Need to make sense of this

donjtomasco

So my MFP formula is to lose 1 pound a week, so -500 cal per day. I am keeping track weekly of my scale weight and my MFP calculated gain/loss per week. My starting weight was 213.8 on April 25th. Today I weighed 196.8, a loss of 17 pounds total, or 2.125 pounds per week, but that first week is always iffy since we lose so much crap weight and water weight. Yesterday was sent end of week 8.

I am also keeping track manually of my cumulative weekly CICO. So, to keep it simple, I just finished week 8, and Friday thru Sunday I had a big fall off the wagon with a trip and crazy meals, but back on track today. My math up till the end of week 8 was pretty consistent, except that based on my manual calculations, the scale was showing a little more loss in weight in total then my MFP was showing. HOWEVER, this is expected since I am not measuring everything I eat, but I am keeping track of everything that I eat. But I know I am not exact, but usually I will always try and err to the safe side, i.e., I will err in showing I ate more then I might have really eaten in calories.

So up till yesterday, my MFP estimation and my actual scale weight was pretty close and tracking consistently week over week, till yesterday.

Here is my question: If I took in a very high aberrational total of calories over a three day period, it does not immediately translate to a proportionate increase in weight (or less total weight lost over 8 weeks). WHY IS THIS? I guess another way to ask this same question is, how long does it take for the body to process an increase in calories consumed, or to process a decrease in calories consumed for it to be reflected on the scale?

I KNOW this is a long term project, it is not a daily or weekly accuracy thing, and I know that weight loss is not linear. I am just trying to understand the logistics and nuts and bolts of this process, and how in the last three days, I COMPLETELY blew my cumulative 8 week CICO out of the water, but it was not reflected in a proportionate gain on the scale.

To be exact, last Wednesday I weighed 194.6, then 195.2, 196.8, 197.0, 197.4 on Sunday and this morning 196.8. However, on Wednesday I was 341 calories over my daily goal, on Thursday I was 1,751 calories over my daily goal, on Friday I was 1,310 calories over my daily goal, then Saturday I was back on track and was under my goal by 685 calories, and on Sunday I was 393 calories under my daily goal.

And I know sodium can affect it, also, possibly flying (altitude changes) could affect my body since I am a very infrequent flier.

So, just looking for your thoughts on this to see if there are any good ideas as to why my MFP does not track with my actual scale weight, and how if we blow our calories for several days in a row, how long does it take this to hit the scale.

Another way to look at it would be, let's say I am under my calories for several days, but then over eat the equal number of calories the next few days. The scale will not reflect this reversal. It seems like once our bodies get used to a new diet and a decrease in calories, then the weight really starts coming off. Conversely, (like has happened to me twice in that last two years as I yo-yo dieted), it took a while for my weight gain to start showing up on the scale after I started eating more then I should have.

It's all just very interesting how the body works with food consumption and processing the food and how it ends up reflecting differently on the scale. Thanks.

VintageFeline

Honestly I think it's totally individual. For me sodium shows immediately, as does increased exercise/return to exercise after a break.

Calorie adjustments take a couple of weeks. For others they get almost immediate feedback as it were.

ItsyBitsy246

It is interesting, I'm finding my ups and downs a bit entertaining, but also so confounding that I normally ignore the day to day (although I do weigh daily) and just watch the trend. For example, this weekend I probably ate about 2000 calories more than I normally consume over 2 days... and weighed 5 lbs more on Sunday night than on Friday night. Unfortunately eating 2000 calories less than normal over 2 days does not translate into the inverse scale weight.

CattOfTheGarage

I don't understand - you said you blew your 8 week deficit out of the water, but you also said you had a deficit of 500cal per day. That's a total deficit of 28000cal over 8 weeks - that's some good work that'll be pretty hard to undo!

On the other hand, in the 5 days you listed, you only went over your goal by 2324 in total. If your goal is set to lose 1lb per week, the daily calorie allowance is 500cal below maintenance, so going over by 2324 over 5 days doesn't even put you over maintenance. It leaves you 176cal under maintenance, so you'll still lose a tiny bit of weight. The 28000cal cumulative deficit of the past 8 weeks is untouched.

In other words, your maths is off. Either that or I've misunderstood your post.

AnnPT77

It can be hard to see the real impact of a change in eating, through the "noise" of fluctuation. But, when I was losing weight (and sometimes eating over goal, occasionally way over), I found my weight loss/gain rate pretty predictable, if I waited long enough for really whacky water weight influences to be out of the picture (usually 2-3 days, for me). But you have to think through the arithmetic.

In the Wednesday through Sunday period you cite, you say your over/under calories sum was this:

341 (Wed) + 1,751 (Thu) + 1,310 (Fri) + -685 (Sat) + -393 (Sun) = 2324

You also say the deficit built into your daily goal is 500 calories, or 2500 total calories deficit during that same time period (5 days x 500 per day).

So, your cumulative "excess" calories, above and beyond your maintenance calories, for those 5 days was:

2324 - 2500 = -176, or an estimated actual weight loss of approximately 5/10 of one pound (176 calories / roughly 3500 calories in a pound). Big deal.

Basically, you ate (cumulatively speaking) just a little under your maintenance calories during those 5 days, but gained a bunch on the scale from water weight. Once you lose that water weight, you'll be back (more or less) where you were before the 5 days, except that while the water weight is working its way out of your system, your 500 calorie deficit (plus the way you're going under that goal) may accumulate enough for you to see a (tiny) loss that was masked by the water weight.

If you want to lose weight (in a longer term sense) you can't do this amount of over-goal eating very often - because you pretty much wiped out your deficit over those 5 days - but you're only looking at a slight delay in reaching your final goal. Essentially, your delay is about 5 days in reaching your goal (I'm ignoring the 176 calories when I say that - even if you weigh food meticulously, you have more estimation error than that in calories in/out over 5 days!)

I hope that makes sense (and I hope I did the arithmetic right above - I'm usually pretty good at math (the formulas) but bad at arithmetic (I transpose digits & forget to carry the one)).