General Weight Loss Support Thread

SusieBlue

iguana wrote: »

How do the other women here find that their periods affect their weightloss. I weighed myself last night and had only lost 1lb in 10 days, which was disappointing as my eating has definitely not increased and I've been more active. I'm at the end of my period and am wondering if that is part of it. I'm also more bloated around the tummy. I'm still 2lb off my weightloss goal to get my BMI down to 24.9. (I don't actually have a weighing scale and have been using my old Wii Fit. So I just really can't wait to stop seeing my Mii suddenly grow a huge belly to an 'oh-oh' jingle every time I weigh myself . )

Mine impacts my weight massively.
I once weighed in the morning I got my period and almost cried because I was undeservedly up 2.5lb despite my nutrition & training being excellent that week.

When I weighed in the following week, I was down 5.5lb.
So I lost the 2.5lb (which I now know was down to water retention/bloating/hormones) plus a another 3lb to boot.
So really, I lost 1.5lb both weeks, which in my opinion, is a consistent, decent amount to lose.
The weight I was up was a red herring, for lack of better term.

Now I just don't weigh in the week of my period, and divide my loss (or gain!) the week after by 2, to account for the two weeks.

I know that others may not agree with that approach, but if you are like me & tend to overly focus on the number on the scales(I'm trying to stop!), seeing the number go up with no justification can be very disheartening and demotivating.
So I find it best not to weigh in that week.

Penn

SusieBlue wrote: »

Mine impacts my weight massively.
I once weighed in the morning I got my period and almost cried because I was undeservedly up 2.5lb despite my nutrition & training being excellent that week.

When I weighed in the following week, I was down 5.5lb.
So I lost the 2.5lb (which I now know was down to water retention/bloating/hormones) plus a another 3lb to boot.
So really, I lost 1.5lb both weeks, which in my opinion, is a consistent, decent amount to lose.
The weight I was up was a red herring, for lack of better term.

Now I just don't weigh in the week of my period, and divide my loss (or gain!) the week after by 2, to account for the two weeks.

I know that others may not agree with that approach, but if you are like me & tend to overly focus on the number on the scales(I'm trying to stop!), seeing the number go up with no justification can be very disheartening and demotivating.
So I find it best not to weigh in that week.

Not a woman but that sounds like good advice alright. Consistency is important, both for accuracy but also morale. If one week is almost always going to result in a possible gain due to your period, I don't think there's anything wrong with skipping that week and taking the result the next week and splitting it in two. So long as you're sticking to the diet and exercise, it'll balance itself out.

Michellenman

Check in day for me, down 1lb this week and delighted! I don’t think I quite deserved it as I went over my calories each day by 150ish and snacked on less than healthy things (note, don’t make brownies at home when on a diet....). It was also that time of the month so I usually go up a bit like others here. I’ll take the 1lb gratefully though!! This week I Have a birthday weekend of dinner and brunches so next week will be interesting at weigh in but I’m still feeling in a good mindset about it all and will try to make better snack choices to offset the dinners out and drinks etc.

Faith

M - you're doing so well! Well done! You started after me and you're down more than me (*ahem*bitch*ahem*)

I had a rollercoaster of a morning. I weighed myself and the scales said I was down 3 lbs! I let out a gasp of "What?!" in an unnecessarily dramatic manner. But then my rational brain kicked in and I realised there was no physiological way I was down 3lbs, so I reweighed myself. Down 0.8 lbs (0.5 really, because I was down 0.3 last week but anything less than 0.5 doesn't count in my book). Not the best, not the worst. I'm a bit disappointed that the 3 lbs wasn't real, because it would have put me at about 10.5 lbs until my goal weight. Unfortunately I'm still 13 lbs away from that goal, but at least it's closer than the 18 lbs I started at.

Also, I'm not sure if I'm imagining it, but I'm finding it SO much harder than usual to lose weight. I'm wondering if it's because I have tipped into my 30s? Hangovers last two days, I have aches and pains I never had in my 20s... It would seem to make sense that I may find it harder to lose weight. I just notice that I feel hungry much more than I normally do, but again, I am in the middle of doing my doctoral thesis and I'm rapidly approaching the final year of said doctorate, so that could be stress too.

Gwen Cooper

Hi all, new to this category!

I am currently trying to lose weight going from morbidly obese (BMI 60.1). I started some 2 months ago and as of this morning I lost 27 pounds in total.

I started with a "box diet" (just finishing my second week). They deliver breakfast, lunch and dinner for the day in the morning, Monday to Friday, so I only need to watch what I eat at the weekends and so far that hasn't been as challenging as I expected. The meals are freshly made the day before and should give me enough nutrition. I'm on approx. 1200 kcal a day, sometimes it's a little bit less, sometimes it's a little bit more, depending on the meals I choose for the day.

For the past week and half I noticed that I get tired really easily and also my legs (calves in particular) feel very heavy. It's difficult to lift my legs basically and it's harder to walk than it used to be. It's nothing that would significantly affect me, but it's annoying and I get frustrated when I need to walk somewhere because I know that I will have to deal with that.

Did anyone else have that issue? Could there be something missing in my nutrition that could be causing this? Thanks!

Faith

Hey Gwen, have you consulted with your GP about this diet? You've lost loads of weight and that's great, but it's really important to do it safely and healthily. For instance, I'm 5'5 with 13 lbs to lose and my calorie target is 1300 a day. 1200 seems very low, and I wouldn't be surprised that you're feeling pretty fatigued. If you're not already, collaborating with your GP will ensure that you're not missing any crucial nutrients etc.

Gwen Cooper

Faith wrote: »

Hey Gwen, have you consulted with your GP about this diet? You've lost loads of weight and that's great, but it's really important to do it safely and healthily. For instance, I'm 5'5 with 13 lbs to lose and my calorie target is 1300 a day. 1200 seems very low, and I wouldn't be surprised that you're feeling pretty fatigued. If you're not already, collaborating with your GP will ensure that you're not missing any crucial nutrients etc.

Hiya, my GP is aware that I'm on a diet and is monitoring my progress. The way I'm looking at it that I only lost 6.5% of my body weight in 2 months, I don't think it's excessive. While 27 lbs is a lot for people who are just overweight, I started at 401 lbs, so 27 is barely noticeable on my body. In fact I haven't noticed anything apart from being tired and my bra feeling loose

I could be wrong though. I don't know much about dieting, but it makes sense to me that 27 lbs for me is ok in that period of time.

My GP told me that it's ok to go with that box diet, they claim on the website that it gives you everything your body needs. Maybe I'll need to look into it. My GP also told me that she can refer me to a dietitian, so maybe I'll ask her to do that. Probably a good idea in the long-term.

Faith

Cool, that all sounds great! I guess it works out to about 3lbs or so week, which isn't excessive when you're starting from a relatively high start point. As long as your GP is monitoring everything, it should be okay. I'd wonder if a blood test might help get to the bottom of the fatigue - it could be that you're running low on iron or something?

Gwen Cooper

Faith wrote: »

Cool, that all sounds great! I guess it works out to about 3lbs or so week, which isn't excessive when you're starting from a relatively high start point. As long as your GP is monitoring everything, it should be okay. I'd wonder if a blood test might help get to the bottom of the fatigue - it could be that you're running low on iron or something?

Not sure. I will contact the company that delivers the meals and ask them if it really is enough for a day. They have a nutritionist on their team, so hopefully they'll be able to tell me.

It could also be all caused by stress, work has been hectic lately and it might be projecting on my body.

Anyway, I'll keep you all updated about my progress - scale didn't budge for the last three days which is weird, but I think it might be because my time of the month is coming and from reading the posts above, I'm glad to see that other people are affected by this too!

Penn

Best of luck with it, Gwen. You seem to be doing great so far and it's great that you've consulted everything with your doctor first. 27lb is definitely nothing to be scoffed at in two months, it's a fantastic start.

Daisies

Gwen Cooper wrote: »

Hiya, my GP is aware that I'm on a diet and is monitoring my progress. The way I'm looking at it that I only lost 6.5% of my body weight in 2 months, I don't think it's excessive. While 27 lbs is a lot for people who are just overweight, I started at 401 lbs, so 27 is barely noticeable on my body. In fact I haven't noticed anything apart from being tired and my bra feeling loose

I could be wrong though. I don't know much about dieting, but it makes sense to me that 27 lbs for me is ok in that period of time.

My GP told me that it's ok to go with that box diet, they claim on the website that it gives you everything your body needs. Maybe I'll need to look into it. My GP also told me that she can refer me to a dietitian, so maybe I'll ask her to do that. Probably a good idea in the long-term.

Congrats on the loss so far but I would check about the calories. The idea is you want to be able to lose weight on as a high a calorie allowance as possible. That way, when the weight loss slows down or stagnates, you can drop it further. If you were to drop below 1,200 it would be completely unsustainable. If you have a lot of weight to lose you could easily be eating higher calories and still be in a deficet.

Alf Veedersane

For those questioning an 'aggressive' deficit, you might find the following interesting:

https://sigmanutrition.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-aggressive-dieting/

1200/day doesn't have to be a long term strategy. It can be eased back to a more sustainable deficit after a certain level of weight loss.

Daisies

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

For those questioning an 'aggressive' deficit, you might find the following interesting:

https://sigmanutrition.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-aggressive-dieting/

1200/day doesn't have to be a long term strategy. It can be eased back to a more sustainable deficit after a certain level of weight loss.

Very interesting. Thanks for that

tamara25

Need advice on sugar guys. Should I be cutting it out completely or is a little bit everyday acceptable? I have an awful sweet tooth & would usually have 2-3 biscuits every day. I am sticking to my 1320 daily calorie allowance & walk for about 45 mins 3 times weekly. But am I sabotaging my weight loss efforts by still having a little sugar every day? Dr Marilyn Glenville mentions in her book about cutting out sugar completely to shift the fat around the middle!

silverharp

tamara25 wrote: »

Need advice on sugar guys. Should I be cutting it out completely or is a little bit everyday acceptable? I have an awful sweet tooth & would usually have 2-3 biscuits every day. I am sticking to my 1320 daily calorie allowance & walk for about 45 mins 3 times weekly. But am I sabotaging my weight loss efforts by still having a little sugar every day? Dr Marilyn Glenville mentions in her book about cutting out sugar completely to shift the fat around the middle!

if you cut the biscuits out you might find you dont even have the taste for them after a time. i'd swap them out for a square or 2 squares of a high cocoa plain dark chocolate, try it for a month or so and see. Then if you must, pick a day like Sat to have them.
As for sabotaging your efforts, they are only a small part of your diet so if you werent losing weight it might not be the only reason, but it would be an easy thing to take off the table

tamara25

Thanks silverharp for your advice again. I might cut out the biscuits for a while & see how I get on. Won’t be easy though, but hopefully will benefit me.

Penn

Another 3lb this week, which brings me to over 3.5stone, but also 50lb total.

Have a good week, folks! Keep it going.

Michellenman

Incredible penn!!

iguana

Didn't think I'd experienced any improvement in the last few days, in fact I've felt like I might have been gaining weight again. I've been feeling hungrier and as it gets colder, my sweet tooth has been resurfacing. (Nothing like watching a period drama on a stormy night to make me want a hot chocolate!) But today my jeans that I needed control underwear to fit into 3 weeks ago, fit easily and aren't at all tight on the thighs. So I've obviously not been doing too badly.

I've been doing lots of experimenting with fruit sweetened treats and making them healthy enough to serve as a meal instead of a dessert. So far I've made brownies from chickpeas, eggs, dates and cacao. Baked custard with eggs, milk and dates. And this morning breakfast was a banana and oat omelette. All eaten with berries and sometimes a small serving of greek yoghurt. All are delicious and very satisfying though I wasn't fully happy with the density of the brownies, so I've some adjustments to make to those (better blender and more egg). The small guy is delighted with the experimenting, though I'm feeling the need to explain when he tells his teacher/other parents that he had brownies/trifle for breakfast.

Michellenman

I have a recipe for date and cocoa energy balls if you’d like them iguana? I blend them super smooth and coat in dark chocolate and they’re kind of truffly and desserty. Let me know sure! Also, a hot chocolate with oat milk is really lovely, I ever order them when out and about rather than regular milk!

0.8lbs down this morning! A welcome surprise after last weekend of birthday food and drinks. I have a holiday booked for 8nights starting October 7th so my aim is to be super in plan until then and then enjoy my holiday. No more baking for me for a while, need to leave out the sweet stuff and lose the sweet tooth I’ve acquired over the last 2 weeks and go back to proper dinners in the evening.

@Faith I Know we said we’d support one another, how ar you getting on?

Faith

Michellenman wrote: »

@Faith I Know we said we’d support one another, how ar you getting on?

Not great, tbh. I've just lost my motivation completely. I stayed the same this week, which was about all that I could hope for as I didn't even track my calories.

Whatever is going on with my body now, whether iit's physical or psychological, I'm having a much harder time losing weight than I have in the past. Work is wrecking my head, which is heaping on stress, and I have a bitch of a commute at the moment so I'm totally sedentary. Watching what I eat (and more to the point, being disappointed every time I step on a scale) just feels like too much for me at the moment .

I saw some meme yesterday which said something to the effect of "Why weigh yourself when you could just roll in petrol and set yourself on fire for the same feeling?". I feel like that describes me right now

Penn

There'll be ups and downs along the way, and I know stress at work was always what led me down dark food paths in years past, but even if you keep the diet in mind for a week or two and just focus on at least maintaining, you can weather the stresses and find your feet with it again. It's an awful feeling when the scales aren't showing you what you think they should be, but if you keep pushing forward, it'll start to come right again.

Faith

Yeah, I'm trying not to be too self-critical right now, and be forgiving and flexible that I'm not achieving perfection. I really struggle with perfectionism, so I'm just trying to recognise my limits and be okay with the reality that not being perfect doesn't equal being a total failure. In the past, I'd have thrown in the towel totally at this point, but instead I'm going to give myself a little break and come back to it in a few days when it feels more comfortable.

Bassfish

Been behaving myself for the last two weeks, loads of salad and fresh veg and I'm feeling really good! Even went to my favourite burger place last night and had the burger with no bun and a side salad instead of chips and still enjoyed it! Behaving myself at the weekend now is a whole other challenge!

Michellenman

Faith wrote: »

Yeah, I'm trying not to be too self-critical right now, and be forgiving and flexible that I'm not achieving perfection. I really struggle with perfectionism, so I'm just trying to recognise my limits and be okay with the reality that not being perfect doesn't equal being a total failure. In the past, I'd have thrown in the towel totally at this point, but instead I'm going to give myself a little break and come back to it in a few days when it feels more comfortable.

This is a great attitude and I think it will stand to you in the long run. I won’t ask again but here if you want to chat!

Penn

3lb again this week. Bracing myself for a bit of a slowdown over the coming weeks, as the more weight I lose, the lower my daily calorie allowance goes, which I've been fairly solid at staying below so far, but could just start cutting it close soon. Plus going to be harder to get out walking as the weather turns. Pondering buying an exercise bike next month, but also have to buy a heap of new clothes next month too as I'm swimming in some of my work shirts especially.

Still though,

L'prof

Just to buck the trend. A week of not weighing myself. 2 weekends on the sauce, not tracking any food and numerous takeaways, I got back in the scales today and have gained 6.2lbs. Disappointed but I’ve had a very tough week and a half personally. To top it all off, I’m coming down with a cold so I feel extra miserable! Still down on where I started from I guess

Faith

L'prof wrote: »

Just to buck the trend. A week of not weighing myself. 2 weekends on the sauce, not tracking any food and numerous takeaways, I got back in the scales today and have gained 6.2lbs. Disappointed but I’ve had a very tough week and a half personally. To top it all off, I’m coming down with a cold so I feel extra miserable! Still down on where I started from I guess

Well done for getting back on the scales! When you know you haven't stuck to your plan, it's so easy to say "Ah fnck it, I won't bother weighing myself" and totally fall off the wagon. You've done the hardest part now, and it'll be easier to be disciplined now that you know where you're working from.

Penn

L'prof wrote: »

Just to buck the trend. A week of not weighing myself. 2 weekends on the sauce, not tracking any food and numerous takeaways, I got back in the scales today and have gained 6.2lbs. Disappointed but I’ve had a very tough week and a half personally. To top it all off, I’m coming down with a cold so I feel extra miserable! Still down on where I started from I guess

As much as you can try to keep on track, life will occasionally throw you curveballs which are just outside of your control. They can knock you out of routines and especially when it comes to things which can have a strong impact on you personally, you have to cope with them in whatever way helps you best, even if that means over-indulging in drink and takeaways for a while.

It's just important to not let it become the new norm, and to get back on a more positive track when you're ready to. You've made top progress so far, and a few steps back won't matter in the future when you're running forwards. Take care of yourself, and hope your personal troubles are resolved/reduced soon.

SozBbz

Hi everyone,

I've recently started tracking calories on MFP (not my first time, but hey)

I was on course from Tues-Fri last week. Went away for the weekend and wasnt counting. Plenty of eating out and alcohol.

Am only getting back to it today (yesterday was going ok but then I had a McDonalds) so today will be better. Going to go to chopped for lunch and have a steak/veg/noodle stirfry for dinner. All planned within my calories. I do better when I've got a plan.

I weighted myself again this morning and was up 3lbs since Friday so obviously a bit disappointed but not surprised. I'm wondering if thats a real gain as while I wasn't watching my food, I doubt ate 11,100 calories above my maintenance rate over the 4 days. Trying not to get to disheartened, hoping that some of it is just the effect of flying/bloating etc.