Not losing any weight - please help!!

[gleggers]

Hi there,

I have done Weight Watchers on and off for the past 15 years, got to my ideal weight 3 times in this period and other than when I was pregnant with my 2 children have never in that time gone more than 3lb above the weight I first weighed in it in 1999.....anyway, I always found that if I stuck to the WW plan, it always worked - the difficulty I had was sticking to it, which after losing my baby weight (mainly by just breastfeeding) and then treading water on WW for the last 5 months, I decided it was time to try something different, which brings me to slimming world.

So week 1 went well, stuck to plan 100%, wrote everything down, averaged about 5 syns a day, apart from the Saturday when we had a street party so I had a cheeseburger and loads of wine and pimms, totalling 67 syns. Result = 3lb lost so was over the moon.

Week 2, repeat of last week but no street party, so averaged 10 syns a day, with 30 syns on Friday night and 30 syns on Saturday. Result = 1lb lost, so still happy.

Last week and this week, went superfree mad, upped the exercise regime - 1 run and 2 walks last week and 2 runs and 1 walk this week, still stuck 100% to plan, wrote everything down, just drank 3 glasses of wine on each Saturday night, making my syns total 30 for each Saturday. Result = 0.5lb gain last week and weigh in is tonight but my own scales are saying that I've stayed the same.

I just don't understand, but I am driving myself mad thinking have I eaten too big portions, is it the mugshots, have I had too many or too few syns, can I not have more than 15 syns on any day? I've even had scan bran on nearly every day, as I thought I wasn't getting enough fibre.

I'm so upset, as I really have found the eating plan very easy to stick to, which is why I can say with all honesty that I haven't strayed from the plan. I'm just frightened that this isn't going to work for me, as I have done diets in the past, such as the Atkins, where the amount of food isn't limited and although I've found them easy to stick to, my weight hasn't altered at all. I really don't want to have to go back to Weight Watchers, I really want to be a slimming world convert!! Any advice would be really appreciated, particularly from people who have had this happen for a couple of weeks and then weight loss has resumed. Thanks in advance

 

[LuluBee]

If you have increased your exercise, your muscles will most likely be retaining excess water - in which case you'll still be burning fat, but the scales won't recognise it. That's why it's important to measure yourself as well, because on week's like this where you don't see loss on the scales, you could see a difference in your measurements & that helps to stop you feeling disheartened about it. As your body adjusts to the increase in exercise, you'll lose the excess water - but you must keep yourself properly hydrated. Xx

 

[hayleyj]

Most importantly..don't panic! This happens to most people - I had a great week food wise, did a food diary which my consultant said was great but still gained 1lb! Sometimes these things happen, just try not to get disheartened. Also, totally agree with the person above re: exercise! Keep going, you can do it

 

[gleggers]

If you have increased your exercise, your muscles will most likely be retaining excess water - in which case you'll still be burning fat, but the scales won't recognise it. That's why it's important to measure yourself as well, because on week's like this where you don't see loss on the scales, you could see a difference in your measurements & that helps to stop you feeling disheartened about it. As your body adjusts to the increase in exercise, you'll lose the excess water - but you must keep yourself properly hydrated. Xx

I don't have a fabric tape measure so haven't taken any measurements so will try and do this. Do you think it's definitely the exercise rather than eating too much or any of the other things I thought it could be?

 

[Ally89]

I think its probably the increase in exercise, your body will need to get used to it for a few weeks, but could try looking at these too..

1. Are you drinking enough water? Your body will retain water if you are not drinking enough
2. Try reducing the amount of carbs, i know for me a lot of pasta drastically reduces my weight loss, so maybe reduce pasta/potatoes if you have a fair bit
3. Try and stick to around 10-15 syns, you CAN flexisyn to have more but only if you really need one of those days on a rare occasion, or you could reduce syns some days and add them onto another day if you want extra one day, so 5 for 6 days so you can have an extra 25 syns one day if you need too.
4. Some people find scan bran doesn't help at all, other find it does, so trial and error on that one. But try mixing up your HE b so you're not always having the same, and still getting your fibre. With you saying you didnt think you were getting enough fibre are you making sure you only have 1 HE b and 1 HE a on EE days/ 2 HE a and 2 HE b on red/green?

 

[*EB*]

Great advice given already ^^^^

My little snippet of advice is to make sure you give yourself a bit more time. If you have stayed the same this week, over the past month you still have lost weight - (3.5lbs) and thats great news! I cant see your stats - so not sure if you are close to your end goals yet, but i know weight loss can slow down when you are closer to your target.

I think give it 8 weeks and see how much weight you have lost over this time frame, as sometimes other factors (exercise, Mother Nature!) can impact your losses - but looking at the longterm bigger picture can help you see that you can lose weight - xxx

 

[gleggers]

Thanks for the tips. I do try to drink a fair amount of water - especially when I'm at work (which is 3 days a week). I think maybe I do need to not go over 15 syns, but I do like to have a couple of glasses of wine on a Saturday, however I did reduce the syns on other days to compensate for this. I do stick to the 1 x HexA and 1 x HexB, I only do EE so far (have only just got head round it so can't cope with learning another plan yet!!). I was just concerned about the fibre, as I found that because compared to before I wasn't having very much bread and didn't have cereal every day I didn't feel like things were moving through as usual, if you get what I mean! Anyway, I really feel like the scan bran has helped this problem.

Thanks for your advice

I think its probably the increase in exercise, your body will need to get used to it for a few weeks, but could try looking at these too..

1. Are you drinking enough water? Your body will retain water if you are not drinking enough
2. Try reducing the amount of carbs, i know for me a lot of pasta drastically reduces my weight loss, so maybe reduce pasta/potatoes if you have a fair bit
3. Try and stick to around 10-15 syns, you CAN flexisyn to have more but only if you really need one of those days on a rare occasion, or you could reduce syns some days and add them onto another day if you want extra one day, so 5 for 6 days so you can have an extra 25 syns one day if you need too.
4. Some people find scan bran doesn't help at all, other find it does, so trial and error on that one. But try mixing up your HE b so you're not always having the same, and still getting your fibre. With you saying you didnt think you were getting enough fibre are you making sure you only have 1 HE b and 1 HE a on EE days/ 2 HE a and 2 HE b on red/green?

 

[Ally89]

In that case, if everything else seems fine, i would say its most likely cos your body isn't used to the exercise, it will no doubt sort itself, it could even be the change of diet has just decided to take a few weeks for your body to go "hey this isn't what i was eating before"

 

[gleggers]

Well I'm feeling much better today, as I actually lost 1lb this week (it was weigh in last night). It's still a bit less than I would have liked, given the gain last week - however it does give me more confidence that slimming world may work for me after all. So thanks again for your advice and encouragement x

 

[OpalLilyEats]

I really struggle to lose weight if I eat hardly any syns most of the week and save loads for only 1-2 days. Whilst I may stay within 105 syns for the week I generally gain or maintain if I'm lucky.

Like an earlier poster said, try to only flexi syn if it's for special occasions. Try and use 5-15 each day.

I think the longer you do SW the more you learn about how your body deals with certain things; different foods, exercise, flexi syn etc...

I think the important thing to remember is that you've lost a really great amount of weight in only a few weeks, your gain is really minimal and the changes you've made are for the better and leading to a much better lifestyle - stick with it!!

Good luck x