This is why I log my food & exercise - x-post

I've been battling an injury since Oct. and between that, the holidays and it being the triathlon off season, I was up a few pounds by year's end. In Jan, I decided to get my act together and I started exercising more and eating less. But my weight didn't really change. I was so frustrated! How could I be operating at a calorie deficit but not lose weight?

Everyone told me things like:

- it's water retention (for 6 weeks?)
-muscle weighs more than fat (my muscle mass had gone down and my body fat % up)
- it's about how your clothes fit (tight)

I know people were trying to make me feel good and, if you are trying to lose 50 lb., maybe freaking out about 3 lb., like I was doesn't seem reasonable. But the reality is that I had gained and it was a real gain, no****er retention or building muscle and my weight was not going down even though I was eating less and exercising more.

I was pulling my hair out and ready to throw in the towel when I decided to download my food diaries from My Fitness Pal and put them into a spreadsheet. This is something I used to do every month or even every couple of weeks when I was losing, but I hadn't done it since mid-Oct!

So I did it and what did I discover?! That I was eating 100 net calories a day MORE than I thought I was in Jan. In fact, I was not operating at a calorie deficit AT ALL. I just thought I was because that was my perception from inputing the food and remembering the days I was under and not so much the days I was over.

However, I have been operating at a calorie deficit since Sunday and my weight has already started to come down. So, knowing that the laws of physics have not been violated after all, along with seeing the scale respond the way it should be responding, has done wonders for my mood and I am no longer frustrated.

But, if I didn't log and I didn't actually study those logs, I would never have realized what was going on and would have continued to think I was doing "everything right" when I wasn't.

Congrats on figuring that out!! I know it must be a major relief to know that nothing was "wrong".. just needed to look over  things one more time ! =)

It's true about writting things down - I'm going to school to be a medical assistant and our instructors always tell us - "if you didn't chart it, it didn't happen!"  charting isn't just important in the medical field - it can also help you out in your OWN life =)

Congrats again and good luck - are you training up for the Tri. season again?

Yeah, I'm back on a training plan as of today. Run intervals today and a TT on the bike tomorrow.