Can't tell weight trend

jess1992uga

This past week I worked on reducing my exercise slightly and not skimping portions as part of anorexia recovery. I am not on weight gain, but on weight maintainance. Anyway, the hope was I would find out I wouldn't gain from this even though my whole life (had since was 6 years old and taught by anorexic mom). Then this week could get to the 3.5 hours (2 hours of spin classes, 1.5 hours of bike and elliptical) a week, no extra....and keep the full portions.

Well this week been a little crazy to say the least. Severe snow storms, illness, and work schedules causing me to work doubles ended up with some nights eating at 3 AM to get in my meal plan and so weight been crazy. I can't tell if I gained or lost or stayed same this week and thus whether I should reduce exercise. I work three jobs and am in grad school and it would help me so much to not have this compulsion. Before I developed it I guess I was losing/maintaining but idk I am scared. Anyway, here are my weights. Any guess on the trend?

Mon 2/16 84.0
Tues 2/17 83.6 (weigh hour later, ate at 3 AM)
Wed 2/18 84.0 (whole intake between 9 PM and 3 AM on Tues)
Thurs 2/19 84.2 (whole intake between 9 PM and 2 AM on Wed, weigh earlier)
Fri 2/20 84.2 (whole intake was between 9 PM and 3 AM on Thurs, weigh earlier)
Sat 2/2184.6 (dinner was at 1 AM on friday and finish snacks at 3 AM, early weigh-in)
Sun 2/22 83.6 (had diarrhea on 21st, early weigh-in)
TODAY 84.8 (ate whole intake between 8pm and 3 AM on sun)

I am just so confused. Today is 1 week weigh-in and would mean gained almost a lb. But I drank almost 2 L water late last night.

StaciMarie1974

Honestly? I think as a woman the only way to compare weight over time is to look monthly. Our cycle has an influence on water weight due to hormones. BUT looks like your weighins are low 83.6, high 84.8 and seem fairly well centered around 84. So seems consistent. But only more time will really tell.

segacs

Most people have a weight "range" of plus or minus 5 pounds, and we fluctuate within that range when we're in maintenance. Water weight, food recently eaten, going to the bathroom, sodium, hormones, all of that stuff causes minor fluctuations on the scale.

Your best bet might be to give yourself a target number, and only assume you've gained weight if you rise 5lbs above it, or lost weight if you drop 5lbs below it. As long as you're in that range, you're fine. If you get to the upper or lower limit, start eating to gain or lose for a while to get back to your target.

(ETA: Is that 84 pounds??? You're still severely underweight. You need to be eating to gain, not working to maintain.)

Zedeff

FYI 2 litres of water weighs 4.4 pounds.

jess1992uga

Thanks Zedefff....really that's a lot. Segacs...I just posted general numbers as to not trigger others but the flux is the same.

segacs

jess1992uga wrote: »

Thanks Zedefff....really that's a lot. Segacs...I just posted general numbers as to not trigger others but the flux is the same.

If you say so. But, since you claim you're trying to recover from anorexia, I'm skeptical.

Only you know the truth behind that one. I'm not gonna judge you. But please, PLEASE, if you're lying about those numbers and that's actually what you're seeing on the scale, you need to be in a recovery program that emphasizes gain back to a healthy weight range.

futuremanda

I would call that maintenance. Weight always fluctuates some due to water, digestion, etc. Up and down by about 1 lb across the week is basically you not gaining or losing any "real" weight.

I do hope that you have some professional support in this! If not, please consider getting some. I know it's scary, but there's no medal for going it alone, and with support, you'll be able to get where you're wanting to go much more easily.

chivalryder

Though it sounds like you've come a long way, I feel you're still obsessing a lot over it. One week doesn't make for any form of trend. Now, if your weight is consistently higher than average (like, every day) after a month, THEN I would start thinking about making changes to try to fix it. A week is not enough time to base judgement on.

erickirb

Most likely if you drank a lot of water yesterday you would shed some excess meaning you would weigh less, not more. The more you tend to drink the less water your system retains... seems odd but is the way it goes.

jgnatca

Here's your numbers in a picture.


I don't have the maths handy to show what the trend is, but today's weight fluctuation is an "outlier". That's the number you can ignore. Weigh a few more days to get a decent trend line. This picture tells me you have at least a 0.6kg daily fluctuation.