I weighed myself today after only eating 1600 cals for a week. I hadn't been working out but I had dramatically changed the way I was eating. I had also cut out soda. I was excited to weigh myself today at the gym since I do not have a scale at home. SO I weighed myself at the usual time I weigh myself when I do weigh. I am usually around 175 lbs. Today the scale said 176.6 I don't know what to do because I don't think I can eat less. If it wasn't for this website I would give up. This forum has helped me so much to stay on track.

Did you eat a lot of sodium yesterday? Are you drinking enough water?

Weighing weekly can be discouraging because you could be having an "up" day. I'll usually see my lowest weight one day and then go back up the next. It'll be another couple of days or even a week before I see my low weight again and stay there.

Is it possible for you to weigh daily so you can see how foods affect you? Weight can fluctuate a lot so don't get too down about it!

Also make sure you're tracking your calories (or carbs, depending on your plan) accurately. Do you weigh or at least measure your food? I know that I can't "eyeball" portions because of years of overeating and having no idea how many cups/ounces of food I had.

If I try to eyeball "one serving" of protein, it ends up being way too much. But if I try to eyeball say "3 ounces", I'm usually very very close.

It shouldn't make a difference, since I know how to relate the two (i.e. how many ounces a serving is) -- but without fail if I don't shoot for a specific weight, I over estimate.

I haven't figured out a good mental trick for doing cups yet...

Don't get too discouraged; stalls happen, fluctuations happen, heavy days happen. It doesn't mean you haven't lost fat; scales measure weight, not fat.

There are a couple of reasons you could be seeing that higher number:

- Sodium intake higher than usual
- An impending visit from "Aunt Flo"
- Water weight due to vigorous exercise in the past day or so
- Poop. (Yeah, I said it. Poop is heavy stuff.)

And some questions:

- Were you on the same scale? Different scales mean different weights. Heck, different placement of the same scale can mean different weights.

- How do you portion your food? Do you weigh it? Measure it? Eyeball it? Guess at it? With calorie-dense foods, even a small overestimation can make a difference.

- What's a typical day's menu like for you? Your current 1600 calories a day should leave room for a lot of tasty stuff and it's surprising to read that you don't feel you could eat less. That's not to say that you should eat less--I think 1600 sounds great. It's generally a good idea to start at your highest caloric intake at which you still lose weight and I doubt you'll need to make any more cuts. I'm just wondering whether you're getting enough satisfaction from your food to be able to keep it up long-term. That's kind of a secondary thing to the weight stall, though.

Look, weight loss doesn't always make sense. It would be nice if our bodies said "Ok, it is monday! Time to drop that 1-2 lbs that is considered healthy weight loss for this week!" But it doesn't always happen that way. You might not lose anything for a week, and then lose 3lbs the next week. Or you might not lose anything for three weeks and have a woosh of 5lbs at the end of the month. It doesn't make sense and it can be frustrating, but you have to think of long-term goals too.

If you're getting frustrated, why not try setting goals that don't have to do with dropping pounds? Staying on track for 10 days in a row. Increasing your water intake. Eating three servings of veggies a day. Getting in 15 minutes of exercise a day. Whatever the goal may be, set it for something that you can absolutely control and achieve. This way, you still feel like you're making progress, if even the weight loss itself is a little sketchy.

seconding nola's post.

also, get a scale asap!

I can so relate as after weeks of no weight loss while still eating according to the same plan ( I weight and measure my portions), I suddenly lost 3 lbs last week so go figure! Think longterm indeed as sometimes the weight seems to come off in one big swoosh. I also realize that I lose a good deal (3-4 lbs) after my period ( I assume my cycle which included bloating, masked the weight loss).

Get a scale for your house and weigh daily.

Don't rely on once a week weigh-ins because they are almost always disappointing.

You need to be able to see the ups and downs and get comfortable with your own pattern.

You are doing great!!

Yes I do get to eat some things I want. The reason I said I can't eat less is I have tried before and only stick with it for a few days. Even though I am upset about not losing weight, I know that I dont want to go back to all the junk that I was gaining on. I don't feel deprived but I just want to lose weight so much.

I agree with you, I find cutting calories too low just isn't livable. Not only that, but it doesn't work well--you'd think that if shaving off 300 calories a day produced a one-pound loss per week, then shaving off 600 would produce a two-pound loss, but it's not linear at all. It's smart to go with a caloric intake that you can really live with.

Believe me, I'm not suggesting you lower your calories--I'm a big fan of the "eat the maximum that you can still lose on" school of thought.

And I'm willing to bet you have lost, you just missed seeing it because you're weighing weekly. Water weight gain can happen soooo easily, you might've dropped a couple or three pounds of fat but still kept the weight because of water.

You said you usually weigh 175. I'm wondering, did you weigh yourself right before your week of diet changes started? If not, and you're just going by say, last month when you weighed 175, then you may have actually started higher than that. Either way, you know now exactly where you are on THAT scale and you can weigh yourself next week there again and hopefully see a change.

And since you have to weigh at the gym for now, work out while you're there!

I'm another who weighs daily for this very reason. Weight fluctuates and rarely reflects what you are doing, especially if you working out. Exercise makes the scale go wonky, but does incredible things for your body! If you weigh daily, you will see the scale fluctuations and eventually they won't bother you.

Stay the course. The weight will move if you stay on plan.