Weird weight loss pattern

dandelionflight

I've been logging daily for a little over six months. The first three months, weight loss was fairly steady .5-1 pound a week. But then the second three months were just up and down with no discernable pattern. There were clear spikes during a kitchen remodel when we were eating out a lot, during Thanksgiving, and during vacation. But these spikes didn't seem to correspond to calories. Two weeks ago I decided to go back to a primarily whole foods plant based diet (with a bit of animal product added in). My calories haven't really changed. But during that time, I've lost eight pounds, over a third of my total weight loss over six months.

What on earth is happening? Clearly I couldn't have actually lost that much fat or muscle in two weeks. But that seems like a ton of water weight too.

I can't get a photo to upload, but here's a link to my weight graph. https://photos.app.goo.gl/i9oouazNpCJ3dSry6

Weight graph:

PAV8888

mharrell1012 wrote: »

But then the second three months were just up and down with no discernable pattern.

A weight trend app may help with the above. Libra (android), happy scale (iphone), weightgrapher.com or trendweight.com (free accounts-even the fitbit connection for trendweight does not require a device: just the free app)

mharrell1012 wrote: »

There were clear spikes during a kitchen remodel when we were eating out a lot, during Thanksgiving, and during vacation. But these spikes didn't seem to correspond to calories. Two weeks ago I decided to go back to a primarily whole foods plant based diet (with a bit of animal product added in). My calories haven't really changed. But during that time, I've lost eight pounds, over a third of my total weight loss over six months.

Emphasis mine.

Water weight IS funny and under the right circumstances (stress, time of month, restaurant food sodium) it can all come together and hit you hard. If subsequent to that you switch from what could be maintenance or a light gain to losing weight again, you may well experience an initial whoosh during the first couple of weeks. I wouldn't worry too much about lean vs fat mass. Especially if the info is coming from a bio-impedance scale.

But. During your "spikes" time, when you were eating out a lot? How on earth would you be sure that the spikes were not corresponding to calories?

I've been logging for more than 9 years now with MAYBE a total of 90 days missed (I'm thinking 45 and doubling!) I've taken scales to restaurants on more than one occasion. I take pictures of restaurant meals so I can log them after. And I would STILL would not consider my restaurant meal logs to be anything more than a rough approximation.

The more rough the approximations that I used the more credence I would give to my weight trend app than to my logging!

PAV8888

Between about

October 1 and December ~15 I see rough maintenance at around 223 (or maybe not enough weight samples) with spikes and generally trending slowly down

Between December 16 and January ~31 I see again a rough maintenance centered around 220 or maybe even a tad below it, with a tendency towards increase that keeps getting brought down.

Overall between mid september to late january I would see scale weights as peaking at about the same levels but over time bottoming lower... I.e. probably a 3lbs decrease during the time period overall with the late January spike either being water weight or again not enough data points.

The "big wins" showing on the graph are the 12+lbs before September and what appears to be close to about 5lbs in February (excluding the apparent water weight spike)

All and all a pretty good go at it especially surviving through renovations and holidays pretty much unscathed!

Just a quick reminder: community posts and links do get indexed by the various search engines.

AnnPT77

Honestly, it doesn't seem all that weird to me, which I think is what PAV is saying, too.

Eating out does involve less easily/accurately estimated calorie intake. Also, usually restaurant foods are higher in salt and maybe carbs than most "healthy" home eating patterns. Those things can make the scale jump because of water retention, not just calories/fat changes. It's common for me to see scale jumps after restaurant eating of up to several pounds, then it takes a few days for that water to dissipate. Those spiky bits in December in your chart look similar to that.

The research was too small/preliminary to be definitive, but there's some indication that "whole foods" may have a higher TEF than more highly-processed foods, so net calories could come out a little lower, and contribute to the faster loss you've seen since going more in the direction of WFPB, in addition to differences in water retention. I wouldn't count on that effect from TEF, but it could be part of the picture, very speculatively. I think the water retention shifts are more probable as an explanation, though.

If you haven't read the thread linked below, I'd recommend it (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 possible that some of the recent 8-pound drop could be fat loss accrued during December, but masked on the scale by water weight effects to some extent. Bodies are weird.

I definitely agree with PAV that a BIA scale isn't an accurate gauge of muscle/fat/water change over the short run, so not a thing to worry about. Mine tells me truly impossible things about body fat/muscle changes during periods when my scale weight spikes due to restaurant eating.

When it comes to muscle mass specifically, and how to retain as much as possible while losing mostly fat, once you're keeping your weight loss rate sensibly moderate, getting good overall nutrition (especially but not exclusively adequate protein), and doing some strength exercise, you've pretty much done all you can to preserve muscle. IMO, there's no point in stressing over it after those things are happening, because you're already doing all you can, y'know?

Overall, I think your patterns are more normal than you're thinking, honestly.

Best wishes!

dandelionflight

Thank you both for your replies. That helps put it into context more. Honestly, this is longer than I've ever stuck to a healthier eating plan. Usually, I've lost motivation after a few weeks. I've been trying really hard to not get too caught up in scale changes, but it's so demotivating to see the scale going up and to read about people who lost huge amounts of weight in six months and then feel like I'm "behind". But I'm hoping to make this a lifelong shift and so speed shouldn't really be that important. Given everything going on in the last six months, I guess my progress is pretty good. And it's a good reminder than spikes are normal.

mtaratoot

mharrell1012 wrote: »

Thank you both for your replies. That helps put it into context more. Honestly, this is longer than I've ever stuck to a healthier eating plan. Usually, I've lost motivation after a few weeks. I've been trying really hard to not get too caught up in scale changes, but it's so demotivating to see the scale going up and to read about people who lost huge amounts of weight in six months and then feel like I'm "behind". But I'm hoping to make this a lifelong shift and so speed shouldn't really be that important. Given everything going on in the last six months, I guess my progress is pretty good. And it's a good reminder than spikes are normal.

Up and down is for sure normal. The thing to celebrate is that you are sticking to it. YOU ARE STICKING TO IT!!!!!

If you give up and quit, you won't continue to be successful. If you stick to it, chances are you will. You were down at what I'd call a "regional low" mid September, then there was some roller coaster stuff going on. But compare where you are now to then. Heck - forget this month and the big loss you've seen - just look at mid September to end of January. Looks like you're losing to me.

Guess what happens if your loss rate is slower than you thought it would be? You still lose. Ain't that groovy? Since this is something you are sticking to forever, then getting slow results is just what it is. Maybe even see it as extending your celebration.

The hard part starts when you get to goal and have to consider maintaining. You can do that to. It's the same thing you're doing now, just with a few more calories. It will go down and up and down and up. So embrace the practice for maintaining.

springlering62

Don’t compare yourself to others.

You’re learning habits you can keep in perpetuity.

Every time I see someone posting “I’m back! I regained all the weight I lost the first time!” I breath a sigh of relief that I took it slow and steady and learnt something along the way for maintenance sake.

You have a far greater chance end long term success doing it your way than fast out of the gate.