A few questions about weight loss in the beginning

leebirm

Ok I seem to have found a good level between my food intake/exercise/weight loss, I'm losing weight at a nice quick rate and I'm comfortable when doing it which is good so this isn't anot her questions of 'why am I not losing weight'

When I started after the first few days and weighing myself regularly (same time, same clothes etc) the weight literally flew off me, in 4 days it was saying I'd lost 6lbs then I shot back up to my starting weight, over the next 4 weeks I was hovering around the same weight constantly up and down.
Then one day I weighed myself and I'd lost 2lbs, then a few days later a bit more and so on and that is how it seems to have continued.

So I suppose my question is about the famous '3 week' rule, what is the bodies reasons for refusing to shed a few lbs in the first few weeks and what makes it start up after that? Does it go into survival mode because it's not used to it?
Is the big loss then regain at the start common, if so what is the cause, is it some kind of shock to the system?
Now that I am losing on a steady regular basis (It took about 6 or 7 weeks for the loss to kick in) what is it that determines if people will be waiting 3 weeks, 4 weeks or in my case 6 or 7 weeks before your body decides to cooperate?

Whitezombiegirl

There is no starvation mode and ive never heard the 3 week rule. Most people see a larger loss in the first few weeks.

Personally like you i start off slow, not sure why.

leebirm

When I said survival mode I didn't mean starvation mode, I meant it more like does it shock your body short team.

The three week rule I kind of decided for myself it was a thing, based on the amount of threads that ask the question after 3 weeks (I myself started a thread of that kind) and also based on that chart that does the rounds on this forum specifically asks if you have been dieting for 3 weeks or less

CattOfTheGarage

No, it's mostly to do with fluctuations in water weight. If your calorie deficit is steady, your fat loss will also be fairly steady - you're just not seeing it because it's masked by water coming and going for various reasons. The daily variation in weight due to water is many times greater than the amount of fat you lose over a week, so to see fat loss you have to watch the general trend over several weeks.

You will carry extra water for various reasons and sometimes it's interesting to spot the patterns. For example, if you eat more carbohydrate you will take on more water to digest and store it. If you reduce carbs, you'll shed water. If you start a new exercise or increase intensity, you will take on water to heal and build up muscle (this can be a LOT, I've seen 6lb increase, others have reported as much as 10lb, and it can hang around for as long as a week). You will retain water due to eating salt, menstruation, injury, illness and any number of other things.

So don't sweat it, it's just water. Watch the trend, and the trend seems good.

seska422

It sounds to me like whooshes. The theory is that some people retain extra water for a while in their fat cells just in case the fat gets regained quickly. If it doesn't, the water is let go.

I lose weight this way sometimes. I weigh once a week and might see nothing, nothing, nothing, 4 pounds. The fat actually comes off at a fairly regular pace (but not linearly) but it only shows up on the scale in spurts. I have a steady downward average but the scale makes jumps.

CattOfTheGarage

I don't buy the thing about "retaining water in fat cells in case the fat comes back". You're just retaining water, for any number of reasons, probably unrelated to your weight loss efforts, and because most people only weigh themselves once a week, it's easy to accidentally weigh on a heavy day 2 or 3 times in a row and then on a light day, giving the impression of a "whoosh".

I weigh daily, and I don't see whooshes, just a lot of random variation (about 5-6lb range) and an overall downward trend.