What? How?? Can you help me understand this?

[Switz]

47years, I’ve put on a good stone and a half over the last few years and just got back from a no holds barred food orientated week away where for the first time my thighs chaffed and my biggest clothes were tight. Got home determined to make changes. For the last 7 days: 1200 calories (meticulous entry on MFP), no refined sugar, low carbs, high protein, plenty of veg and fruit moderate exercise. I’ve gone to bed not feeling completely full. I weighed myself this morning and…I’ve put on a pound. Please help me understand this? I could definitely have been drinking more water but surely that can’t explain it? It’s only been a week and I feel very discouraged.

What you're doing will work if you stick to it. Sometimes the scales do funny things in the short term.

thanknyou, I really hope so. I’ve done this approach a couple of times in the past and the first two weeks have had the fastest weight drop before it slows down so this is new for me. Pah!

Did you only weigh once at the end of the week? I know some people recommend that but I find it’s much more helpful to weigh every day. Weight can fluctuate so much based on what you’ve just eaten/drunk, how you slept, hormones etc etc that if you only weigh once a week and that catches a high day it can be really discouraging. If you weigh every day you can ignore the little ups and downs and just look at the weekly average.

Hmmm, I may try that but don’t want to become overly obsessed with it. Unfortunately, the unhappy result would still be the same 😆

Absolutely what @Alltheyellowbirds said.

I've always weighed either daily, to observe the fluctuations and stop being upset by them, or monthly, so that even a "high" day is lower than I was before. Weekly has never motivated me, for the reasons yellowbirds explained well

I weigh daily when I’m in the zone and I agree it’s easy to obsessed but it does also show the ups and downs.

when I’m stuck in the not-losing rut, I do try to tune into how I feel - less sluggish, a bit lighter somehow - and I hold on to this feeling as it’s part of the benefit imo

Have you worked out how many calories you need to eat to maintain/lose or just gone random with 1200?

1200 calories is not enough at all. This is the basic calorie count any woman should have. I would recommend going onto a calorie counter (James Smith Calorie Counter is great) and working out how many you should have and then amending your MyFitnessPal account to reflect this. I am trained in womens fitness you see. People think less calories, the better. Couldn't be further from the truth. Let me know if you need any more guidance 😊 @Switz

You don't need to starve yourself. 1,200 calories wouldn't sustain a toddler.
Work out your TDEE (there are calculators online) and subtract 500, that will give you a loss of around a pound a week.

I have done the 1,200 thing. I now eat 2,200 and lose weight (I am currently very overweight and also very tall for a woman so my TDEE is more than lots of people's). Have a good research into how your body works.