What am I doing wrong?

[MissJenaKay]

I had been doing very well with weight loss, but recently, and quite shockingly, I've gained weight. A shocking amount in a short time (Around five pounds in the last eight days). I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong now that I was doing right before. I started gaining the twenty-first. If you need a hint as to what I'm doing as far as food and exercise goes, I've been keeping track on fittracker profile and whatnot. Any clue to the sudden weight gain? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Jena.

[MissJenaKay]

Do you eat an extra 17500 cal over them 8 days? or about 2000 extra cal per day? Probably not so guess would be water retention and therefore dont worry about it except to make sure you get enough water. Dehydration will make your body retain extra fluids. Also, look for something with lots of sodium like canned items, this could cause some sudden water retention.

advice? forget what the scale says and go by how your clothes fit.

About water retention :: I drink a TON of water. I average around 15 or 16 glasses a day. It's all I drink and I don't know why, but I drink a lot. I guess it's because I'd rather drink water than grab a snack or something. Could drinking so much water be a bad thing?

[MissJenaKay]

Ok if you get lots of water then look for something in your food causing retention. Also, I looked in your fittraker food journal but most days there's not much there. Is everything recorded? If it is some of those days are too low in calories which may result in metabolism slowdown, which is what we dont want. You won't drop weight from fat unless you fire up your metabolism and you can do that by eating frequent small meals of non-crap foods.

Yep, everything I eat is recorded. I can't eat any more than I do now. One: It makes me feel sick. Two: We have no more food. Haha. We need to go grocery shopping. :/

Yeah, I have a feeling it's not eating enough based on previous posts.

But I'm eating more now than I used to, not that that's saying much. :/

[cassiegose]

I had been doing very well with weight loss, but recently, and quite shockingly, I've gained weight. A shocking amount in a short time (Around five pounds in the last eight days). I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong now that I was doing right before. I started gaining the twenty-first. If you need a hint as to what I'm doing as far as food and exercise goes, I've been keeping track on fittracker profile and whatnot. Any clue to the sudden weight gain? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Jena.

two guesses:

1) Is it "that time of the month"? I gain about 5lbs when I get close to "that time".


2) Youre not eating enough. I understand that it makes you feel sick, however I'm a FIRM believer in mind over matter. Tell yourself that it makes you feel and its probably going to. Tell yourself that YOU CAN DO THIS and you just might find that things improve. One of favorite quotes is "They can because they THINK they can". (Virgil).

[MissJenaKay]

two guesses:

1) Is it "that time of the month"? I gain about 5lbs when I get close to "that time".


2) Youre not eating enough. I understand that it makes you feel sick, however I'm a FIRM believer in mind over matter. Tell yourself that it makes you feel and its probably going to. Tell yourself that YOU CAN DO THIS and you just might find that things improve. One of favorite quotes is "They can because they THINK they can". (Virgil).

1) That's not for another two or three weeks.

2) I keep trying. D: It just doesn't seem to help. Being positive about it, that is.

[cassiegose]

Just keep putting one foot in front of the other Jena. Sometimes this stuff is a matter of taking baby steps and honestly alot of time you'll find that progress comes with 2 steps forward and 1 step back... however thats still progress and it certainly still counts. Do what you can and do your best, we can't ask any more out of you than that.

With the weight gain, if you've been increasing calories lately after months of starving yourself it could be that your metabolism was shut down and since you've increased calories your body is storing every ounce of fat it can as a survival mechanism as its preparing for you to start starving it again. best advice, eat as clean as you can and keep working on getting in enough calories (shoot for atleast 1600 if you can). Shoot for foods that are high in fiber (whole grains, legumes, fruits, veggies), lean proteins, and healthy fats. How are the workouts going? Are you doing weight training and cardio?

You're truly doing great Jena. I KNOW you have the power to reach your goals and I know that you're destined to do great things. You do have some barriers that you're going to have to overcome... However its great that you're aware of these barriers so that you can figure out ways around and over them. Its the obstacles, trials, and tribulations in life that force us to grow and ultimately make us stronger.

Have you thought about taking progress pictures instead of using the scale to measure your progress? I'm a firm believer in pictures over the scale as they will often show that you're making progress even when the scale says that you aren't. Just a thought.

Bottom line... you're doing awesome! Keep up the great work Jena.

Cassie

"Believe deep down in your heart that you are destined to do GREAT things!"
~Joe Paterno~

[MissJenaKay]

Cassie

Thanks for the support and ideas, I'll put more work into eating better and teaching body that food doesn't need to make me feel sick. :]

As for the idea of pictures, I've thought about it, but I'm so nervous about how I look that I don't want to bother taking photos, especially since I will most likely pick out even more flaws and thus delve into deeper self-loathing. Even if it would help me track progress, I think it might cause more problems at the same time.

Jena

[MissJenaKay]

Cassie

Oh, also

Workouts are good, strength training could be better since it doesn't have nearly as much appeal to me as different cardio workouts. However, I do try to fit them in and even if they aren't as fun as dancing or something, I try to do them more regularly.

Jena

[Boss Man]

Your main problem is calories are too erratic. One day you ate around 1,800, another around 1,600, but one day was less than 1,000, another two days, less than 1,200. You've got no way of allowing your Metabolism to settle down.

The regular Tuna consumption won't help long term, as Tuna is reccomended these days at 3 serves a week, as it's high in Heavy Metals and long term excess metal consumption could cause toxicity and affect things like the Nervous system.

You could replace the Tuna on a few occasions with things like Ham, Turkey, Chicken etc.

However, you are exercising, so you can't eat like that and expect to lose weight, as you WILL cause the startvation mode, where the body clings onto Fat.

So as Cassie said, you need to aim for at least 1,600 a day, to get used to that, then I'd aim for another 400-500 on top, once you're comfortable with the 1,600 a day.

If there is one thing you can trust here, it is your own ability to make these changes happen. You ARE capable and you CAN sort this out, because you ARE very intelligent, but this is something that you will need to reassess, as you may end up gaining more weight if you don't act as soon as possible.

Good luck and know that we are all here for you nad that you do matter to us.

So hopefully you appreciate where we're coming from .

[cassiegose]

So as Cassie said, you need to aim for at least 1,600 a day, to get used to that, then I'd aim for another 400-500 on top, once you're comfortable with the 1,600 a day.

I agree with this completely, 1600 should be BARE MINIMUM. As for aiming for another 400-500 over that, this doesn't necessarily mean that you need to get to 1600 and then overnight increase it to 2000-2100, it means that when you get to the point where youre regularly hitting 1600 calories increase to 1600... do that for a week or so then increase to 1700... do that for a week or so then increase to 1750... and so on. The key is to slowwwwly allow your metabolism to adjust over time. This helps mentally too as I know if somebody told me to increase calories drastically over night I'd probably flip out and do the opposite. Slow steady changes are fine Jena. In fact, slow steady changes are BEST as you're more likely to maintain a change if its made over time than if you try to impliment sudden and drastic changes (hence the reason fad diets don't work or drastic weight loss schemes don't work).

As for the weight training... again girl just do what you can. I understand that dancing can be much more enjoyable than the weight training, however weight training can honestly bring you some amazing progress if done correctly.

Keep your chin up and keep fighting forward!

[MissJenaKay]

Bossman,

I know that tuna isn't terribly good for me, but it is the only type of "meat" we have that isn't a huge steak or a roast. and I'm obviously not going to cook one of those for me for lunch. Also, as far as the erractic calories and trying to eat more, more consistently.... I would be able to do more if I had food to eat, right now, excluding condiments, in house we only have oatmeal, tuna, pickled beets, frozen vegetables like squash, zucchini, corn and greenbeans (all of which are homegrown), frozen meats (home rasied, very lean), and tater tots. We're also kinda low on cash and xan't go grocery shopping right away. :/ So I have oatmeal for breakfast, tuna for lunch, and some sort of meal made with the meats and veggies we have. So, food options are VERY slim.

That's the only reason I'm eating tuna so often...

Cassie,

I know gradual change is the best and I'm trying best just to eat at least once in a day... So, somedays when I'm feeling a little better about food, I try to eat a little more. Then, days when I don't feel as good about food, I don't eat as much...

Jena.

[MissJenaKay]

[quote="brentyboy"]If you eat the tuna and oatmeal together I promise i will be your friend forever...

[/quote
I'm sorry to disappoint, but no, that doesn't sound very appetizing. : (

[Boss Man]

Bossman,

I know that tuna isn't terribly good for me, but it is the only type of "meat" we have that isn't a huge steak or a roast. and I'm obviously not going to cook one of those for me for lunch. Also, as far as the erractic calories and trying to eat more, more consistently.... I would be able to do more if I had food to eat, right now, excluding condiments, in house we only have oatmeal, tuna, pickled beets, frozen vegetables like squash, zucchini, corn and greenbeans (all of which are homegrown), frozen meats (home rasied, very lean), and tater tots. We're also kinda low on cash and xan't go grocery shopping right away. :/ So I have oatmeal for breakfast, tuna for lunch, and some sort of meal made with the meats and veggies we have. So, food options are VERY slim.

That's the only reason I'm eating tuna so often...
Jena.

I understand I really do, but what your family could potentially do, is buy the type of Chicken or Turkey that comes pre-cooked in a packet, which would allow you not to have to have Tuna quite as much.

Just a thought.

I can also tell you're not someone who would make excuses for things, because I don't believe you're like that .

For now just do the best you think you can and try not to worry yeah .

[Carlos1980]

Hey,

Well i think the first thing you need to do is get yourself a caliper and measure yourself and see where your at. As long as you get down 1% every 2-3 weeks then your good.

Drinking that much water is a good thing so don't worry about that.

As for food, just stay away from any major sources of salt since it causes retention. And here's a question for you... when you gained those 8 pounds, did you look any different? Because if you didn't and if your didnt increase then there's no reason to worry. Keep doing what your doing and improving week by week.

Your weight will fluctuate no matter what.

Hoped I helped

[MissJenaKay]

I understand I really do, but what your family could potentially do, is buy the type of Chicken or Turkey that comes pre-cooked in a packet, which would allow you not to have to have Tuna quite as much.

Just a thought.

I can also tell you're not someone who would make excuses for things, because I don't believe you're like that .

For now just do the best you think you can and try not to worry yeah .

Okay, I'll see what I can do. :]

Hey,

Well i think the first thing you need to do is get yourself a caliper and measure yourself and see where your at. As long as you get down 1% every 2-3 weeks then your good.

Drinking that much water is a good thing so don't worry about that.

As for food, just stay away from any major sources of salt since it causes retention. And here's a question for you... when you gained those 8 pounds, did you look any different? Because if you didn't and if your didnt increase then there's no reason to worry. Keep doing what your doing and improving week by week.

Your weight will fluctuate no matter what.

Hoped I helped

calipers cost money. Money that I really don't have. :/ I'll try to save for them eventually. Also, I didn't look any different, but then again, I don't look at body much since I really hate it. :/ :/