How Fast do you see the effects?

hamstermann

Hi Everyone,

I'm on a nearly 3 week streak of logging in and tracking everything. I weigh myself daily and have done fairly well so far. My question for you is - how fast does what you eat affect what you weigh? I know weight fluctuates from day to day and that's normal, but if I have a day where I gain weight, how far back in my diary should I be looking to find the problem that caused it?

Thanks.

janejellyroll

Temporary weight fluctuations can be eased by lots of things other than what we eat -- sodium, bathroom habits, dehydration, exercise . . . all of these can lead to the scale going up.

Instead of looking for the "problem," focus on hitting your plan regularly. Sometimes it will be very clear what caused the weight gain (maybe you had several drinks or you just got back from vacation), but there will be other times you won't know. And that's okay, because it is the trend over time that matters, not the day to day results.

If you aren't already, I suggest using an app like Libra or Trendweight to track the trend.

WendyLaubach

I thought at first it was a question of looking back 3-4 days, but now I'm pretty sure it's more random than that. Your weight is going to zigzag over a period of days no matter what. The trick is to see the slope gradually trending down in the middle of the zigzag "noise." Some people like to weigh daily but concentrate on a 7-day running average, which should smooth things out enough while still alerting you quickly if you calorie count isn't where it should be for your level of exercise--especially if you "eat back" your exercise calories, in which case there can be measurement issues on both the eating side and the exercise side. The acid test is the average rate of weight loss over a period of several days or a week. Going up 2 lb. in one day is water retention. Going up 2 lb. in one week (per a 7-day average) probably means you're under-counting food or over-counting exercise; a second week of the same results would just about confirm that.

Carlos_421

This is why I only weigh once a week, so I can track the general trend and not get hung up on each individual day's fluctuations.
You will not see a loss every day. Even if you lost fat yesterday, you may weigh more this morning due to water, food still in your system, etc..
Focus on the downward trend over time, not the daily numbers.

murp4069

Just keep tracking and focus on the long term. I've had weeks where I see the same pound fluctuating back and forth, and then drop a week or so later. As far as looking back in your diary, if you know you had a couple of days that you slipped up really badly and consumed a ton of calories, that might be an issue, but overconsumption occasionally should't have a huge effect unless you are significantly overconsuming on a regular basis. You might want to check your sodium intake, I've read that excessive intake of sodium might cause water retention that will affect the scale.

elaineamj

I followed the recommendations of so many on here and started using trendweight. I'm loving it. I've been feeling bloated this past weekend and sure enough gained a pound today. But I'm not upset as trendweight still has me showing a loss of 0.1lb today - which is exactly what I want to be at. I also feel confident that if I'm veering in the wrong direction, it will only take a week or two to show up on trendweight and then I can take steps to fix the problem.

Learning a lot about patience lol

jemhh

hamstermann wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I'm on a nearly 3 week streak of logging in and tracking everything. I weigh myself daily and have done fairly well so far. My question for you is - how fast does what you eat affect what you weigh? I know weight fluctuates from day to day and that's normal, but if I have a day where I gain weight, how far back in my diary should I be looking to find the problem that caused it?

Thanks.

You are sending a mixed message. On one sentence you say both that you understand that weight fluctuates from day to day and you ask how to find "the problem that caused" a one day weight gain. Fluctuations mean that you weight can go down and up each day, not just down.

Mavrick_RN

Totally agree with jemhh

"Normal" fluctuations don't have a reason.

namelesshere

If you weigh daily, try graphing. As long as you are on a downward "trend" you are moving in the correct direction and have nothing to worry about.