Demotivating weigh-in.

mrxian

mrxian

New member
Today, I've been dieting for a month.
I've been building up a training regimen and healthier eating habits for the last six or eight months, but a month ago today, I started with a diet plan. It's a simple plan, I'm counting calories. I get to eat 2264 calories per day, more if I exercise.
It's been hard at times, easy at others, and I've been enjoying learning about calories in food and healthy eating.
When I started my diet, I weighed 135 kilos. At a friends urging, I didn't weigh myself at all during the first month of the diet. Today, I weighed myself, and found that I now weigh 137 kilos. So a whole month of watching what I eat - keeping my diet in my mind all the time - and I gain weight.
I almost proceeded to buy a big tub of feel-good food, but I managed to control myself. It was still very disheartening. For a little while, my motivation to stay on my diet almost disappeared.

I'm a little confused about it too. From what I can tell, I'm eating far less calories than my body needs. Am I growing muscles faster than losing weight or something?
 
It is possible to have built muscle, what other measurements did you take at the same time as getting on the scales ? It is also possible that you are holding on to water weight.

it is a good idea to not just track weight, but measurements as well and if you have it available bodyfat%
 
What kind of measurements should I be tracking? My exercise is built around building up my shape and burning fat, not around building muscle.(I spend time on an elliptical trainer, treadmill, exercise bike and rowing machine, and I have a pre-running training that consists of walking at a good speed for about an hour.)
I have no idea how to measure bodyfat percentages either.
 
You can use a tapemeasure and track changes at the neck, biceps, chest, waist, hips, thigh and calf. Body fat % is a little more tricky and you need the assistance of a knowledgeable individual. It's good to have other ways of measuring progress as well such as improvements in time, distance, weight lifted, days that you completed your scheduled workout, etc.
 
Do you know how many calories per day you were eating before you started this plan? It's possible that you are eating more than you were before, or that you are eating more than you think you are right now. How much more do you eat on your exercise days? And are you counting the calories that you drink, especially alcohol, juice, and soda?
 
I have no clue how many calories I was eating before, but I'm pretty sure that I'm eating less now - I changed too many high-calorie habits for it to be any other way.

I'm using a calorie counter combined with some internet research on calorie amounts to keep track of my daily calories. I'm probably sitting at around 2400 calories on exercise days(which is five to six days per week), 2000 on non-exercise days, while going over my allotted amount about once a week (which should be balanced out by being under goal the rest of the week.)
I mostly drink tea, herbal tea, water and coffee. No sodas or juice, and only very rarely any alcohol (and then in small amounts.)

I know the calorie amounts seem high, but remember that I'm six foot six and weigh 302lbs.
 
Your calorie intake doesn't seem high at all, it's just that sometimes it's hard to know how much you're eating now compared to before. I just quickly re-read your posts.... you said that your exercise is not geared toward building muscle, so is it safe to assume there is no weight/strength/resistance training happening? If this is the case, then no, you would not be building gaining muscle, so that would not be part of your weight gain. Focusing on building muscle is something I would strongly suggest, as this will help you burn more fat in the long run. Your body needs to burn more calories to maintain muscle than fat, but it will not maintain muscle unless you are restistance training (lifting weights). Your body will only maintain enough muscle mass to get you through your current daily activities.

Here is a thread on one of our other forums that explains why resistance training is so important: http://training.fitness.com/weight-loss/training-fat-loss-51064.html

You can do all the cardio that you want - and many people will lose weight this way - but you'll probably be much happier with your body shape and weight in the long run if you focus on your muscles. This doesn't mean body-building :)
 
Do you have a long term goal weight in mind? I obviously don't know your body type/shape, but I was just looking at your BMI and what weight you'd have to be at to be in the "healthy" range... I honestly don't think that the weight "required" to put you into the "healthy" BMI range is realistic. I can't imagine someone your height weighing that little!
 
I figured out the true reason for the weigh-in problem. I used different scales for the two weigh-ins, and I discovered today that there's a big difference between the two. In reality, I probably lost 4-5 kilos or so. Which is great news, and makes me rather happy.
I'm going to add some weight training to my exercise regimen, but I'm focusing first on not getting out of breath whenever I even look at some stairs. I also have a training buddy that's hesistant to do weight training. My end weight is somewhere around 100 kilos, which should put me in healthy BMI range. I'd like to get to 95, but that may not be realistic.
I'll be checking out that weight training page in the morning, I'm too tired (and slightly drunk) to pay much attention. Today was a birthday of a good friend, and it counted as my cheat day for the week.
 
Well that's good news! Consistency is key when doing weigh-ins... Follow the same routine and use the same scale each time. I usually suggest to weigh in first thing in the morning, after going to the bathroom and before eating or drinking anything. It's usually best to avoid a weigh in after a night of drinking or after a "cheat day" as well.
 
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