A little frustrated with the lack of activity on the scales.

[kazd63]

Hi
I have been LCHF since 30th April and have lost just under 9lb, now I know people say you shouldn't weigh yourself every day but I do, I have fitbit scales and just pop on them every morning first thing. I am a little disheartened because I truly expected to see a dip today but have weighed the same for 3 days running although I am seeing a dip in the body fat.

I have more than doubled/tripled even the amount of walking I am doing, my food intake is pretty low carb in comparison to before. Eg Food intake yesterday, 30g Raspberries, 30g Blackberries, 30ml D Cream, lunch omelette with small amount of onions, peppers, chorizo and mozzarella cheese (30g). Dinner, Steak, roasted onions, peppers, baby toms and buffalo cauliflower bites. BG yesterday evening were 5:1 before dinner, 6:0 (90 Mins) 6.2 (Before sleep approx 4.5 hrs from dinner). This morning BG 7.2.

The only thing I could say about yesterday was that I did not drink enough water, probably only about 250ml but with probably 3 cups of tea over the day although I have pretty much cut out coffee (instant) at work and drink water instead. 3 walks a day at work and then an hour or so in the evening with the dog and it is hard work because there is a blooming big hill involved!

You know it is hard work this LC business I would at least like to see a dip in the scales. I have added an app to my phone where I only add weight once a week and it has gone down every week bar the weekend of the royal wedding but even so stuck the same for three days in a row and prior hovered up or down at .1 at a time on the 23rd May I was 207.9 and today 30th I am 207.8.

 

[Guzzler]

Your plateau could be converting fat into muscle? Muscle weighs more than fat

The human body cannot turn fat into muscle, one type of tissue can't be changed into another.

 

[vanillapie]

A 9lb loss in the space of a month is a good loss and generally consistent with the advice of 1lb-2lb a week. 3 days isn't a long plateau, just keep doing what you're doing

 

[Brunneria]

I love this graphic, because is describes weight loss soooo well.

Basically, don't sweat the small stuff, and look at the bigger, long term picture.
To be honest, if I lost more than a pound in a month, I would be shocked and think my scales had broken - but that is me, my body, and my unhelpful metabolism.

 

[rab5]

Your plateau could be converting fat into muscle? Muscle weighs more than fat

Fat doesn’t convert to muscle

 

[briped]

It's difficult to see the big picture if you weigh yourself every day. At least be prepared for exactly what you see happening now. I lost a huge amount of weight about 12 years ago, and after a couple of months my routine would be that I only saw weight loss every 2nd week. You sound a bit like me, though. I can't help weighing myself every day either, but I know from experience to be happy when I do see a minus, and not to be discouraged when I see a plus. Today was + 400g. So what ?
I'm sure the same thing happens when we gain weight, but who weighs him/herself when that happens? One week you might be surprised and happy that you haven't gained weight in spite of all those beers, cakes or whatever consumed, but next week there'll be a price to pay.

 

[Bluetit1802]

9lbs in 4 weeks is bang on a healthy weight loss target, in fact it is at the top end. Guidelines say 1 to 2lbs a week is the healthy way to do it. You have managed 2lbs a week, and a 3 day plateau means nothing at all. None of us can expect to lose every day.

Are you also measuring yourself? Waist, thighs, arms, hips? Very often we lose inches and no weight.

 

[Guzzler]

right, onedoes not become the other even if one fuels the other, but on the way to losingfat, often muscle gets created and the net balance upon weighing can look the same weight from different components

To build muscle one needs protein and excercise.

 

[Guzzler]

yes indeedy,andthat muscle weighs what

The weight is immaterial. The purpose of a weight loss regime for T2s is to switch from using carbs as an immediate source of fuel to using stored fats as a source of fuel, the by product of which is weight loss.
Building muscle (and thereby increasing weight) has very little at all to do with stored fat and everything to do with protein. This is one of the main reasons why BMI is such a poor calculator.
We are not machines, we do not act in a strict linear fashion so weight loss from stored fat will happen with hiccups and stalls and gains etc in exactly the fashion as happens with body builders when they increase muscle mass.

 

[Guzzler]

NSS but I think the person posting was concerned over weight loss?

Clarify. The weight of muscle as opposed to the weight of fat (by volume).

If you beleive a stall in body weight loss directly correlates to an increase in muscle mass (to the extent that overall fat loss and muscle gained to be near enough exact) then I am afraid we have to agree to disagree. By your reckoning my weight loss means I should have the body of an All Blacks Scrum half!

 

[kazd63]

Thank you for your responses, I seriously doubt I have done enough to build muscle, if I have I can't find it under the blubber. I am an almost 55 year old woman who is at least 5 stone overweight for my height of 5'8". My walking has increased from approx 3 - 5k steps to 10- 14k steps per day. .3 came today so now bang on 9lb loss (it has fluctuated slightly)

 

[kazd63]

So frustrated, have gone up nearly a lb this morning. Menu yesterday, raspberries, blackberries with greek ff yogurt couple of drops of stevia. Omlette with onion, red pepper, spinach, chopped chorizo and mozzarella 3 eggs. Dinner sw hunters chicken salad coleslaw 4 chips. 100ml ice cream no sugar high protein version. The dinner did spike me, could it have been the passata? Walked about 11500 steps over the day. Did not walk after dinner last night. Did two laps at lunxh cos had missed 10am walk. Frustrated.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Diabetes Forum mobile app

 

[rab5]

Chips coleslaw ice cream

Start there !

Excercise will have little effect on weight loss. Diet is the main driver.

 

[kazd63]

Chips coleslaw ice cream

Start there !

Excercise will have little effect on weight loss. Diet is the main driver.

4 chips, had 4 the other night and did not spike. Coleslaw is tesco finest v low carb. Ice cream was no sugar extra protein so low carb. Had about 100ml.

 

[rab5]

I would suggest you work out how many carbs you are eating. Small amounts of carbs all add up. You state you have stalled. As well as carbs dietary fat can certainly stop me losing weight.

I would not eat chips even 4 if them!

How much coleslaw are you eating? Rasberries blackberries all have carbs and they all add up.

There is a reason your stalling have you tried IF? It can be used to jump start your system. By the way our weight can change everyday by several pounds up or down. It’s the long term trends that really matter

 

[xfieldok]

I feel your pain! My weight stalled for three weeks. I kick-started it by intermittent fasting. However, you are losing at a good rate. I would just be patient for a few days.

 

[rab5]

I feel your pain! My weight stalled for three weeks. I kick-started it by intermittent fasting. However, you are losing at a good rate. I would just be patient for a few days.

What he/ she said

 

[AdamJames]

Hi
I have been LCHF since 30th April and have lost just under 9lb, now I know people say you shouldn't weigh yourself every day but I do, I have fitbit scales and just pop on them every morning first thing. I am a little disheartened because I truly expected to see a dip today but have weighed the same for 3 days running although I am seeing a dip in the body fat.

I have more than doubled/tripled even the amount of walking I am doing, my food intake is pretty low carb in comparison to before. Eg Food intake yesterday, 30g Raspberries, 30g Blackberries, 30ml D Cream, lunch omelette with small amount of onions, peppers, chorizo and mozzarella cheese (30g). Dinner, Steak, roasted onions, peppers, baby toms and buffalo cauliflower bites. BG yesterday evening were 5:1 before dinner, 6:0 (90 Mins) 6.2 (Before sleep approx 4.5 hrs from dinner). This morning BG 7.2.

The only thing I could say about yesterday was that I did not drink enough water, probably only about 250ml but with probably 3 cups of tea over the day although I have pretty much cut out coffee (instant) at work and drink water instead. 3 walks a day at work and then an hour or so in the evening with the dog and it is hard work because there is a blooming big hill involved!

You know it is hard work this LC business I would at least like to see a dip in the scales. I have added an app to my phone where I only add weight once a week and it has gone down every week bar the weekend of the royal wedding but even so stuck the same for three days in a row and prior hovered up or down at .1 at a time on the 23rd May I was 207.9 and today 30th I am 207.8.

I'll share my rather embarrassing and frustrating efforts with weight loss:



What happened at the lowest point was not that I was struggling to lose weight or gave up trying, it's actually that I'd started to feel really quite fit, so I started going on very big walks at the weekends, say 6-10 hours a day in the big hills of Snowdonia, and if I carry on eating according to my appetite as a result, that's what happens. Notice the regular little peaks and drops towards the end of the graph - that's what doing a ton of exercise then eating according to appetite in the days afterwards does to me.

So I'd go further than @rab5 and say that not only is diet far more important than exercise, but exercise can actually get in the way. I'm feeling very fit at the moment, at least for the very specific task of walking up and down hills with a heavy rucksack, but my weight and blood sugar levels were much better when I wasn't living a very active lifestyle.

I'd go along with the general view here that you are doing very well and shouldn't sweat small plateaus, but if in the longer run you continue to struggle and get very frustrated, you could try halving the walking you are doing, and you never know, it might have a surprising result.

If you don't think it's your increased walking that's having a negative effect, you might at least take comfort in seeing that, on my long downwards slope, there were not only small plateaus but a few places where the weight went up. This seems to be very normal.

 

[AdamJames]

I love this graphic, because is describes weight loss soooo well.

Basically, don't sweat the small stuff, and look at the bigger, long term picture.
To be honest, if I lost more than a pound in a month, I would be shocked and think my scales had broken - but that is me, my body, and my unhelpful metabolism.

Haha! I love that graph. There's actual loops in it. Clearly someone has invented time travel!

 

[kazd63]

Okay so I admit haven't been the best at logging on MFP but for the most part breakfast and lunch have been the same, dinner has been low carb except for experiment on Wed where I tried the Jason Fung suggestion of cooking pasta twice because apparently it causes less of a rise in BG. I still spiked though, so pasta truly out. Anyhow yesterday I consumed 1321 cals (net after exercise 890), Carbs 77 but the killer ones were in the Hunters Chicken sauce, Protein 97, Fat 66, Sugar 9 (from toms and berries), Fiber 10 (yes I know could do better but what with)

The principle I am working to was low carb (no no carb) the idea not to spike BG and therefore cause insulin production (fat hormone). Or have I just go that completely wrong.