Tom Stormcrowe

One of the most discouraging things you can do is weigh daily! Every week at the most, and every 2 weeks is even better. Right now, you can't see the forest for the trees in that your possible weight loss is less than the possible scale error, so you aren't going to have the positive reinforcement of "seeing" the weight go off.

the_mac

Throw away your scale (or give it to the wife.....)

Get a cheap tailor's tape and track a few measurements. Measure waits, chest, neck, as those will give you a great estimate of fat loss. The electronic measurement of bodyfat % on a scale is somewhere between useless and a waste of time, and even something like a calipered reading is better but still not gospel. But inches are tough to read wrong and easy to see changes.

kokomo61

Tom -

I would beg to differ - but only slightly. Weighing daily has a downside to it. Since your body (especially as a Clyde) can go up or down in water weight, weighing daily can show a 5 lb gain (or 5 lb loss) overnight. Now, you didn't eat an extra 5 lbs of food, and you certainly didn't consume 17,500 extra calories in one day....so, it's most likely water weight.

If you can walk into it KNOWING that your weight will fluctuate due to water weight, weighing and recording your weight daily can tell you a lot, especially as you get more data and chart it out. It'll show you the overall trend over time, and you'll start to see what days weigh 'heavier' than others.....and possibly be able to link it to what actually happened the day before - were a lot of carbs consumed that are ticking up the water weight? Not enough water consumption? Did the stomach flu cause you to drop 10 lbs overnight?

It's not for everybody, but I've found if I record it every day and look at the graph over time, it's very motivating, not demotivating - even when the weight goes up. You have to be able to look at the big picture, but having the detailed data helps show what's happening over time.

sstorkel

None of these body fat monitors are terribly accurate. Then again, how well-hydrated you are can have a significant impact on how much of your weight the monitor thinks is fat and how much isn't. As an example, I see very different numbers for body fat when I weigh myself in the morning versus the evening, even though my actual weight doesn't change. I wouldn't get too hung up on the daily numbers. The important thing to do is look at longer-term trends.

Also, keep in mind that as a bigger guy, you have to lose more weight before it adds up to the 0.5% or 1.0% difference that the scale will (potentially) notice. If you're 220lbs, you've got to lose 2.2lbs of fat to create a 1% difference in your body fat percentage. That could easily take 1-2 weeks, depending on how much weight you're losing and what portion of the weight loss is fat.

sdlm

How can you eat this few calories and remain active!?! I eat at least 3000-3800 calories a day, anything less than 3000 and I don't have energy to ride. I mean I didn't even realize people could eat this few calories. I dunno, I haven't really lost any weight or gained any weight in the last year or so (not that I think I need too, i am fine where my body is at now).

kokomo61

I switched from eating a very high-carb/snack food/fast food diet to something a bit more balanced. Target is 40% protein, 40% carbohydrate and 20% fat. It's actually pretty hard to eat that much protein, but if you're creative, it's doable. My between-meal snacks went from Cheetos to something a bit more healthy...and the calories come from high-quality sources (chicken and fish), with lots of vegetables (peas, broccoli, carrots, etc.) and fruits with some fiber to them (apples, etc.). I'm drinking 64oz of water a day (at least), and limiting diet sodas to 1 per day max.

I'm also limiting consumption of grains (wheat, rice, corn). It's easy to overconsume those types of foods.

The net result, is that I'm just not as hungry between meals - which helps keep calorie consumption down. When I was eating mostly carbs and fats, I was ALWAYS hungry, even when I had just finished eating.

I've had enough energy to do 3 resistance training sessions a week, 2 30-minute sessions on the trainer, 1 2 hour bike ride and 2 30-minute sessions doing laps in the pool.....so, it is possible, but the calories all have to be high quality ones.

lil brown bat

+100

It's not just the number of calories you consume, it's the nutrition in your calories. 3,800 calories is either some pretty big portion sizes or a lot of empty calories (possibly some of both).

LandKurt

So true. There's a lot of noise in the signal. I agree it helps to graph it and not concentrate on a single number but look at the general trend. The eye is a lot better at picking a trend out of a graph than your head is with a remembered series of weights.