Freaking out a little...is this to be expected?

Spitspot81

I have been absolutely working my butt off since xmas. I set myself a target to get to 9 stone...so close to it. However in the last week I have noticed a gradual increase in weight.

I know it appears bf% is dropping. Is this to be expected, as in do you think the gains are lean mass??

I know weight is a silly thing to go by, my food has been so on point that I am just a bit concerned with the gradual weight increase

AnnPT77

Also, if "working your butt off since Christmas" includes new/extra workout activities, you could hold onto extra water weight temporarily for muscle repair.

It's really too short a time, and too small a swing, to leap to the assumption that it's anything other than random weight fluctuation - water weight for some reason, or extra food/liquids still in your system when you're weighing yourself.

If you're female & pre-menopausal, I'd say 3 weeks to a month to be sure, if you've been losing at the gradual rate I'd expect if you're getting close to goal.

I know this is frustrating! Patience, and staying the course, is still the best answer, though.

Spitspot81

Thanks for the replies. Yes I think I have got to be patient and see how the weeks go

LivingtheLeanDream

Your chart reads a bit like mine, in my case that's maintenance in general and I know the fluctuations and when they happen.

Stick with it, for me generally after eating a bit more over the holidays the scale stays up for about 5 weeks and then it'll be back to normal fluctuations and seeing lower numbers.

chrismellor01

If you have been working really hard - it could be muscle going on. ALso - maybe it;s your scales? 1lb difference is 500g. That;s maybe two cups of tea in fluid. It could be that.

Whilst I can well understand it's frustrating, try not to worry. Weight does fluctuate over the course of a month depending on bodily cycles and all that.

Advice (and it's easy for me to say) is to relax and just stick with it. Maintenance is all about ups and downs and really not stressing the bad days. It will average out in the end.

Does that help?

crzycatlady1

Like others have said-your weight will fluctuate from day to day and those fluctuations have nothing to do with actual fat gains. Hormones/tom, water retention from sodium intake, digestion periods, constipation, water retention from exercise, batteries on scale getting old, weighing yourself at different times of day, weighing yourself with different clothes on, taking a shower before weighing, moving your scale to a different location, using a different scale (like at a doctor's office vs your home one) etc etc.

Look at monthly trends and if you're seeing your weight creep up consistently over several weeks then you can start to make adjustments and tighten things up

Spitspot81

Thanks for all the very reassuring and informative posts.

I am gonna try and flip this on it's head and see it as a positive way to view how my body behaves over a period of time

lorrpb

You've gone down, up , & down all within a 1.5 lb range. This is perfectly normal. I'm glad you want to learn how your body behaves. Weight is a data point, nothing more. Collect a bunch of data points and learn the trends. In a few months you can probably predict your fluctuations before they happen.

Spitspot81

lorrpb wrote: »

You've gone down, up , & down all within a 1.5 lb range. This is perfectly normal. I'm glad you want to learn how your body behaves. Weight is a data point, nothing more. Collect a bunch of data points and learn the trends. In a few months you can probably predict your fluctuations before they happen.

Love this..thanks for the post!

STEVE142142

You're letting the scale control you instead of you controlling the scale. What you have to remember is your body weight is going to fluctuate from day-to-day week-to-week and from hour to hour.

I have scales at work that I've used as a reference point to educate myself about weight loss. There are some days where my weight will vary three to five pounds in one day depending on what I ate the night before what I had for breakfast and what I had for lunch. You really have to look at the long-term trends that are happening with your weight.

Since you're talking about Stones I guess you're based in the UK. To put things in perspective a liter of water weighs approximately 2 pounds or roughly 900 grams so if you drank more water than you normally did you could see a weight gain. Also if I did my calculations properly you probably way somewhere around a hundred thirty pounds US. You're only really talking about A1 percent weight gain which is insignificant

ccsernica

Gradual weight increase? It's right around 1.5 lbs. Well within normal weight fluctuation.

bunnybumm

I had a similar experience. The scale didn't move for months. I was doing intense weight training and one of my mates suggested I eat more! I was so frustrated with the scale not moving down that I gave it a shot. I ate an additional 400 cal per day and did it for a month. Then when I finally weighed myself, I actually lost!
Our bodies are constantly changing. Mine needed more fuel. Yours may too

Francl27

Fat % scales are NEVER accurate. Don't even look at that number.

Extra weight? Water retention (due to sodium, hormones, whatever).

jeepinshawn

The closet you you get to a healthy bmi the slower and less predictable your weight loss will be. Last year when I was losing I got sick at 171 and fluctuated between 169 and 172 for like a month then all of a sudden one day whoosh I dropped to 168 a few days later it was 167 and a few weeks later I hit 165. I put on 15lbs over the winter from a bulk weight lifting experiment, now I'm stuck again at 171.

Spitspot81

Really appreciate all the feedback. I have progressed well since the first post was shared. Have learnt to accept fluctuations from day to day, but the scale weight has shown a slow but steady drop. Kinda feel now that I should be switching my calories up a bit in order to build muscle and lower body fat %...but that is a scary thought.
Thanks all

AnnPT77

Thanks for the update, @Spitspot81. It's always good to hear back on a thread like this. I'm glad you were able to settle your mind, stay the course, and achieve your goal by doing so. Good show!

dakotashaver3

Muscle weighs more than fat! Your fat% is going down as your weight is going up a bit!

richardgavel

dakotashaver3 wrote: »

Muscle weighs more than fat! Your fat% is going down as your weight is going up a bit!

Actually, basic math suggests that the only way your BF goes down as weight goes up is if enough of the added weight is muscle, and in general you gain at about a 1:1 ratio of fat to muscle.