I have cheap crap scales so I can never really trust them. I take several readings to find an average, but it still seems way off at times.I also made sure I got scales renowned for accuracy - nothing worse than getting on scales, getting a reading, then re-weighing 30 seconds later for a different result.
I'll weigh in on the scale inconsistency issue (heh - weigh in)
Unless it's literally broken, just make sure you have it on a very flat surface. Use the same surface every time you weigh in. Also let the scale calibrate before each weigh in. I think they typically calibrate by letting it turn on, weigh nothing, then turn off. At least my cheapo one does. I don't think your body changes THAT fast that 30 seconds is going to change your weight.
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On another topic, I learned today that exercise can increase water retention which is why my weight loss has been pretty bumpy and drops more when I don't work out. I realize water retention isn't bad. But I'd love to have smooth weight loss too.
I thought I'd "weigh in" on the discussion, since I've been on a change-my-life thing for the last few months. The first step was getting the right team member at work to free some of my time, so I can stop the 12 hour days and get some time back for cooking, shopping and exercising. Now that I have that in place, things started to work themselves out.
Now I'm exercising, which is helping me eat right. If I'm tired and sluggish, I eat crap. Now that I have energy, I'm better able curtail my desire for reward foods, which has always been my undoing. I've yo-yoed for a large percentage of my adult life and I 100% know what I need to do to keep my weight in check, and that's never stop exercising. Activity=feeling good=eating well.
I'm eating much more non-processed foods, and cutting out what I call the six-C foods:
- Confectionery - includes candy/chocolates - cut out totally
- Chips - covers hot chips/fries, wedges, tots and cold chips/crisps, corn chips and packaged savoury snacks- cut out 95%
- Cookies - includes sweet and savoury biscuits (English definition) - cut out totally
- Coke - covers all sodas /soft drinks - cut out totally
- Cow juice - covers all dairy - cut out 95%
- Cake - includes donuts and other sweet treats from the bakery - cut out 95%
Anyway, started at 118.6 kg, now at 112.2 as of this morning. Here is a graph because graphs are cool. I did set two targets, realistic target is 1.5kg a week, which is realistic at least for my current weight, but I'm not sweating it if I don't quite make that. The aggressive target was 2kg a week, but I don't see that as possible at this stage.
I like to weigh myself daily because fluctuations between weekly weigh-ins can be misleading and disheartening if they happen to coincide on the wrong day of the week, as I've lost as much as 1kg in a day and put on almost the same later on another day. Weighing daily also helps me know my body more - some days I'll urinate a lot compared to my water intake, and I know I'll probably lose weight, and some days I'll hardly urinate at all, despite taking in plenty of water, so I'll know I'm retaining water.
I also made sure I got scales renowned for accuracy - nothing worse than getting on scales, getting a reading, then re-weighing 30 seconds later for a different result.
I made a bet with my friend about not eating anything sugary (candy, other treats and sweet stuff) for a month, and I have to say that it has been the best thing I have done in years regarding weight loss.
My starting weight was arounds 112kg at the end of April (around 25.4) and it was 102,8 yesterday morning, on 26.5. And I have done NOTHING else except cut my sugar-intake and I have added berries to my diet instead.
My cravings are gone, I eat far less and I get full from much less. I think more clearly, I'm more active and my mood has improved immensely.
Sugar is a poison, guys!
I've seen this topic before but never entered it. I've been struggling with weight loss for some time having good stretches but loosing it. I have a recorded weight from early 2018 of 227 but after loosing my only job of 10 and 1/2 years hot me hard and I'm sure I both need back to around 260 (I'm around 5/6 29 years old). I guess around December of 2018 I started trying again I cut out soda and with my tax refund got an elliptical for my home since I had stopped making it out to the gym As that was right next to my old work and I don't drive. So far I do between 4-10 miles on it a few times a week and I have been watching what I eat. I managed to get down to around 234 (I don't really notice a difference but people have asked if I've lost weight for what it's worth.
Recently my weight has been in flux. I keep staying around 235-237. In the past I got stuck around 230 so this is a bit disheartening. I did recently download an app "lose weight app for men" (really dumb name but it's gotten me to do more exercise since it's walk you through it like Wii fit did). Can any one give me any advice? Should I be worried that my weight stopped dropping for a time? Is it possible I'm gaining muscle and that's making it look like I'm stuck?
I've seen this topic before but never entered it. I've been struggling with weight loss for some time having good stretches but loosing it. I have a recorded weight from early 2018 of 227 but after loosing my only job of 10 and 1/2 years hot me hard and I'm sure I both need back to around 260 (I'm around 5/6 29 years old). I guess around December of 2018 I started trying again I cut out soda and with my tax refund got an elliptical for my home since I had stopped making it out to the gym As that was right next to my old work and I don't drive. So far I do between 4-10 miles on it a few times a week and I have been watching what I eat. I managed to get down to around 234 (I don't really notice a difference but people have asked if I've lost weight for what it's worth.
Recently my weight has been in flux. I keep staying around 235-237. In the past I got stuck around 230 so this is a bit disheartening. I did recently download an app "lose weight app for men" (really dumb name but it's gotten me to do more exercise since it's walk you through it like Wii fit did). Can any one give me any advice? Should I be worried that my weight stopped dropping for a time? Is it possible I'm gaining muscle and that's making it look like I'm stuck?
You've lost 25lb, which is great. There could be a bunch of reasons why you've hit the dreaded plateau.
1 - You may have lost muscle, either because distance cardio and calorie-deficit diets both can consume muscle, or because you're lighter now and you no longer need as much muscle to carry your body around. A loss in muscle mass will mean you need less calories to maintain that mass (muscle mass burns calories, even at rest). The effect of this is that whilst the calories you were consuming was suitable for weight loss at your previous muscle-mass, they may now be too much for weight-loss.
2 - As you say, you may be putting on muscle or retaining water or a combination of both. Do your clothes feel looser around your chest, arms, etc? Often clothes size is a better indication of fat loss.
3 - Your portion sizes may be creeping up or they're bigger than you expected. Some foods are extremely energy dense.
4 - All your glands have lined up in the normal hormone cycle and it may fix itself soon.
5 - Your body may be reducing it's metabolism to combat the weight loss. If you feel colder at night and can't warm up, this may be a sign.
Suggestions:
If you're not counting calories, do so accurately for a week or two. You may be surprised and may have to re-jig your eating habits.
If you're doing long cardio, perhaps try shorter, more intense workouts. HIIT is supposed to be great for weight loss as it raises metabolism for many hours afterwards. It also tends not to consume muscle. I've seen HIIT workouts for elliptical on youtube.
If you are eating very small levels of calories, try a nice greasy burger or something once a week.
You could try intermittant fasting. Bascially miss a meal and any snacks for 16 hours give or take. I'm actually doing this now; I have a decent lunch and skip dinner, but a lot of people skip breakfast.
If you know what you're eating, and have confidence that you have a reasonable calorie deficet, then you just may need to perservere for another week or two. Don't get discouraged and comfort eat! Try to cut out processed foods as much as possible - after missing my chips, snacks and such, I no longer crave them as much. I had some pineapple today and it was amazing. Learn to love herbs/spices.
90-95% of weight loss is not based on your exercise. Most of your calories burned happen outside the gym. That said, it could be simple water retention that is keeping your scales up. Muscle requires water to repair. Maybe you're not drinking enough water so your body clings on to the water you do take in. In this case I wouldn't really worry about it. My weight loss has been very bumpy, "stalling" for weeks at a time basically. I think I am 2 weeks at 188-189 now. Before that I was like 3 weeks at 194. And before that I was stuck at 200.
And thanks to both of ya for the support, I really don't want to fall off again after getting so close to a new record.
You jumped all the way to No. 1. What on Earth did you do?I probably went too far in losing weight. I was roughly 190 pounds in April and I'm down to 160 pounds now.
With 1 cheat day a week and roughly 1500kcal a day otherwise, I lose about 500g weekly. I sometimes even cheat a bit more too tbh.
I am under 1800k a day that was the goal the UA app set for my target weight and I try and sit under it.With 1 cheat day a week and roughly 1500kcal a day otherwise, I lose about 500g weekly. I sometimes even cheat a bit more too tbh.
To me, it's 100% worth it. I wanna enjoy a pizza sometimes, or a nice curry with sides, or a large Schnitzel with fries.
As long as you don't do that "oh well, now I might as well cheat the whole week" BS, I think there's no issue.
Sorry, what's huel?I am under 1800k a day that was the goal the UA app set for my target weight and I try and sit under it.
Huel is helping control things.
Its a meal replacement drink and a good one, like soylent but I cant have that due to contents.Sorry, what's huel?
I should add I'm fairly short, so 1500 isn't thaaat low for me. Just for reference, when hearing me talk about my cheat day experience.
Happy first day of winter everyone! (Summer for you people in the northern hemisphere)
You jumped all the way to No. 1. What on Earth did you do?
I just don't eat much. Usually one meal a day. That's it. No idea if this is sustainable or healthy.
Unlikely cause the body can only comfortably burn a certain amount of fat a day. That's why they say losing 1-2 lbs a week is best, unless you have way more body fat than that can be increased simply because you have more volume.
I've seen posts on reddit where they do extreme fasting and lose similar amounts of weight. It makes me wonder if they ever keep it off or what the negatives for them actually are.
I personally think the goal should be getting healthy and losing weight because you're healthy and not losing weight in order to be healthy. So I'm not a fan of crash dieting and I think OMAD should be used sparingly.
Ok. So I've never liked taking pics of myself because of the way I look. As a joke I wore a tiny backpack at work and was surprised at the way I looked now compared to a couple of months ago. I lurked these weight loss threads for motivation and am now 2 lbs from my goal of 180 down from 230 lbs. I felt like giving up a month ago cause I was tired and burnt out and thanks to some helpful replies in this thread I took a week break and got back to it.
I still don't like looking at myself in the mirror but I'm slowly getting there 👍 Thanks for the motivation everyone, I hope you all get your weight to where you want it to be.
I was 187 in the pic, I'm 182 now.
You look fantastic, mate! Congratulations!Ok. So I've never liked taking pics of myself because of the way I look. As a joke I wore a tiny backpack at work and was surprised at the way I looked now compared to a couple of months ago. I lurked these weight loss threads for motivation and am now 2 lbs from my goal of 180 down from 230 lbs. I felt like giving up a month ago cause I was tired and burnt out and thanks to some helpful replies in this thread I took a week break and got back to it.
I still don't like looking at myself in the mirror but I'm slowly getting there 👍 Thanks for the motivation everyone, I hope you all get your weight to where you want it to be.
I was 187 in the pic, I'm 182 now.
Welcome to the thread! I've added you to the spreadsheet and backdated your progress to near the start of the challenge.So, I'm way late to the party here, because sometimes I'm really shy about this stuff with my anxiety disorder, and sometimes I'm not so here goes.
I've been way up and down with weight loss, but I've been working hard on it. At my highest I was up over 275 and then went down to 180, then bounced all the way back up again around 2008-10. I started recording all of this at 252 lbs on January 4th of this year, a couple days after breaking up with my Ex. We were together for 5 years and it was a really toxic relationship at times and it took a toll.
I've been weighing myself every day since that day and recording it on my wall calendar. I also started using my semi-recumbent exercise bike almost every single day since then and usually twice a day and mark it down as well. I do that for 45-50 minutes and that's about all I can take. I have Nerve Damage and Neuropathy problems and I can't get out much and I'm basically in constant pain that never goes away. Wearing shoes, socks, and stuff on my lower legs can be agony. Sitting in a movie theater for hours is *fun* let me tell you.
I also smoke a shitload of marijuana to take the edge off all of this, because no one (myself included) wants me to take the amount of opiates I would need and I've been through the entire medication list they had, but sadly they're just not effective on me, even the maximum dosage allowed of Gabapentin. Unfortunately, that can be really at odds with weight loss and dieting, but I've managed it extremely well these past 5 months.
So, here's my progress since then:
January 4th: 252.0
January 13th: 250.6
January 20th: 249.2
January 27th: 247.2
February 3rd: 244.4
February 10th: 243.0
February 17th: 238.0
February 24th: 235.4
March 3rd: 236.6
March 10th: 234.4
March 17th: 232.0
March 24th: 233.6
March 31st: 234.8
April 7th: 231.0
April 14th: 234.0
April 21st: 228.8
April 28th: 226.6
May 5th: 222.8
May 12th: 221.4
May 19th: 219.2
May 26th: 217.4
June 1st: 215.2
Man, that feels good. Those months just flew by too.
My first big goal is getting under that 200 mark and then back down to 180 again. I think ultimately my end goal is going to be around 160 lbs. I'm just a hair under 5'7 (169 cm) and that'd be a good weight for my frame.
So, way late for any contest stuff, but I'm feeling pretty good about the work I've done and would like to follow along!