I Feel Like Crying!

I am so frustrated...

I started dieting on January 1st. following  the weight watches diet. I have been on it before and have lost weight. This time I lost 3 lbs the first week,(probably water) nothing the second and nothing the 3rd and nothing the 4th week.  I followed it to a tee but no weight was coming off....I was getting so frustrated!!!

I found this website last week and joined up. I still followed the WW flex plan but now I'm also counting my calories at the same time. I log everything down, stay with-in my goal to have at least a deficit of 500-700 calories below what I burned for the day.

I am 5'5," 61 yrs. old, weight when I started in here a week ago 215.

I thought I was doing great. I saw the scale go down 2 1/2 lbs... WOW!! I thought...this is working. I felt so good about myself and what I was eating. I felt better...more energy. Even my hubby noticed it!

BUT this morning I got on the scale and my weight shot back up 2 1/2 lbs. I'm right back up to where I started! I just want to cry. What the HE--am I doing wrong???? I am sooooo confused!!!!!

Sorry...I just needed to vent!

I won't give up! But I just don't know where to go from here

Try not to sound so discouraged! I know from my own experiences that weight loss can be an incredibly hard roller coaster ride. But we can do it! YOU can do it. I know you can. You have the strength or you wouldn't have made a point to say you won't give up!!

I can't explain the scales. I wish I could so I had something revolutionary to tell you that would instantly make you feel better but unfortunately I'm just not knowledgeable enough to know that!

I can offer my encouragement and support! I have faith in you! Keep your faith in yourself!! Keep your attention on how much better you feel! That's pretty great!

Keep up the good work and concentrate on the positives as much as possible!!

I wouldn't allow the scale to gauge your mood. There's many different factors that could account for the 2.5 lbs. Go by how you feel. I jumped on the scale this morning and was up 2 lbs but I didn't let it get to me, b/c my waist went down half an inch. You can FEEL the difference. Just stick to it and listen to how your body feels.

Don't let the scale discourage you there are many facors in weight loss and sometimes you don't see your progress on the scale, if yo are eating healthier there are many positive benfits you can not track on a scale. Everyone's metabolism is different I remember when my son was just about 1 my sister and I joined weight watchers and I was doing ok lost a few points and then I went in one week and gained some weight I can't remember the amount (my son is now 4.5) but I was so bummed I wanted to cry. Well I was nursing my son and within a week of that weigh in my period started for the first time since he was born. So it ends up that my monthly friend which I didn't even know was coming affected my weight loss. So there may be some other factors in play, are you exercising, if so maybe change your exercise routine, try to do both cardio and toning, the toning will produce muscle and muscle burns more calories while your body is not working out? are you staying within your point range? If you are having to little calories it can affect weight loss too because if your body thinks you are starving it it may not lose as efficiently. Maybe mix up the amount of point you eat each day maybe eat at the top of your point range for a day or two then go back to eating at the lower end of the point range. Or maybe talk ask your doctor and ask if they can refer you to a nutritionist, bring your journals and show them what you are eating maybe that can see something that you can change in your diet that would help. Don't get discouraged it takes time. Do you eat whole grans (wheat bread whole wheat pasta) Whole grains don’t cause the same spike in blood sugar that their white counterparts do so you may want to try that if you don't think you'll like whole wheat products you'll be surprised they are not all the same, I used to hate wheat bread I have found Meijer's light wheat bread is a great healthy choice, I also buy whole wheat pasta I like most of them my favorite is dreamfield pasta but it is harder to find arond here when I visit my best friend about an hour away I always pick some up, also try whenever you eat something with a carbohydrate to pair it with some protein it may seem like it is more calories but it’ll help keep that blood sugar from spiking too which should keep you fuller longer.  You can also look over what you are eating and make sure there aren't hidden calories you are not recording I love how some things that appear to be a single package state they are 2 servings not one.  Hang in there the weight will come off if you give it time.

That can be discouraging; not how you want to feel when making some changes in your life.   You may want to take some of the focus off of the scale and measure your progress in other ways.  Look at how you're feeling and  are your clothes starting to feel more comfortable.  I know this is easier said then done as lbs. lost is something we can easily count.  However, so much affects daily weight.  You may have had some extra salt that retained more water and it can be gone in a few hours.  Perhaps weigh yourself weekly or monthly.  Your salt intake in general might be high causing you to maintain water.  What types of food are you eating?  Are you doing some physical activity?  Taking better care of ourselves is so worth it, I wish the results were immediately obvious.  That would certainly be some motivation to keep going. I find it helpful to find pleasure in what I'm doing and try to keep the focus positive. I tend to lose rather slowly and so I try not to use the scale as motivation for the short term.  I do want to see the lbs. go down but I have to look at it over a period of time rather than daily or even weekly.  I know you mentioned that you had a 500-700 deficit-how many daily calories are you eating?  

Thank you for all the encouragement!

I am so obsessed with this it is driving me crazy! My day consist of either reading the nutritional labels on everything I eat, weighing it... writing it down and coming to this site to log everything and read all the post from all you wonderful people!

 I went out and bought a scale from the post office because they are more accurate.

I only eat Weight Watches Wheat or rye bread. I cut out rice and potatoes from my diet. The only liquids I drink are water, crystal lite, at least 8 glasses a day. I do have 4-5 cups of coffee a day, with equal and lite non-dairy creamer. My diet is high in carbs but they are good carbs, mostly fruit and veggies and high in fiber I do need to bring down my sodium, some days it's too high.  I stay with-in 1200 to 1500 calories a day. one day in the 1200's and the next day around 1400's so I'm mixing it up! My burn meter is 1890-2060 depending if I do cardio, I usually do my cardio every other day.

I am going to go back to look at the last 7 days in my log to see what I can do differently.

It's like I'm fighting with my body to let go of the fat but my body is so stubborn and wants to keep it! I would like to give it a good kick in the A__!!!

 

 

Just remember...it takes 3500 calories for a 1 lb weight loss or gain...so there is no way you can be gaining fat! Likely you are retaining water, or if you just started excersizing...gaining muscle.

I was like you the first few weeks I started I didn't lose a pound...then on week 3....they just were gone! So, just give it time and keep going. the weight will come off!

My enemy is sodium.  I am salt sensitive and will go up a couple of # with too much.

I avoid processed foods and watch labels and try keep a daily count and its worked best for me.  Yes, sometimes I just say, 'oh well' and cheat and have it and accept the consequences.  Salt was harder to give up than sugar.

do you know how much sodium you are getting daily?

If you're serious about losing you better get used to ups and downs.  I'm an older female also and used to get frustrated at how slow it was compared to when I was young.  I started at 202, May, 2007..........that's 9 months ago.  I weigh 176 now.   I can't believe how long it took.  At my best only avg 1.4# a week.

I have to try to not think about slow or fast, but consider how healthy I'm eating and concentrate on that...........and slowly it comes off,  ounces by ounce.  I couldn't have done it without CC.

good luck to you and I know you can do it.

PS.  I also take measurements once a month.

Keep in mind two things:

The scale is not an accurate measure of body fat (see link).

If you keep living a non-obese lifestyle, your body will have no choice but to conform in time. The laws of physics don't lie (but sometimes people lie to themselves); over the long term, the weight will come off.

The scale can be a real downer, specially when you're first starting out. Aim for a weekly weigh in rather than daily. When I was weighing weekly I would be sure to watch the sodium and drink lots of water two days before the big event. That way I usually got a pleasant surprise (not always though). Stick with it, make sure you aren't overestimating how much you burn with your cardio. I've heard some of the machines can err on the high side. You can do it!

maddie, keep in mind that if you are getting a higher amount of sodium AND drinking a bit more coffee, it could be (and probably is) retained fluids. The coffee can cause a diuretic effect and then if you are getting a bit more sodium than recommended, those 2 factors together would possibly make your water "needs" increase. Try to track your sodium and if that is the case, increase your water intake to accommodate this (if you can't/don't want to decrease the sodium and caffeine).

Great job with sticking with it!

Sodium is the devil when in contact with a scale! Don't feel discouraged.. if you saw a spike in weight, think of what you ate that might have contained LOTS of salt.....and just drink water. If I have too many salty things, I'll just carry around a bottle of water that can take 48oz, and will refill it throughout the day so that I can keep on drinking. That usually evens it all out.

 

Good luck! and good to see that you're not ready to give up the war yet, even though the scale might have won a small battle. 

I just wanted to add that happens to me.

After a few days of fluctuating the scale falls reliably to the lower ammount.

What's important is that both you & your husband noticed! You can still use that lower number as your weight

If your body feels better and you have more energy and you feel less "weighed down" don't worry about the scale.  Muscle weighs more than fat - I could probably gain 5 lbs and lose a dress size if I turned my flab into muscle.  Don't worry too much about the scale right now, just keep doing all the things that are making other parts of your health so much better!

WOW! You guys/gals are so great! So encouraging!

I think it might have been the salt! Last night I had a bowl of light potato chips I counted it in my log but it was loaded with salt. 200mg... that's why it tasted so good !! LOL  I'll drink extra water and watch my salt and see if my weight goes back down to where it was!

Like I said, I WON'T give up.  Just need to see what is going to work with my body!

Thanks for all the help!

Maddie

PS I just checked on my sodium for yesterday and it was very high (3359) OUCH!I need to keep an eye on this!!

I don't know what else to say other than

1. Watch the calories, not just on what you eat, but what you drink too.

2. Excercise regularly.

3. Diversify what you're eating.  I've found this book, "Eat This Not That" by David Zinczenko, and it helps me to evaluate the fast food places and what not. Besides, one can't live on Weight Watchers and Lean Cusine food alone.

I love all these posts - SO motivating and encouraging!  What a great community.  You can do it, Maddie - we all can.  There are a few things that my weight-loss counselor says that keep me going.  One is: the only person you can't BS is yourself.  Another is: honor yourself.  The one that I'm working on now is: If I honor my body with nutritious food and even the most moderate exercise, I WILL lose weight even if there are times when the changes that are happening in my body cannot be detected by the scale.  My counselor also says that if you want to decrease ANY behavior, all you have to do is monitor it (write it down) and it will decrease.  I don't understand, but I suppose it doesn't leave room for denial or mindlessness.  I LOVE that you are keeping a Food Journal because it allowed you to go back and pinpoint certain things that led to a temporary result that could've gone undetected therefore unchanged.  YEA!!!!!  Good luck to each of you on your journey!

Forget about the scale... 2 pounds ...who cares.. Now I'm really not being harsh or critical.  I just want you to take a big breath and realize that 2 pounds represents 1% of your total body weight.  This is a normal fluctuation.  

Think happy thoughts.  Go look in the mirror right now and say OUT LOUD " You beautiful woman!! I LOVE you" If you don't believe it, keep saying it about 20 more times.

Now go have some fun.. whatever.  As long as it doesn't involve eating.  Shop, dance, walk, play cards, hug your kids/grandkids, try a yoga class, play with your dog, get a pedicure.  SMILE.    The worst enemy to losing weight is stress. And with all this self punishing going on your body is going to hold on to every calorie. I mean OMG there must be some huge emergency right? Why on earth else would we be so upset???  

A couple of books great books are "The Writing Diet".  FANTASTIC.   And ' Eating like a Hot Chic' Very funny little read to keep your spirits up.

It's all about attitude.. It's really all in our head. Start living like the vibrant, beautiful, healthy, active woman you really are and your body will definitely come around to the idea.

One last thing, something I always tell myself to distinguish between real hunger and 'I'm just bored and I think I'll eat/drink something now' is  I just whisper to myself ' kila, food is not the ANSWER.' 

 

Anyway...be kind to yourself.. I bet your kind and patient with everyone else ; ))

 

kila 

 

 

Maddie,  Have you had any blood tests in the last while.  Is it possible that you have a slow thyroid.  Your doctor may not have thought it significant b/c many don't, but it sure can cause your metabolism to slow down. 

If you read my journal, you will see that for the last 6 weeks, I am EXACTLY where you are.  Followed the diet to the letter, but... I know I have hypothyroidism, and am on medication for it, and have also found out, that people  with Hypothyroidism, have a very difficult time losing weight.