HELP-gain after first week

[gsdlover 10]

this was my first week and measured drank my water exercised my butt off and gained 1.1...... Discouraging .. have others experienced this????

[Guest LeeBeeJeebies]

Hi gsdlover. Don't be discouraged! Don't give up! We all have our down weeks. All of us do. While it IS unusual to gain (the first week, especially), finding the reason why can be quite perplexing. Are you sure you tracked correctly? From your weight stats, it looks like you've already lost quite a bit of weight, so you must know what you're doing somehow!

 

But if it's your first week on Weight Watchers, maybe you didn't measure things correctly? I'm not belittling your measuring skills at all, but it's a very common problem. Sometimes we think that 3 ounces of burger meat is more than it really is.

 

Another common problem is when you have two of something. If you have two servings of oatmeal, you must double the protein, double the carbs, double the fat, and double the fiber and THEN determine the point value. Some people (wrongly) take the point value for one serving and then double it. That's not the way Weight Watchers says to do it though. Sometimes it makes a big difference.

 

Another possibility is that you had a lot of salt? Sometimes people don't realize the power of salt...it really, really makes you hold onto a lot of water (which of course will affect the scale). It's not hard to lose water weight, but it does show on the scale.

 

What about fruit? Fruit is free and it is wonderful, but if you go bananas (pun intended!), it can technically add to the scale. In the long run, it's much better to reach for the [free] fruit rather than the low-cal potato chips, so keep eating fruit. But if you are eating so, so, so much of it (enough to replace entire meals), then you really should figure out a balance. Maybe count a few points for some of your fruit (if you're going to be eating a ton of it).

 

Also - if it was your time of the month (or the week before), sometimes that really, really seems to affect the scale.

 

Another thing - when you weigh-in, if you had JUST eaten a huge meal and drank a huge amount of liquid, and hadn't gone to the bathroom for the day yet...that could definitely affect your numbers. But those types of things don't matter in the long run. Your week-to-week weight is important...but not nearly as important as the big picture. Sometimes when I weigh-in, it might reflect a slight gain because I just ate or I didn't go to the bathroom yet. But I don't look at my weight loss as ONLY what happened in one week.

 

 

Lastly - and this is not meant to be offensive - every single time I have ever EVER gained, it has always been because of a real reason. I went off track one day. I ate more points than I actually had. I stopped tracking one afternoon. My gains ALWAYS reflect my poor actions/decisions. Even if I was on-track 6 days and off-track only 1 day...when I gain weight that week, I know why. I have to be honest with myself. I have to say, "Man...I was perfect the whole week... except for that one day. I guess that's why I gained." Maybe you are not being completely and entirely honest with yourself?

 

 

I hope nothing here offended you at all. Please don't be discouraged. Your second week might be AMAZING! Follow the plan. It works. It really does. Good luck, gsdlover!!

 

[MissShellica 10]

Lee is right on target here. If I were you, I would look at all of the things she listed and consider whether one of those might have been the cause of your gain.

 

I just wanted to add that body physiology is a strange and complicated thing. If this is your first week on Weight Watchers, AND you started an new exercise regime, you introduced a lot of new things to your body all in one week. All of those changes might have resulted in some temporary water retention or bloat, both of which would show a gain on the scale even though they do not reflect an actual permanent gain in pounds.

[Kait617 10]

Ditto to both Shellica and Lee. I also wanted to link to this article - Why the Scales Lie - which may give some more context for what you are seeing on the scale. You may want to post a little more history about your weight loss and what program you have been following, a couple of sample menus, and your exercise routine, if any. That way, we can give you more specific feedback.

[Mt_Native_Man 10]

Good advise above.

 

I look for the long term trend and my non-scale victories (NSVs) like clothes fitting better - able to kiss my knees (which was a big thing for me when I was loosing) and other people's comments that notice you are looking fitter.

 

In the summer time, my DAILY weight can flucuate +/- 3lbs - water loss, but also depends on what I am eating - sodium many times is the culpurt.

 

Key is to continue the program and stay within the guidelines that one should do. It works if you work it.

 

Life is good.

[gsdlover 10]

thanks so much for the wonderful ideas.. I talked to my leader and she said she thought I was not eating enough points for the exercise that I was doing. I do not use more than 30 points and none of my extra points. I drank only 5 glasses of water each day and just came off from counting carbs and maybe that is why. I have only had 3 fruits per day because of afraid of over doing on that. Again thanks sooooooo much for the wonderful advice.

[Guest LeeBeeJeebies]

Ahh the carbs.

 

There you go! Bingo!

 

Anytime you're on a carb-crazy diet, the minute you introduce carbohydrates into your diet again, your body will go wild. After a bit, it will readjust. Your body is afraid you'll starve it of carbs again, so it's hanging on to them for dear life! (My guess)

[gsdlover 10]

Thanks so much for all your suppport. I weighed in with a loss of 4.2. Never had a loss like that before. Took the advice here and bought a kitchen scale and new tools for the kitchen to measure foods.My eye was really off. I had counted carbs for about 6 months prior to this so I think my body went crazy when I started eating fruit and carbs again. Thanks so much again for your wonderful advice.This is why this is such a wonderful place to find help!!!!!!

[MissShellica 10]

Hurray!

 

I am so glad that you did not let your gain discourage you, and that you saw better results this week! Yay! *throws confetti*

[duroc_2000 0]

WTG!!! Great job hanging tough!

 

David

[Kait617 10]

Great job!

[Super Bowl XLI 10]

gsdlover - great job hanging in there. You may see some gains in the future. Don't let them get you down. Going up .4 or .8 or 1.1 in a week can happen and it can have nothing to do with your sticking to points, etc. Sometimes maybe it's some bulky food still in your system. Maybe it's water retention. Stuff like that happens week to week. Just keep following the program. And, while you should weigh in each week - it's important - try and look at your weight change in terms of every month, or every three months. As long as you're making progress in those bigger snapshots, what happens in a given week-to-week basis, as long as the gain isn't huge, shouldn't be seen as not doing the right thing. Best of luck!