How do you know whats water, fluctuation, or weight gain?

Makoce
Makoce Posts: 938 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Im in the process of upping to maintenance.
Im nervous after being at a low calorie deficient for so long.

I've seen so many people say that maintenance is trial and error before you get it right.
But Ive also seen so many people who can't keep up with/gain back weight when switching and are back to losing again.

So when you're trying to figure out your maintenance, how do you know what is daily fluctuation, what is a return of water, and what is actual weight gain?
Especially because im still losing and the scale is all over.
I understand measurements seem to help..but Im not sure what measurements to take, where, and how to accurately re-measure the same spots?

How do you decipher from these things and stay on track.

Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Change your goal to maintenance and keep logging accurately & honestly. Change only one thing at a time, and space the changes out enough that if you start gaining, you can easily tell which change to "undo."
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    To figure out what is normal fluctuations and what is actual gains/losses, look at the long term trends. When I first started maintenance, I weighed daily at different parts of the day for several weeks to get an idea how my weight fluctuated. I kept weighing weekly and noticed over several months that my weight was still moving down slowly. I had to up my calorie goal slightly to maintain.

    Some people weigh regularly and use a moving average. I've heard there is an app available that does this. Others use a window, and if they fall outside that window, they make adjustments.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    Yep, you have to look at what your weight is doing over time. If you keep gaining over a few weeks, then you're eating too much. If you're entering your maintenance phase and adding calories, then it helps to go slowly and just add say 100 or so at a time. Then, if you gain a little, you can give it time to settle before judging whether you're now eating at maintenance or not.

    It can be helpful to measure things like waist, hips, bust etc. There are lots of sites that will show you how if you google it. Yes, it can be inaccurate, so just be aware that there needs to be some room for error, but it gives you a better idea of what's going on.

    Taking note of how well your clothes fit helps also, especially well-fitting clothes like jeans. Again, that's just part of the picture. My jeans are fitting very tightly at the moment due to Christmas indulging - I haven't gained inches elsewhere though, just my waist. It's probably more indicative of a tummy full of food than actual fat gain.

    Basically though, with any of these methods, you have to look at things over time, while being aware of the types of situations that cause larger fluctuations. And don't panic; significant fat gain isn't going to happen quickly from slightly overestimating your TDEE. You'll be able to see what's happening and adjust before that happens.
  • Laura3BB
    Laura3BB Posts: 250 Member
    I'm in maintenance now. If my weight goes back up by more than 1 kg, I will lower my calorie intake. That's all.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    For me I tend to see water weight in my hands and ankles and it goes away in 1 - 3 days. Plus I know when I've had a high sodium meal.

    With fat gain I tend to see it on my face (cheeks and chin) and sometimes with a small layer of fat on my belly (not bloating) including a slightly larger waist measurement number. Also it takes much longer to get back to normal like a week - 10 days.

    Fluctuations can happen after a day of lifting, a day after a heavy carb day or just because and I don't go crazy, although it played with my mind for a long time.

    Once I got my body fat percent to normal levels it's been easy to see the water/weight gain. I like being able to see the extra weight on me too...it gives me incentives to get it off!
  • Seesawboomerang
    Seesawboomerang Posts: 296 Member
    As has already been said, watch for recurring trends. Look at your morning weight compared with your evening weight and use the difference as a benchmark for usual fluctuations. If over a period of weeks your weight steadily increases, then adjust your calorie goal.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    Some people gradually increase eg by 100 cals a day. This allows your body to get used to the increase. I did it by 500 cals a day but my reasoning was that I'd just use more of it in muscle development.

    As others have said, long term trends are a better indicator.
  • alienrite
    alienrite Posts: 314 Member
    I use Trendweight.com (free website) which does a good job of averaging your daily weight and showing if you are trending higher or lower. Takes almost all of the stress from figuring it out. Once you start feeding your body at or near maintenance levels after a sustained calorie deficit, your body will "fill up" with glycogen and water. For me it is about 4 lb increase. Clothing fit and measurements are critical to track. The other thing you need to be cautious about is that when your daily calories are set at maintenance, every time you go over, there isn't any means built into your following day(s) calorie goals to help bring your back down. When we are in loss mode, a day here or there over our limit is quickly absorbed by the following day(s) deficit. When you're at maintenance, the excess calories aren't compensated for and there will be a tendency for your weight to creep back up. Just be mindful and keep yourself focused...I have been essentially maintaining for the last 6 month and it is a different and you need to be mindful.
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
    Did you eat roughly 3500 calories above your maintenance calories? If so, then you may have gained roughly 1lb of fat.

    Did you eat more carbs than you normally did and/or did you eat foods higher in sodium than your normal diet BUT you did not eat 3500 calories above maintenance? If so, then you have not 1lb of fat.

    Anything else is not relevant for long term sustainable health and weight loss.
  • pipcd34
    pipcd34 Posts: 17,277 Member
    I've been at maintenance for over a yr now... I still log like I did when I was trying to loose. I am under my goal weight which is good but I want to be careful and not be too thin for what I like. I weigh myself pretty regularly so I keep myself in check. what's even worse for me is that my job location has changed so my workout schedule has changed. I used to workout every day b4 going to work (ride my bike to and from work year round). now I can only workout every other week b4 going to work. just gotta be diligent.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    Some people weigh regularly and use a moving average. I've heard there is an app available that does this. Others use a window, and if they fall outside that window, they make adjustments.

    Trendweight.com can do this. So can The Hacker's Diet Online, the free tool created by John Walker, author of "The Hacker's Diet" (available free at http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/). The theory behind it is explained in Walker's chapter on "Signal and Noise," and how to use it while maintaining is explained in the chapter "Perfect Weight Forever."

    I highly recommend reading Walker's book. Don't take it as gospel, but think about it. He approaches weight loss as an engineering and management problem - a way to compensate for a faulty appetite.
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    Thanks guys! Was just ( and still am ) pretty nervous.
    When you're at a deficit for almost a year you get scared of upping again because you dont want to be at square one!
    And other peoples failures intimidate you.

    Also looks like you need a special scale to use that site
  • westendcurls
    westendcurls Posts: 252 Member
    Andriod has a free app called Libra that works well. Also if you type weight avrage into the play store search there are quite a few others.
  • einzweidrei
    einzweidrei Posts: 381 Member
    Thanks guys! Was just ( and still am ) pretty nervous.
    When you're at a deficit for almost a year you get scared of upping again because you dont want to be at square one!
    And other peoples failures intimidate you.

    Also looks like you need a special scale to use that site

    If you're nervous about it, you could always just up your calories slowly.

    I actually started to do that slowly as I was still trying to lose weight (toward the end when I had not much left to lose) and I would say over time, I went from 1400-->1540-->1700-->1920. I'll average about 1900-2000/day (I pay attention to weekly calories) and that's without working out because I don't do much of that right now. ;-) I'm actually a 5:2-->6:1 person but I don't always fast every week and I will generally eat like 3500 calories on a Saturday.

    This is what I do to keep an eye on my weight: I have a range that I like to stay in, let's say between 137-141. You need a range (not just one number) because your weight will fluctuate. If I see myself start to go out of that range, then I know I might be gaining.
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,654 Member
    Also looks like you need a special scale to use that site

    Trendweight takes advantage of networked scale readings, which us exactly why I like it so much... It's effortless tracking. But there is an iOS app called Happy Scale that does the same thing using manual readings, meaning you enter your weight when you weigh in and it does the calculations for you.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    Once I got to my goal weight, I really couldn't care less what the scale says at any point after that. If at any point I'm unhappy with what I look like naked or with how my clothes are fitting, then I will adjust accordingly.

    Edit because I made a giant idiom fail.
  • MickeS
    MickeS Posts: 108 Member
    www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/993576-why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut
    Maybe this can be of interest ?

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