I am feeling a bit depressed today. Not horribly, but I am confused and frustrated with my weigh-in results. I gained 3.2 lbs this week. I weigh 188.2 now. My goal is to stay below 185. Last week my weigh-in was canceled and the week before that I also had a gain. So in the last several weeksI think I have gained like 5 lbs or so. This really pisses me off. I reset all my info. on my WW online tracker so that my week would be new. Today is the first day of my WW week now. Here is what I “think” I have been doing for the last three weeks:
- Earning between 50-70 activity points per week.
- Eating all my daily points, all my 35 weekly points, and half or so of my AP’s
- I have started new exercises (skiing) and changed my work out intensity to a higher level (intervals with running and tempo runs)
I hated to see a gain like that last night. I left feeling like a failure but at the same time knowing that I am not a failure. I left thinking, “How can I do this? If I am running and skiing and doing 4 hour runs but still gaining, what and the heck am I supposed to do. Maybe I should just stop exercising a lot and then just stick to my points and do it that way” That just wouldn’t be me though. I have goals and dreams that I am going to accomplish regardless of that damn scale.
This is the way I was thinking. I will not continue to think/walk along in my journey like this, but it was all too real at the moment. So what am I to do?
- Keep track of portion control better
- Eat less of the activity points that I earn. I do know that sometimes I just eat the point because I have the points even though I am not really hungry.
- I will start to enter food into my WW tracker online instead of just entering the points. This should give me a more accurate look at my intake.
I will probably remain a bit down all day long today, but that is normal for me. I have a 6 mile run tonight and I am sure that I will feel good after that. One foot in front of the other and I will get back down to my 185 or lower weight. What a shocker for me this week.
My angle on weight loss 
Jason, I am sorry about your gain … they do happen and they do suck. You never mentioned if you’re eating maintenance points (not just target)–it sounds to me like with all that activity, maybe you’re not eating enough. I am sure your metabolism is fired up to the nth degree! Plus, it very well could be muscle mass.
Thank you 🙂 I have been eating target points not maintenance points. Maybe you are right, I maybe should eat more. 😦
Another thing — a lot of people choose reduced fat vs fat-free foods; add in extra oil, etc to get in more fat/higher caloric foods that are still healthy (nut butters, nuts, etc)
HAHAHA, Actually, olive oil is the one thing I use but NEVER count. Funny that you mention it. It think now is just a reminder to do a real nice review of the whole deal. no emergency, but a review of stuff to reveal the strengths and weaknesses you know.
(I mean, not necessarily eating MORE — just more calorically dense foods)
Okidoky 🙂
If you’re on maintenance now, silly, you need to be eating maintenance! Didn’t they tell you that at your meeting!? YIPES!! ESP since you do three times what’s recommended fitness wise … that’s kinda scary if you’re not eating those.
And plus, you’ve been at goal a long time now — the WW leader should know that!
Yup, strengths and weaknesses!
But what if I want to be losing right now. I have gained, so I want to lose. I weigh 188 and want to be in the 170s by may, but being at 185 or lower is my main goal. Help me lissa 🙂
Right, but that’s what I’m saying, you might not be eating enough TO lose … and you’re a guy so you require way more calories than a woman anyway … but on top of that you’re super-physically active … you probably should have been eating the maintenance points all along once you hit goal. But it seems to me burning THAT many calories, you shouldn’t be “dieting” too … just my opinion. I’m certainly not an expert!
Hey, thank you so much. I think I will up to maintenance points and than I will experiment with the 35 weekly’s and the AP’s. You’re pretty darn close to an expert 🙂 THanks again
As you work this out, remember not to let fear rule you. You’ve hit a slight bump in the road, that is all.
You are NOT becoming your former self!!!!
Not.
Thanks Lindarx. I appreciate that encouragement. I am most certainly not going back to the old way of life that is to be sure. 🙂
Just a little input – and if you don’t want, I’ll accept that 🙂
I’m maintaining on WW, too, and my workouts are NOTHING compared to yours. I eat all 35 weeklies, basically all of my maintenance points, plus whatever activity points I earn. I’m on Core/Simply Filling.
I would try running a day or two through a program like sparkpeople.com or fitday.com to see how many calories you’re actually taking in.
I would say you’re probably not eating enough, considering how much activity you do each week.
Just something to think about 😉
I may just have to try that. That sound like a good idea. At the very least it would give me a more thorough handle on intake.
Jason, a couple thoughts. I agree with Lisa, you may not be eating enough. I found that for myself when I realized that after a month of 2 hrs/day 6 day/wk workouts and only 3 days of holiday eating, where I really didn’t eat bad…I lost nothing….body was starving and holding everything. I increased my calories in Jan…slowly over a few weeks, and walla…have lsot consistently all month. Second thoguht….you jsut changed everything up on your body….it is adjusting…Check your calorie intake, if that is good….then give it time. Coach gave me this link to help me figure out how many calories I should be eating to lose weight. http://www.dietitian.com/calcbody.php It was very helpful. Sparkpeople is a good place to track calories…especially because you can plug in a recipe and it tells you how many calories per serving! Keep it up Jason! You will figure it out!
Thanks a lot Kim. You da woman. 🙂
Yea man eat more!!! I know when there was a point that i was exercising a lot doing both cardio and weight training that I gained some weight as well. I even stuck to a very healthy eating plan and didn’t deviate one bit. My trainer said that when you do excessive exercise and you aren’t eating enough your body sees that and it stores whatever food you ingest and store it as fat because it assumes it is going to need that as an energy source in the future. So instead of burning calories it stores it up. So in the long run your body needs the extra food consumption so it has enough energy to survive and thus is able to burn calories instead of storing them. I hope that made sense man.
No matter what you are still doing awesome work and by the way it’s not that number that defines who you are. It’s just a number! It’s the healthy person that you have become who is inspiring to others for all the good that he has done and a true believer in Christ. This defines the man you truly are.
Thanks Rob and that all made good sense. I have adjusted my WW points to where I will be eating more now. Thanks a lot.
Speaking from my own personal experiences, the weeks I have gained more than a pound, I go back and evaluate whether I have eaten sodium-laden foods. Not everyone retains water due to sodium, but I know I do, and I have read that a pint of water weighs a pound and we know extra pounds can appear on the scale. Keep in mind, too, that weight from water retention is temporary and fluctuates from day to day. Hence, looking at gains and losses on average is a better way to go.
It’s still a bummer though, huh?!? I commensurate, I do!
Yes I do agree that looking at the long term average is the best thing for me to do. Thanks a lot Lter
Hey man, don’t feel bad! I don’t have any more advice but I agree with suggestions above, and I wanted to say that I totally agree with you about eating points just because I have them – my AP points that is. I only count them now in retrospect at the end of the week because I’d be way too tempted to eat them otherwise. It’s good to hear I’m not the only one tempted by AP!
Chin up man, you’re going to be just fine!
Thanks Geri. I really liked your comment and that you just told my chin up. That was so great of you
I’d worry if all of your posts were positive. 🙂 We just don’t make it through this weight loss/fitness quest without some days and weigh ins that bring us down. I also had a bad weigh in this week (6 pounds) but I’m hoping most of it is water retention.
Something my trainer has me do once when I was working really hard and not seeing the results it seemed I should have was that he cut my cardio way back and really beefed up my strength training and increased my calories a bit. I’m not sure that is something you can reasonably do when your thing is running, but in my case it was just enough of a jolt to my system that I had really good results.
Take care!
THank you so much for your care and comment. I appreciate your advice. I think I am going to be ok. 🙂 Hopefully, hahaha
@Jason You should consider not just weighing which is really a rather simplistic measurement for you now that you’ve lost so much weight. You should take your measurements weekly, too. And perhaps start monitoring your body fat percentage. That last can be pretty tricky, but my sister a health professional says this scale is very accurate http://is.gd/ir64 . If you measure your body composition then you’ll actually know whether you’re gaining or losing muscle, fat or water.
Thanks Charles. I have a scale like that actually. HAHA I just stopped using it because I didn’t want to way to often. What I used to do is way everyday (I actually closed my eyes for the lbs part) and wrote down my body fat %. Then I averaged it over 7 days. The average was my body fat for the week. Then I trended it on a chart. It worked very well.
haha I love what Teresa said about worrying if all your posts were positive. TRUE THAT! We all know that despite if we are trying to lose or maintain we all have our ups and our downs our good days and our bad. The important thing is that when your down you get back up. I know you’ll do this, because clearly you’ve done it before. Hang in there…it’s never easy to see a gain like that.
Muchas Gracias Kari. I appreciate your words as always. Nope, can’t be positive all the time, life just don’t work like that I guess. You are right thank God, I am going to do this. In fact, I am just about to write a post on what I am going to do. See you later.
Gheez what a bummer for you 😦 I have no advice as I’m not where you are at in my weightloss journey but just that I’m sorry for your gain and understand the frustration. Lots of great advice and I hope it will help you for next weeks WI.
THanks Sarah. Your words of encouragement go a long way for me. I love them as you may well know :). Thanks for your understanding heart. HAve a great night
With all of the exericise you do, do you even have extra fat on your body? You don’t look like it. You look very lean and fit. Is being in the 170s realistic for your height and all the exercise you do? In any event, I bet the gain was the result of the massive workout you just gave your body.
I do think that the 170’s is realistic. It also puts me in a healthy body fat % range too. Thanks for your nice words Candice
Hi Jason Im always the last one out,gee dont any body work out there on a normal schedule?Any way please dont be so hard on yourself,you are everyones inspiration because of the way you have turned your life around and kept going.I am very proud of you and you have helped me so much,youre the reason I got started on ww and Im sure many others too.You dont ever try to pretend like youre something youre not,you are you and that is a blessing.Take care.
THat is such an awesome comment Donna. I don’t want to pretend thats for sure. Thank you for your encouragement. You are just a steady stream of it. Thank you
Hey man, dont give up, take a look at where you are gaining weight, could be muscle, and just keep going, dont get depressed it happens to everybody
Thanks Cindy. I won’t give for sure. I have to much to “lose” HAHA
Do you have a strenuous workout the day before your weighin?
I was losing fine 1.8 lb/week until for a couple of weeks the weight loss reversed and I gained weight each week, even without eating all my weekly points and none of my activity points. I thought something was screwy since I was sure I had a calorie deficit.
Then this Saturday at WI I was down 4.4 lbs, so still on track. But there’s no way to really lose 4.4 lbs of body weight in a week. That’s over 15,000 calorie deficit in a week and I didnt’ starve myself or run a marathon.
Then I realized I hadn’t worked out the day before WI, and all the previous weeks I had a strenuous evening workout til 10pm the night before (with WI at 7am)
I’m quite sure weight fluctuated with water retention and salt during and immediately after exercise.
Funny isn’t it, though, that the way the scales move determine our mental state, even if in fact we’re doing just fine.
keep at it
THat is one thing that I have found to be consitantly true. A really hard work out the day before or maybe even two days before will cause water retention as the muscles repair. I hate it, and don’t like it, but it seems to be a reality in my life too. Thanks a lot David for your contribution to this site.