Week to week weight loss question, please help

DaveGlasnost

On behalf of a friend, do any of you who do weekly weigh-ins experience *up* weeks (assuming no cheating or having really bad weekends, etc.)?

Like, where you are sticking to a plan, weight watchers, calorie counting and running a small deficit, etc., and still see one or more occasions where your weigh-in is a little higher than previous week?

Please share!

Mark330

Yes. This is where daily weigh ins are important. While obsessing over the scale is not the goal, daily weigh ins teach you how your body responds to things you do and makes quicker correction possible.

Not uncommon, especially in the first few and the last few weeks.

17Chan

Yes, that happens to me sometimes. It's most common after alot of weight lifting. I did some googling about it, since I was getting pretty annoyed, and i learned that the muscles hold on to water at this time, as they are in a healing process.

Oh, and if you've eaten salty foods, you will be retaining water.

feliciapeters

sure. if i have chinese & my sodium is too high i may be retaining water, or TOM. dont worry about it, it evens itself out

k8washko

Yes, that happens to me regularly. I attribute it to gaining muscle, because muscle weighs more than fat. Everybody has their down days.

cc2r1511

I agree with the post about weighing yourself every day! I find myself more motivated based on what I see and if it isn't good, I make myself correct the action by exercising more or eating less of something!

jodimitchell

http://www.healthdiscovery.net/articles/scale_lies.htm

someone else just posted this article.

Im a daily weigher, i love to guess a number right before i get on. I take in consideration what ive ate (sodium/ bad decisions) and if its less YAY!! if its more its my cue to get back on track.

Dragongirl76

Your friend is not alone. I personally experience a fluctuation day to day of about 1.5 to 3 pounds (depending on what time of the month it is..). I've also experience the "cheat day" 5 pound weight gain (give or take), but as long as I stick to my plan, I go back to where I was before within a day to few days. Then there's what I call the "Plateau"...that's when I can't seem to shed even a half pound beyond my normal flux. It shows up about once a month to month and a half. Since I've been exercising a minimum of 3 times a week, I've chalked it up to gaining heavier muscle (toning up!) quicker than I'm burning off the excess fat... I've also noticed I can also gain a pound, but still have my measurements decrease ever so slightly. Don't get discouraged!

DaveGlasnost

This is all great info, thanks. I tried to reassure my friend that weekly weigh-in can be just as arbitrary as daily. There is no "guarantee" that every Tuesday or Sunday or whever is going to show a systematic, linear weight loss, and not to be discouraged if you have dropped 6 lbs but one week find you gained 1 back. No reason to throw your hands up. I also explained that the 1.5-1.66lbs a week logged so far even with the +1lb is pretty good and in fact is quite healthy a rate.

I myself am a daily weigher, I like to have the numbers. Sure, especially early on I would get discouraged, but now I have several months to look back on and have the big picture, and the trend is evident, in the right direction. So, seeing an uptick has little effect on me other than analysing why and making a correction if needed.

I wanted to be sure I wasn't proposing something "wrong" in saying that regular weekly weigh-ins can show upticks too, because the one major difference is my friend is doing weight watchers, and I am doing P90X + trying to eat right, rather than any sort of sedentary diet plan. Two different animals.

Especially interested in any additional comments from people who are currently not exercising but have observed occasional up weeks (but specifically while sticking faithfully to what they are doing), since I can't personally relate this with my very different approach.

mckant

I also weigh every day. Not to obsess but to know where I stand and when I need to get myself in check

baisleac

Two weeks out of every month... before and after TOM arrives.

bkeeldo

I see this happen to me. Even though I still weigh in once a week now, I now try to look at an entire month's weight loss to see the bigger picture. It helps keep me motivated to stay on track instead of getting bummed out that I've only lost 1/2 a pound.

knittnponder

I'm up and down all the stinkin' time! Drives me nuts! In fact, right now I'm up almost 3 pounds but it's because I've been doing heavy lifting this week (after recovery week of just cardio last week). My muscles are hanging on to fluids as they recover and it's reflected on the scale. I've only lost about four pounds over the last month which could be really frustrating if I weren't taking my measurements. In the same time period I lost 9.5 inches! So clearly what I'm doing is working, the scale just hasn't been let in on the secret.