How is it that my weight is going up after initially going down. I haven't changed anything!

charz012015
charz012015 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been using MFP for 3 weeks. Initially my weight dropped but the last 2 days it's gone up!! I've been following 16-8, calories, exercising.....where could I be going wrong??? I'm 43.
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  • Unknown
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  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,853 Member
    edited January 14
    16-8 is irrelevant. Its a consistent calorie deficit that matters.

    What you describe could be nothing. Water weight noise. Maybe you ate something high sodium or high carb. Maybe you've been slower than normal with waste removal. Maybe your sleep hasn't been as good lately.

    It's just noise at this point.

    Use a 7-day average for weight tracking, all taken at the same time of day and same conditions ofc.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,294 Member
    Your mass is composed of many things. Some of them aren't part of you per se, like food in transit. When we talk about weight loss, we usually are looking at fat loss. The number on the scale includes your lean mass, your fat mass, plus some other things. Weight loss is not linear. It's more like a roller coaster. Like this:

    nifhbrfya532.jpg

    I think it's a great idea to weigh every day. You do need to keep the above in mind though and learn how to sort of ignore the number. If you can use a spreadsheet, set one up and put your daily weight down but also a moving average. That's what counts. A weighted moving average is even better. That's one that gives more importance to today's weight that what you weighed ten days ago. For a full explanation, see The Hacker's Diet, especially the section on Signal and Noise.

    There are some online tools that do this for you if you don't want to create your own spreadsheet. I like "Trendweight." You have to have a Fitbit account, but you can get one for free even if you don't have a Fitbit device. Enter your data there and check Trendweight for a groovy graph that you can even track what your weight is compared to 28 days ago. This can help with cyclic weight changes associated with menstrual cycles if that's still an issue for you.

    Take the long view. Most important, KEEP STICKING TO IT!

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,352 Member
    I agree with the others: Probably water fluctuation. Fat loss isn't a scale drop every day. Fat loss creeps along in the background, and day to day several-pound water and digestive waste fluctuations play peek-a-boo on the scale with fat loss for days to potentially weeks. Your actual fat loss rate will show up in multi-week trends (4-6 weeks, or whole menstrual cycles if you have them so that you're comparing the weight at the same relative point in at least 2 different cycles). Short of that, ups and downs are the norm.

    While you're waiting patiently for the next scale drop (which will very likely come with no change at all in your current routine), this would be a good (reassuring) read, especially the article linked in the first post:

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

    It's especially common when starting to lose weight to see a scale drop (part of which is lower water retention and less waste in transit, from the change in eating routine). That can be a week or three's story. After that, it's not unusual to see some water weight rebalancing that looks like gain on the scale, but isn't fat gain. Wait it out. High odds everything's fine.

    Best wishes!
  • Adventurista
    Adventurista Posts: 1,962 Member
    Upswing with hormones/cycle?

    Or body catching up after initial water weight loss when getting started?

    Keep going, and don't let this be a reason to stop...

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