hihi! any advice on jumpstarting?

[blacksofa]

Hi I'm new to these forums! I've been trying to lose weight for years now...but I can never seem to stay consistent! Earlier this summer I was at 133 but now I have gone up to 140 :[ I'd really like to lose that weight quickly before school starts in a few weeks and then go back to a normal 1 pound a week phase from there.

what have you done to jump start your weight loss successfully?

 

[Korrie]

i think the most important thing you can do is be consistent and be committed! Understand that you need to focus on a lifestyle change and not a temporary diet.

 

[KaraCooks]

CAn you give us more information? It's hard to give real advice if we don't know more details. Let's start with this:

How tall are you?
How old are you?
Are you male or female?
Do you already workout and if so how much and what kind?
What do you eat regularly?
Do you have any food restrictions (vegetarian, etc.)?

The more information we have, the better the advice you'll get.

 

[blacksofa]

Yes I am definitely focusing on changing my lifestyle but I'd like to lose 4 lbs quick for a little jumpstart to boost my morale

I am 5'4" F/21, no food restrictions

I do weights a few times a week and I run about 3/4 days a week now.

I just started counting calories [try to be around 1500] again and working out again, but I've weighed 140 for a week now so that's bumming me out. Although my body does tend to plateau so that could be the case.

 

[Omega]

Track your food and activity using and keep an eye on not just your calories but your protein, fibre, healthy fats, calcium.

Check out the nutrition section - particularly the sticky threads for working out your targets.

In particular I would keep an eye on your sodium if I were you. Make sure that it is less than 2400mg each day as that can cause water retention.

Make sure that you drink enough water as that can have an impact on water retention too. Drink 1 fluid ounce for every 2 pounds of body weight.

Also remember that it is perfectly normal to experience a water retention gain every month around the time of your period.

I am just wondering whether the lack of movement at the scales is down to water retention one way or another. We normally lose water weight on the first week of a project.

Double check to ensure that you are measuring your food accurately as it is very easy to measure portion sizes wrongly and that can have a major impact on calories consumed...

 

[alphafemale]

I am just wondering whether the lack of movement at the scales is down to water retention one way or another. We normally lose water weight on the first week of a project.

I have a question about this! How does water weight work?

I understand how sodium levels effect water retention and how menstruation effects water retention, but at the start of a project what do people mean when they say "It's probably water weight"? If you are drinking the same amount of water as before, and salt and menstruation are not part of the equation, and you're not dehydrating yourself, how does water weight factor in to one's results?

I'm curious because I always lose 3-4 lbs. in the first week of a new weight loss goal, and then it settles down to about 1-1.5 pounds per week. Do you think it's just water in the beginning?

 

[KaraCooks]

Water weight is one of those mysteries of dieting.

Here's the thing: Your body is made up of something like 70% water. Your cells - all of them - are filled with water. Your blood is mostly water. Your brain and spinal fluid are mostly water. Your lungs are full of moisture. Bile, digestive fluids, saliva, mucus ... all water.

So with that much of your body being made of water, an "imbalance" one way or another has a huge effect on what the scale says.

If you don't consume enough water, your body holds on to what water you give it - and you retain.

If you consume too much salt or sodium it causes an imbalance in the ratio of water to electrolytes - and you retain.

If you workout and start to sweat a lot - your body might show a water loss until it restores it's natural balance.

If you start working out and really work your muscles hard - they'll retain fluid (mostly water) to aid in the recovery and healing process. It's very normal for someone to "gain" 3-5 lbs when they first start lifting weights and that's where the myth that you've "gained muscle" comes from - but the truth is that it's just fluid and you don't build muscle that fast.

If you start a diet that's very low in sodium - your body will dump water until it achieves a natural balance.

If you change the amount of carbs you eat (or the types of carbs), it can affect how your body retains water

If you're menstruating or ovulating - your body might retain water or your body might shed water, it just depends on your particular biology. Most women retain, but some do actually drop pounds over their periods.

Humidity outside - believe it or not you lose moisture when you breathe. If you move from one environment to another you can lose more water by breathing in a dry environment or retain water by being in a humid environment.

Are you ill, or fighting off an infection or a cold? Your body will retain fluids to help with that process to make sure you don't become dehydrated.

There are so many things that can influence water weight. That's why it's SO important to not be emotionally tied to the number on the scale. It's a good guideline ... but it's not gospel.

 

[Omega]

I have a question about this! How does water weight work?

I understand how sodium levels effect water retention and how menstruation effects water retention, but at the start of a project what do people mean when they say "It's probably water weight"? If you are drinking the same amount of water as before, and salt and menstruation are not part of the equation, and you're not dehydrating yourself, how does water weight factor in to one's results?

I'm curious because I always lose 3-4 lbs. in the first week of a new weight loss goal, and then it settles down to about 1-1.5 pounds per week. Do you think it's just water in the beginning?

The extra weight that you lose at the beginning is mainly water. Basically much about weight loss for most people boils down to simple maths. You can see it quite plainly if you log your food and activity somewhere like and look at your calorie balance.

We take in calories in the form of the food and drink that we have. We burn up calories by being active in our day to day lives and by doing exercise. If we eat more calories than we burn they get stored as fat. One pound of fat is about 3,500 calories.

To lose a pound of fat we have to burn about 3,500 more calories than we take in.

A person would have to do a lot of extra exercise or be eating very little compared to the amount of exercise that they were doing to notch up a deficit of 14,000 calories which is what would be needed...

The fact is that before people start trying to lose weight they may well have no idea as to the level of sodium in their food. Many foods contain sodium that people never imagine would be the case.

I actually made a big mistake myself despite all my weight loss experience... I had lost a lot of weight and been on my project since Feb 2007. I started last winter only a few pounds from my goal weight of 9 stone (i.e. 126 pounds). I got complacent and was eating a very repetitive diet so had stopped logging my food in fitday so I was not counting my nutrients. I figured that I knew pretty much what to have to hit all my targets (my 4 yoghurts covers my calcium and helps on the protein etc etc etc...). Anyway I had joined my slimming clubs (both Weight Watchers and their main competitor in the UK - Slimming World) as part of my strategy for maintenance. Both clubs were very keen on everyone having lots of home made soup over winter and were giving out all sorts of great recipes. Looking down the lists I could see that they were low in calories and full of healthy stuff so I thought no more about it and made them up. I really enjoyed them - so was having soups on the cold days. I enjoyed them so much I was having chilled soups as the weather got better too.

Life became pretty stressful at times - and I didnt know whether that was to blame and I was somehow being less strong-willed than normal for me or I realised - but my weight just kept going up and down for ages and I got no nearer goal...

Anyway I suddenly decided to start tracking in fitday again and was shocked on the first day that I had soup. My sodium had gone through the roof. The rest of my nutrients were bang on target - as were the calories - but the sodium was sky high. Naturally I stopped making soup.

The reason that there had been no consistency was that I used to save my water from vegetables for making stock (no sodium) if I had any. If I didnt have any I used to use either vecon or a stock cube. Both of these are low calorie and recommended by the slimming clubs - but high in sodium.

You can actually see the page from my Slimming World book as I got to goal as I scanned it into my album here. In the first week of counting my sodium I lost 5.5 pounds!!!! This was over two years into my project. I kept counting and the weight taking me down to goal shot off. A total of 13 pounds over 5 weeks. I did not lose 13 pounds of fat over those 5 weeks - the vast majority of it was water.

 

[blacksofa]

That makes sense because I do seem to get dehydrated a lot. I never thought about looking at my sodium though, I'll try it thanks!