First lost weight now gaining...why?

DietDivaNYC

Help! my first three weeks I lost 4 lbs, but the last week I gained two.

Here's my normal routine: MFP diet, min 8 glasses water daily, whole grains only, lean proteins, no dairy except for yogurt, no processed foods and good fats such as avocado and peanut butter. I also try to have my large meal around mid-day and eat nothing after 8 pm.

This past week was unusual: a few nights ago I indulged on a late dinner of cheeseburger, fries and a couple glasses of wine. I've been eating fewer calories per day since then because I wasn't hungry. Yesterday, after a winter of inactivity I rode my bicycle for an hour.

Thoughts?

fr33sia12

Are you logging and counting everything you eat? It doesn't matter what you eat or drink, just how many calories you eat and how many you burn.

AnnPT77

Temporary water weight, most likely.

Bike ride after Winter hiatus = muscle repair needs ==> water weight.
Meal with more carbs & salt than usual ==> water weight

If you're female and premenopausal, certain times of month ==> water weight.

If you didn't cumulatively eat enough calories over maintenance to account for the gain, it's water weight. Stay on your healthy route. With patience, the water weight will drop off in a few days.

DietDivaNYC

Water weight makes sense. I'll give it a couple more weeks and try not to get discouraged and fall off the wagon. thanks!

missysippy930

Are you weighing, and or, measuring your food accurately & logging EVERYTHING you eat and drink?
Fries and cheeseburgers have a lot of sodium, so like others said, water retention.

callsitlikeiseeit

Sharon_C

Are you weighing yourself every day? That's a game changer. It will show you your bodies fluctuations. I can easily be up 2 pounds one day then go back down to my normal weight the next day or even 2 days later. But if I were weighing myself once a week I would consider it a weight gain and not even be aware of the fluctuations.

AnvilHead

Sharon_C wrote: »

Are you weighing yourself every day? That's a game changer. It will show you your bodies fluctuations. I can easily be up 2 pounds one day then go back down to my normal weight the next day or even 2 days later. But if I were weighing myself once a week I would consider it a weight gain and not even be aware of the fluctuations.

Yep, fluctuations from food volume/water retention show up quite clearly when weighing daily.

Example: I had two spikes this week - we went out for a Thai meal Monday night, which was high in sodium, and I was up 2.5 lbs at Tuesday morning's weigh-in. By Thursday, I was back down to Monday morning's weight. Then I gorged on pizza Friday night, even going beyond my calorie goal. High sodium, lots of food in my belly = I was up 2.4 pounds yesterday morning. This morning the 2.4 was gone, along with an extra 0.1, so 2.5 lbs lighter than yesterday's weigh-in.

Fluctuations happen for a lot of reasons and are perfectly normal. OP had two "textbook" reasons for her scale increase - a high-sodium meal and a sudden increase in exercise activity (water/glycogen retention in the muscles for repair). Nothing at all to be alarmed at.

cwolfman13

Because weight loss looks like this...

DietDivaNYC

Callitlikeitis - are you a management consultant? :-) Great chart.

I have been logging my food. I usually limit my sodium intake so I think it makes sense that something like french fries would increase my water retention. And true re frequency of weigh-ins. I've been getting anxious and weighing myself more than once a week (the scale always stares me in the face every time I go into my bathroom).

Thank you all - you've been helpful! I've used this app before yet never experienced such a yo-yo effect. tho different circumstances.

Silentpadna

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Because weight loss looks like this...

So does maintenance.


And weight gain.


Not in direction obviously, but in variation.


Always has.


Always will.

AnvilHead

Silentpadna wrote: »

So does maintenance.


And weight gain.


Not in direction obviously, but in variation.


Always has.


Always will.

^ Yep, exactly true.

Here was my weight loss in a 12-month period, as logged on Trendweight. The gray line is daily weigh-ins, the red line is overall trend:






Here's a more recent screenshot of my weight in maintenance over six months. Again, gray line is daily weigh-ins, red line is overall trend:

jennifer_417

What's the MFP diet? MFP is all about calorie counting, so I thought?
Really the only thing that will cause weight loss is a calorie deficit. It's great to eat healthy, but the only thing you absolutely have to do is eat fewer calories than you burn.