I am getting worried... I have been going to the gym regularly since 2/15 (avg. 5 days a week), and dieting my butt off.
Last week, counting my activity points, I was -16 for the week. I didn't use ANY flex points. My weight, starting that Monday, was 194. This past Sunday, I was down to 191. Awesome right? But... still dieting, still going to the gym, today I weigh 194.
What am I doing wrong? I am eating at or below my points (taking into account my activity points), working very hard at the gym, up to a 600-calorie 1-hour workout... but I don't think I am packing on muscle doing cardio and rowing, so no potential buff weight gain yet.
Could it be a bag of Jiffy Pop Kettle Corn I ate last night? With too much salt maybe? The bag had 975 mg. or 40% of the daily req. in salt. Hmmm. Doesn't seem like too much...
Not enough water? I try to get up to 6 cups a day, but usually end up around 3-5. Yesterday, though, I drank 6.
Ack! Help me before I puff up like the Pillsbury Dough Boy! You know, it's weird, I think I lost more regularly before (back in 1999-2002, when I dropped 52 pounds) when I WASN'T exercising! I don't get it. I'm actually getting to the point where I enjoy the gym - and I know it's very good for me, but what the heck is up with GAINING weight?
I am like you Sarah... I have noticed that my weight loss slows down when I start to exercise. BUT...you have to keep going, one day you will see the buffness coming through, it will take a little while, but it will happen. And more importantly if you stop exercising, in a week you will see what you have done because you'll notice flab that you hadn't in a while. Besides, it's making you healthier!!
I have wanted to quit for a while, but I keep telling myself that you WILL lose eventually and it's a lifestyle that I need to continue to beable to keep off the weight.
Dear Berkie,
The only suggestion I have is that you eat at least 20 points of food a day. I have seen people who get into heavier exercise slow down their weight loss for a couple of weeks. However, the weight loss always kicks back in after a short passage of time.
Good luck. Let us know how it's going.
Judy
Just a quick note - muscle weighs more than fat. Plus, if you are eating too few points, your body could go into stavation mode and will actually start saving what you are eating. Probably why they stress that you have your points every day.
Also, your body varies day to day with water, try to weigh only once a week. That popcorn overnight could have caused it - give it a few days and check again. What's that saying - "A watched pot never boils".
I really think you should eat all your target points (24) plus all your Activity Points. You're probably putting your body into starvation mode and it's burning slower now. That is most likely why you lsot weight better when you weren't working out. The leader at our meetings puts so muc emphasis on getting all your points. If you don't use your flex points, make sure you get your activity points. Try this for a couple of weeks and see. Just my opinion.
Diana
Ditto all of the above: salt, not enough water, etc. I think you need MUCH more water than you are drinking for the amount of exercise you are doing. You have got to keep the system flushed out!
TOTM: personally, I always retain water before my period, and "lose" 2 - 3 pounds as my period winds down.
Also, you may indeed be putting on a little muscle. Especially on your back since you are rowing. You may find your muscles feel harder or denser-- this is added muscle fiber inside the main body of the muscle. At this stage I believe it's possible to build muscle faster than you lose fat.
And you've got to remember that muscle fiber needs a much bigger blood supply than fat does, so you need to keep the blood volume up by drinking lots of water and eat healthy so you're building lots of red corpusles. And the additional blood supply and capillaries weigh a bit.
But don't worry, it all works out in the long run.
It was actually easier for me to put on muscle when I was heavier than it is now.The extra weight of the fat itself acts as "resistance" as if you were lifting the weight, which you are-- you are moving your whole body more. Now that I'm smaller, I'm losing a few pounds of muscle, because I don't need as much to carry my weight around. I had about 128 # of lean body mass, now about 123 #. So now I need to incorporate a little weight training to keep the LBM loss to a minimum.
In any case I strongly, STRONGLY advise you to get a little notebook and record your measurements as well as your weight. I'd say use it as a diet journal as well. Adding up those calories every day really keeps you honest, because it's all too easy to overeat when you are hungry due to increased exercise.
In any case, try not to obsess about day-to-day fluctuations. Keep good records, and look at your month-to-month progress. You need to see that your measurements are going down, it's much more accurate than just feeling your jeans are loose, because cloth can stretch or shrink a lot.
But if you measure your upper arm, bust, waist, hips, upper thighs, and calf (always in the same spots of course), then put the results on a spreadsheet, after a few months you will REALLY see what's going on. It is very, very motivating, and it helps you to see which body areas you might want to work on more, to sculpt your look, and take you to the final results you want.
Without that data stream, you're just guessing about what works and what doesn't. With the data stream, you can customize your plan and fix problems as soon as they occur, without getting so frustrated and feeling like you don't know why things happen the way they do. Weight loss may not be rocket science, but it is, in a very real sense, a biology experiment, so think like a scientist. Good Luck!
Last edited by SeekInnerThinChick; 03-02-2004 at 01:28 PM.
Hi - am new to the site and have been doing a modified WW thing for a few weeks (having done it previously). But now am exercising too. Spoke with a personal trainer - she says you should be eating, minimum, 10x your goal weight in calories on days you DON'T work out. And then another 50% of that amount on days you do work out. This will keep your body from getting into starvation mode and will still keep you from eating too much. I have the WW old point calculator and changed the points to reflect the correct number of calories. And, since my goal is 135, 1350 calories basically keeps me from getting too hungry and on the days I do work out, 2025 calories is nearly too many, but I come close. In any case, I've been losing about 2# a week since I started. And I have about 40 to lose, so it's not that I had so much to lose that they are melting off. Agree with the others - make sure you are eating your minimum points, period. You don't want anything to hang on when you're trying to lose. And on days you work out and don't want to add too many eaten points to your day, try an ounce of nuts (almonds, pistachios, etc) - your body probably would enjoy the extra protein after a day of gym abuse!
Great ideas, Scooby, and interesting info from your trainer.
I heartily echo the measurements! I've found that when the scale isn't showing me much progress, the tape measure certainly makes up for it when you do comparisons. I try to measure once a month, so I can have a running (downwards, of course!) tally of inches I'm losing. So even though my loss has been slower than I would like, I'm certainly seeing a difference in how my clothes fit and what the tape measure says.
Here's an old idea, but a good one. If you'd like to see your measurements going down but are not too interested in the numbers themselves, use a ribbon to take your measurements. Keep cutting off the pieces as you get smaller and save them. Then you can see how many inches you've lost.
Good luck!
Judy
If you weigh yourself every morning like I do, prepare for fluctuations and try not to take them too seriously. My weekly weigh in is my "official" one, but I can't resist checking every morning. Just to give you an idea:
Thursday last week: 192
Friday: 191.5
Saturday: 191
Sunday: 193
Monday: 191
Tuesday: 192
Wednesday: 191.5
Thursday: 190.5
Friday: 188.5 (WHOAH!..bout fell off the scale this morning)
Up down, up down, but the general trend is what counts. By all means, don't give up the exercise! I read a post recently on the WW board about a woman who eats 1,050 calories a day, and feels this is plenty for her. She's down to about 5 lbs away from her goal. There is no way on God's Green Earth that I would be able to maintain that..might as well just throw in the towel now. I think the key to not having to eat that little when we get closer to goal is to EXERCISE!
I am the worst at being impatient, so I know how you feel, but I think that's about all that can be done. Wait and see what happens. Maybe you *should* eat your flexpoints? I know I am eating more on WW than I was on my own calorie counting program, and it seems to be working just fine.
Last week, counting my activity points, I was -16 for the week. I didn't use ANY flex points.
You NEED TO EAT the TPs at a minimum EACH AND EVERY DAY! And if you are exercising you need to eat more so you don't slow your metabolism down and your body hold on to each and everything you eat calorie-wise.
Then you go one to say
Quote:
What am I doing wrong? I am eating at or below my points (taking into account my activity points), working very hard at the gym, up to a 600-calorie 1-hour workout... but I don't think I am packing on muscle doing cardio and rowing, so no potential buff weight gain yet.
You may need to eat even more than just your TPs and APs.
Quote:
Could it be a bag of Jiffy Pop Kettle Corn I ate last night? With too much salt maybe? The bag had 975 mg. or 40% of the daily req. in salt. Hmmm. Doesn't seem like too much...
Popcorn is very high in sodium and it does cause water retention in most.
What the @#$%^* ?! Weight Gain
You know, it's weird, I think I lost more regularly before (back in 1999-2002, when I dropped 52 pounds) when I WASN'T exercising! I don't get it. I'm actually getting to the point where I enjoy the gym - and I know it's very good for me, but what the heck is up with GAINING weight?
