too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

[kibskix]

i just went through my fitday and logged up all my weights, ever 7-8 days (depending which day i got it in) from my starting day on march 12 to my last weigh day on may 1st. i want to let y'all see this to show you that even with being cheat free, there are fluctuations. theses are just my -recorded- weights. i see the scale most every day, and it wiggles around a bunch. you may be retaining water, or sensitive to cheese, or fillers, or overdoing protein... any nuuuumber of things make your weight wiggle. sometimes it might just wiggle cause it feels like it. that doesnt mean you need to freak out and sulk because you're afraid you've done something wrong or say screw it i give up. simply go back over your foods if you think you've been doing it right, and pinpoint what you may need to cut back on. cut it out for a while, and see what happens!! and WORK OUT! but no matter what, keep going!
also keep in mind that even when you do everything perfectly, some people just lose this way. i personally seem to hit a new low, then gain a few, then spend a week or so getting back to where i was, then hit a new low, then do it all over again. its just how my body is letting it go, and even though i gain now and then according to the scale, overall i'm still down 18lbs and about 19 inches.

1. -10.2
2. -00.1
3. +3.90 (this was actually about 5lbs gained inbetween official weigh-ins)
4. -5.80 (i broke through my PISS stall by doing what i wrote above)
5. -3.00
6. +1.80 (all this was guys, was stress from my dog passing away, and not eating enough veggies)
7. -4.60
i am currently in week 8, and i've already gained about .8lbs because i ran out of chicken and had to eat hot dog weenies and sausage for 2 of my meals (i'm one of the weirdos who seems very sensitive to fillers in processed foods) but i'm not freaking out over it. i know why it happened, i got more good foods stocked up, and all i can do is fix it, and beat up whoever put the chicken bag back in the freezer when it was empty!

[FwL]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

i personally seem to hit a new low, then gain a few, then spend a week or so getting back to where i was, then hit a new low, then do it all over again.

That's exactly how it works for me too.

[kibskix]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

yay it isnt just me! it can be frustrating, feeling like you're losing the same weight over and over and over just to get back to where you were. but at the same time, thats the best incentive for me -not- to cheat. i already have a hard enough time with it, theres no way in heck i'd eat something to make it twice as hard.

[Georgiana]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

Thanks for sharing that, Kib. Almost 5 lbs in your 7th week is really good. Congrats!


I moved this thread to the "Atkins Diet (Extended) Induction" forum, but I left a redirect in the "Atkins Diet 14-day Induction" forum, so that folks there also see the thread.

[IrishIrish]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

This is exactly the reason that I don't weigh every day ... it would be enough to drive me nuts. If I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing ... eating, drinking water, exercising and keeping my head in the game, I'll be fine. I leave weight checks to about once a month. Being a slave to the scale isn't the reason I got healthy.

I also think after so many of us proclaiming shock and horror the day we stepped on a scale and realized our high weight just proves that we never weighed ourselves daily ... so why are we expecting so much more from our bodies now. Most people have no idea how their weight fluctuates on an hourly basis ... and to me, it is useless information.

[Sherri]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

Thanks for sharing your experience Kibs.
Great losses!

i personally seem to hit a new low, then gain a few, then spend a week or so getting back to where i was, then hit a new low, then do it all over again. its just how my body is letting it go, and even though i gain now and then according to the scale, overall i'm still down 18lbs and about 19 inches.

This is what is called "Your Rhythm to Weightloss". Everyones rhythm is different, but works basicly the same as you desribed.
Also it can be recognized as to your pattern to weightloss. Everyones is different. My rhythm is lose 2 pounds, pause, gain 1.5 then lose 3 pounds. Then the processs starts all over again. Your body loses the weight then it stablizes (pause), then revs up again(gain) then catches up and lets go of the pounds again. Kind of like a thermostat.
I agree with Irish, as long as you're following the plan 100% and have your head in the game, then there isn't any reason to weigh every day. Once a week is plenty, especially when you're reintroducing new foods in each rung. No reason to stress yourself out over the scale. Stress isn't good for the body, stress holds onto the pounds for you.
Again, thanks for sharing. You're doing great!
Sherri

[kibskix]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

in my head i see it has two bars on a bar graph, one for inches and one for weight, and one moves first then the other has to catch up. so when i'm not losing weight i can't freak out because my inches have to catch up, etc etc. the only time i see inches -and- weight at the same time is if i lose a whole bunch out of nowhere, and thats pretty rare. this week i'm still not back down to that 208.6 low i saw last week. i have been losing about .2lbs every other day since then and am down to 209, but im not freakin out about it or thinking my low didnt count, because i know probably next week is when it will all woosh off like it seems to be doing every 2-3 weeks or so

[FwL]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

I don't find weighing everyday to be stressful in the least.... unless I'm seeing steady weight gain.

But I've been weighing myself every day for years now, so I have a pretty good idea what to expect. I like to keep track of the daily ups and downs. I think it would really suck to come up on weekly weigh day and be holding five extra pounds of water. You'd never know what happened unless you were tracking your weight changes throughout the week.

I do agree that those prone to freaking out over the slightest weight gain are better off not weighing often, though. But it seems that at least until you find CCLL, you have to weigh at least once a week.

What I see, mostly, however, are people coming at this WOE with totally unrealistic ideas of what to expect in terms of how fast you're going to get the weight off and how linear the process is going to be. When I see people saying "I need to lose x amount by such and such a time" I just cringe. That's just asking for disappointment and failure.

[pagliaccia]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

Yeah, I just decided "I want to weigh a healthy weight, period." Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who supports me fully; the only pressure I have is the pressure I give myself. I've found that the act of setting specific, ambitious goals for finite amounts of time will just lead a person to becoming jaded and hopeless. I love my daily downward lightning bolt. (I use Wii Fit which charts the daily weights on the screen) As long as I can see the trend is ever downward, I'm happy as a clam.

[chinadoll]

Re: too all newbies who are worried about 'unexplained' gains

Kib, great thread! I tried to give you rep points for this one but its too soon.