HELP....What makes your weight fluctuate

Somedays I don't eat right or I forget to exercise but despite all that my weight can stay steady but one thing (well maybe 2) that will make my weight jump for sure are not drinking enough water and stress. I would watch your sodium intake and drink lots of water..also try to relax! Good luck!

It could be a lot of factors, what have you been eating? Sodium esp can cause you to retain water, I have heard red meat, even watermelon can cause a temporary weight gain. I have been trying to really watch my sodium level, limiting my processes food & I have been losing, not huge amounts, but a loss is a loss. Are you drinking water? If you need friends, feel free to add me - we can do it!

I've lost significant amounts of weight in the past (20 lbs+) repeatedly, and job stress or changing jobs stress inevitably pushes me back up. In hindsight, it's a logical evolutionary response to uncertainty and stress. In practice, it's incredibly disheartening. I also have trouble adjusting my own ideas of what to put on a plate.

Takeaway: Emotional issues are dynamically entwined with weight management. You have to fix both. You cannot use food as a comforting mechanism.

Sodium can cause as much as 4 lbs in one day of water retention. I know because it has happened to me. I use to panic and became depressed hopeless over it, until I realized I did not even go close to 2000 calories so it would be impossible to gain that much weight in fat so it has to be water retention.

Drinking plenty of water to dilute the sodium will eventually get the scale back down again in a day or more, depending on how good your kidneys work it varies for people. I never record sodium weight gain because I know it is not a true weight gain.

When you start losing weight, the first 5 lbs come off instantly because you are losing your water weight - short-term energy stores called glycogen. Every time you eat over maintenance, those stores fill up again. Additionally, salt intake can cause short-term water retention, and sometimes you can be up a few lbs because you're a little constipated.

Sodium, caffeine (really, water retention in both cases) - if you're eating fast food, even if you're under your cals, that's likely the culprit. The default sodium numbers on MFP are WAY too high (imho), so you might want to look at that.

Also hormonal fluctuations around menstruation can mess with your water retention. Once a month, I gain back everything I lost in the previous 10 days... then, a week later, it's magically gone again, along with my normal weekly loss.

Make sure you're drinking LOTS of water, esp. if you're taking in lots of salt.

Hang in there!

Salt, that time of the month, stress.