May 18, 2010

Disappointed with Results

So for the past few years, I have weighed around 160 pounds, and for the past year or so, I have weighed anywhere from 165-169 pounds, depending on the day.

My weight seems to fluctuate an entire 4 or 5 pounds sometimes, which I thought was a lot, but apparently this is normal for my body.

For about the last year and a half, my husband Eric & I have been eating the healthiest we've ever eaten, adding whole grains, lean chicken, skim dairy products (for me only; Eric is fatally allergic to dairy), and vegetables and fruits.

Ever since then, I also have been lifting weights a few times a week and running off & on, with a few breaks for vacations & injuries.

Recently, however, I've been stepping up my cutting calories & workout efforts, in an effort to see more muscle definition and lose more fat. I made this decision because I have hardly seen any difference in my body and have not lost any weight, and it's been over a year! That's plenty of time to completely change my body composition! And yet practically nothing has changed for me.

So for the past week, I have been cutting calories, eating even better than usual, and cutting out fancy, sugary coffee drinks all last week, hoping to lose at least 1 pound. I was hoping to lose about 1 or 2 pounds for that effort, and to continue to lose about 1 pound a week. (Experts say that a weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week is the healthiest way to lose weight & keep it off long-term).

I weighed myself today, however, and the scale said 171 pounds! Seriously?!?
I actually gained weight. Now, you're supposed to weigh yourself first thing in the morning with no clothes on, and this was right after lunch, and I was fully clothed. So hopefully that was the reason.

But still! My clothes don't weigh that much!

As you can imagine, I was pretty disappointed & frustrated to find that I had gained weight. All I can hope is that I have gained muscle mass, which weighs more than fat.

I've also read that you should eat "according to your target weight", meaning that, for example, if I want to eventually weigh 150 pounds, I need to eat no more than 1,500 calories a day.

I have found that trying to eat 1,500 or less calories a day is nearly impossible for me. I have only been able to do that a couple of days in the past year, and I was eating so sparingly that I was hungry throughout the day and my stomach was growling so intensely at night that I had difficulty falling asleep.

So I am currently sort of disappointed with my weight-loss journey, but I'm going to keep running hard, lifting weights, and cutting more calories than usual, trying to kick-start some weight loss. Hopefully, once my body is kick-started to lose weight, it will be a bit easier to keep it going.

We shall see!

3 comments:

  1. You look wonderful Rach! Try having my post-pregnancy body! :(

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  2. it's normal for most people the fluctuate 3-6 pounds from day to day, and also depending on what time of day you weigh yourself. Try weighing yourself at the same time every day for a few weeks, and recording that weight and charting it/averaging it/etc. Especially as women our weight fluctuates a lot within the month! As far as cutting calories, I've not read to eat where you want to weigh, but rather where you are. There are a lot of good web sites that you can put your weight in, and what you want to be doing (losing, maintaining, gaining) and your activity level and it will tell you how much you need to be eating. I used thedailyplate.com to get my estimate of what I should be eating. I set it on the lowest activity level to underestimate, and then my workouts are extra. It's normal to take some time to work down to a lower caloric intake! A big glass of water before every meal helps with fullness which I'm sure you know. I drink A LOT of water, my co-workers tease me because I'm always running to the bathroom because I usually drink about 64-80 ounces just during the time I'm in the office.

    Don't despair! :-) I'm working right along with you, 6 hours away, but I'm with you!

    -Anna

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  3. Stone Fam: thanks for the encouragement! My weight loss/fitness goals are primarily to become as physically fit as I can be, to prevent all those diseases in my family that are heading my way, like diabetes, and heart disease (hypertension & high cholesterol). But of course, it would be nice if my body "looks" better on the outside, too! But thanks for your compliment! I really appreciate it and you're beautiful too, you know!

    Anna,
    Hey! Thanks for those thoughts. And I think that's a great idea about setting the calorie counter on the lowest activity level to underestimate. And I have been drinking more water lately; more than I ever have before. Way to go for you for drinking so much water! That's fabulous!
    I guess I wasn't really aware my weight fluctuates so much, because I have never regularly weighed myself until a few months ago!
    Also, this past week, I've re-started my food/workout journal, realizing that I'm still eating too many calories, and that's probably what is preventing weight loss. So after all that talk about how I gave it up and am happier because of it, I'm doing it again! I'll try it for another few months, and see how I'm doing with it. Thanks for your great comment!

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