Newbie - question about weighing during "cycle"

[rawillowdolphin]

Hi y'all,

I've been lurking on here for a couple of weeks, and have a question for you. My first week, I lost more than I had expected. However, this last week, I've got my monthly "visitor", and it looks like I only lost about a pound. Now, this past week, I've worked my tail off exercising, and never, ever ate more than 1200-1250 calories.

I know all of the stuff about water weight, and how it can throw off the scale weight even if you're still losing fat. I've read everywhere that if you drink tons of water and watch your sodium intake, this should help prevent bloating (water in = water out). I drink 100-120 oz of water a day minimum, and add no salt to my food, drink sodium free diet soda (one per day), and eat vegetarian (mostly fresh foods too). I substitute at least one meal for a low carb, high protein bar which is low in fat, sugar, and high in vitamins. This is on top of the lower fat meat substitutes I eat with dinner (riblets or Quorn). Translated: I know I am ingesting a fairly high amount of protein- at least equal to my carbs, if not more.

According to my calculations, I should be losing a minimum of between 3 and 4 pounds per week. The calculations I use are:

At 228lbs, with moderate exercise, my body needs approximately 2800 calories/day to maintain that weight. Anything less should cause weight loss as long as I exercise moderately.

I eat 1250 calories/day max. I burn approx 400+ (conservative estimate) calories/day in cardio.
1250
-400
-----
850 calories

2800
- 850
------
1950 calories burned
x5 days working out
-------------------
9750 calories less than what I need to maintain weight/5 days
+3100 (1550 calories/day burned on non workout days x 2 days)
---------------
12,850 calories less than what I need to maintain weight/week
12,850/3500 (cals needed to burn 1 lb)
---------------
3.67 lbs

Soooooooooooooooooo...

All of that says I should be on-track (3-4 lbs/week). This past week, I'm not. There's not really anything else I can do to facilitate my weight loss. So this leads me to the whole original reason for my post - my water/monthly question:

Do y'all find that your monthly visitor throws off your scale measurements? If so, what's the difference in average loss during that week compared to others?

Anyhoo, thanks for replies, and thanks for posting- there are so many inspirations on this board...

--ra

[mom2hunt]

I "personally" would have a VERY small loss during my cycle, but a HUGE loss the following week. That was my basic story every month.

I will say though (just watch and monitor) if your weight loss isn't meeting your exact calculations week after week, you may in all actuality be eating TOO LITTLE. Sound nuts? I know, but too little could cause your metabolism to slow down b/c your body feels deprived, and slower metabolism will mean that you will not be burning nearly as much as expected for all energy burning. Just monitor, and keep us posted on your results!

Good Luck!

[nyka]

Hi. It's me again, I have been getting into everything. I love this site, you guys are so helpful. That is my problem. I'm never hungry. I'm not hungry in the morning until about 5pm and I eat something light because I feel sick if I eat something heavy or too much. The only time that I get hungry is on weekends when I end up having a drink, which I already decided that I won't be doing that for a while. I just don't get hungry, and I'm stuck at 245 right now. What should I do? I can tell you that I don't hardly hit 1000 per day. Honestly.

[icandoit1234]

Well I have a very cheap scale so that doesnt help me, but I weighed in this morning,BTW right before my visitor, and I weighed 6 lbs. more than I did last week but Im not mad b/c I know its bloating and water weight b/c I put on a pair of size 16 caprius today and they fit perfectly. So keep that chin up and stay on track you are doing great.

[rawillowdolphin]

Thanks for the encouragement, y'all. I'm trying not to be toooooo hard on myself (which I have a bad tendency to be). It's encouraging to see just how much water weight people tend to deal with at this time of the month. I got on the scale this morning, and my left side of the brain was saying "now you know it's water weight", but my right side required a straight jacket.

It's crazy- I went from being an all-american in college, and weighing around 150 after that in 1998, to 236 2 weeks ago. I'm 30 now, and when the dr told me that I'd be diabetic inside 6 mo's if I didn't lose, it hit me pretty hard. I used to be a personal trainer- I know what I'm supposed to be doing......

Thanks to everyone on here who shares their stories - it really helps to see people who started where I did, and all the progress they've made in a relatively short period of time.

--ra

[Ms Kitty]

My right side requires a strait jacket as well during that time of month. It doesn't help that I've been on a plateau for the last 3/4 weeks and fluctuating between 206.55 and 207.9 which my left brain knows is due to fluid but my right brain is starting to have panic attacks. But all my new clothes actually fit better even though I haven't lost any inches (well not in the places I measure).

Deb

[Babygirl78]

STEP AWAY FROM THE SCALE

I hate my scale on a good week let alone the week of my monthly bill. Dont let the scale get ya down. Remember it is water weight gain and such and look foward to your nice total loss next week when you weigh in. The scale is evil, and so is our cycle but the following week is soo much better.

oh and all that math and calculations up above you listed, yikes! lol I'm just happy when my pants fit looser and my measurements drop.

Good luck girl.

[rawillowdolphin]

I am soooo impatient sometimes....

OK, so panic attack is over, and the straight jacket is back in the closet. I finfished up the curse yesterday, drank so much water, I was swimming the whole day, and for kicks and giggles, I decided to weigh today to see if there was any difference. What a difference a day makes - I weighed in at 224!
Sooo.... that means I was retaining 3.8lbs of water yesterday. Geez...

Thanks for all of the encouragement and replies. I feel like a total dummy. My original goal was only 2lbs per week- guess I'm getting greedy! My mantra today is patience...patience...

--ra

[rawillowdolphin]

babygirl..

Yeah, I tend to be waaaayyy too scientifically minded and analytical about things. But it helps me to have a formula in my mind of what to do and what not to do. That way when I look at that glass of wine in the evening and I've met my calorie limit, I can turn it down knowing how much of a difference it will make in the long run.
And when I don't make progress, I still know I'm doing everything within reason to make this change.

--ra