It is unlikely that you will lose weight consistently (i.e., weight loss is not linear)

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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    BFDeal wrote: »
    https://trendweight.com/u/f8ef80f0071149/

    OK, so someone apply some logic to my graph. How/why/in what way did I gain a whopping 8lbs (actually it was almost 20 initially but some water came off) in a week? I sure don't remember feeling like I ate 28000 calories OVER my tdee the week when I went on vacation considering most days I didn't eat between breakfast and dinner. But there it is. 8lbs.

    Without seeing what you ate, since your diary is blank for the week between May 4 and 11 (is that the week you're looking at?) my guess would be sodium and carbs could have done it. I can gain 4 pounds in a day and it will take 2 weeks to lose again when I eat a combo of high sodium and more carbs than usual. I can see how a week could mean even more water weight. Almost 20 to start is a lot but some people hold more water than others. What were you eating, drinking, and doing on vacation?
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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    BFDeal wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    BFDeal wrote: »
    https://trendweight.com/u/f8ef80f0071149/

    OK, so someone apply some logic to my graph. How/why/in what way did I gain a whopping 8lbs (actually it was almost 20 initially but some water came off) in a week? I sure don't remember feeling like I ate 28000 calories OVER my tdee the week when I went on vacation considering most days I didn't eat between breakfast and dinner. But there it is. 8lbs.

    Without seeing what you ate, since your diary is blank for the week between May 4 and 11 (is that the week you're looking at?) my guess would be sodium and carbs could have done it. I can gain 4 pounds in a day and it will take 2 weeks to lose again when I eat a combo of high sodium and more carbs than usual. I can see how a week could mean even more water weight. Almost 20 to start is a lot but some people hold more water than others. What were you eating, drinking, and doing on vacation?

    Typical day, bacon and eggs for breakfast, 6 pack of beer on the beach (hey, it's vacation and I don't drink much at home), probably no lunch, whatever for dinner (nope, didn't go crazy. no fried platters, etc. oysters/steak/fish tacos and sides most nights, beach food). We got a tub of ice cream at the beginning of the week that lasted all week. I just think it's insane one week erase 3 months.

    A 6 pack every day? I don't really know much about alcohol and bloating and a simple google search gives me results saying it makes you bloated and then some results saying you bloat right away and then look better the next day. So who knows. I have maybe one alcoholic drink a week so I can't really say if that's it but I tend to think that most of the time when I eat/drink stuff that is out of the norm and bigger in quantity, the effect of it seems to be out of proportion at times.
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  • SallyinIL
    SallyinIL Posts: 85 Member
    BFDeal wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    BFDeal wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    BFDeal wrote: »
    https://trendweight.com/u/f8ef80f0071149/

    OK, so someone apply some logic to my graph. How/why/in what way did I gain a whopping 8lbs (actually it was almost 20 initially but some water came off) in a week? I sure don't remember feeling like I ate 28000 calories OVER my tdee the week when I went on vacation considering most days I didn't eat between breakfast and dinner. But there it is. 8lbs.

    Without seeing what you ate, since your diary is blank for the week between May 4 and 11 (is that the week you're looking at?) my guess would be sodium and carbs could have done it. I can gain 4 pounds in a day and it will take 2 weeks to lose again when I eat a combo of high sodium and more carbs than usual. I can see how a week could mean even more water weight. Almost 20 to start is a lot but some people hold more water than others. What were you eating, drinking, and doing on vacation?

    Typical day, bacon and eggs for breakfast, 6 pack of beer on the beach (hey, it's vacation and I don't drink much at home), probably no lunch, whatever for dinner (nope, didn't go crazy. no fried platters, etc. oysters/steak/fish tacos and sides most nights, beach food). We got a tub of ice cream at the beginning of the week that lasted all week. I just think it's insane one week erase 3 months.

    A 6 pack every day? I don't really know much about alcohol and bloating and a simple google search gives me results saying it makes you bloated and then some results saying you bloat right away and then look better the next day. So who knows. I have maybe one alcoholic drink a week so I can't really say if that's it but I tend to think that most of the time when I eat/drink stuff that is out of the norm and bigger in quantity, the effect of it seems to be out of proportion at times.

    I mean, if you can erase 3 months in one week that means you basically never get a vacation. What's the point of all the effort if you never get a break?
    I think you hit on a harsh truth. You and I can never go back to the way we used to eat/live after we lose weight if we expect to keep it off. When we're in maintenance we get more calories per day, perhaps 250 to 500, but we will still have to cut things in half (for example) to fit them into appropriate calories for the day.


  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    BFDeal wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    BFDeal wrote: »
    https://trendweight.com/u/f8ef80f0071149/

    OK, so someone apply some logic to my graph. How/why/in what way did I gain a whopping 8lbs (actually it was almost 20 initially but some water came off) in a week? I sure don't remember feeling like I ate 28000 calories OVER my tdee the week when I went on vacation considering most days I didn't eat between breakfast and dinner. But there it is. 8lbs.

    Without seeing what you ate, since your diary is blank for the week between May 4 and 11 (is that the week you're looking at?) my guess would be sodium and carbs could have done it. I can gain 4 pounds in a day and it will take 2 weeks to lose again when I eat a combo of high sodium and more carbs than usual. I can see how a week could mean even more water weight. Almost 20 to start is a lot but some people hold more water than others. What were you eating, drinking, and doing on vacation?

    Typical day, bacon and eggs for breakfast, 6 pack of beer on the beach (hey, it's vacation and I don't drink much at home), probably no lunch, whatever for dinner (nope, didn't go crazy. no fried platters, etc. oysters/steak/fish tacos and sides most nights, beach food). We got a tub of ice cream at the beginning of the week that lasted all week. I just think it's insane one week erase 3 months.

    Water weight - laying around doing nothing, extra sodium, vacation food

    Plus you think you we're being careful but you weren't really...Your 6 pack alone, say its Budweiser, was over 1000 calories

    Give it a couple of weeks to see the water weight drop and accept that it doesn't matter, get back on the bandwagon and lose the weight you put on ..
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited May 2015
    Everybody's weight goes up and down even when doing the right things

    My last 3 months...see the peak and it stayed up for a couple of weeks...sodium, DOMS and hormones ..but eating right and logging accurately

    epyk2dnl5eer.jpg

    In the scheme of things it doesn't really matter

    3fnc36b6uzql.jpg



    'cos, see OP...weight loss, and maintenance, is not linear
  • Suzieqgirl
    Suzieqgirl Posts: 39 Member
    edited June 2015
    Congratulation on your weight loss. Thank you for giving us encouragement to keep going!

    I think of the body as being like a computer. Every time we go to sleep, our body goes into a cleaning mode to clean itself. In a computer, this is called Disk Defragment. If we eat to late at night, our body is busy digesting instead of going into the cleaning mode.

    As we get older, our digestive system starts to slow down. It is very important we keep our digestive system moving correctly and allowing our body to clean itself while we sleep. Our body will clean better, if our food is digested before we go to bed, so don't eat anything 4-5 hours before going to bed. Also by getting enough water, extra Vitamin C & Magnesium before going to bed, will keep our digestive system working normally and helps to move the toxic build-up out of the gut.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Suzieqgirl wrote: »
    Congratulation on your weight loss. Thank you for giving us encouragement to keep going!

    I think of the body as being like a computer. Every time we go to sleep, our body goes into a cleaning mode to clean itself. In a computer, this is called Disk Defragment. If we eat to late at night, our body is busy digesting instead of going into the cleaning mode.

    As we get older, our digestive system starts to slow down. It is very important we keep our digestive system moving correctly and allowing our body to clean itself while we sleep. Our body will clean better, if our food is digested before we go to bed, so don't eat anything 4-5 hours before going to bed. Also by getting enough water, extra Vitamin C & Magnesium before going to bed, will keep our digestive system working normally and helps to move the toxic build-up out of the gut.

    This is a sweet analogy but not true
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Suzieqgirl wrote: »
    Congratulation on your weight loss. Thank you for giving us encouragement to keep going!

    I think of the body as being like a computer. Every time we go to sleep, our body goes into a cleaning mode to clean itself. In a computer, this is called Disk Defragment. If we eat to late at night, our body is busy digesting instead of going into the cleaning mode.

    As we get older, our digestive system starts to slow down. It is very important we keep our digestive system moving correctly and allowing our body to clean itself while we sleep. Our body will clean better, if our food is digested before we go to bed, so don't eat anything 4-5 hours before going to bed. Also by getting enough water, extra Vitamin C & Magnesium before going to bed, will keep our digestive system working normally and helps to move the toxic build-up out of the gut.

    Nope.

    Your body can do many things at once, whether we are awake or asleep. There is nothing wrong with eating right before bed. Just don't spill ice cream on your pillow.
  • debsdoingthis
    debsdoingthis Posts: 454 Member
    edited June 2015
    Suzieqgirl wrote: »
    Congratulation on your weight loss. Thank you for giving us encouragement to keep going!

    I think of the body as being like a computer. Every time we go to sleep, our body goes into a cleaning mode to clean itself. In a computer, this is called Disk Defragment. If we eat to late at night, our body is busy digesting instead of going into the cleaning mode.

    As we get older, our digestive system starts to slow down. It is very important we keep our digestive system moving correctly and allowing our body to clean itself while we sleep. Our body will clean better, if our food is digested before we go to bed, so don't eat anything 4-5 hours before going to bed. Also by getting enough water, extra Vitamin C & Magnesium before going to bed, will keep our digestive system working normally and helps to move the toxic build-up out of the gut.
    I've never come across this theory before. Where exactly does that come from?

  • bluetawny2005
    bluetawny2005 Posts: 1 Member
    Absolutely what I need to read!! Thanks feel so much better
  • kissesdahling
    kissesdahling Posts: 38 Member
    OP, I wish I had seen your post months ago. I would've saved myself some grief. I have had some weeks were I lose 3 + lbs and then some weeks where I lose no weight...and my diet is extremely consistent. So, I was wondering what was up. With me, I think hormones are a huge factor, retaining water weight at certain times of the month. Also, I have IBS, and without giving TMI, I think that can also be a factor in explaining the inconsistency. When I first started losing more than 2lbs a week, I thought there was actually something wrong with me, but then I kinda realized that even so, the *average* was still only about a pound a week, which is what I've been aiming for. It's nice to have some confirmation and reassurance that the average and the trend is more important.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    BFDeal wrote: »
    https://trendweight.com/u/f8ef80f0071149/

    OK, so someone apply some logic to my graph. How/why/in what way did I gain a whopping 8lbs (actually it was almost 20 initially but some water came off) in a week? I sure don't remember feeling like I ate 28000 calories OVER my tdee the week when I went on vacation considering most days I didn't eat between breakfast and dinner. But there it is. 8lbs.



    I just got back from a 10-day vacation. I put on 10 lbs. I'm not worried about it, because I'm sure that, when I do my official weigh in this Saturday, I'll find that I only put on a couple of "real" pounds.
  • peterjens
    peterjens Posts: 235 Member
    jemhh wrote: »

    The bottom line is that it is highly unlikely that you are going to see your weight decrease at a consistent pace throughout your weight loss journey. Over the course of 2014, I lost 52 pounds. That averaged a pound a week. But did I actually lose a pound a week? Absolutely not. Looking at my weigh-ins, you can see weeks where I lost several pounds, a fraction of a pound, no pounds, and even where I gained weight. The overall trend, though, was downward.

    Thanks for the post and spreadsheet link. I downloaded the spreadsheet and modified it by adding a chart to it and I created a column and formula that shows lbs/week lost. After sixteen weeks I can see that my average loss is in the range of 1.4 - 1.6 lbs/week.
  • peterjens
    peterjens Posts: 235 Member
    Time to bump with my chart showing weight loss is not linear. Thanks to jemhh (OP) for the post. And thanks to rabbitjb for leading my Trendweight.com (which lead me to "The Hacker's Diet."
    g7w6aj729ekf.png
  • nooie19
    nooie19 Posts: 153 Member
    Thanks so much! I have some amazing parallels here. In four months I lost 19 pounds, just one pound shy of a normal BMI. Now it is one month later and I have stalled out: up two pounds. I am going to stay focused on my other goals: consistent strength training, raising my daily step goals, and reaching a 365 day streak on MFP food tracker.
    I am also working on feeling grateful to be two sizes smaller and having more physical stamina. I've still come a long way despite the plateau!
  • peterjens
    peterjens Posts: 235 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Everybody's weight goes up and down even when doing the right things

    My last 3 months...see the peak and it stayed up for a couple of weeks...sodium, DOMS and hormones ..but eating right and logging accurately

    epyk2dnl5eer.jpg

    In the scheme of things it doesn't really matter

    3fnc36b6uzql.jpg



    'cos, see OP...weight loss, and maintenance, is not linear

    I experienced my first four-day 4 lb upward swing. But six days after that peak I set a new pr in weight loss. Go figure. I knew my daily calorie intake had not changed so I didn't worry about it.

  • 2bfit_2015
    2bfit_2015 Posts: 42 Member
    The hormone and sodium part is so true for me. When I get my monthly cycle I climb the scale several lbs (sometimes as high as 5lbs) and once that week is over I literally drop the weight I supposedly gained, plus some more weight, as high as 3-4 lbs.
    And same thing I agree with the whole "weight loss isn't linear" I've lost 40 lbs in 3 months and 1 week and it was not consistent every week. Some weeks I didn't drop any weight and other weeks I dropped 5 lbs. the body does what it does for specific reasons, we just might not understand it completely.
  • 2bfit_2015
    2bfit_2015 Posts: 42 Member
    Suzieqgirl wrote: »
    Congratulation on your weight loss. Thank you for giving us encouragement to keep going!

    I think of the body as being like a computer. Every time we go to sleep, our body goes into a cleaning mode to clean itself. In a computer, this is called Disk Defragment. If we eat to late at night, our body is busy digesting instead of going into the cleaning mode.

    As we get older, our digestive system starts to slow down. It is very important we keep our digestive system moving correctly and allowing our body to clean itself while we sleep. Our body will clean better, if our food is digested before we go to bed, so don't eat anything 4-5 hours before going to bed. Also by getting enough water, extra Vitamin C & Magnesium before going to bed, will keep our digestive system working normally and helps to move the toxic build-up out of the gut.
    I've never come across this theory before. Where exactly does that come from?


    I have heard this from a chemist once before this post. I take magnesium 3-4 days apart and vitamin c every day. Idk why or how, but it works great for cleaning out the colon.
  • KBmoments
    KBmoments Posts: 193 Member
    This post is awesome...definitely helps when you're not seeing a change after 2-3 weeks and getting depressed about it...
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    This post could use a bump for visibility.

    tumblr_ni0u0oOOnh1tlc0ufo2_500.gif
  • Domicinator
    Domicinator Posts: 261 Member
    This is one of the biggest things I have trouble with: being patient. I was recently on a 2 week stall where I couldn't get down below 209. Then all of a sudden I was losing a pound a day all the way down to 205. In recent days I'm back up to 207, which is frustrating.

    What I keep forgetting is that not even a week ago I was SO FRUSTRATED that my weight wouldn't move past 209. Now I'm at a consistent 207 and dropping. Still seems like a really long way away from my goal of 170, but if the overall trend it progress, you have to just keep being patient and vigilant.
  • alialdulaimi688
    alialdulaimi688 Posts: 1 Member
    edited August 2015
    Great post
  • Versacam
    Versacam Posts: 109 Member
    This is one of the biggest things I have trouble with: being patient. I was recently on a 2 week stall where I couldn't get down below 209. Then all of a sudden I was losing a pound a day all the way down to 205. In recent days I'm back up to 207, which is frustrating.

    What I keep forgetting is that not even a week ago I was SO FRUSTRATED that my weight wouldn't move past 209. Now I'm at a consistent 207 and dropping. Still seems like a really long way away from my goal of 170, but if the overall trend it progress, you have to just keep being patient and vigilant.

    Very true.. It's always been my biggest failure, giving in when I don't see results, but if I had just stuck to it then gradually I would have got to goal.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Bumping for visibility with the stickies gone. Long live the stickies!
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    Never mind stickies; this should be part of the required reading for newbies before they even sign up for this site!
  • vgnfarmer
    vgnfarmer Posts: 108 Member
    segacs wrote: »
    Never mind stickies; this should be part of the required reading for newbies before they even sign up for this site!

    Exactly! I'm not a newb but I need this reminder too...
  • kuroshii
    kuroshii Posts: 168 Member
    My weight fluctuates by as much as five pounds up and down over the course of a month, just from being a girl. So yes, I've learned to notice how I'm trending rather than individual scale readings but I can absolutely use a reminder now and again. I don't actually care about what the scale says at all, not really. All I *really* care about is fitting into my old clothes again. Oh, and being healthy. Always cared about being healthy.
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