Oh my goodness, I don't know what's happening! I weighed myself 10 days ago, and I was 143.0 Just now, I stepped on the scale, and I was 147.4.

For a few weeks before the 143 reading, I overate. I was pleasantly surprised to only weigh 143. Since then, I've been eating much less. I overate on 2 days but even on those days I didn't eat more than 2000 calories. It's not even physiologically possible that I've gained 4 pounds in this time with how I've been eating. Maybe there was a huge lag, and I finally put on the weight that I should've had on me 10 days ago? I suppose the most likely answer is that I'm bloated and carrying extra water weight, and perhaps my scale is going a little nuts.

Oh my.

I have been eating far more carbs than is my norm lately so this could be water weight. And I definitely see the bloat. I'm noticeably bigger than I had been. My stomach is uncomfortably bloated. That's it. I'm restricting my carbs. Lately I keep saying I'll do that, but I go right back to too many! And I don't even like carby food that much! I'm naturally more a savory eater and love protein/fat. I won't do this long term but for the rest of the month, I'm going to keep my net carbs below 70 g. That's not that low but hopefully it'll be low enough to deflate me and get my body out of this destructive and unusual (for me) carb fest.

Chunkahlunkah-

I hear you. I went sort of carb-crazy between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but as of Jan 1 went back on the low carb and have dropped 5 lbs. I imagine most of that was water weight, but I do notice that the fat roll on my stomach feels "squishy" today which might mean a fat loss whoosh is on the way, and that would be most welcome! My two trouble areas are my stomach and my butt.

Let us know how it goes!

Dee

Your story gives me hope, Dee! I hope to drop 5 pounds by the end of this month.

Fingers crossed for the fat whoosh from your stomach!

It gives me hope too (and hope your whoosh comes stat)! I haven't lost any weight this week, that I know of. As soon as I saw that 149.4 it went right back up again. My best theory of why I was hanging onto water is that I usually do when I get sick and I had a slight cold this week. The dates bear that out, and it's starting to come back down again now that the cold is going away. But it's still discouraging.

That being said, I've been a lot more active and I just bought two new sets of weights, 15 and 20 pounds. I've been needing heavier weights for some months now so I see a lot more lifting in my future. It was getting really dull since it was so easy, and I kinda just stopped lifting for a bit. I like weights a lot so am very happy to get back into things.

I can't lie, the last week was discouraging, but I've made up my mind that this time I'm not getting discouraged, I'm getting smart. I'm trying to problem solve things that usually happen and figuring out ways to make it work better. Right now I'm brainstorming healthy snacks. I did get myself some protein powder to see if upping my protein intake will help satiety. I eat a normal amount but I'm going to give this a go.

I hope your whoosh comes stat too, Chunkalunkah! That sounds miserable.

Annnnd this morning came the whoosh! So happy! 149 even, right where I want to be.

Yay, Roja!

Chunkahlunkah, hope your whoosh is there too!

I'm only down .2 lb today which is negligible and definitely not a whoosh but it will happen someday. I can't wait to get some of the extra flab off my belly, buns and thighs. Other areas are starting to look really good- my arms, shoulders and chest are looking pretty good these days. I've been doing a lot more resistance training and so I'm getting some actual muscle, I think. I did a new workout the other night (P90X2 Chest, Back and Balance) that I had never done before and I am SORE, but oddly what's sore is my upper abdominals and the muscles all around my rib cage. There was a lot of core work in that workout and I am feeling it, for sure.

No whoosh for me yet, but congrats, Roja! And well done with your progress, Dee! I love what resistance training can do for the body. It's night and day with or without it. Well, for me it is anyway. I suppose some ppl are naturally blessed to have strong muscle tone even w/o strength training of some sort.

I'm considering getting Beachbody on Demand again. Mine expired in early Nov. I really enjoyed it. I didn't renew bc I wanted to save cash by alternating between that for half the year and other (free) exercise the other half. I seem to find BoD more fun than my own dvd's though, so more motivating. I'm also considering joining a gym. I like to walk on the treadmill while listening to podcasts. I love doing that after work. I find it easy to make that a habit. The only problem is bc of my work schedule, I'd need a gym that's open really late or 24 hours. I'll have to research if any are near me...

I recently started working later hours, from 1 pm to 11:30 pm. My schedule changed at the start of this month. Coincidentally, that's when I gained these mysterious 4 pounds. I wonder if that schedule change had anything to do with it.

Chunkahlunkah-

I'm still using BOD and love it. I think I mentioned I was skeptical of the value when I originally signed up, but it has far surpassed any expectations I might have had. I love the Beachbody exercise programs. I'm skeptical of their supplements.

It's very possible your schedule change has affected your weight. I read once that swing and night shift workers are more prone to weight gain.

Dee, hey, .2 is still going down! And glad too to hear about the workouts--building muscle is so satisfying, almost as good as losing weight for me.

And Chunkalunkah, I'm with Dee. I too have heard that changing schedules really messes with your body, especially ones that are overnight in some way.


148.4 this morning for me, great news!

A 3.6 pound whoosh! I was 143.8 today.

I'm scared I'll shoot back up! I don't trust my body yet after this month's weight roller coaster. I'll make sure my weight holds steady/goes down more before I feel too relieved.

I've finally adjusted to my schedule, am no longer fighting to keep my eyes open the last few hours of my work shift. I go to bed now at 2 am and get up at 10 am. This is a sharp contrast from how I had been, waking up at 5:30 am. So I suppose it's possible that the adjustment phase was a stressor on my body. I wish my body didn't stress out by becoming a balloon, but I'm glad that's over.

Over the past 3 days, my net carbs have been: 64 g, 111 g, and 75 g. So I only hit my < 70 g goal on one of the days. Even so, my body feels *much* better. No more uncomfortable bloating. I think I'll readjust that goal to under 80 g.

Yay, Chunkalunkah, great news! I'm glad you're settling in your new routine.

For my part, the scale has been hovering at 148.2 the last three days. Today it briefly bounced down to .0 before settling back into .2 so I'm hoping that if I eat well it'll be .0 for real tomorrow. Yesterday I had some school events that (because they're in the UK, so time difference) had me up for an hour or two at a time then trying to sleep for an hour or two from 4:30am to 3pm so my body was all messed up. That plus some extra dessert last night (I went a little crazy on the cookies, oops, but thankfully not too bad) means I'm not real surprised at holding steady today. Can't wait though... at 147.8 I'll be back at my pre-holiday low.

So close!

And today I hit it! 147.8 greeted me this morning and I was definitely glad to see it I've eaten a bit more than planned so I was glad to have lost a half pound. Now onward and downward quickly to meet my goal of 147 by Monday morning...

Roja, congratulations! That's a great feeling, I know! I hit goal this morning. Goal was 135.0, I weighed in at 134.8. I started out the month at 142. My tactic was to go "sugar free for the month of January" and other than allowing myself 1 small square of dark chocolate each day, that's what I have done. It's kept my overall carbs pretty low, even on days where I allow myself higher carb foods like potatoes. Many days this month I've kept my total carbs around 70g per day. I manage that by keeping breakfast at zero carbs (I either fast or drink coffee with heavy cream) and lunch is about 6g of carbs (last month I was eating baked yams or baked potatoes for lunch, this month it's eggs scrambled with chopped onion and bell pepper). So that allows me to get a satisfying amount of carbs at dinner. The question will be - can I maintain after February when my diet loosens up? That's going to be the big question. I need to find a weight to sustain. Also, I'm still interested in losing about 10 lbs more of fat, and gaining 10 lbs of muscle. My scale says I'm still 32.1% BF and I want to be 25%, or close to it.

Chunkalunkah, how are you doing? It looks like you've been exercising really consistently based on the other thread!

Dee!!! You did it!! YASSSSSSSSSSS. I'm doing a happy dance party for you; that must feel amazing!!

I hear you on finding a sustainable diet... it's one of the reasons why I'm losing weight relatively slowly. Half the battle is finding a way I can eat long-term, not just for a few months.