WW and exercise- FRUSTRATION!!!!

[Harvest02]

OK, I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have been good all week, and in fact, have been getting out more and exercising since the weather has been nice here in our neck of the woods! I exercise every day(like I have for years). This week I have done some extra walking, and also bike riding. My DH and I started WW 3 weeks ago, and have done very well. I had lost a total of 4.6 pounds my first two weeks. Then, this week I have just about stayed the same, or maybe even gained a little. My clothes do feel better, and I feel better, but my scale is not showing it! Believe me, I am NOT giving up because I know I can do this. I am doing the Flex plan and using all my points and eating lots of fruits and vegetables. What can I do to increase my weight loss again? Has anyone had this happen to them? What did you do????

 

[sunshinegirl]

I go through this a lot on WW. I'll have a couple of great weeks and then nothing, even though I know that I am trying. However, when you look at your numbers over the long haul, you will likely see that 1 or 2 weeks of no movement is followed by a couple of weeks of big movement on the scales. It's definitely a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

I am so glad to see this thread! I could have written this myself! I am on my 5th week doing WWs and have almost the exact same dilemma. I am not giving up as I feel so good and I am down about 13 lbs. It just sucks to see the scale not moving, or worse...going up a little, when you know you are doing EVERYTHING right! I am glad to hear this is the norm and that it will balance out eventually! I have goals so I am not about to give up. I will keep at it and work even harder!

 

[Miandrea]

I am on my 19th week and suffering the same thing. Increased exercise, watching points and guess what - up 2 lbs from yesterday! I have to remember it is not what happens day to day but what happens over time - good habits take a long while. Keep it up!

 

[123SA]

Add me to the list. I am seriously wondering if maybe my body would respond better to a different diet. I have definitely had success. The first month I lost 14 lbs, but since then I have gone up and down week by week. I am down 7 more lbs in the past 2 months for a total of 21 lbs. I am trying to focus on this overall number, but the perplexing weight gains are killing me. This week I am up 2.6lbs -- I have made no changes to my diet. I eat 22-24 points each day (24 is my target). I don't use my extra 35 points. I measure everything; I write everything down. I don't understand how it is even physically possible for me to have gained weight. This is the third time I have be derailed like this -- so I did kind of expect it this week. Still, I lose for 2 weeks, gain it all back the third week, and then lose the fourth week. Then I start over.

At my current rate, it will take me 6 months to lose 20 more lbs. This is just too depressing. I would feel so much better if I just lost 1lb a week consistently.

 

[bradford82]

Hi I have on WW since May 6th. I have had weeks of great weight loss followed by gains or staying the same, but when I lot at my weight loss it seems to be a pattern loss for two weeks, stay the same for one, and gain one week. Than the pattern starts all over. In the last 10 months I have lost 82 lbs. It works, but I know it can get frustrating. Look for patterns and try to understand how your body works. I hope that everything I have learned about my body will help me keep the weight off.

 

[bicker]

A few things to keep in mind. The human body is not like a German motor vehicle engine. With the human body, adding a little of this, poking that, and taking some of that way doesn't have a necessarily predictable affect. Generally, the number you see on the scale is what you weight, within a very wide range of variance -- normal, routine variance, obscuring the actual results of your efforts. If you want to get ride of the variance, don't look at instantaneous scale readings. Rather, weigh yourself once a week, and just look at the three week rolling averages. (To compute the three week rolling average, add up the last three scale readings and divide by three. This is actually a back-loaded three week rolling average, but it works just as well as a real three week rolling average.) The rolling average integrates the fact that there is standard variance, and while it doesn't eliminate the variance, it reduces it down to the point where, if it increases by more than a pound, then you really did gain weight, and if it decreases by more than a pound, you really did lose weight.

Some women have proposed that since their bodies even have routine cyclical variance, that women should use a four week rolling average. That sure makes sense to me.

Using rolling averages, of course, mean that you need to start weighing yourself before weeks you start losing weight; either that or just count your starting weight as your weight for the weeks of data that you're missing.

 

[Harvest02]

I am glad to hear I am not alone in this!!! I have weigh in tonight, and I don't know how it is going to go. According to my scale I gained between 1/2 and 1 pound. The funny thing is my clothes feel better this week, and the scale I have at home has weight and body fat measurements. My body fat has gone down 1% this week. Not a lot, but maybe that is accounting for the small gain??? It is a shame that WW doesn't use the same type of scale for WI's. If people could see their body fat decreasing, but weight going up for a little then they wouldn't get so discouraged!!! I am going to keep going along because I know I can accomplish my goal!!!!