gilliansings's Journal, 09 Feb 14

Many things can effect the scale. Doing more exercise they you usually do can make your muscles retain water. Too much sodium yesterday? Hormones? Lack of sleep? Medications? Etc. Some weeks we owe the scale and some weeks the scale owes us. It's a learning process and you are doing great. Just keep going and that scale will eventually catch up. 

Thanks, Suzi161. I definitely thought of most of those items. Sleep - great. Medications, none. Sodium = the same amount I usually eat, if not less. Hormones=surgically menopausal and on steady hormone replacement. The last time I took my weight seriously, I did a program called "Food Lovers," which basically followed diabetic/glycemic index recommendations. Similar to what I'm doing now. On that program you added more and more good habits with each day and you didn't weigh until you'd been at it for 8 weeks. I lost 10 lbs. in the first 8 weeks and then only 2 more after another 4 weeks. It makes me wonder if I shouldn't have just held off on weighing! Thanks for the support. 

Sometimes, it's just a matter of having a prune a day to keep things moving along. I know the temptation to do the extreme juice thing is strong, but if you keep the journal and make sure you're taking in less than you're putting out, the numbers WILL catch up. I spent 12 days thinking I was putting out 2600 calories only to learn I was only expending 1800. What a rude shock when I was eating 1700/day. Holy cow. So that's something to look at, also. Good luck and know you are among friends and supporters here! 

Sometimes I don't weigh every week as my weight tends to stay on and sometimes I might lose my weight all at one go which can be 2-3 pounds just before my TOM. So I tend to try and weigh myself when I feel lighter and see if there is a difference. Otherwise if I am weighing myself regularly then I will do it but really not take it to heart..... I know that sounds hard, but sometimes I put 1 foot on the scale and if it is looking better then I put 2 feet on the scales, if it is not looking better with 1 foot then I might not put 2 feet on, wait until another day and try the same ..... I know it sounds like playing games with myself, but the scales can be your best friend or it can be your enemy and if it is going to backlash and make you fall off the wagon (which has happened to me) then you are better off coming up with a coping mechanism. There can be so many things going on inside your body that you are not aware of and cannot quantify. As long as you are doing what you should, the weight will come off eventually.... you are not in control of when your body will shed weight, you are only in control of what you put into it and how much energy you exert.  

Keep going and try to not get desperate. Some days might be harder than others (especially when you don't see the numbers in the scale going down) but there are many factors that can influence that. As the guys above mentioned, the numbers will eventually catch up. Might be during your next weigh in!  

I know how frustrating it is to NOT see that scale move...however, here are a few things that worked for me and maybe it will work for you too?? ( First you and I are very close in age...sadly as we age our BMR goes down - meaning we burn less calories in a 24 hour period that we did when we were even in our late 30's, it stinks but its true. So try this; 1. minamum of 8 glasses of water per day come hell or high water (no pun intended, lol) 2. drastically reduce your carbohydrate intake - you seem to hover in the mid 200 grams per day - its alot. Your body will burn the carbs first and then fat...when you continually eat high carbohydrate diets combined with our age, it just seems tough. Try to reduce to about 50 grams per day...you may get headaches at first, your body wont like this change in that manner but it will repay you in others. 3. do not eat more than 1200 calories per day - unless you are exercising then you can eat the 1200 + whatever you burned in exercise. 4. eat lots of fibrous veggies 5. eat protein and healthy fat (4 almonds or a couple slices of avocado) at each meal. If nothing else drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day - you will see an initial loss within the first 4-5 days. I hope this helps and Im sorry if i sound like a know it all...Im not but there was a time in my life when i was over 200lbs (10 years i have kept it off). oh and it goes without saying...exercise :) Keep smiling and dont give up  

Thanks, everyone. I know that I would see results faster if I was going SUPER low carb, but I need to do something I can sustain and I am pleased that I am not drinking anything besides water and vegetable juice (no alcohol, no fatty/sugary coffeehouse drinks, no milk) and I eat very little bread, and then only whole grain. I have had pasta in small amounts. I am eating fruits and vegetables in higher quantities than before, and those count towards my carbs. Some days I do eat closer to 1200 calories, but am following my husband's advice to go 2 days at or above, followed by 2 days below to shake things up so my body won't go into "starvation mode." As for fiber needs, lol, I have ALWAYS stayed on top of that one every since my second child was sucking all my water out of me breastfeeding and I found out the hard way how much it SUCKED being constipated. I eat fibrous foods, drink lots of water, and drink Sugar-Free Citrucel fiber powder every other day.