So I am UP three pounds more than what I was two days ago. I just got back on WW last Friday. I am so annoyed and on the verge of the tears. WTH is the point of doing this if I am not going to see any type of progress and actually gain weight??
I am hoping that this weight gain is due to being on my period. I know that is where my attitude is coming from.
Last edited by livelaughlovesunshin; 06-15-2012 at 10:29 AM.
It absolutely is your period! I gain 2 to 3 pounds every single month, and it stays up for 3 to 5 days before it goes down again. I know it gets frustrating! But keep with it, the scale WILL show your hard work. Water weight fluctuates for me quite a few times per month, I know it's water though! You have to give everything some time!
So I am UP three pounds more than what I was two days ago. I just got back on WW last Friday. I am so annoyed and on the verge of the tears. WTH is the point of doing this if I am not going to see any type of progress and actually gain weight??
I am hoping that this weight gain is due to being on my period. I know that is where my attitude is coming from.
What's the point of eating, if I only have to do it again tomorrow?
What's the point of taking out the trash, there'll just be more tomorrow?
What's the point of earning a paycheck, if it's only going to go towards bills?
What's the point of brushing my teeth, bathing and washing my face, everything is just going to get dirty again?
Your weight is going to go up and down... forever. Your job is just to make sure it goes up and down the same 10 lbs forever, as opposed to the same 100 or more lbs forever.
If you expect to see a weight loss every time you get on the scale, you're going to be disappointed most of the time. If you expect to never see a gain, you're going to be disappointed a lot.
Disappointment and feelings of failure are the enemy of weight loss. We've been taught to give up when failure becomes overwhelming - and it makes sense. If you've failed at something enough, you start to think "maybe I suck at this, and should try something I'm better at."
So make sure you succeed by choosing things you can succeed at. "Never gaining a single ounce, ever again" is not one of those things - you have a better chance of winning every one of the world's lotteries.
We're taught to think these "failure thoughts" because it's just how weight loss "is done." But you have to unlearn it, to succeed.
I've also gained 3 lbs as of today because of TOM - and I know that I'm going to gain another 2-5 lbs, no matter what I do to try to prevent it. I've kept my calories and carbs low, so I know that the weight loss is going to disappear in about a week, if I wait it out. If I decide "what's the point," and give in to the TOM cravings, some of those 8 lbs are going to be permanent.
I know people say "don't weigh yourself more than once a week," but I think that's hogwash, because when you weigh yourself only once a week, you don't get a sense for normal weight fluctuations - so you forget (or never learn) that weight fluctuations are normal - and you forget or never learn the reasons behind the fluctuations.
When I started this journey "this time" unlike the countless previous times, I decided to change my goal from losing weight to "not gaining" so I would get to celebrate more often (and while I was at the business of "not gaining" I'd try to lose just one more pound while I was at it).
I learned that the skills needed to "not gain" are pretty much the same as those needed to "lose one more." I started getting discouraged though if I saw a gain and didn't know why, so I wanted to understand the fluctuations. So I weighed about a dozen times a day and even wrote several of them down (with and without clothes, before and after meals, before and after going to the bathroom....).
I wasn't trying to force myself to gain or stay the same, I was trying to UNDERSTAND, and I discovered so many sources of weight fluctuation that I was surprised we even bother measuring in pounds at all. Why not measure in nanograms. Of COURSE we fluctuate more than a pound each day, when the weight of the food we eat and the water we drink, varies more than that.
When you really understand the fluctuations, you stop trying to make your body stop having them (because it's a good thing that your body adjusts to circumstances. We retain water when our bodies need the extra water to repair and recover from injury or illness. The water we gain during TOM is probably doing something good for our bodies, so regretting the water can be like regretting the healing.
The scale is a great tool, but it makes us think the numbers are the most important and sometimes only important thing, and they're just not. The scale isn't the best measure of success, it's just the most convenient one.
If you can weigh daily (or more often if you want to learn more about the fluctuations) without stressing over the fluctuations, I would recommend it - but don't compare today's weight to yesterday's or even last week's. Compare it to last months (you're going to have to have 30 days of data before you can start doing this, so try not to think about the actual numbers until you have 30 days of data to compare).
Even then the comparison is only a guess, because you can't insure that all the variables that go into scale weight are the same. Digestion can take up to 3 days, so if you eat heavy, but low-calorie foods you carry some of that weight until it's passed through your body. If you eat a 2 lb cauliflower it may look like you've gained 2 lbs if you step on the scale, but you haven't really. Only a small fraction of the vegetable is going to become "you."
I'm not trying to lecture, just to help you keep the big picture in mind, because the pounds will drive you crazy and OFF the diet if you let them. Seeing the big picture (and knowing that healthy eating and exercise is doing all sorts of wonderful things for your body, mind, and spirit, even when the weight loss is being stubborn).
What's the point of eating, if I only have to do it again tomorrow?
What's the point of taking out the trash, there'll just be more tomorrow?
What's the point of earning a paycheck, if it's only going to go towards bills?
What's the point of brushing my teeth, bathing and washing my face, everything is just going to get dirty again?
Your weight is going to go up and down... forever. Your job is just to make sure it goes up and down the same 10 lbs forever, as opposed to the same 100 or more lbs forever.
If you expect to see a weight loss every time you get on the scale, you're going to be disappointed most of the time. If you expect to never see a gain, you're going to be disappointed a lot.
Disappointment and feelings of failure are the enemy of weight loss. We've been taught to give up when failure becomes overwhelming - and it makes sense. If you've failed at something enough, you start to think "maybe I suck at this, and should try something I'm better at."
So make sure you succeed by choosing things you can succeed at. "Never gaining a single ounce, ever again" is not one of those things - you have a better chance of winning every one of the world's lotteries.
We're taught to think these "failure thoughts" because it's just how weight loss "is done." But you have to unlearn it, to succeed.
I've also gained 3 lbs as of today because of TOM - and I know that I'm going to gain another 2-5 lbs, no matter what I do to try to prevent it. I've kept my calories and carbs low, so I know that the weight loss is going to disappear in about a week, if I wait it out. If I decide "what's the point," and give in to the TOM cravings, some of those 8 lbs are going to be permanent.
I know people say "don't weigh yourself more than once a week," but I think that's hogwash, because when you weigh yourself only once a week, you don't get a sense for normal weight fluctuations - so you forget (or never learn) that weight fluctuations are normal - and you forget or never learn the reasons behind the fluctuations.
When I started this journey "this time" unlike the countless previous times, I decided to change my goal from losing weight to "not gaining" so I would get to celebrate more often (and while I was at the business of "not gaining" I'd try to lose just one more pound while I was at it).
I learned that the skills needed to "not gain" are pretty much the same as those needed to "lose one more." I started getting discouraged though if I saw a gain and didn't know why, so I wanted to understand the fluctuations. So I weighed about a dozen times a day and even wrote several of them down (with and without clothes, before and after meals, before and after going to the bathroom....).
I wasn't trying to force myself to gain or stay the same, I was trying to UNDERSTAND, and I discovered so many sources of weight fluctuation that I was surprised we even bother measuring in pounds at all. Why not measure in nanograms. Of COURSE we fluctuate more than a pound each day, when the weight of the food we eat and the water we drink, varies more than that.
When you really understand the fluctuations, you stop trying to make your body stop having them (because it's a good thing that your body adjusts to circumstances. We retain water when our bodies need the extra water to repair and recover from injury or illness. The water we gain during TOM is probably doing something good for our bodies, so regretting the water can be like regretting the healing.
The scale is a great tool, but it makes us think the numbers are the most important and sometimes only important thing, and they're just not. The scale isn't the best measure of success, it's just the most convenient one.
If you can weigh daily (or more often if you want to learn more about the fluctuations) without stressing over the fluctuations, I would recommend it - but don't compare today's weight to yesterday's or even last week's. Compare it to last months (you're going to have to have 30 days of data before you can start doing this, so try not to think about the actual numbers until you have 30 days of data to compare).
Even then the comparison is only a guess, because you can't insure that all the variables that go into scale weight are the same. Digestion can take up to 3 days, so if you eat heavy, but low-calorie foods you carry some of that weight until it's passed through your body. If you eat a 2 lb cauliflower it may look like you've gained 2 lbs if you step on the scale, but you haven't really. Only a small fraction of the vegetable is going to become "you."
I'm not trying to lecture, just to help you keep the big picture in mind, because the pounds will drive you crazy and OFF the diet if you let them. Seeing the big picture (and knowing that healthy eating and exercise is doing all sorts of wonderful things for your body, mind, and spirit, even when the weight loss is being stubborn).
This post reflects my feelings the last week. My weight didn't move and I was under my calorie goals and working out every day. It was night and day from my overeating and lazy self 2 weeks ago. I didn't get it. It didn't make sense. I was pms'ing so that only compounded my negative feelings. Best advice:STICK WITH IT. In the past this is where I've given up. I refused to this time and fought through the feelings that it wasn't worth it and today I'm down 2 more lbs. I'm learning more than anything this is a mental journey. You CAN do it!
I can sympathize. I've been busting my a** for the last month, hundreds of calories under my maintenance level and working out/doing cardio almost daily, and I weighed yesterday on the scales what I weighed a month ago! Zero progress - and I don't have TOM for an excuse.
So today I went out and got the most decadent chocolate I could find and ate it during my work break. Yum! I'll subtract most of those calories later in the day, but the endless dieting with nothing to show for it was/is really discouraging. The tasty treat helped to give me a break. I may even eat another one later.
The point is to not give up - just keep pounding away at that weight wall until it cracks and gives.
Oh, how I can sympathize...
I remember weigh ins at Weight Watchers in the past that would have me in tears because I was so disappointed. I would even be disappointed with a 1lb loss! Looking back, that just seems crazy.
My attitude this time around is a lot different. While I still have moments where I feel impatient and discouraged, this time I'm being a lot less hard on myself when I have a bad week...and I am more knowledgeable about my own weight fluctuations from day to day.
I know how discouraging it can be to not have your hard work reflected on the scale - I think most, if not all of us have been there.
All you can do is just shake it off and keep going. I know it's way easier said than done, but what's the alternative?
Best of luck.
The way I look at it is the only things I can control are what I put in my body, and how I move my body. That's it! So I concentrate on those things. I can't control what the scale says, what my lymph nodes and pull of the moon decide to do with the amount of water in my body, or what my muscles are doing while they grow.
You need to get over this "what's the point" pity party (trust me, I've been there) and realize that you have a long journey ahead of you that will require strong commitment and willingness to stick with it even when you can't see the point.
The scale will go up and down in ways that make zero sense to you, weighing everyday can help you see this and realize "this too shall pass."
I weigh every day, but track my weight once a week. I generally spend the weekend biking and running and climbing, so my loss that was recorded on Friday is all wiped out by water retention gained over the weekend. But its back off by the next Friday and down a little. I have yet to lose one full pound per week since my second week on this journey, but you can bet that each .2lbs lost gets a woo hoo! from me. And a little gain here and there is all part of the process.
I generally spend the weekend biking and running and climbing, so my loss that was recorded on Friday is all wiped out by water retention gained over the weekend.
Can you elaborate? How are you retaining water when you exercised all weekend? I would think that you would lose by weekend's end compared to what you weighed on the previous Friday.
Can you elaborate? How are you retaining water when you exercised all weekend? I would think that you would lose by weekend's end compared to what you weighed on the previous Friday.
It's that mindset that drives people crazy! My body is not a math equation.
I'm training, so I'm riding hard, my muscles are sore and retaining water. If I'm out in the sun, I might have gotten a little burn - more water retained. Since I'm training, I eat more carbs on the weekend, more water weight.
I was 184.2 last friday, by Monday I was at 188. By this Friday back down to 183.4. Each Monday, weight is up, each Friday, back down and lower than the one before. But if I gave any thought to my Monday morning weight, I'd be bonkers!
It's that mindset that drives people crazy! My body is not a math equation.
I'm training, so I'm riding hard, my muscles are sore and retaining water. If I'm out in the sun, I might have gotten a little burn - more water retained. Since I'm training, I eat more carbs on the weekend, more water weight.
I was 184.2 last friday, by Monday I was at 188. By this Friday back down to 183.4. Each Monday, weight is up, each Friday, back down and lower than the one before. But if I gave any thought to my Monday morning weight, I'd be bonkers!
I can understand the part about eating more carbs and holding more water. But the part about retaining water because you're exercising hard - I've never heard that before. When I exercise hard I'll weigh less the next day, unless drink it all back in the meantime. Even then I usually lose a bit.
seagirl, I have the same struggles on the weekend with weight fluctuations. As active as I may be, I also tend to eat more carbs, more salty foods, retain more water and don't go to the bathroom as often because my general schedule is out of whack compared to Mon-Fri in the office work grind. Usually by Tuesday morning the weight is back down, after a day of good eating, lots of water and a nice healthy bowel movement.
To the original poster - I so feel your pain. I'm hitting that "wtf" point myself and coming here for the moral support so that I don't give up, so that I can work thru this and get to the point where the scale moves again. Stay focused. Keep up the good work. We can get thru this together!
Water retention after hard exercise is extremely common, especially when your muscles are sore. See the sticky at the top of the weight loss support page. It happens to me EVERY time. I've had very steady weight loss since I started losing, and I log my weight daily, I can see very plainly the weight spike after a hard workout. I, personally, always drink throughout a workout and after, to replenish the water lost through sweat. To me it doesn't make sense to not drink water after sweating, the scale would just be showing water loss anyway. IMO.
Feeling like what's the point
Awesome post, thanks!
