Does anyone else's progress chart look like an erratic heartbeat?

kgailloux

At my heaviest I was almost 190 lbs (at 5'5") at my leanest I was under 130 lbs (to skinny for me). I would like to maintain 135-140 but don't seem to be able to. I feel like my weight has either been going up or down for almost 10 years. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

kommodevaran

I'm in maintenance, and my weight graph looks like an EEG during an epileptic seizure. But it's within a range of 6-7 pounds. To maintain your weight, you need to eat roughly the same amount of calories, consistently. I can't give you any advice until you say something about what makes that difficult for you.

Gamliela

I'm a bit like temperatures on the Atlantic, mild slow changes with very few blips either up or down.

Lots of people who do excersize and weights have a lot of shifts in water retention. That sometimes gives them false signals to lower calories. Time and persistance!

StacyChrz

It sure does. I am much more interested in the overall trend, which is down. I don't worry about the ups as long as I refocus and bring it back down. We're all going to fluctuate depending on workouts, salty meals, vacations, TOM, lots of things.

sijomial

kgailloux wrote: »

I would like to maintain 135-140 but don't seem to be able to.

But why?

What stops you eating the right about of calories?
Why don't you react and intervene when your weight drifts outside your goal range?

billglitch

are you an emotional eater? do you eat lots of carbs that leave you hungry in a short time?

kgailloux

I have to be very militant to lose the weight, as my hunger triggers are wonky (no medical reason), then when I try to maintain, I can't relax because if I do I start gaining again. I try to eat pretty balanced and I do exercise regularly, but the stress of maintenance eventually breaks me down and I give up. It helps that other people have erratic charts, so at least I'm not alone in that respect. I have also never been able to figure out what the right caloric intake is for my maintenance. If I add more calories my weight goes up. If I keep them low I lose too much. Thank you all for the input. It feels like I may have to measure my food forever. Is that normal?

Matt200goal

Yes. I've come to like the trendweight.com website. Website links to my Fitbit Dashboard info and it does all the fancy math to calculate and graph the data points (daily weights) and trendline.

I do "have to" manually input my weight into either my Fitbit App on the phone or the Dashboard on a computer.

StacyChrz

While I am still losing I am preparing for the fact that I will likely need to continue to weigh and measure my food, at least most days, when I am in maintenance. I know that for me I need to make this a lifelong commitment. I've heard several people suggest the trendweight.com website, you should check it out.

NorthCascades

billglitch

i forgot to mention my weight graph looks like this as well, but i weight every day so i can better see and understand fluctuations and trends. It is and has been trending down

Gamliela

Congrats to all you who have worked at logging and reducing your weight. A really great accomplishment. Cheers.

allyphoe

Red is the trend; gray is the actual scale reading. So plus or minus 4 pounds of scale variation, but negligible actual weight change, over 8 months.

allyphoe

Or if you're looking for stories of initially unsuccessful maintenance, here you go:

leajas1

Hi! I didn't read through all the responses, but you need to find that sweet spot in terms of daily calories that will put you at maintenance (so, basically do a reverse diet). Note the calories you're at while still losing weight. Then every 7-10 days raise your daily calories by about 100-150, then check and see what happens with your weight. Are you still losing? Then increase by another 100-150 the next week? Did you gain? Drop it back down and there's where you need to stay to maintain.

girl_inflames

mine always looks more like a staircase. I'll lose 5 pounds quickly, and then stay a week or two at the same weight, etc. etc. it's kind of weird.

TR0berts

kgailloux wrote: »

I have to be very militant to lose the weight, as my hunger triggers are wonky (no medical reason), then when I try to maintain, I can't relax because if I do I start gaining again. I try to eat pretty balanced and I do exercise regularly, but the stress of maintenance eventually breaks me down and I give up. It helps that other people have erratic charts, so at least I'm not alone in that respect. I have also never been able to figure out what the right caloric intake is for my maintenance. If I add more calories my weight goes up. If I keep them low I lose too much. Thank you all for the input. It feels like I may have to measure my food forever. Is that normal?

Chances are, when you increase your Calories, you end up increasing carbs and/or sodium. Those both can cause you to gain a few pounds of water weight - NOT FAT. That is not only normal, but expected. If you continue to gain, then you've simply overshot your Calorie goal.

The_Enginerd

Yes, fluctuations are normal. That's why a goal weight range and looking at long term trends is necessary. If you go above or below that range or you see a long term trend up/down, than look to make adjustments.

solieco1

StacyChrz wrote: »

It sure does. I am much more interested in the overall trend, which is down. I don't worry about the ups as long as I refocus and bring it back down. We're all going to fluctuate depending on workouts, salty meals, vacations, TOM, lots of things.

Hehehe Ours look almost identical. My huge spike was Portugal. What was yours?

Christine_72

chrislee1628

yes, even though I weigh myself first thing in the morning after going to the toilet, it is still up and down, thankfully mostly down

AnnPT77

I've been working at maintenance at 120 plus or minus 3 pounds since sometime in March. This is what my graph looks like. The solid line is the trend (weighted average over 7 days) the vertical lines extending up and down from that are the actual daily weights (first thing in the morning, before eating/drinking, etc.)



Even at a "consistent" weight, it's bumpy. The loss phase (April 2015 - February 2016 approximately) is at least that bumpy, but the trend line is bumpy with an overall downwardness to it.

nebaru

My weight fluctuates up to 10 lbs in a month and at times it appears to react in the opposite direction of my calorie intake (weight goes up when I eat less; and goes down when I eat more). But only on a day to day basis and the overall trend is much more predictable. Cyclical variations in weight, mood, strength, mental sharpness and libido are normal particularly in women.