Over my calories...losing weight?

soccerkon26

This week I weighed myself on Monday...Monday I ate under my calorie goal, Tuesday was about 1,500 calories over, Wednesday was probably about maintenance, and Thursday I ate under my calorie goal.

Just weighed myself Friday morning and the scale says I lost one pound!

How the heck is this possible? I know I for sure ate at least over 1,000 calories on Tuesday.
I wish this could happen every week lol

brookesdsu

Weight loss is not linear.

soccerkon26

brookesdsu wrote: »

Weight loss is not linear.

Can you please explain?

cookmtn

Quite a number of possible factors: you are eating less than you think, you NEED to eat more calories than you think, you ate less sodium for some reason which dropped your water weight, natural weight fluctuations. I weigh myself daily and my report chart looks like a child's scribble. If the scribble heads downward I know I'm on the right track. One week isn't enough time.

cwolfman13

soccerkon26 wrote: »

brookesdsu wrote: »

Weight loss is not linear.

Can you please explain?

weight fluctuates all of the time...this is why the overall trend is important, not the actual number. For example, when you get to maintenance, you won't weigh exactly XXX Lbs...you will fluctuate. Suffice it to say, those fluctuations also show up when you're losing weight...this is why there are some weeks with no loss even when you've been "good" and weeks with smaller and bigger losses and even weeks with a gain.

I'm in a small cut now and I can pretty much watch my weight over the course of a week, and it looks like a wave.

Last Wed: 188
Last Thur: 186
Last Fri: 185
Last Sat: 190
Last Sun: 189
Last Mon: 188
Tues: 186
Wed: 187
Thur: 186
Fri: 187

As you can see, it's all over the place...but the overall trend is down...which is what I'm looking for.

999tigger

Its not linear i.e it doesnt go down in a straight line. Calorie counts and exercise burns are only estimates and there are other calories at play.

You can also fluctuate 1-4lb in a day which is natural so 1lb movement may be real weight loss or just a fluctuation.

tibby531

do you eat back your exercise calories? your "over" DAY might have still been within a weekly deficit.

jacksonpt

cwolfman13 wrote: »

soccerkon26 wrote: »

brookesdsu wrote: »

Weight loss is not linear.

Can you please explain?

weight fluctuates all of the time...this is why the overall trend is important, not the actual number. For example, when you get to maintenance, you won't weigh exactly XXX Lbs...you will fluctuate. Suffice it to say, those fluctuations also show up when you're losing weight...this is why there are some weeks with no loss even when you've been "good" and weeks with smaller and bigger losses and even weeks with a gain.

I'm in a small cut now and I can pretty much watch my weight over the course of a week, and it looks like a wave.

Last Wed: 188
Last Thur: 186
Last Fri: 185
Last Sat: 190
Last Sun: 189
Last Mon: 188
Tues: 186
Wed: 187
Thur: 186
Fri: 187

As you can see, it's all over the place...but the overall trend is down...which is what I'm looking for.

Agreed. There are a number of factors that affect scale weight which may or may not have anything to do with actual weight loss.

Don't base your progress on short term changes, but rather long term trends.

Panthers89

I weigh myself daily and my report chart looks like a child's scribble

Agree 100%. I have recorded my weight every day this week to show some of my newer MFP friends how much weight fluctuates over a short period of time.

As some of the posters said above, it is a trend that you looking for...going down over a longer period of time.

Good luck!!!

JohnBarth

One 16-oz glass of water weighs just over one pound. There are about a billion ways water is used in your body. Day-to-day weight fluctuation on the scale is more often related to water than any caloric surplus or restriction that is present. Moving the needle long term is the key to success!

soccerkon26

Thanks everyone!!

heather_hearts_travel

Happy Scale is a great app for showing a trend while recording daily. It keeps me from freaking out if I'm up one day, and from celebrating early if I'm down the next. The trend is what I'm after.

granturismo

soccerkon26 wrote: »

brookesdsu wrote: »

Weight loss is not linear.

Can you please explain?

This is my weight loss trend over 14 months and the general slope is negative. There are some weeks where there was significant change and some where my average weight was increasing.

kandell

Yeah....Since just after Christmas, I've lost 10 pounds. But looking at my daily weigh-ins I've been all over the place. Tracking the trend is more important than the daily number :]

lizzocat

If you ate under your calorie goal 2 days, over by 1500 one day and maintenance another, that's only 4 days- go back 7 and look at your overall net for the week. Most likely, you balanced out the days you went over.

CountessKitteh

heather_hearts_travel wrote: »

Happy Scale is a great app for showing a trend while recording daily. It keeps me from freaking out if I'm up one day, and from celebrating early if I'm down the next. The trend is what I'm after.

So is Libra. I find the trendline much more reassuring that I'm on the right track than just comparing my weight week to week.