Should I be happy or skeptical?

ChickenKillerPuppy

I weigh myself every day immediately after I wake up after I go to the bathroom, am totally naked, and put the scale in the exact same place, centered on a tile, and I literally step on it in exactly the same way every day. I track in Happy Scale. I am in my goal range and have been trying to increase my calories every day to try and maintain, so I'm eating more than I have in months.

Here's the thing - the scale keeps going down every day. To the point where I think it's broken because there is no way I'm still losing weight at this rate. To give you an idea of the past week:

Monday 2/24:128.6
Tuesday 2/25: 128.6
Wednesday 2/26: 127.8
Thursday 2/27: 127.2
Friday 2/28: 126.4
Saturday: 2/29: 127.2
Sunday: 3/1: 127
Monday: 3/2: 125.6
Tuesday (today): 126.2

When I first weighed myself today the scale insisted I was at 124.8. I refused to believe that was accurate so I actually moved the scale to a different tile in my bathroom and tried again and it went to 126.2. I moved it back to the original place and it stayed at 126.2 for several tries.

The only thing I can think of is that I have been running outside a lot and I know when I run outside instead of on the treadmill I tend to burn more calories and lose more because I run faster, farther, and have hills (I stay flat on the treadmill). But this seems crazy. I am due to get my period today or tomorrow and I do generally lose a lot the day I get my period, but the trend has still been downwards at a pace that seems crazy to me, especially as I increase my calorie intake (I was eating 1250-1450 + half exercise calories and now I'm eating 1750-2000 + half exercise calories). I'm a 5'4" 47 year old woman.)

I do feel I am at my thinnest/fittest in terms of clothes fitting well or even loose, so my body feels like the low may be accurate, but I can't imagine I lost 2.5 pounds in a week eating the calories I am eating. I would sit back and enjoy it but I'm trying to figure out how many calories I need to eat to maintain my weight so accurate data points are important.

What do people think?

MelanieCN77

If you think you're doing the right thing calorie-wise I would give it a little longer. A week is a blip. Maybe change your scale batteries, the differing weights this morning might be a power issue.

ElizabethKalmbach

I think you can eat in that range of calories comfortably and probably afford to eat back a larger portion of your exercise calories. Because you're working with proportions of calories, the more exercise you have, the bigger your accidental deficit is. Keep an eye on your weight, but also start tracking your reported burn versus your actual weight loss to try and get a better handle on what your actual exercise calories are.

I know I have to eat more when I walk near my parents house, because Appalachian hills are NO JOKE, so even if my step count is halved, my burn is still higher than it would be at home on the prairie.

scarlett_k

I'd say at this point it's within the realms of water retention (or rather, dropping retained water) as it's a relatively small amount. What does your trending app reckon?

NovusDies

To lose 2.5 pounds in a week you would have needed to create a deficit of 8750. That would be a pretty big drain on you.

I think it is more likely that you had unrealized scale losses that have finally shown up and/or it is a hydration difference. Running outside is likely going to make you sweat more too.

When I entered maintenance last month I had approximately 4 pounds of loss that had not shown up yet on the scale. Because I have added new exercise and more food I am up another 6 pounds. I assume at some point I will see a new low weight when everything has normalized again but it won't be new losses unless I come in lower than I am expecting. It will just be old losses that have finally paid a visit.

try2again

When I was in a consistent deficit, my weigh-ins followed a distinct pattern according to my cycle. My weight would be stable or even increase a little the first 2 weeks, and then drop like a stone the next 2 weeks until I would hit the lowest point right before my period. If I used the trend of any given week, it would have created a completely inaccurate picture of my weight loss. Only a full month's worth of data (several, actually) could paint a clear picture of what was really going on.

PAV8888

Several people have hit on things that I believe all apply.

Resetting/recalibrating the scale, batteries, are not a bad ideas. You have confirmation about the weight from how you feel so I wouldn't doubt it has dropped.

Liz is right about how your exercise calories may be playing in this. There is nothing magical about 50% and if the exercise amounts are large this could lead to unintended larger deficits.

I also think that scarlet and try2again are right about potential water retention and how to evaluate by comparing to last month. Perhaps even at both the high and low points of the monthly fluctuations to get a better sense of range.

Results/amounts/tdee is not static and we are not strictly speaking invarying input output machines.

So that makes me a little bit hesitant in terms of Novus' assumption that a calculated energy change will always eventually show up.

Sure, most of the time it will. Sure if there is reason to suspect water retention (and there often is) or past patterns of such, then it is more likely. But I think we should also be willing to accept that the occasional miscalculation may have taken place. Or that we may have been influenced by factors we're currently unaware off.

So if we're talking a 5% error that's maybe something to accept. This is highly dependant on individual logging of course. Let's not kid ourselves that I would have accepted an additional 5% error with my past logging, though I just might with my current level of logging accuracy.

But regardless of the above, the input output process does have SOME variability.

It is not at all unusual for people to discover that their initial TDEE to maintain is much higher than their last months of losses will indicate.

It would also not totally surprise me if a few months down the road it would reduce a little bit.

It's an ongoing process, what can I say! 🤷‍♂️

PAV8888

Btw: sceptically happy!

cwolfman13

I'd give it more than a week or two. To me, that kind of looks like it could be maintenance. Maintenance isn't going to be a static weight...I can be up or down from my average maintenance 0-3 Lbs day to day...more if I consume higher than normal sodium amounts or have a day like last Saturday where I spent several hours on the trails mountain bike riding and didn't eat normally.

That said, when I went to maintenance I found that my TDEE was actually higher than what my rate of loss would have indicated. I chalk that up to more calories = more energy = more involuntary fidgeting and whatnot. Also, my workouts improved, and I would also suspect there was some hormonal re-balancing going on.

hesn92

My weight trends up and down throughout the month based on my cycle. It goes up a little when I'm ovulating, and it goes up even more, 2-3 lbs in the days leading up to my period, and then drops back off after a couple days. When I look at my graphs in happy scale you can clearly see when my period is every month. I would wait more than a couple weeks to see what's really going on. There are times where it goes down, and down, and down, every day... and then it goes back up.

lightenup2016

On several different occasions, after eating at a deficit for weeks, I’ve lost water weight when I increased calories (like eating a big restaurant meal). Maybe that’s what’s going on?

ChickenKillerPuppy

Thanks everyone! I put new batteries in my scale and had my husband weigh himself and he said he weighed the same on the scale as he did the day before.

This morning I was at 125.2, so down another pound since yesterday, although i did expect to be down today bc my period. I will see how things look after several weeks. I think folks may be right that my TDEE is just a lot higher than I thought was. I’m trying to enjoy just learning about myself and how my body works as I transition to maintenance.

yirara

Did you calibrate your scale to local air pressure?
Honestly though, if you started something new all sorts of things can happen. Often it's a gain in weight due to holding onto more food and water weight, but the opposite could also be true.