I am soooo frustrated with the scales. I started out again on this journey at 170 (even though my ticker doesn't say that) and I have been working out at my new gym now for 5 weeks, and I finally saw 166.0 last week. Now, I'm back up to 168!!! It's killing me!! I mean, I am seeing some loses in inches...which is an awesome thing. But why does the weight keep going up???? It is just very frustrating. I know that I am probably replacing fat with muscle but i soooo want the numbers to come back down too. I just need some encouragement that the numbers on the scale will come down soon too.

Hey, lumifan! What a drag, huh? Well, since you asked for ideas... First of all, you could be gaining muscle--I'm sure you've heard that before--and muscle is denser than fat. But that's a good thing!

Also, I looked at your public FitDay, and maybe I'm wrong but it doesn't look like you're tracking everything you eat, every day. On the days you do put things in, it looks like it's just over 1200--but those missing days, and the days where it looks like you haven't made all the entries, sort of leaves a big question mark.

Jay

yeah, i have a hard time getting all my food in on the weekends because i don't have internet at home. I do have trouble getting over 1200 calories some days too. I'll go in and try to track what i had yesterday, but i can tell you, it wasn't really much. I had half a slice of lemon flavored cake, 3 chicken strips from popeyes and half a bisquit, 2 slices of 4 cheese pizza by disorno (sp??), and a chocolate icecream cone. (i went to a birthday party yesterday).

I am going to venture to say that you are up because you ate unhealthfully over the weekend. Even if you stick with 1200 calories, if you eat highly sugary, sodium, and fat filled foods such as the ice cream, cake, and pizza-then a lot of times you will show a scale raise for a few days.

Well... again, since you asked... it looks like you're eating a lot of fast food. Is it possible that you are judging too low on the calories? You can check on the companies' websites to get calorie amounts. (For example, if you had the four cheese microwave rising crust DiGiorno pizza, then depending on how much 2 slices is, it could have been 200-400 cals. right there. IF they are telling the truth about the calories.)

Also, I see no vegetables and no fruits. Not much fiber.

Lotsa carbs, lotsa fats.

Well--try changing what you eat! I guess that's all I can recommend.

Jay

I have found for me it is not only how many calories I eat, but what kind of calories I eat. For myself, I find I see more rewards in the scale area when sticking with less fatty, less sugary, less carby foods. Oh how I wish that wasn't the case, but unfortunately time and time again it proves to be the case.

...may be that in your food consumption. Not the calories but the type of calories and the foods you are choosing. This is just my opinion and you asked so please don't be offended, but I think you need more fruits and veggies and less carbs. Just look at your fitday, and check the overall type of food you are eating and maybe this might help.

i sort of agree with the above posters. It appears that you either may not be calculating the right amount of calories. I have a hard time believing that the cake, pizza, choc ice cream, bisuit and chicken strips are only 1200 calories. That seems pretty low. I went on calorie king and 2 strips of chicken from popeyes have 310 calories, one slice of dijorno 4 cheese pizza has 360 calories, choc. ice cream on average has 140 cal per 1/2 cup...okay so i'm not attacking..but do you see where i'm getting at? I think you are underestimating some of your caloric food intake. Also, you are eating lots of carbs and lots of sodium (the chicken strips and pizza), that will cause you to retain water and bloat. I highly recommend going on to diff. web sorces and finding out some of these foods actaul caloric counts and making sure you are truely tracking properly. Also, try to eliminate all the food with high sodium..it will bloat you. And then if you still are not loosing weight..you may be gaining muscle. I highly recommend measuring areas such as thigh, bust, waist and hips...since you could be loosing in those areas even if you gain weight. Hang in there and please dont take this as an attack...its the advise you asked for. So my recommendation is do a better job of journaling and finding out what calories are in fast foods..actually i highly recommend eliminating all fast foods. I find i do much better when they aren't there. Also start eating 5-6 servings of fruit and veggies and low (you don't have to eliminate totally) your carbs. I also find that eating whole wheat carbs is much much better for you. Good luck and keep up the exercise...you can do it..i know its frustrating but we're all here with you.

I think you are also underestimating the calories of your foods. In your fitday, you put 95 calories for a popeyes biscuit when it is 240 calories. You also put down 278 calories for 3 chickens trips when 3 popeyes chicken strips are actually 465 calories. Also when I looked up 4 cheese pizza (thin crust), 2 slices came out to 600 calories and you put 480. These are all based on www.calorieking.com.

So what you think was a 1500 calorie day might've been at least 2000 calories, maybe more if you are underestimating other things as well.

Unfortunately, your "diet" is not one that will enhance and maintain weight loss. You don't need the internet to keep a food diary. You can purchase a good calorie book at any bookstore, Walmart, Target,etc. You need to lose the fast food and concentrate on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and protein with a little good fat (from nuts, avocado, olive oil, for example) and realize that this is how you need to eat for the rest of your life. The occasional fast food item won't kill your diet, but having it daily and even more than once a day will pack the pounds on quickly.

hmmmmm....i do have some trouble figureing out fast foods sometimes. I could defianatly be off on the chicken strips. the pizza i'm pretty sure is accurate...at least by the boxes nutritional values. i do have trouble finding a way to eat healthy. i agree i need to add more fruits and veggies in to my diet. i don't know why this is so much harder than the last time. how do you think my day looks for today??

oh, and i know ya'll aren't attacking me. lol. I could use some constructive critisism....and help. I do need to work on what i eat. I really need to plan ahead better than i do. :-)

today looks a little better, but here's some suggestions...you still need more fruit/veggies. I only see 2 servings. Try an apple, orange or celery for a snack. Try celery with salsa if you can't eat it plain. i would recommend instead of 3 fried eggs...try the 3 egg whites or eggbeaters, spaying pan with PAM and maybe using some salsa or low fat cheese to give the eggs some "ummph". Today is a bit better than yesterday, but there still is a lot of stuff that can be "tweaked". Of course it doesn't happen overnight. Start with incorporating one snack with a fruit/veggie. Then more. My good days (yes i do have bad days too). start with fat free yogart with a 1/2 cup of fruit and a low fat granola (for protien, fiber, and crunch), 1 cup skim milk in my espresso with 1 tsp of raw sugar. A mid morning snack around 9 or so of fruit, lunch is usually a salad with low fat dressing, some chickend breast deli meat, another piece of fruit or veggie, mid-afternoon snack is usually 1 srv of almond, then dinner is usually grilled chicken, fish etc. I occasionally do need a "carb" fix...and when i do i grab either low fat microwave popcorn or some blue corn tortilla chips (the brand i like it guiltless gormet...baked not fried). So i really think there is much more tweaking to your program..but just start somewhere...start with a piece of fruit instead of cookies..and if you absolutely need a cookie have one but try having healthy items first. Also, really try to eat less processed foods..i find this helps a lot...in addition so does the whole wheat vs white carbs...big difference. and don't forget the water...on my good days i'm drinking at least 2 L of water. Good luck.

Just chiming in with my $.02 – I agree with everyone in that you need to cut down on the high sodium high fat fast foods and concentrate on getting in lots more veggies, fruits and whole grains.

Another thing, is there something you could put in your coffee other than those French vanilla creamers? That’s 120 calories for three, if you cut those out or substitute with a bit of milk and non-calorie sweetener (splenda even has vanilla flavor packets if that’s what you’re after), you could have a small nutritious snack instead for that amount of calories. That would help keep you full between meals, and when you’re eating a low-calorie diet it’s important that very few calories go wasted as “empty” calories. You’re body need proper nutrition, not just “x” number of calories in a day.

I also wanted to add, that when you DO go to a fast food restaurant, or a chain restaurant-that you can get the accurate calorie information online at the individual restaraunt websites. I looked up the information when I was estimating your day directly from the Popeyes website. It will help-because you can get chicken fingers at Popeyes, Arbys, or McDonalds, and the serving sizes, and calories are going to be different for each one.

Hi lumi . I admire your efforts to lose weight but also really impressed by your ability to be open-minded to suggestions and changing. Such a great attitude.

To me the answer is probably a mixture of bad high sodium and fatty foods, added muscle tone accounting for a bit, and natural fluctuations being at work. I always fluctuate up by two pounds from a loss. I've never not done that and I've lost fairly steadily (except the last few weeks..grrrr).

I do agree its pointless to eat the foods you do and expect to be able to lose more than just at the beginning when just cutting back on portion sizes alone works. That stops working fairly quickly though and then you need to work on optimizing your body's metabolism.

Eating healthy foods that are harder to digest and getting lots of exercise will do this. Try to plan better as that is truly the key to not eating fast food (not to say I never do but I find whenever I haven't planned I eat badly and more calories than intended).