What is your highest weight fluctuation?

mhlew

I am feeling frusturated this morning. Usually I know better to not weigh more than once a week and I only record weight on my official weigh in days (Saturday Mornings) But this morning I decided to have a peak out of curiousity and was about 4-5 pounds heavier then my Saturday weight!

Usually my weight fluctuations are within 2-3 pounds so I felt this number was pretty high. I did workout lastnight, and was pretty thirsty this morning when I woke up so I think it may be possible I am retaining water if I woke up thirsty? Also it has been extremly hot here in Southern California, another reason I may be sweating more and holding on to water if I am not drinking enough.

I hope if I continue to hit the gym this week, stay within my calorie range and drink plenty of water that it will balance out by my Saturday morning weigh in. Fluctuations are so discouraging but I have to try and remember to take them with a grain of salt. I am curious to know what fluctuations others have seen and did you eventually balance out after a couple days?

Cherimoose

If it's any consolation, body fat doesn't fluctuate much from day to day. Maybe 4 to 8 ounces tops per day. Laugh at the scale.

hedean

I have seen ridiculous fluctuations day-to-day like up to 5 lbs difference. Usually that is after I ate a big salty meal so I know the water retention is adding to it, as it may be in your case. I have always been able to fix it in a couple of days by doing exactly what you say you're going to do. Stick to it and you should be back to normal!

jfeakins

I have the same problem! It's very frustrating to know my actual weight. I fluctuate constantly between 132 & 134, and I know that you can't gain or lose 2 lbs in a day.

I think unless the gain/loss stays consistent, it's most likely water. When I start fluctuating between 135 & 137, that's when I know i have a problem! I also see a huge difference in my body composition (I'm short, so a couple lbs makes a big difference.) I also started measuring myself to see if body physically changes along with the weigh fluctuation.

On another note-- sometimes I see a huge difference in my measurements/ progress photos but my weight stays the same. I'm starting to think I should just stop weighing myself altogether. I'd love to be 120-125, but I'm not sure that's realistic. (Last time I got down to 127 I only did so because I had food poisoning and couldn't eat or work out for a week...)

mhlew

Great progress pics Jfeakins! You look great. As for ditching the scale, that is all preference however as discouraging as it is to see weight fluctuations and seeing a higher number it is going to make me work out harder and eat healthier this week so i can have the best possible outcome for my Saturday weigh in. Other then the scale showing me a higher number this morning I physically feel pretty good, and I do not feel "fatter" or more "bloated" than usual.

If it were not for my scale and had I not seen a higher number this morning then it may have been possible that I would have not worked out at a high intensity as I plan to do this week or watch my calories as closely as I plan to now. Everyone has there own motivators though.

jemhh

My fluctuation throughout the week is generally 2.5-3 pounds. I feel like the closer I get to goal, the more often I see the fluctuation. I do like weighing every day just to have an idea of where I'm at but I have to keep a lid on any excitement over my weight going down a couple of pounds at once because it's often back up the next day.

mhlew

My fluctuation throughout the week is generally 2.5-3 pounds. I feel like the closer I get to goal, the more often I see the fluctuation. I do like weighing every day just to have an idea of where I'm at but I have to keep a lid on any excitement over my weight going down a couple of pounds at once because it's often back up the next day.

haha that is funny having to put a lid on the excitement. I am especially frusturated because I want to break out of the 280 pound range and I am ready to tackle the 270s. Once I hit 280 last saturday I was excited to potentially be at 278 this saturday but weighing in at 283-285 this morning sure makes me feel discouraged that I wont get there, but who knows, I have to have a positive outlook and do the best I can each day to make it happen.

On a side note- I HATE that my scale will say I weigh 283 then I will step off then step back on and it says 285. Do I need to start weighing 3 x then average it??? So annoying.

jemhh

Last week I was .5 pounds into the healthy weight zone for my height one day. I pretty much felt like



But then on my official weigh in day, when I logged my weight, I was back to the weight from the beginning of the week.

And I have had that same scale problem in the past. We have an older digital scale that weighs in half pound increments. Then we bought one that weighs in tenth of a pound increments. But the newer one gets stuck on a number and doesn't want to move. It will show that I weigh the exact same weight, to the tenth of a pound, all week long and longer. Then I have to get on it holding something heavy to break it out of that number, get back off and let it clear out, and then get back on again. I've just started using the old scale again because of it.

northbanu

Saturday morning I checked in at 193. Saturday night I watched the Notre Dame game and by the end of the night after all the hot wings, coleslaw, potato chips, gin, and more gin, I was nearly 3̶0̶0̶0̶ 1700 calories over my goal.

Sunday morning I weighed in at 198. I normally eat less than 30 grams of carbs thus I'm not carrying around much water. I mean, I ate a bunch of food, but no way I should have gained 5 pounds of fat. But I ate a bunch of carbs, so the water weight came on.

Sunday morning I went back to my regular eating plan and this morning (Tues, 3 days later) I'm back to 193. I'm certain it was 90% water weight going on and off.


Edit: I only went over by 1700 some odd calories, not the original 2900 I thought. I forgot that I had goofed up logging chicken wings.

abear007

Just went through a 3 lb weight increase in less than 24 hours. Oddly enough, since the weight increase seems to be sticking around, I have to look at the initial low weight as the "odd ball" - I must have lost a bunch water somewhere.

Maleficent0241

My highest was a 12 lb gain overnight. To be fair, I felt like if someone stuck me with a pin, I would pop! It was CLEARLY water retention, and came off over the next few days.

sports1963

Do you weigh yourself at the same time?

mhlew

I will weigh by random sometimes through out the week, however i only log my "official weigh in" on Saturday mornings at 9am.

GertrudeHorse

I can fluctuate about 3kg/6.6lbs during the course of one day depending on a many different factors. From one morning to the next morning I tend to be within 1.5kg/3.3lbs of the morning before. Weighing myself daily helped desensitise me to fluctuations.

northbanu

Well if it's any consolation, I weigh myself every morning, and almost every evening. I'm always 3 or 4 lbs heavier at night than I am in the morning after my bathroom stop.

kelly_e_montana

5 pounds throughout the week is very normal for me

GatorDeb1

15 lbs in about 10 hours. 2 bags of saline after being hit by a car while on a bicycle suck.

sartezalb

I actually weigh myself every day because I'm never sure when I'll find myself at a low point of the fluctuation. However, the numbers you see when you do that can range from discouraging to seemingly nonsensical. Case in point: I logged in at 170.2 about four days ago, saw my weight jump up to a steady 172-174 every day afterwards, and found myself below 169 today. So an actual loss of over a pound obscured by 3-4 lb fluctuations...

There's not much luck to the loss itself, but a bit of luck in seeing it. Give it some time, have some faith in the process, and keep doing what's worked so far.

47Jacqueline

I had a cataract operation about 2 weeks ago and coincidentally had ordered a new scale. I usually don't keep a scale in my apartment because it's too tempting and too frustrating. So after seeing it jump up 6 pounds one day and down 5 the next, I gave it away. ;-) I'm going back to weighing every other week and then maybe down to once a month.

dazwan

I can fluctuate by 4lbs depending on my exercise but what I feel makes the biggest difference is the types of food I eat. On the weekends, I tend to eat whatever is available, so often its lots of bread and stodgy foods and generally larger portions, so I see a rise as I'm literally carrying more food in my gut than I normally would through the week (coupled with not as much exercise as I'm not cycling into work).

This tends to drop off through the week as I try to eat salads and sushi for lunch and try to avoid bread as much as possible, plus I'm cycle-commuting so am burning more calories through the day (and not to be gross, but my digestive system tends to speed up once I'm back on the bike if you get my drift). I had a lazy weekend with lots of bad food choices and have only just started to get back to what I expect to be, so its taken 3 days to burn off most of last weekends excesses!

woofer00

7 pounds up over a day or two, which will return to normal over a week or so. I typically aim to stay low on sodium (sub-2300mg/day), so if I've eaten out for than a day or two, I retain water like hell and it shows up on the scale even if the calories are in line.