+2 lb this week - what did i do wrong ?

Palain

Hi everyone

3 weeks in, but as the topic says I have gained 2 lb this week. It was a bit of a shock tbh as I have not done anything different to the previous 2 weeks. Is it normal for sometimes gain a little ? I also eat very late in the day, due to my shift work, so my main meal is after 8pm, do i need change this ?

I have still lost 8 lb in total, but it is a bit dis heartening - any advice pls ? thanks for reading.

ammadove

Congratulations on what you've lost thus far. Well done.
As to the 2 lb. gain this week, I wonder if it could just be water weight. Our weight fluctuates somewhat from that.

mushroomsontoast

Are you female, and if so is your period due?
"Time of month" causes gains for most women - often several lbs - but it's only fluid & comes straight off the week after

Palain

I am a man

Thanks for the info, as that will help my wife

ammadove - if it is water, how can i get rid of it ? - I am already drinking at least 8 glasses a day.

Thank you both

ammadove

Could you be eating foods that are heavier in salt content? Like chips, prepackage lunch meats, etc. There is a way to monitor your salt intake here on your daily log. It's listed as sodium. Check and see if yours has been higher in the past few days.

barbz2119

I was thinking along the lines of the previous post...salt? I find when I've eaten a lot of salty things I gain. If you have been eating a lot of salt, try increasing your water for a day or two to flush all the salt out. See if that helps.

Palain

thanks ammadove, will keep my eye on that.

and thank you barbz2119

jharb2

If you are a woman I can 100% tell you its probably hormones. My weight goes up the week of ovulation and the week of period. and yes 8 lbs in 3 weeks is more than you should lose anyway. Your body is just trying to adjust by holding onto water. Our bodies tend to panic sometimes when it perceives a loss. Dont worry about every up and down of a few pounds, it will all balance out.

ndj1979

do you weight/measure all your food?

You are either under estimating calories, or have water retention ..

I would suggest weighing yourself three times a week, at the same time, and take a weekly average to account for fluctuations...

for example this week I was 174, 172.8 and 173.1 for an average of 170.3 ....so you can see over course of a week my weight fluctuated +/- 1 pound....

I then use the weekly average to compare against past weeks..as long as the average is going in direction I want, then I am good..

Swissmiss

If you have lost 8 pounds in the past three weeks, then you are doing GREAT!! Don't worry about a couple of pounds unless it happens a lot.

captmiddy

Body weight will naturally vary within about 2 to 4 lbs depending on your weight. THis can be week to week or day to day even. What you should be watching is long term trend. And if you dropped 8lbs in 3 weeks it is likely that this is just that normal variance. I dropped 1.3 lbs since yesterday, tomorrow I will probably gain .8 to 1 lb just because of the natural flow of things.

maybeazure

It is unfortunately pretty common. Weight fluxuates due to all kinds of reasons. Keep doing what you are doing. As long as you are eating at a deficit you'll lose the weight. Probably next week you'll have a big number.

shrimpydoo

Unfortunately this just happens sometimes, and it happens even if we exercise exactly the same, consume the exact same foods & water. I think our bodies just 'recalculate or correct' themselves sometimes. I've learned when this happens to celebrate non-scale victories such as making the right choices, exercising more than ever, saying 'no' to that piece of cheesecake, and remain positive. Keep this up, don't let the small gain get you down, and before long you'll be more than surprised at the scale. In 9 months since I've been logging and in control of my eating/health, I've gained 4 times and a few weeks stayed the same, but overall down 39 pounds. I know it's tough when you expect to 'see' less of yourself and you see this gain staring at you in the face... hang in. It's all good!

stackhead

I wouldn't worry about it. My weight goes in peaks and troughs.

I wouldn't start looking at making changes until you've gained twice in a row (i'm talking weekly WI not daily) then it's something more than your body being tricksy.

calmlywilde

If you have lost 8lb in 3 weeks (or was it 10lb in two weeks minus this week's 2lb gain?) your body might be holding water while it figures out what the hell is going on!

I often get a pause/mini-plateau/gain before I have a big drop. My weightloss normally goes -0.5,-0.5,-0, +0.5,-3.5,-0.5 etc rather than -0.5,-0.5, -0.5...

If you are carb sensitive (I am) an increase can cause water retention.

I also get a gain for a week or so if I increase workout intensity. It goes away in a few days. Something to do with muscles needing water for recovery - there are plenty of threads on here about it

Congrats on coming this far though! Don't let one week upset the applecart, keep up the great work!

Dr1nkbleachndye

Water Weight. Drink a lot of water over the next few days, and watch the scale go down. When I say a lot I mean over 100oz a day

allaboutthecake

...for example this week I was 174, 172.8 and 173.1 for an average of 170.3 ....

:huh: Fuzzy math?

:laugh: :laugh: My thoughts exactly!

Average there poster is 173.3 for those 3 weigh ins :flowerforyou:

trogalicious

Either poop or water weight. Don't freak out. There's a normal fluctuation of weight that happens on a daily basis.

smoootka

Are you female, and if so is your period due?
"Time of month" causes gains for most women - often several lbs - but it's only fluid & comes straight off the week after

yepp.. gotta love TOM... -.-

elisa123gal

That has happened to me... what I did was drink my water everyday and I watched my sodium because it was off the charts most days even thought I was eatin at or under my calorie goal. I feel that sodium not only makes me retain water.. I think it slows down my weight loss overall.

AubieMae

Our weight can fluctuate up to 4 lbs. I know it sounds crazy and it took me quite some time to wrap my mind around it. Weight Watchers recognizes this, too, and they allow 2 lbs. on either side of the goal weight and still consider the person on target. I know it can be very disheartening. I stopped weighing myself for awhile because it would send me into such a blue mood. Now, I am accepting it for what it is. Oh...it took me just about the entire year to accept it, though. :noway:

LuLuChick78

Weight loss is not linear. Your daily weight is an accurate representation of your SPECIFIC weight no more so than the account balance listed on your monthly bank statement is a precise representation of your wealth.

Palain

Thank you so much for all the replies and your support, this is a brilliant community

I suddenly realised I was panicking, which is silly, but hopefully understandable. Having never made a conscious effort to lose weight before, I guess I will fall into that now and again. Once again, many thanks

Dr1nkbleachndye

OP if it makes you feel any better. On a friday about a month ago I weighed 168lbs, come sunday after a weekend where 75 percent of my cals came from high carb/high sodium food, sunday night I was 180lbs. That's 12lbs in about 54hrs. I managed to lose 10 of those lbs between monday and tuesday. It was all water

MB_Positif

Don't sweat it. Sometimes I lose 2 pounds taking a good #2.

mushroomsontoast

Don't sweat it. Sometimes I lose 2 pounds taking a good #2.

lol, that IS a good #2 :laugh:

Fullsterkur_woman

Stay the course. Your body is not a machine. You can't turn the crank and get the same thing out every time.

What you care about is a downward trend, and with only three weeks in, you don't have enough data to get a trend going yet.

When you first reduce your calories, your body burns up its excess glycogen stores. Each gram of glycogen travels with three friends in the form of a gram of water, so each gain or loss of a pound of glycogen will result in a gain or loss of four pounds total. If you ate higher carbs than usual, or higher sodium than usual, the 2 pounds are likely just water.

And everybody's right, be glad you're not a woman. I gained almost three pounds this weekend due to my period and one very large high-carb meal. I am still waiting for one pound or so to go away. I've done four intense lifting workouts since then too, so I know there's bound to be a lot of water tied up in my muscles for repairs. I know all these things, and I don't get crazy about daily fluctuations on the scale.

It's a marathon, not a sprint. Stick to your guns and the weight will go.

jmp463

I am sure a lot of people will not agree. But I would get on the scale everyday. The reason be is that you will see the flucuations up but you will also see the downward trends. I have done this since May and I have learned a lot about how my body reacts to certain foods and exercise. It has taken that sinking feeling of gaining a pound away. I dont worry about it anymore because I know that as long as I stay under my calorie limit each day that in time the math will work out to my favor.

Having said that a good #2 does solve a lot of problems.

JustJennie13

do you weight/measure all your food?

You are either under estimating calories, or have water retention ..

I would suggest weighing yourself three times a week, at the same time, and take a weekly average to account for fluctuations...

for example this week I was 174, 172.8 and 173.1 for an average of 170.3 ....so you can see over course of a week my weight fluctuated +/- 1 pound....

I then use the weekly average to compare against past weeks..as long as the average is going in direction I want, then I am good..

Speaking from a womans perspective... do not get addicted to your scale or the numbers on it! My best method for tracking is measurements!

born2drum

Dude just go take a deuce and pee and weigh yourself again. Bet that number will drop. Remember, food stays in our systems for sometimes days so don't worry about it. Just keep doing what you are doing. Drink more water too!

JustJennie13

Also, "they" recommend that you drink atleast half of your body weight in ounces to stop water retention... example if you weighed 150 lbs drink 75 ounces of water a day.