Wondering what is up with my weight.

tacticalcraptical

I weighed about 300 pounds a year and a half ago and out of the blue went full bore on diet and exercise and lost about 88 pounds in a year. I did not own a scale at the time and only weighed myself when I visited my parents so I did not always see my progress on a daily basis.

8 months ago I started dating a girl and let the diet and exercise slip a little and went from 212 back up to about 228. I stopped dating the girl and hit the diet and exercise for the last month and a half (and got a scale). I dropped back down to 218.4 and had been stuck there for a week and a half.

Yesterday was a crazy day with the family, sister had a baby, y'know family business. I ate my normal breakfast and lunch at work but for the first time in a month and a half, I let the diet slip. Ate a fast food dinner, large and just before bed, much later than I normally eat dinner. Didn't get my exercise in and had 2 screwdrivers (first time having alcohol in month and a half) before bed to relax.

Woke up this morning, jumped on the scale, didn't expect any change and much to my surprise scale showed 215.2. 3 lbs less than when I weighed exactly 24 hours before.

Any guesses as to what happened?

Here is my basic exercise and diet:
Eat around 2000 calories day.
Eat mostly fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts, milk. Almost no carbs.
Usually walk around 2 miles a day at work.
Ride exercise bike for 45 minutes at about 17 mph (13 miles)
Weight lifting alternating: 1 day: bench press, squats. other day: Flies, weighted sit-ups, curls.
Another leisurely 2 mile walk before bed.

Thanks!

mbaker566

well you got rid of the gf

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

It's just water weight fluctuations. I wouldn't read too much into it. You just want to look for a steady downward trend over time.

*Edit: Actually read your post rather than skimming, and just wanted to point out that weight loss is not linear. Having a short stall and then a "whoosh" of weight loss after the stall is actually very normal.

KarenJanine

It's quite normal to see a big drop after being at the same weight for a while. This is sometimes referred to as a 'whoosh'.

This may help clarify: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/

DoreenaV1975

IDK about you, but I was stuck at a "temporary plateau" (that's what I call it) for 11 days before the weight started going down again. I too was worried, but fellow MFP peeps helped me realize it was temporary and to just keep doing what I was doing (I was doing everything right) and trust the process. After the 11 days I dropped .3 pounds and 7 days later I lost 1.0 pound and 7 days after that I lost another 0.4 pounds. So, as others told me, don't despair! As long as your staying w/in your deficit, it will come off, just give it time! I've read that the time to panic is when you've not seen any change in 6-8 weeks.

DoreenaV1975

I also re-read your post... water weight definitely plays a part. I just posted about that myself: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10200370/water-weight-fluctuations-the-struggle-is-real#latest

cwolfman13

this is why trends are more important than day to day or weigh in to weigh in numbers...most people can fluctuate up or down 3-5 Lbs from day to day with water retention/release, more/less waste in the system at weigh in, etc.

Unknown

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Whitezombiegirl

[quote="Eat mostly fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts, milk. Almost no carbs.![/quote]

Just to be petanditc - i think you probably mean almost no grains? Fruit, veg, nuts and milk all contain carbs.

ndj1979

it is just water weight fluctuation ..

do you use a food scale?
do you eat back 100% of your exercise calories?
you may want to consider a structured beginner lifting program like strong lifts, all pro beginner, etc.

tacticalcraptical

Thanks everyone for the comments. I had taken the water/food fluctuation in to account and usually wake up first thing in the morning, take a leak and then jump on the scale to make sure the number is same -ish. Which is why I expected it to go up this morning (since I ate a much bigger dinner than normal much and later at night) but I guess it is better to watch the trend rather than the day to day. It worked for me before when I didn't own a scale.
Maybe I should just put the scale in the trunk of my car so that it is somewhat inconvenient to weigh in and I only do it when I really need to check.

@ White Zombie: Yes, I do mean almost no grains, sorry.

@ ndj1979: I do not use a food scale, no.
I do not eat 100% of exercise calories back. A calorie calculator shows me burning somewhere around 4700 daily and I am usually eating less than 2000 calories. Some people have told me I may not be eating enough calories currently.
I do probably need a better structured weight program, to be sure. I will look in to you what you mentioned.