Something Ive noticed

bigred503
bigred503 Posts: 98
in Health and Weight Loss
Been tracking my weight since increasing my cals while weight training and oddly enough, when im at less than a 500 cals deficit i lose weight like crazy, the second i give myself over 500 as a deficit, i GAIN weight... any thoughts on why this might occur? any simlar experiences?

Replies

  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    It is likely just coincidence or a change in your sodium/carb breakdown causing you to retain water.
  • bigred503
    bigred503 Posts: 98
    its possible, the part that has me confused is my diet doesnt change around much, my water intake is steady, so for eating less to show an increase in scale, and eating more shows a decrease... seems odd.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    Don't stress out over the day to day fluctuations. Just worry about the week to week fluctuations.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    Is this over a period of days, or weeks, or months? And how much weight?

    Normal water weight fluctuations can be a few pounds during the day, so real weight/fat loss can easily be overshadowed in the short run. It is best to look at the long term trend line.
  • bigred503
    bigred503 Posts: 98
    its over the span of a couple weeks, and im not stressed about it at all. i actually dont care much how much i weigh, fitness is my goal. but im curious by nature so i wanted to see what would happen over the span of a month while i raised my cals for weight lifting. and the higher i got, the more i lost after being at a stand still for a month. however for 4 days last week i had a 500+ cal deficit and my weight went up, im sure it was water weight as it went up about 5 lbs. yesterday i ate at a surplus, and this morning im moving back down. im just curious why that might happen, as the more food i eat the more carbs and sodium i take in, with a pretty steady water intake...
  • Gee_24
    Gee_24 Posts: 359 Member
    Wow thats brilliant.

    We all have our sweet spots. When I got stuck, I went from 1200 to 1400 and lost 4lbs pretty quickly. I then moved to 1500 for about a week: Nothing!

    This week I've been eating just below 1600 and its started moving again.

    Why did I move from 1400 if it was working so well? - I realised my TDEE - 20% is actually 1600 so I wanted to see if it would be faster. Turns out its almost the same as 1400.
  • bigred503
    bigred503 Posts: 98
    so your weight loss was the same at 1400 as it is at 1600? Thats fantastic! Thats an extra 200 cals! I know I love to eat so to be able to eat more and lose is awesome! :)
  • Gee_24
    Gee_24 Posts: 359 Member
    so your weight loss was the same at 1400 as it is at 1600? Thats fantastic! Thats an extra 200 cals! I know I love to eat so to be able to eat more and lose is awesome! :)

    I know! I thought I was happy at 1200. The weight loss certainly helped me feel happier, but now I'm at 1600 I think " Oh ***** please. You were hangry. At all times. "
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    You can't gain fat unless you eat 3500 calories over your TDEE. It's most certainly water weight.
  • Gee_24
    Gee_24 Posts: 359 Member
    You can't gain fat unless you eat 3500 calories over your TDEE. It's most certainly water weight.

    I love this sentence. It always calms me down.
  • bigred503
    bigred503 Posts: 98
    so your weight loss was the same at 1400 as it is at 1600? Thats fantastic! Thats an extra 200 cals! I know I love to eat so to be able to eat more and lose is awesome! :)

    I know! I thought I was happy at 1200. The weight loss certainly helped me feel happier, but now I'm at 1600 I think " Oh ***** please. You were hangry. At all times. "

    LOL I felt that way too when I was at 1200, over the course of 2 months ive increased to 2000!!! And i know it was water weight, but it kept going up so i thought, why am i retaining water at a higher deficit? so i had to ask to see if maybe its happened to others...

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