How long til I see results on the scale?

jbrooks3645

I have mfp set to lose 2lbs a week. Does that mean if I weigh every week I should see a 2lb loss or do I wait longer and it all average out to 2lbs per week over let's say a month's time?

Silentpadna

It might take longer than that. There are many variables in play. Some lose in a linear fashion. Most don't. Your water retention/release will fluctuate more than those 2 pounds on a daily basis.

Don't let the fluctuations fool you. You need time to really see. But log everything, weigh everything with a food scale to the gram (or at least to a tenth of an ounce), and meet your intake goals.

Without context (i.e. your age, height, current weight etc.) it's hard to know of 2 lbs per week is a reasonable goal. But if it is, give it 6-8 weeks and you'll have an idea.

malibu927

If you're logging everything as accurately as possible and have the appropriate activity level/deficit chosen, you'll see an average of 2 pounds per week. As weight loss isn't linear, there will always be weeks where you lose less, lose nothing, or gain.

AnvilHead

As the others have said, weight loss is not a linear process and won't proceed in an orderly mathematical manner. But it will proceed if you trust the process and stick with it.

There are a lot of physiological processes which affect the number you see on the scale which don't have to do with actual fat loss. Water retention from high sodium, increased exercise/muscle repair, stress, sunburn, injury, etc.; hormonal fluctuations (most notably, time of month for women); how much food/liquids are in your stomach/bowels in the process of digestion/elimination, etc., etc.

The number on the scale will fluctuate - just accept that as a fact because it happens to everybody. The best thing to do is not panic and go to drastic measures as soon as you see a spike. Many people find it very helpful and reassuring to use a weight trending app such as Happy Scale (iOS), Libra (Android) or trendweight.com/weightgrapher.com (web), so you can keep an eye on overall trend vs. daily fluctuations.

tinkerbellang83

What you are more likely to see is something like this:

amusedmonkey

As a general rule, a good gauge of weight loss for women would be to compare weight lost on similar days of the cycle (example: first day of period), and even that isn't fool-proof. An average over a month gives you a general idea, and the accuracy gets pinpointed further as you continue to add data points as time passes. Ultimately, once I established a set of good logging practices and a good baseline of how my calories translate to weight loss I found myself just trusting the process regardless of what the scale is saying if I have a longer than expected stall, and always works itself out after a while in my experience.