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    GEEKYME   7,709
SparkPoints 		7,000-8,499 SparkPoints
 
 
FRUSTRATED! Disappointed... AAAACK!

Friday, April 01, 2011


So here I am, standing on the scales - ramping up excitement to see another measly half pound weight loss. After all, I've born working out and burning calories 5 days a week. I measure everything I eat - right down the teaspoon. My daughter asked me this morning why I measured my coffee creamer. I showed her the difference when she poured and I measured. Her cup was almost 200 calories from the creamer. That made sense to her. I have been sticking in my calorie range every day except one - and that wasn't a total blowout.

So... why shouldn't I expect a small loss? I've been working hard. Every week, since I started this path to lose extra weight that is causing my Ankylosing Spondylisis to hurt my back and hips has been a major struggle. I started in January. The first few weeks, I didn't budge an ounce or a centimeter. Since then, I have been happy with the .3 or .4 pound weight loss. I had to be - it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. This week, I GAINED weight? I don't even know where to begin.

I haven't lost any inches - I already checked everything. I am eating enough - I've done the math on that
http://www.sparkpeople.com/m
ypage_public_journal_indiv
idual.asp?blog_id=4066542
Since January, I've only managed to lose 4.2 pounds! I'm working my butt off and losing less than 1/2 a pound a week on most weeks and this week?? I gain 1.5 pounds?

I eat a varied diet. I'm a vegetarian, so I get enough fiber. I also make sure to eat adequate protein. I get enough calcium and vitamin D. I avoid white carbs. My diet is so healthy, my doctor would be envious.

I vary my workout routines. I work out with the Kinect and play different games. I wear a Polar F5 Heartrate monitor to know how many calories I am burning. I also incorporate strength training.

I drink LOTS of water. It's almost the only thing I drink anymore.

I'm so discouraged I don't even want to enter it into the tracker. I don't want to throw in the towel on this. I WANT to lose weight. I'm working hard. I am frustrated and don't understand what I am doing wrong. I just need a reason to keep on putting on the gear and sweating through another workout or to measure another meal or track another bite. The effort hardly seems worth the results.
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  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

ROBERTAN1 4/1/2011 9:10PM

    CRP is C-reactive Protein and is a measure of microinflammation throughout the body.

Eating out even once WILL produce a weight gain that needs to be corrected over a few days. It's all the sodium that restaurants use in their cooking. It's just water weight, but takes a couple days to come back off. Sometimes taking some apple cider vinegar helps--try a tablespoon or two in 8 oz of hot water (think a tea) with some Splenda & cinnamon.

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GEEKYME 4/1/2011 4:20PM

    Thank you :)

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4A-HEALTHY-BMI 4/1/2011 3:18PM

    You can measure liquids in weight too; unless significantly different from water, most things are 1g = 1ml.

Even one untracked meal or a day where I might have taken a couple of bites of untracked things can throw off my calorie estimates. So if you went out to eat within the last 7 days that could easily change things. Not only calorie-wise but sodium-wise. It can take days for water bloat to go away.

When I'm travelling and need to know what I'm eating I use a scale I keep in my purse and I weigh everything. There's a blog post about that here:
http://www.sparkpeople.com
/mypage_public_journal_individu
al.asp?blog_id=2777489


To get a really good estimate of your calorie intake I think there needs to be about 2 weeks of exact data. Down to the gram. Otherwise there's too much uncertainty to really know what's going on...

Hope this helps. The process can be a really frustrating pain in the pachooka but super accurate measurements of what you can measure are the only way I've found that help me get a handle on what's actually going on.

That means having a really accurate food scale and a really accurate bathroom scale.

Hang in there.

Comment edited on: 4/1/2011 3:21:18 PM

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GEEKYME 4/1/2011 3:11PM

    Roberta - I am not sure what CRP is - so it's a safe bet that I haven't had it tested.

4A - Up until this past week, I was tracking every bite. However, my diet didn't change any this past week - I just wasn't able to track it. The week before was Spring Break - so it's not tracked. One day this week, I went out to eat, so wasn't sure how to measure that. 1200-1300 is what I eat daily.

I do measure what I can in grams and ounces. I have food scales and do use them. It's harder with liquid measures.

I will take a look at the other links you sent. Thank you so much!



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4A-HEALTHY-BMI 4/1/2011 2:53PM

    Do not give up. We can help you figure this out. Especially if you're geeky.

Here are some suggestions. I will invite you to my favorite science-based team on SP and they can help you too.
http://teams.sparkpeople.co
m/hitsquad

1) Measure food by weight, not volume
http://www.sparkpeople.co
m/mypage_public_journal_individ
ual.asp?blog_id=2588275

2) Don't trust either the HR monitor or the SP estimates for calorie burn. They're all estimates.

3) Log your weight somewhere that does smoothing, like PhysicsDiet.com - it's based on the weighted moving averages described in the Hacker's Diet and does a great job of sorting out signal from noise.
http://teams.sparkpeople.
com/hackersdiet

The site can also estimate your total energy expenditure if you put in your daily calories. It does it by comparing your weight changes to your calories in. I don't even bother putting in my exercise estimates because I just want an estimate of the total caloric need.

4) Have you got an estimate of your % body fat and do you know if it's changing?
http://www.sparkpeople
.com/mypage_public_journal_indi
vidual.asp?blog_id=4134115

5) Have you actually been logging all your food? It says you ate 295 calories yesterday. If that's your average daily intake you should have collapsed by now... :-) Some days I see more like 1200 or 1300 calories which seems more realistic.

6) You need way more protein than you're getting. Even on the 1200-1300 calorie days you're only getting about 60g. Try doubling that. http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_p
ublic_journal_individual.asp?bl
og_id=2536501
There are plenty of good vegetarian options. 5 of my top 7 lean protein sources are vegetarian.

7) What are you lifting with the strength training? I don't see any references to actual exercises or weights. I highly recommend the New Rules of Lifting for Women - you can probably even find a copy at a used bookstore if not on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lif
ting-Women-Goddess/dp/158333339
8?tag=manifolds-20
The bottom line is that you need muscle to burn fat and you need protein and heavy weights to build muscle.

Hope these help. :-)

If something doesn't work, then try something else. Keep trying stuff until you find things that work...



Comment edited on: 4/1/2011 3:12:01 PM

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ROBERTAN1 4/1/2011 2:46PM

    Have you thought about a food sensitivity? Not a full-blown allergy, but something along the lines of a gluten-sensitivity? I always lose more weight when I limit carbs (especially white carbs), but I get even more success when I substitute non-gluten-grains for the wheat-based products. I think the gluten triggers some inflammation in the body (for me) that prevents weight loss. It might not be gluten for you, but something else causing micro-inflammation. Have you tested your CRP levels to see if you're being affected by it?

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