weight fluctuations / minor increases

lornamarie57
lornamarie57 Posts: 32 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My progress graph is all over the place. Its up a few days then down a few days then up again for another few days. I'm so annoyed. I did go over a few days over Halloween...and now my back is hurting so no gym but I'm still walking. And I'm up again.

I'm on day 313 and have logged every single day of those 313 days so I'm not quitting or anything but I'm annoyed. Anybody have a story or anecdote or some sciency fact I might not know that makes me magically feel better?

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,203 Member
    Are you meeting your goals at least somewhat, averaged over that whole 313 days? The right reply to your OP would be very different depending on whether that's a "yes" or a "no".

    If your goal is weight loss and you're trending down over the whole time period, but up and down along the way . . . congratulations, you're normal. That's how it works. Our bodies can be 60%+ water, and typically a lower percentage than that will bfat. Fat is what we're trying to lose, if overweight, right? Losing it is slow: 3500 calories cumulative deficit to lose a pound, approximately.

    So, even in an aggressive deficit, we lose a fraction of a pound of fat per day. Alongside that, the water level in our body is fluctuating with much, much bigger swings: Multiple pounds per day is pretty common. It's part of how a healthy body stays healthy, so we really don't want to make it stop!

    You can learn more about that here:

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    . . . and read other MFP-ers experiences with it in this thread:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

    Also in there, you'll be encouraged to consider the effect of food in our digestive system. An apple in my stomach weighs just as much right after I eat it as it weighed in my hand, but once I've swallowed it, I can't put it down on the counter to weigh myself. It's part of my bodyweight. Full digestive transit can take up to 50+ hours, according to research, so eventually much of that apple's weight will end up in the toilet, but by then a person will've eaten/drunk more other things. Consequently, the weight of food residue - on its way to becoming waste eventually - is also an unpredictable, varying part of bodyweight.

    Like I said, you are normal. (It's also normal to find this frustrating, but personally I try not to get over-excited about stuff I can't do anything about, and weight fluctuation is one of those things.)

    Here is a Libra weight-trend chart from when I was losing weight fast - too fast, for a while there (don't do that, it's not healthy). The thick connected downhill line is the trend. Each day's weigh-in is at the end of one of those lighter vertical lines. Notice how those line ends bounce up and down randomly? Fast fat loss happening, but the bodyweight scale jumping around day to day. That's just how it works. (When I was losing fat at a more sensibly moderate rate, even the trend line meandered up and down along the way!)

    87i2xcuf7g0j.png

    I don't know whether this makes you feel better, or not, but it's my best shot. ;)
  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 220 Member
    What @COGypsy and @AnnPT77 said earlier.

    You mentioned that your back is hurting. The internal inflammation there is likely fluctuating causing your scales to jump around a bit. I tore the meniscus in one of my knees right before the pandemic. The mornings I wake up with it hurting, I know my scales will likely show some weight gain before I even get out of bed.
    None exercise activities can also result in scales jumping up and down - especially if the activity is something that you aren't use to doing, and/or if the activity is demanding. More stored glycogen is used to power the activity of your muscles, then you go through a cycle of muscle repair and rebuild that varies from person to person. Meanwhile, your metabolism does extra work to replace the stored energy from your fat storage and food intake.
    @lornamarie57, you have done a much better job than I have at diligently logging everyday. I assume that after 313 days of logging that you are well on your way down your personal weight loss journey and I congratulate you for your determination. When I got serious about losing weight my BMI was in the mid 40's and the scales showed a decline every single day. I loved it! Now that my BMI is threatening to drop into the 20's the weight loss has slowed dramatically. To the point that there has been some weeks that the scales show a slight gain. It is very annoying, but I figure as long as my running 6 week average is still dropping, and I remain on plan, then its all good. Ann's graph that she posted here and in an earlier thread helped me realize this and I hope it helps you too.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    lornamarie57 wrote: »
    My progress graph is all over the place. Its up a few days then down a few days then up again for another few days. I'm so annoyed. I did go over a few days over Halloween...and now my back is hurting so no gym but I'm still walking. And I'm up again.

    I'm on day 313 and have logged every single day of those 313 days so I'm not quitting or anything but I'm annoyed. Anybody have a story or anecdote or some sciency fact I might not know that makes me magically feel better?

    Have you overall lost weight over those 313 days? Fluctuations up and down with individual data points are completely normal because bodyweight isn't static and fluctuates naturally all on it's own with changes in water composition, varying degrees of waste in your system, inflammation, hormones, etc. While individual data points fluctuate up and down (completely normal), over time you should see a trend down. Losing weight looks like this when plotted on a graph...for everyone.

    Weight-Loss-Reality-Feature-1024x538.png

    As a trend if you haven't lost weight over the course of 313 days and you're just fluctuating up and down the same 3-5 Lbs or whatever, that would indicate that overall you are in maintenance and not in a calorie deficit on any kind of consistent basis.
  • lornamarie57
    lornamarie57 Posts: 32 Member
    Thanks everyone. I was sooo annoyed yesterday! I know in my head that fluctuations are normal but it drives me batty. I was so close to losing 50 and now now I'm at 47 lost. That sucks. This morning I was up again. I still have plenty to lose so it isn't that I'm nearing goal or anything...just SLOW. Apparently right now I'm on another upward tick. I'm super sick of them.

    I did go into my reports to see if I've been over-eating and a few days I was a bit over goal. I lowered the goal a smidge and will try harder to stay under. I'm still weighing most foods on a food scale so really am doing "all the right stuff" lol. I even record the days I'm extra hungry and eat extra where I know some people stop recording when they go over.
    Anyhow, thanks for the pep talks. I needed them :)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,203 Member
    lornamarie57 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone. I was sooo annoyed yesterday! I know in my head that fluctuations are normal but it drives me batty. I was so close to losing 50 and now now I'm at 47 lost. That sucks. This morning I was up again. I still have plenty to lose so it isn't that I'm nearing goal or anything...just SLOW. Apparently right now I'm on another upward tick. I'm super sick of them.

    I did go into my reports to see if I've been over-eating and a few days I was a bit over goal. I lowered the goal a smidge and will try harder to stay under. I'm still weighing most foods on a food scale so really am doing "all the right stuff" lol. I even record the days I'm extra hungry and eat extra where I know some people stop recording when they go over.
    Anyhow, thanks for the pep talks. I needed them :)

    You've got this. I totally understand the frustration: Consistent, patient, sensible work will pay off in the long run, but the short run . . . bleah, sometimes. Stay the course!
  • the_real_me_lissa
    the_real_me_lissa Posts: 40 Member
    Weight loss is not linear; you’re going to be up & down & sometimes for no apparent reason whatsoever! I’ve had weeks where I was so disciplined with tracking calories as well as hitting exercise goals & the scale either didn’t move for the week or didn’t match what effort I had given.

    Likewise, I’ve had weeks where I overindulged some & the scale dropped more than expected!

    It is very frustrating, but just keep plugging away at it & you’ll continue to see a downward trend!

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