Weight fluctuations... Everyday....

RuchikaPal

Okay .. Lately i have been too obsessive about the "weight", that mianly cz i've been stuck in 70s(kg) for eternity... i really wanna get rid of this number.

But my weight fluctuates a LOT.... it changes almost 2 kgs in a span of just one day.... even after a day of healthy eating and workouts.... Why is this??? Why is it fluctuating so much everyday???

joshdann

lots of reasons, and lots of threads explaining them. The basics are: water, food, and waste.

TheFitnessTutor

Water. Especially if you're female and especially if you're obese.

Don't worry about weight fluctuations. If your intake is right then it's right. You could be losing fat and holding water. Don't freak out and start doing extra cardio or eating/netting 300 calories like many do...it's not what your metabolism wants.

Red_Scorpio_www

For me it fluctuates about a kg everyday ....as far as I have noticed its about water retention in our body! and ^^^^^^ above mentioned is rightly said too

Unknown

This content has been removed.

nikkihannan

it happens with me also thats y i stop cheaking my weight daily i have desided i will chek once in a week in sha ALLAH

RuchikaPal

So water is the enemy here? Whats the solution? Should i reduce intake of water or increase?

joshdann

So water is the enemy here? Whats the solution? Should i reduce intake of water or increase?

no no, not the enemy. The point is that these fluctuations are normal and expected, and in no way are a problem. Water is your friend.

padams2359

I can got from 159 to 162 in the course of a day. I stay below my recommended calories, and yet I cannot get to my goal of 155. 1400 calories seems to be more of my maintanance allotment then my lose 1,5 lbs a week allotment. I don't want to do a drastic calorie cut, but feeling like I need to do something to get to my goal weight.

Fit_Lean_Priya

So water is the enemy here? Whats the solution? Should i reduce intake of water or increase?

NoNo please don't reduce water intake- take 8-10 glasses of water
your goal should be to shrink and go size smaller in clothes, scale is your biggest enemy, ditch the scale

if you drink water, you will feel less hungry, you will eat right and you will go one or two size smaller too

nelinelineli

You eat about 600g-1kg of food a day. You only go to the bathroom every.. other day? Or 3 days maybe? Then - there's the water you drink (which you should drink a lot of). Then there's the monthly variation of 1-2kgs. Then there's the water retention from exercise.

Do not equate weight with fat. That's just not how it works.

24thSeptember

Hi,

I would weigh in once a week as fluctuations daily is normal and not a true reflection of your full weeks work.
Go off how you feel when you have completed a day... And don't weigh!!!

Continue to drink water as its water that flushes your body and encourages you to pee out any extra fluid.. It's also good to remember our body is made up of a large percentage of water and if you are not drinking enough clear fluids your body may hold on to water.

Hope this helps..

joshdann

I really don't get why anyone would ever recommend not weighing. It makes no sense. I guess if you need to ignore data to feel better about it... but that simply cannot be the right answer. Understand the data, don't ignore it. Fluctuations are normal, don't let them upset you so much you short yourself on valuable information about your progress.

EvgeniZyntx

The issue is gravity. Lower the gravity,voila lower weight.
Oh, wait, that sounds silly or mean.

No, think about it. Being concerned about water weight is like being concerned about gravity.
Stop. Don't. Get on with being fit and stop your obsession.

nelinelineli

I really don't get why anyone would ever recommend not weighing. It makes no sense. I guess if you need to ignore data to feel better about it... but that simply cannot be the right answer. Understand the data, don't ignore it. Fluctuations are normal, don't let them upset you so much you short yourself on valuable information about your progress.

I couldn't agree more. However, some people seem to be too emotional about the numbers to the point where they cannot take a step back and look at what they actually mean. It just makes them cry and despair... because they don't know what is actually happening, which is exactly why they SHOULD try to understand it... when they are emotionally ready to do so.

RuchikaPal

Okay thanks a lot guys... this helps... Let me give it another week and i wont obsess over the "number" till then... Will continue wd my regular workout and healthy routine... lets see...

TheFitnessTutor

Don't decrease water. And I say weigh yourself multiple times a day, EVERY day....so you can get over this fear of the scale which means absolutely nothing, again especially if you're female. Your hormones could have you bloated half the month to some degree. And you folks tend to over obsess about the scale. Weigh yourself everyday. Nothing is your "enemy" don't give any of this stuff any power. If anything is your enemy its the rest of the industry, and your probably under intake of protein.

iceqieen

Weighing every day for a few months helped me see a pattern in the fluctuations. One of those is my period cycle, it has a big influence on the fluctuations. Also exercise, waterintake, and food.. and its not a simple "more food = more weight" equation, there are delays and other dynamics in play that can mean that a day after a big pizza you lose 2kg, and then a day after 100% healthy eating and exercise you gain 2kg.

If you do continue to weight every day, keep the record and look at the pattern for the 4 weeks assuming you are female, or at least 2 weeks if you are male. If its creeping up, then make adjustments, but if its going down *on average* then you are fine.

Velum_cado

I really don't get why anyone would ever recommend not weighing. It makes no sense. I guess if you need to ignore data to feel better about it... but that simply cannot be the right answer. Understand the data, don't ignore it. Fluctuations are normal, don't let them upset you so much you short yourself on valuable information about your progress.

I think people should do what works for them. I don't own a scale so I got in the habit of stopping by the doctor's office every 6 weeks or so to weigh myself there. Ignoring the numbers on the scale has helped keep me on track - I don't get hung up on my weight and I can focus on things like how my clothes fit and my physical endurance and abilities. That's still information about my progress. In fact, one could easily argue that it's more important information than what the scale says. It also makes it feel like an actual lifestyle change, not something I'm doing just to lose weight.

If weighing every day or every week works best for you, awesome, do it. But weighing less often definitely makes sense and has been one of the keys to my success.

24thSeptember

Hi,

I hope you never thought I said do not weigh as in like ever... I said do not weigh daily. The reason bein it is often the reason people lose motivation and quit but it is not a true reflection of the whole week!!

Fit_Lean_Priya

I really don't get why anyone would ever recommend not weighing. It makes no sense. I guess if you need to ignore data to feel better about it... but that simply cannot be the right answer. Understand the data, don't ignore it. Fluctuations are normal, don't let them upset you so much you short yourself on valuable information about your progress.

its because when we do strength training we gain muscles and loose fat, muscles weight more than fat, usually people cry over gained weight but then they don't realize they are actually getting fitter by gaining muscles, so scale is not your friend

kaykaylyn

Bump

Chadomaniac

Stop weighing yourself DAILY !!!

steve2kay

I really don't get why anyone would ever recommend not weighing. It makes no sense. I guess if you need to ignore data to feel better about it... but that simply cannot be the right answer. Understand the data, don't ignore it. Fluctuations are normal, don't let them upset you so much you short yourself on valuable information about your progress.

Completely agree. Weighing weekly doesn't mean that fluctuations go away. They can have an equally negative mental effect - all the work for the week and I've lost nothing. Weighing myself daily allows me to see these fluctuations for that they are.

I'm not saying it's for everyone but I get confused when people say your weight fluctuates so you should just weigh yourself once a week.

l911jnt

I really don't get why anyone would ever recommend not weighing. It makes no sense. I guess if you need to ignore data to feel better about it... but that simply cannot be the right answer. Understand the data, don't ignore it. Fluctuations are normal, don't let them upset you so much you short yourself on valuable information about your progress.

Completely agree. Weighing weekly doesn't mean that fluctuations go away. They can have an equally negative mental effect - all the work for the week and I've lost nothing. Weighing myself daily allows me to see these fluctuations for that they are.

I'm not saying it's for everyone but I get confused when people say your weight fluctuates so you should just weigh yourself once a week.

I would rather weigh daily. I wanna know what is happening and if I weighed just weekly and I happened to be retaining alot of water that day it would upset me more than if I see it go up and down daily knowing that its just the water!

chandanista

I weigh daily.
After running a half marathon on Saturday (my first!) I gained 8 pounds within 24 hours. I knew it was my salt and water intake, my body holding onto whatever it could to repair itself in its time of stress. I took two rest days and kept my calories under 2000 (day of race I ate ALL the food) and today I'm back at the pre-run weight. It wasn't fat.

Try using a measuring tape and watch your inches. About twice a month I get the measuring tape out and check out where I've lost fat. It's slow but sure, and tells you when you can buy smaller clothes

mush_mellow

Chandanista, I found your real life story about your personal weight fluctuation to be very eye opening. Thank you. My body fluctuates from 0-10 lbs depending on that time of the month, and time of day. I weigh myself daily - but only counting my actual weigh ins once a week (normally on Saturday or Sunday), in the morning right after going to the bathroom. My true measure of results is how my body feels day to day.

chandanista

I am glad my story could help I count my weight only if it's been the same for a couple of days in a row, at the same time of morning (first thing, around5-5:30 AM). Anything else, I consider a fluctuation.

crackur

happens to everyone......I quit weighing in.....and just weigh ever so often...maybe once a month now.....but I can't remember my last weigh in. I look in the mirror .

strictlysedentary

I went from 172 to 179 in the course of a day and nearly cried. Subsequently, I realized that it had a lot to do with the fact that I started running again. My tissue retained water because it was repairing itself, and I drank probably a liter and a half of water when I finished my run.
It's hard to not constantly weigh yourself when you want to lose weight, but you either have to come to terms with the fact that your weight fluctuates a lot daily or stop weighing yourself so much. :P
Best of luck! Don't let it discourage you.

alisonlynn1976

I weigh myself every day, once a day, in the morning (except when I'm not at home that morning). I observe the long-term pattern of what my weight is doing. Some days it goes up. Sometimes it stays the same for a couple of weeks. The overall pattern, though, is that it is going down. I do get (mildly) excited when it goes down, but I don't get upset when it goes up or stays the same, because I can see the big picture. I like seeing the data. I like seeing that what I'm doing is working. I don't get it when people who are trying to lose weight don't want to know what they weigh.