Gaining week 3

pkornet2178

This is only my 3rd week on my 1200 calorie diet. I lost 3lbs first two weeks ( ok for my ht and wt) but put on 1.5 lbs week 3! I’m continuing to exercise 5-6 days a week ( about 100-150 calories a day) and I’m eating relatively low carb but about 3-4 portions of fruits a day. Could this be a problem? I do measure and now have a food scale and pack snacks when I’m away from home most of the day. I do weigh almost daily. Should I only weigh once a week? Help please!!!!

StarryNight37

My opinion only:
1. Don't weigh daily .. your body fluctuates constantly depending on hormones, bathroom habits ect. Once a week is good. (for example, I can put on 2 lbs one day and it will be gone by the next day..)

2. I would consider re-evaluating your calories. I personally feel this is too low and you're not doing yourself any favours. Especially with your level of exercise. You're body needs fuel to function.

3. It's fairly tough to eat low carb and eat 4 portions of fruit a day (unless its berries or lemons!) I count carbs as have blood sugar issues and would only eat fruit a few times a week. I do however eat a ton of vegetables daily. I would look at upping your protien and veg and ditching a fruit or two.

yirara

Weighing every day is not bad per se. It can teach how weight fluctuates, and if you only weigh once per week you might hit a low the first week and a high the second. And then you get the feeling the weight has been going up all week and all was for nothing, while in fact the weight might actually have gone down the whole week, and just due to body flood (like ebb and flood) the weight was higher in the next weigh-in.

What I'm trying to say: weight fluctuates. And quick changes are never due to body fat but to other factors that might mask weightloss, like more waste in the intestines, wearing heavier clothes or weighing after breakfast instead of before, or water weight. Water weight fluctuares really due to everything you can imagine. The most common culprits are: new exercise for muscle repair (see, TO, that's you!). this will go down again in a week to four weeks. Nothing unusual. It's just normal. A certain point in the menstrual cycle. It's also normal, and nothing you can do against. More salt in the diet, a bit more carbs than usual, high temperatures, stress, moving less, air travel, not sleeping well.. pretty much everything. And while new exercise water weight might stick around for a while fat loss, if in a deficit will still happen. And then, one day there's the highly annoying night where you might go to the loo three times, and it's gone.

Lietchi

yirara wrote: »

Weighing every day is not bad per se. It can teach how weight fluctuates, and if you only weigh once per week you might hit a low the first week and a high the second. And then you get the feeling the weight has been going up all week and all was for nothing, while in fact the weight might actually have gone down the whole week, and just due to body flood (like ebb and flood) the weight was higher in the next weigh-in.

What I'm trying to say: weight fluctuates. And quick changes are never due to body fat but to other factors that might mask weightloss, like more waste in the intestines, wearing heavier clothes or weighing after breakfast instead of before, or water weight. Water weight fluctuares really due to everything you can imagine. The most common culprits are: new exercise for muscle repair (see, TO, that's you!). this will go down again in a week to four weeks. Nothing unusual. It's just normal. A certain point in the menstrual cycle. It's also normal, and nothing you can do against. More salt in the diet, a bit more carbs than usual, high temperatures, stress, moving less, air travel, not sleeping well.. pretty much everything. And while new exercise water weight might stick around for a while fat loss, if in a deficit will still happen. And then, one day there's the highly annoying night where you might go to the loo three times, and it's gone.

Quoting this, because it merits reading a second time.
Fluctuations are normal, you can't evaluate weight/fat loss over individual weeks, you need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture: you need at least one, preferably two, months or menstrual cycles of data to evaluate your progress.

A weight trending app like Libra or Happyscale can also help.

I've gained more than 2 lbs the past few days. Just water weight from my period, which will probably be gone by tomorrow or the day after, judging from how much I'm peeing today
1.5lbs is well within the range or regular fluctuations.

You've lost 1.5 lbs in 3 weeks, so early signs are that you're on the right track, just keep going so you have more data on which to base your evaluation of your progress.