Nervous about weekly weigh-in

sarab260

Hello all!

I do my weekly weigh-ins on Fridays (since starting about 2+ months ago), and so far each week has shown pretty good progress. I have a feeling (ya know, sometimes you just know!) that tomorrow is going to be my first time facing no weight loss....or even seeing possible weight gain. I'm due for that time of the month next week (sorry if that's TMI, friends), and I know that fluctuations are normal, but I'm worried I'm going to freak out a little bit. I'm especially nervous because I know that Halloweekend next weekend is going to be dangerous in the calorie area, and I was hoping to be a little closer to my goal by then.

Can you all give me some pre-emptive advice about how to deal with weeks of mini (hopefully mini, that is) plateaus, or not seeing the success you want?

Thank you in advanced for your positivity!!!!

beverlyjlarson

Don't be afraid of the scale. There's other ways to measure success. How you feel. Are you eating healthy? How are your clothes fitting. If you have the odd slip up don't stress just carry on.

livelaughloveandfit

Even if you didn't lose any weight you could have lost inches! If you didn't lose any weight or if you gained weight just don't let it get you down where you start over eating or just eating bad. When I weighed in this week I had gained a pound but I knew it was cause I had a bad week and I was glad it was just a pound! This week has been better! Feel free to add me!

Lourdesong

You could weigh-in more often to reduce the amount of anticipation and/or dread that weekly/monthly weigh-ins can create.

I weigh daily, sometimes several times a day. When I know I won't be able to weigh for a few days I either then eat more than I should because I know it'll be a while before I step on a scale again, or I'll stay within my goals but then get my hopes up that the scale is going to show some massive loss which is a huge set up for disappointment.

I have a low tolerance for drama so weighing often helps me.

sarab260

Thanks all! You guys are the best

I just needed some reaffirmation that I wasn't suddenly gaining all my weight back. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I'll begin to see more positive results again — or at least see them in NSVs, as you guys suggested. I need to start measuring because I haven't been doing that. Any tips on how to measure most accurately?

I'm really hoping it's because I'm beginning to gain muscle, but I feel like that's unlikely since I'm doing cardio 6-7x a week, and only doing weight training 3x a week.

Anyway, thank you all again! Always happy to have the support of the MFP community.

izerop

Unfortunately it is not possible to gain muscle while cutting calories below maintenance. Also, your weight will fluctuate. Weighing in weekly, it's possible you hit a fluctuation that seems like you’ve lost no weight (fat). This can be frustrating and demotivating. I know this first hand. I recommend weighing in daily, use an app like Happy Scale or Libra to start tracking daily weigh ins. You’ll get a nice “moving average” that shows actual progress. You can still log weight on MFP, I currently enter my weekly moving average every Sunday. It’s working great and helping me focus on my goals.

FarewellBlues

I totally second the person who said weighing in more often helps. In addition to the reasons for this mentioned above, I think seeing the fluctuations can help give you a better understanding of what causes them (yeah those monthly fluctuations suck).

I weigh in the morning and at night. I'm consistently 2-3 lbs heavier at night, because you know, food and water. I actually record my daily morning weight (I've only been doing MFP for a week or so, but I've kept my own records before this). I plot this versus time, and do a regression fit on it. Then, based on my calorie intake and activity level, I plot a line that shows expected weight loss (this should be linear according to the "calories in, calories out" theory, and the difference between the long-term projections from my actual weight data and the model let me adjust my calorie/macro intake and try to pinpoint any issues. I'd say you need at least a few weeks of data to do this, but of course it only gets better over time.

Maybe that was too much explanation, and unnecessary. But I like doing it, I'm a science person.

izerop

@FarewellBlues absolutely. I am a huge nerd and I love math, so it's fun to see daily changes.

Here is a screen shot of my Happy Scale logging and you can see the wild fluctuations.



Everyday can be different, but the solid blue line is my moving average, going down!

FarewellBlues

@izerop that's awesome! And wow what a change in a month.

sarab260

Ahh this is great! Thank you for the advice — I'm downloading this app as we speak. Excited to see the stats!

scolaris

It's going to happen sooner or later. Let go of the outcome, which you can't control, and focus on the process which is 100% yours. Eventually people in calorie deficit shed weight.

fiddletime

I don't use izerop's ap but have seen him kindly post his trend line before. It's been very helpful to me in my fluctuations to remember all the weight points he has had above the trend line.

sarab260

I downloaded Happy Scale and started my first day of weighing in daily today! (That sentence looked really redundant at the end there haha... "my first daily day is today!") Anyway, thank you all for your help and support! This has been immensely helpful!!!!

RoseTheWarrior

scolaris wrote: »

It's going to happen sooner or later. Let go of the outcome, which you can't control, and focus on the process which is 100% yours. Eventually people in calorie deficit shed weight.

I could not have said it any better! This should be printed out and taped to every person's wall!!

Personally, I no longer fear the scale because I know that I'm doing everything I can do and I'm being 100% honest in my logging. Sometimes the number goes up, but in general it keeps going down. It no longer bothers me to see the number climb because I know it's just temporary. I have even started to weigh myself daily and log it into a second app called My Weight, so I can track the ups and downs, because I find it really interesting. When my weight does go up, I try to determine why it might have done so - time of month, particularly salty foods, or even not going to the bathroom regularly, can all affect it. I never feel bad about it. I never stress about it. It's just ONE metric; a tool that I'm using.

You've got this sara! You're going to reach your goals because it's what you've decided to do!!

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janiep81

izerop wrote: »

@FarewellBlues absolutely. I am a huge nerd and I love math, so it's fun to see daily changes.

Here is a screen shot of my Happy Scale logging and you can see the wild fluctuations.



Everyday can be different, but the solid blue line is my moving average, going down!

I love this. I was going to say how looking at my progress on a graph really helps to see the big-picture downward trend. Yay maths.

JesssicaRabbbit wrote: »

hahahahahahahaha. I love it.