OK, I am SOOOOO annoyed, upset, mad, down, whatever. I have felt like I have done pretty well this week. I have made better choices with food, I haven't gorged on anything, I've avoided excess sugar, fat, etc. I have been drinking water like crazy. I did the 2 mile WATP Monday, the 3 mile Wednesday, and did 25 minutes on the Gazelle Thursday. So now, Friday morning the scale is showing a 5 lb gain? What the heck??? I don't understand. It's nowhere near that TOM, otherwise I would chalk it up to that. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. This is depressing. But I won't give up.
There are SO MANY factors that affect the scale!!! It's unlikely you gained 5 pounds of fat in a week. Therefore, it's something else! These things happen ALL the time, and you need to be able to deal with the ups and downs! I think sometimes these kinds of fluctuations make people quit, and it's just a shame!
Just keep doing healthy things and you'll go back down.
Hi Christy. Don't despair. Make sure you read that link that Heather pointed you to. It's very telling.
Are you tracking your calories though? Or just trying to make better choices? Because I know for me I need BOTH. I need to eat healthier foods AND to count calories, because even healthy stuff adds up. You'd be surprised.
Oh Christy, dang i know that sucks. I know that is frustrating. I didnt even gain last week, i platuaed and i went on what basically amounted to a 3 day binge. (dang 4th of july) Gee that was smart. So now i am up 3 pounds. So BELIEVE me, i know how mad you must be.
The week i stayed the same i kept telling myself, but i did so well with exercise and eating. I went and looked back at my calories and all seemed fine, i looked at my exercise and realized, i really could have done better. Then i looked at how much fat i had, and somehow, i had managed to stay within my calories but i ate an enormous amount of fat. You said what exercise you did and that you ate "better" but are you sure you ate as well as you thought? Did you keep a food log?
Was this one of your first weeks exercising? If it is, you can really retain water in the muscles that you have been working. I know the first week i go to the gym i am sore, i weigh a lot more than i think i should, but then the next week, i will have like a 4 pound loss.
I guess what i am saying is, yes, i would be very angry. But check your log. What plan are you on by the way? If you didnt log your food, do it this week. Chart every morsel that you put in your mouth. (i have a tendancy to not count a peanut here, a cashew there, a sugar free cookie after dinner, then before i know it, if i add up the things that "dont count" i have added another 200 or more cals to my day). So be sure and chart it all.
Keep your chin up. Remember this battle is for life, so in the grand scheme of it all, in a year, you will not even remember this week. You will be too busy buying new clothes in the new sizes you have wittled down to.
Christy, I just wanted to echo what Heather and Robin said. In my experience, this is VERY NORMAL. Yet is it something that I personally was unprepared for, and judging from the number of times I see it mentioned here, I think most people are surprised by it.
To demonstrate: here is a screenshot of my weight loss graph for the last four months. You can see the great big 7 lb, 3 lb, 5 lb spikes from day to day, yet I still lost about 15 lbs in that four months. fluctuations.bmp
Also, I think Robin has a point. Even cutting back and making better choices may not necessarily give you enough of a calorie deficit to lose weight. I would encourage you to log your food also. At least to get an idea of how many calories you're eating.
Weight loss is confusing like that. You do everything right, eat the right foods, exercise, etc...and you STILL don't lose anything? WTH?! But it must feel good staying on track, and knowing you are sticking with this fight...so chalk this week up to a NSV, keep going, and see where you're at next week. You're doing great, don't give up!
I have been logging all my food and water. Maybe I'm underestimating the calories and fat grams on the foods that aren't prepackaged. I'm trying really hard not to get discouraged, but I knew going into this that one of my potential downfalls would be that I am not a very patient person. (Working on that, too, but like the weight loss, it's a slow process.) I do feel much better about myself knowing that I have exercised 3 days of this week so far, when in the past I never would have done that. I'm also proud of the fact that people sitting around me at the race track had all sorts of food that looked tempting, but I resisted. I'm even proud of the fact that I have had to use the bathroom WAY more than usual, because that's concrete proof that I am taking in more water than I have before. I read the link posted, and it makes sense that with the exercise I've added to my lifestyle I've gained. I don't like it, but I'll get over it. I saw on Wedneday that days I am off of work are going to be harder to stay on track, but I'm kinda glad I saw it on one day, rather than two. So now I'm more prepared for the coming weekend. And, my urban rebounder set should (crossing fingers) be here sometime today, so I can play with that this weekend. Thanks for the encouragement y'all. I guess I just needed reassurance that I haven't failed after less than 1 week.
Christy, BY NO MEANS have you failed! Please don't let this discourage you too much. You are doing what's best for yourself in the long run. You are doing wonderfully regardless of what the scale says this week. I agree- it can sometimes freak out in your first week or so of exercise. I promise your hard work will pay off soon. I'm so proud of you for sticking to this despite being discouraged! :
Do you have a digital food scale, Christy? I thought it would be too much trouble, but it's actually kind of fun to use and eye opening as well. It might help with the estimating.
But aside from that it is very possible to do everything right and have the bathroom scale not cooperate. Just think to yourself, when the scale does move in the right direction, you'll be so glad you didn't quit! I know what you mean about being impatient. I am TERRIBLE about that. So do as I say, not as I do, don't get discouraged! You are doing the right thing by doing this and being here. We're rooting for you!
What the ????? I Gained???
I have felt like I have done pretty well this week. I have made better choices with food, I haven't gorged on anything, I've avoided excess sugar, fat, etc. I have been drinking water like crazy. I did the 2 mile WATP Monday, the 3 mile Wednesday, and did 25 minutes on the Gazelle Thursday. So now, Friday morning the scale is showing a 5 lb gain? What the heck??? 
I don't understand. It's nowhere near that TOM, otherwise I would chalk it up to that. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. This is depressing. But I won't give up. 
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