Weight and Watch

May 21, 2015 6:49 AM

I'm a fairly healthy 29 year old male. About three weeks ago, I grew tired of constant comments from friends and acquaintances about how much weight I'd put on over the past few years, and decided to do something about it.

I decided to go running every morning and cut out all junk food, and restricted outside eating to just once a week. I've been eating only light, home cooked meals for the past three weeks, and I've been having extra light dinners—sometimes I only have a glass of fresh fruit juice (or a freshly cut fruit) for dinner (I don't feel very hungry on most days for dinner).

As a result of this regimen, I lost 2 kgs in the first week, and 3.3 kgs in the second week (a total of 5.3 kgs). Encouraged by this, I kept my food intake the same and started running in the evenings in addition to the mornings, a total of about 12 kms a day (6.5 kms in the morning, 4.5 kms in the evening). I did this all through the third week, but when I weighed myself at the end of the week, I'd only lost 1 kg in the third week.

I'm very baffled as to how/why this has happened. Shouldn't the fact that I worked out harder while carefully maintaining the same food intake count for something? Shouldn't I have lost more weight? Calories in minus calories out, right? I have no major health issues or any thyroid, etc. issues, if that makes a difference.

Have any of you faced this before? Any ideas as to why it happens? What should I expect moving forward? I want to keep going, but I can't pretend that this wasn't majorly disappointing.

posted by murtagh to Health & Fitness (30 answers total)

Water weight. When you start a new diet, you generally end up (intentionally or no) cutting out carbohydrates, because most of the junk food/soda/what have you that you know is terrible food is made of carbohydrates. The fewer carbohydrates you eat, the less water your body tends to retain. Over the first week or two, your body is jettisoning this extra water that you've been holding onto. Once that stops, your weight loss will slow. Your body is still burning actual fat at about the same rate it was before, but now that's all you're losing.
posted by markslack at 6:55 AM on May 21, 2015 [19 favorites]

You lost water in the first drop. Keep going (maybe add some rest days). Your weight loss will happen in bursts. Don't worry about it - you're doing well!
posted by devnull at 6:56 AM on May 21, 2015 [10 favorites]

There are loads of factors that affect weight loss. Unless you're very obese, its unlikely you lost 3.3kg of fat in 1 week, hormones, hydration, how recently you emptied your bladder and bowels will all affect the number on the scale. 3 weeks is nothing in weight loss terms, you should focus on an overall downward trend rather than on week to week readings.

It sounds like you may have increased your exercise dramatically - did you run at all before 3 weeks ago? You also have to factor in potential muscle gain, and inflammation from the increased exercise. I'd recommend getting a body composition scale as that will give you more information than just weight alone. In the past I've found that often I don't see the benefit of increased exercise on the scale until a week or so after I've stopped (usually because of injury because I tried to do too much too soon!)
posted by missmagenta at 6:56 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also, I very much disagree with buoys' assessment of overtraining. Unless you were woefully out of shape before (as in you had not worked out *ever*) a couple of runs a day is not going to put you in that category.
posted by markslack at 6:57 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]

1 kg per week is very good and probably the upper end of what you should expect going forward.
posted by something something at 6:59 AM on May 21, 2015 [21 favorites]

Here is some medical info about weight-loss plateaus.

In a nutshell A) You're gaining muscle, which is heavy. B) You lost the easy weight, now you are burning through a different kind of fat. C) Your metabolism has slowed down to match your new energy.

Just keep at it, don't give up or start starving yourself. You could add some different exercises to build muscle in areas other than your legs like pushups and crunches or pull-ups.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:00 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is why I focus on how my body feels and not on my weight. I often gain a lot of weight when I exercise because I lift weights and put on muscle. I bet your legs look and feel different now than they did when you started, and that's something to be proud of even if the number on the scale isn't moving.
posted by chaiminda at 7:04 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

1kg a week is what you want to aim for, fast a weight loss will actually cause your body to go into starvation mode, which means it fight to burn less calories. Not only negating all your hard work while dieting exercising, but making way more likely you will gain back more eightIf you wish to keep exercising more you may find you need to eat more healthy calories to fuel the exercise and muscle development/recovery.
posted by wwax at 7:07 AM on May 21, 2015

You will know if you are over-training if you absolutely must eat everything you can think of, RIGHT NOW. If you are falling asleep all the time. If the prospect of going for another workout fills you with dread because you are so damn tired. If you are getting sick even though you're healthier than you've ever been. If you're so fucking tired and hungry and sick. That's over-training.

But, quite frankly, I think this tends not to happen to people pursuing general fitness. This tends to happen to people doing a ton of training volume (endurance athletes) or a ton of training intensity.
posted by entropone at 7:08 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]

1 - 2 lbs per week, or just under 1 kg, is the norm after the initial honeymoon water weight shed.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:08 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]

Are you counting calories? It's really easy to over-eat "good" foods.

Also, stress and sleep really matter. If you're stressed or you're not sleeping well, it's harder to lose weight.

Personally I find that using measurements - like how many inches/centimeters my waist is, and my legs are - is a much better way for me to keep on top of fitness. Scales are for the birds. I no longer own a scale and my life is a lot better for it.
posted by sockermom at 7:11 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh also it's possible that with the "not eating dinner" thing that you're actually pushing your body into starvation mode, which makes it harder to lose weight. I'd focus on trying to get nutritious food at regular intervals with enough calories to sustain yourself. This basal metabolic rate calculator can help you figure out how many calories you need to just survive and do nothing. You can subtract 250 calories a day from that number and you should lose a half a pound a week doing that (not including calories lost from exercise - there are 3,500 calories in a pound/half a kg). Or, depending on how high the initial number is, you may be able to subtract 500 calories from that. But you don't want to go too low - 1,500 to 1,800 a day is the lowest you should go. And going that low might not be necessary in order to sustain healthy weight loss over a period of time!!

Also it's not safe to lose more than 2lb a week anyhow (1kg) on a regular basis so you're doing fine, and you should not feel bad that you've lost 1kg this week - that's impressive.

But count calories. Weigh your food and use an app like MyFitnessPal to record your caloric intake. You'd be surprised at how caloric some "light, home-cooked" food can be - and you'll be able to more clearly see the relationship between what's going in and what is coming off.

Good luck!
posted by sockermom at 7:20 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks for your answers, everyone. Thought I should mention: I weighed 96 kgs when I started this routine three weeks ago, and now weigh ~89 kgs. It's super annoying that one has to run 11 kms in a day to shed 1 kg per week, but that's how it goes :) You've helped set my expectations, thank you.

(And yes, I have been counting calories, and I haven't just been assuming that my meals are light.)
posted by murtagh at 7:28 AM on May 21, 2015

FWIW, if you're obese and very sedentary, it doesn't take much to "overtrain". Health is way more important than the number on the scale, if you do start getting really tired and sick way more often than usual, dial it back a bit - eat more, rest more and listen to your body.
posted by missmagenta at 7:29 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]

You might want to start measuring - waist, thigh, and biceps at least. The scale is hardly the whole story.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:32 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just keep it up, you're doing fine. After that initial big loss it took me almost a year to lose 50 lbs, and it was a steady 1 lb/week. I barely exercised while losing weight because it just made me too hungry. Keep in mind that fruit juice is basically just sugar water... if you're making your own you should include some veggies.
posted by Huck500 at 7:34 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

I've been on a similar path as you for about a year now. In my (completely anecdotal) experience, I lost a quick 30 lbs in the first few months. During that time, the weight would drop in fits and starts: I would lose about 2-3 lbs per week for 2 or 3 weeks, then I would stall out, despite the fact I was keeping my calories down and my exercise up. Things finally leveled off after about 40 lbs over six months. Since then, every pound I've lost has been hard fought. I've lost about an additional five pounds in the intervening months, but it seems to come and go pretty quick, so it could just be water weight (or that the snacking and beer drinking has crept back in).
posted by slogger at 7:43 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

It is highly unlikely your body has entered "starvation mode", unless you are < 10% body fat, extremely active, and have been running a calorie deficit for months.

It is also highly unlikely this is "extra muscle", as bodies do not put on muscle mass that quickly.

You're seeing less weight loss because you're not dumping water weight, and possibly because your appetite has ramped up in proportion to the amount of exercise you're doing and you're eating to compensate. Weight loss, at its simplest, is a matter of caloric deficit. It is hard to maintain that due to exercise as, like I said, your appetite tends to ramp up in proportion to what you're doing. This is why counting calories and other means of calorie control is nearly always a necessary part of weight loss. Exercise is great for many reasons, but don't try to judge how much weight you "should" be losing based on it.
posted by Anonymous at 8:09 AM on May 21, 2015

It's not overtraining or muscle gain. As alluded to above, you're holding onto less glycogen, the body's stored form of carbohydrate, and glycogen binds to water (in a 1:3-1:4 ratio). This accounts for the steep weight loss seen at the beginning of most diets before it levels off.

See also: Glycogen storage: illusions of easy weight loss, excessive weight regain, and distortions in estimates of body composition (PDF) from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:11 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]

It was so much easier once I started weighing myself every day and tracking it (I use bemired but there are heaps of similar sites) to see a wide band with the daily fluctuations going up and down, and after a few weeks there was a clear trend of fluctuating as much as 1-1.5kg a day, but seeing a plateau-step down-plateau pattern. When the weight loss slows down, I can see it's just part of the pattern and shrug it off, and focus on healthy habits not a daily number.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:13 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]

I wish "starvation mode" would stop being such an article of faith. A glass of juice for dinner is not going to trigger a starvation response. I routinely go 36 hours without food as part of intermittent fasting and have never triggered starvation response. As a person living in a modern, industrial society, you will probably never experience a starvation response. I don't know your height, but if you started at 96 kg, pretty much any diet that isn't idiotic will have you losing weight pretty easily for a month or two.

A lot of people have given you the correct answer. The first week or two of a weight loss program generally results in huge losses from water, glycogen, etc. After that, 1 kg per week is actually a pretty good rate for most people. I can do about twice that rate on a protein sparing modified fast, but that is pretty extreme and absolutely fine for you not to do if you don't want to.

I also agree with dorothyisunderwood's advice to weigh yourself every day. That helps you see trends much better because you are getting many more data points.

Lastly, it is highly doubtful that there is an appreciable muscle gain here. If you were doing resistance training to build muscle, you'd be topping out at about half a pound per week. Your exercise is long distance running, which is not known for being a muscle-building exercise. Long distance runners are generally pretty scrawny.

The bottom line is that your results are pretty good thus far. I wouldn't start worrying until you have two to three weeks of no scale movement.
posted by Tanizaki at 8:29 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]

Re: overtraining — entropone has it: "You will know if you are over-training if you absolutely must eat everything you can think of, RIGHT NOW." When I was doing a heavy and intense weightlifting cycle (Westside Barbell FTW), after my heavy lower body 3-hour workout, in which I'd be lifting a total of 10,000+ pounds, I would come home, eat every thawed source of protein in the house, and fall onto the couch like a stone to sleep for the next 3 hours.

You're doing well so far. Stop stressing. Eat more at dinner.
posted by culfinglin at 8:34 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Agreeing that your initial weight loss was likely from water, and or ... bulk from your intestinal track working its way out with the additional fiber. Additionally, my weight from day to day (same time of day) and vary by as much as five lbs (2+ kg). I use an app that tracks my moving average of weight, so I weigh myself daily. But I don't pay attention to my daily weight, and only pay attention to the moving average.

Going from no exercise to running every day isn't advised because of injury potential. Switching to running twice daily after two weeks of running is even less advised. Increase your weekly distance / time running at most 10% per week.

Also, the calories burned from exercise is pretty minimal compared to diet.

I would advise running 3-4 x a week; when you're not running do some running specific strength work. Strong hips, glutes and calves will save your knees.

In your diet, make sure that you are getting enough protein. You should be getting between 1 and 1.6 g or protein per kg of body weight (protein recommendation) (protein recommendation) (study re: protein safety).

I started running, and felt great. So I ran more, and felt great. I started increasing my weekly distance and time by 20% and felt great. I wasn't getting enough protein, and I wasn't strength training. Then I got sharp shooting pains in my off knee when I ran. Painful enough that there was no question of running through the pain. Suddenly I went from running 50-60 km/week to running 10-15 km/week. I went to PT and was assigned strength training. I started eating more protein and veg. Finally after 5 months since injury am I back up to 60km/week.

On the plus side, I feel so much better/stronger while I run. My pace is faster. But those first two months were really depressing where a "long run" was 4k that I might have to cut short because the pain was creeping up, or became sharp again. Seriously, skip that injury thing; don't overtrain or underfuel.

0.5 kg loss per week might not seem like a lot, but it's a good target for a sustainable loss while exercising/training and avoiding injury.
posted by nobeagle at 8:47 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

I highly recommend tracking your weight using trendlines and moving averages. You may understand that your weight fluctuates over the course of a day, but it can be really discouraging to see your weight go up or stay the same when you've been doing everything right.

I use TrendWeight and I weigh in every two or three days. I have had days where my scale claimed that I gained 3 pounds in 48 hours despite eating at a deficit and running 20km. It's really reassuring to look at the trendline and see it constantly going down.

Also, I'd like to repeat what everyone else is saying about weight coming off faster at the start. Also remember to make sure that your diet and exercise regimen is one you are comfortable maintaining forever. Because once you reach your ideal weight, your body will burn much fewer calories and if you go back to your old habits you'll be back at your starting weight in no time. This is why, psychologically, you're more likely to keep the weight off if you lose it slowly and adjust to your diet/exercise regimen as a new normal rather than a sprint to skinny.
posted by 256 at 9:01 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]

If you're holding and not going up, you're good. Meanwhile think about substituting leaves and other starchless vegetables for most of the fruit/rice/bread/blablabla in your diet. I'd been losing right along at a rate of 1 or two pounds a week until last weekend the accursed mango guy came to town and now I've gained back three pounds since last Saturday. A couple of cups of berries is fine. Not damn four damn mangoes a damn day. I'm freezing the rest of those delicious fuggers to-DAY.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:12 AM on May 21, 2015

I agree with the suggestions to doing strength training - maybe do it at night instead of your second run for the day? Check out the reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness group, if you don't want to go to a gym.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 9:23 AM on May 21, 2015

Echoing 256's comment:

Make sure that your diet and exercise regimen is one you are comfortable about maintaining forever.

One of the main reasons 90% of people who lose weight gain it back is because they lost weight so quickly, so their bodies haven't adapted to the new normal, and the fast pace of weight loss is so extreme that they returned to their old habits that made the weight come on in the first place. (I'm one of them!) Retraining yourself to have new habits regarding diet and exercise is key. Often that is slow, and has to happen one step at a time. The Half Size Me podcast is really a good show that highlights the importance of learning healthy habits for a lifetime and may provide some really good resources. for you.
posted by apennington at 9:29 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

If you are concerned with breaking the plateau, you can experiment with micro- or mini-fasting. What's worked for my wife and I is one-day semi-fasts, where we keep the caloric intake below about 500 calories, with more or less normal eating on other days. It was very effective for both of us (me more than her) at breaking our plateaus.

If you keep it to a couple days per week, it won't trigger your body's homeostasis response -- you'll trick your body into thinking it's taking in more calories than it is, because the average is still higher.

It's probably not a sustainable solution, but if the concern is immediate loss, it can work.
posted by lodurr at 10:04 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Came by to say what Lyn Never said: Keep (another set of) measurements in addition to weight. A tape measure around the chest, belly, hips, and a thigh can show you were fat is getting replaced by leaner muscle, even if the net effect on weight is negligible. And that'll better track the appearance of weight coming off, which is what got you started in the first place.
posted by dws at 10:28 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've weighed myself daily for over two years, and weight changes happen every day—not entirely based on anything that makes sense. So don't worry. You're looking for a change over time, and while it might feel like three weeks is a huge amount of time (because three hours can feel like a huge amount of time when you're cutting snacks, etc.), it's nothing. I've varied as much as 10 pounds +/- in the space of a week. I usually surf up and down 2–3 pounds. Take it easy, keep going, and try to adopt the changes permanently—so make them changes you can live with.

A tip: actually write down your weight every day. I have a wifi-enabled scale that uploads my data for me, which is nice because I'd never write it down if I had to. Before I got that scale I would kid myself and not notice gradual changes—which were almost always for the worse. Having the actual data and not something you've rationalized as "close enough" is very helpful.
posted by clone boulevard at 11:38 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]