I was at 127, which is back in my "normal" range. I had a big dinner party with friends so am probably up today, but at least I know why, and it's not random phantom weight creeping on! I will eat very modestly today- salad, coffee, some lean protein- and hopefully will be back on track tomorrow. Thank you again for your support. Sometimes it's really all about waiting and patience and it's so hard to deal with that when you're doing everything right!

129.8 I've made it. I start strength training Monday.its gonna be 3 days a week and then 2 days of cardio with one day of rest.im so excited to start she is gonna take my body fat percentage now and then again right before I leave for my trip.

Originally Posted by indiblue:
Hey everyone,

I was active here a few years ago and find myself popping in when I'm having trouble. Well.. I'm having trouble!!!

I generally stay around 125, sometimes dip down a bit to 123. A few weeks ago I started moving up towards 127, which is my red line. I have been quite careful the last 1-2 weeks about what I'm eating, and eaten extremely carefully the last week, and I AM STILL GAINING. Yesterday I was 128. This afternoon, without clothes, I was 130. This is after eating a salad and coffee today, two salads, an egg, a glass of wine, and a small rice and bean dish yesterday. This is how it's been going for the past week or two.

It's not just about the scale, it's just my whole body feels soft and thick, my measurements are up, my stomach looks like I just ate a big meal. Ugh. I seriously do not know what's going on.

I know my body really well and I know how to kick myself into gear when I start gaining. I've been quite good and careful for a week now, and I usually lost 1-2 lbs of water weight after at least a few days of very clean eating, then a couple more pounds over the next few weeks of actual weight. This time I am GAINING.

I don't get t. Nothing has changed. I guess I just need to be patient. Would love encouragement :(

ETA: It's not a matter of not eating enough either. I'm not actually hungry, and I tend to snack a bit. So even though I have just had a salad and coffee today so far (it's 4 PM where I am right now), I was planning on having a few baked chickpea patties for dinner- probably total of around 1300 calories today. I'm not starving, I'm not hungry, I am just GAINING :( :(

Indiblue, I feel your pain! There's nothing quite as frustrating as doing everything you think you should, and still being tortured by creeping-up numbers.

What's worked for me, and is why I chose the name I did, is hunger. Last year, I lost 25 pounds by being healthily hungry a lot of the time. That is, I ate all the calories I was supposed to in a week (1200 x 7 = 8400 or more), but I just redistributed them a little bit, so I wouldn't be hungry ALL the time, as many people are on a 1200 calorie a day diet.

I personally don't think that successful weight loss is possible for me without experiencing a lot of hunger. I get around that by having two days a week, Saturday and Sunday, where I eat as much as I want of healthy (for the most part), foods. The rest of the week, I go to bed hungry and wake up hungry, to put it bluntly. And that resulted in a safe, slow half-pound weight loss every week for forty weeks last year (up until Christmas), and I expect the same thing to happen this year, until I'm to my goal weight, God willing. :)

I'm sharing this because you sound distressed, and it's just something that's worked for me. I'm not a doctor, and I'm not even suggesting you try it. I'm just putting it out there, as a fellow traveler on this weight loss journey. :) Glad you're here, and welcome back!

Originally Posted by skittlesfirehawk:
129.8 I've made it. I start strength training Monday.its gonna be 3 days a week and then 2 days of cardio with one day of rest.im so excited to start she is gonna take my body fat percentage now and then again right before I leave for my trip.

Sounds like a great plan! I'm a little jealous, both of your trainer and your trip. ;)

so i did day 1 of strength training with the personal trainer.everything is shaking and hurts and i now have muscles in my stomach.my body fat percent is 23% we are going to bring that down to 20%. my weight goal is now secondarty but i still want to get to at least 120 maybe even go down more.

when i use my bodyfat caculator at home i get 28%fat but hers said 23% i guess as long as it keeps going down and i can see the physical changes when i look in the mirror it wont matter

January was a wash out. Welcome, February!
I'm down to 125.

I don't know what my final weight will be. I used to have some numbers in mind but I raised them because I am already an xs or 2 in many brands and also not looking forward to my new clothes no longer fitting.

I raised my goal weight to 112, but I will most likely adjust this.
Also i do know the numbers differ if I gain muscle. I'd rather be less jiggly than see a specific number on the scale.
I'm trying to see if I can keep my calories down.
And I'm still being active.

Originally Posted by skittlesfirehawk:
so i did day 1 of strength training with the personal trainer.everything is shaking and hurts and i now have muscles in my stomach.my body fat percent is 23% we are going to bring that down to 20%. my weight goal is now secondarty but i still want to get to at least 120 maybe even go down more.

when i use my bodyfat caculator at home i get 28%fat but hers said 23% i guess as long as it keeps going down and i can see the physical changes when i look in the mirror it wont matter

Sounds like you accomplished a lot - congrats! My body fat, when I measured it myself a while back, was around 31%. Don't know how accurate that is.

Thanks for keeping us updated! :)

Originally Posted by HappyHoliday:
January was a wash out. Welcome, February!
I'm down to 125.

I don't know what my final weight will be. I used to have some numbers in mind but I raised them because I am already an xs or 2 in many brands and also not looking forward to my new clothes no longer fitting.

I raised my goal weight to 112, but I will most likely adjust this.
Also i do know the numbers differ if I gain muscle. I'd rather be less jiggly than see a specific number on the scale.
I'm trying to see if I can keep my calories down.
And I'm still being active.

Active is good! In the interests of finding more interesting things to do to keep active, do you mind if I ask what your favorite exercise is? I like walking on the treadmill while reading, but something weird has happened, and I'm liking running more, all of a sudden. :shrug:

Hey! I'm in this club now, just barely! Right under 130 as of this morning...could always be a fluke though too. Anyway, my final goal will be getting and staying just under 120 hopefully in two months by April!