Sudden Jump in Weight - I just don't understand

I wouldn't stress too much

Could be anything

Higher sodium foods

If you haven't been a toilet

Drinking less water than usual, or not enough?

Maybe water weight from the alcohol if you haven't had it in a while..........Give it a week or so then weigh, Weigh everyday is not good as you can weight can change up to 5lbs any given day.

Once a week is good to weigh : )

It's a normal daily fluctuation

Here's the thing.. If you are going to weigh yourself every day.. You HAVE to tell yourself that a pound or 2 gain IS NOT something to flip out about. It is just fluctuations in your body and it is NORMAL.

Don't sweat it. I have had 8 pound swings in 1 day. Stick to measurements to truly track progress. If you are eating under maintenance that's all you need to do to succeed. Don't forget that a gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds. A 20 ounce bottle of water is 1.3 pounds.

I weigh myself daily BUT look at my 30 day results. For example Friday I was 185- a new low but Sat 186.8 Sunday 186.6 and this morning 185.6 but over the 30 day graph the downward trend is unmistakeable!

It happens. Weight loss just isn't as linear as we'd like it to be. I was staying in my calorie budget the last 3 weeks, and for two of those weeks stayed the same weight, and even put on half a pound. It still makes me feel crappy after about a year and a half of doing this, but I've learned to push through it and trust the process. Sure enough, this last weigh in I had lost a little over 3 lbs, to equal out to the 1 lb I should have been losing per week. There have been many times in this journey where I have thought "WTF body, what are you doing???".
I wouldn't worry about being stuck or gaining a pound or so unless it continues for more than a few weeks.

^^^^^This^^^^

I've been doing great with my food, logging, exercise etc and the past three Saturday weigh-ins have looked like this.
Saturday: -1.1 lb
The Next Saturday: -0.4 lb
The Saturday After Next: + 0.6 lb

So yeah since I'm a weekly weigher it sucks when it's like that as it'll be another week to see how it's going. It's very hard not to get pissed and discouraged. But I've been doing this a long time so I know I have to trust that it'll work out in the end. I've lost 9 lbs since Thanksgiving, so I'm on track loss-wise for me. But it is hard not to be like WTF?

TOM makes a difference for me - I can jump up 3-4 lbs for a couple of days and then suddenly drop again. I've been tracking daily (give or take a day here and there) just to make sense of the increase and to see if it happens every month. It does - and it happens about 2 weeks before TOM starts, not during or just before, 2 weeks before. Every single month.

I wouldn't sweat it. I was up 3 lbs yesterday, dropped 4 lbs today. Our body weight just fluctuates - that's why when I choose my goal weight - it's not going to be a single # but a weight range. I have a great deal left to lose, so I haven't decided on a final weight yet. We'll see what happens the closer I get to onederland. I'll re-asess once I get there.

I weigh myself fairly often but I only log my weight and tape measure on the first of the month to see the real trend. I was 6 pounds heavier Monday than I was on Sunday. Today I was 2 pounds lighter than yesterday. It just varies.

Also some of the weight you've lost could be from depleted glycogen levels through calorie restriction and exercise. Carbing up (be it through food choices or alcohol) can account for some weight gain. Higher glycogen levels in your system can be accompanied with more water retention.

Not a doctor but just info I've gleamed from other people.

Here's the thing.. If you are going to weigh yourself every day.. You HAVE to tell yourself that a pound or 2 gain IS NOT something to flip out about. It is just fluctuations in your body and it is NORMAL.

QFT. I weigh myself daily, though I record my weight on MFP only once a week to avoid annoying those on my friends list with constant updates. Here are my numbers for the last week; I was eating at a deficit every day:

2/04: 164.6
2/05: 164.4 (down 0.2)
2/06: 165.2 (up 0.8)
2/07: 165.3 (up 0.1)
2/08: 165.3 (no change)
2/09: 166.1 (up 0.8)
2/10: 166.0 (down 0.1)
2/11: 163.3 (down 2.7)

Since I was at a deficit every day, the 1.4 lb. that I gained from Feb. 4 to Feb. 10 was retained water and solids. And most of what I lost from yesterday to today was water and solids.

I use an exponentially smoothed weighted average to identify the trend beneath those fluctuations, as as John Walker explains in "The Hacker's Diet" (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/). The chapter on "The Rubber Bag" explains, briefly, the source of these fluctuations. The chapter on "Signal and Noise" explains the benefits of an exponentially smoothed weighted average and how to calculate it, but you can also set up a free account on his server to do it for you, or use a service like Beeminder or TrendWeight.com.

It happens. Weight loss just isn't as linear as we'd like it to be. I was staying in my calorie budget the last 3 weeks, and for two of those weeks stayed the same weight, and even put on half a pound. It still makes me feel crappy after about a year and a half of doing this, but I've learned to push through it and trust the process. Sure enough, this last weigh in I had lost a little over 3 lbs, to equal out to the 1 lb I should have been losing per week. There have been many times in this journey where I have thought "WTF body, what are you doing???".
I wouldn't worry about being stuck or gaining a pound or so unless it continues for more than a few weeks.

^^^^^This^^^^

I've been doing great with my food, logging, exercise etc and the past three Saturday weigh-ins have looked like this.
Saturday: -1.1 lb
The Next Saturday: -0.4 lb
The Saturday After Next: + 0.6 lb

So yeah since I'm a weekly weigher it sucks when it's like that as it'll be another week to see how it's going. It's very hard not to get pissed and discouraged. But I've been doing this a long time so I know I have to trust that it'll work out in the end. I've lost 9 lbs since Thanksgiving, so I'm on track loss-wise for me. But it is hard not to be like WTF?

FYI, I lost 1.9lbs this week when I weighed on Saturday, so you can see from above that it all worked out. Trust the process and just keep trudging onwards

Hi All,

I've been weighing and tracking my food for about a month now. Everything was going well. I've lost a little over 5 lbs. A week ago I cut back on alcohol as well and didn't drink all week (which is unusual for me). Sunday was my free day and I had some vodka martini's but stayed within my calorie goal (I stick to 1500 regardless of excercise, I'm 31, started at 170, 5'6). Monday I saw a gain on the scale but chalked it up to water weight, maybe from the alcohol? Today I was expecting to see myself go back to normal and saw another pound gain, for two pounds over two days. That's almost half the amount I've lost so far! How is this possible? I'm religious about weighing food, tracking everything, and yesterday I even went on my normal 3.5 mile run (I run about 4/5 times a week). What am I doing wrong? Is it normal to gain two pounds in two days? I will make my diary public after this post so you all can look. Any tips are appreciated. What a bummer to what was beginning to look like a good streak!

I wouldn't worry about it. 2 pounds in normal fluctuation in a day. Keep focusing on creating a normal calorie deficit every day and make that your goal. Also try to choose foods that will give you the maximum amount of nutrition and be active every day. If these are your goals, the weight will continue to come off.
For me, in the past, when I focused on the scale number, a gain in two pounds made me miserable and self-critical which always sends me straight to my friends, Ben & Jerry Instead, I just focus on the goals I mentioned above and so far it has been slow, but it's been working. Good luck!

About a month, you say?

Would it be time for your period?

I didn't know this made a difference?

after 17-20 years of having TOM you were unaware that women retain water during it?

Oh so important to understand for the ladies, your period has a TREMENDOUS influence on your day to day weight. I weigh daily, have for years, and it does take a certain mental toughness to be able to take days like that and not get the hopeless feeling and want to give up. And don't let it fool you because it's not necessarily right when you start your period that you're gonna see the number jump. For me it's a few days to a week before, and actually my weight drops a couple pounds (fluctuation) when it starts.

Here's the thing. You know when you're doing right/well by your eating and exercise. You kinda know even after a month how your weight will trend, whether you're sticking to the plan or having a cheat day, if you weigh daily, you know how your body will respond.

But the number on the scale is another story, if you had too little water or too much salt (and your body starts retaining water) or if you weighed 30 minutes earlier than normal because you had to get to work early (scale will be higher!), or if you weighed before you used the bathroom, or if your hair is still wet, or yes, the period thing. THAT'S where the confusion comes in.

If you just do the right thing most days, you'll get the response you want OVER TIME. But who knows what number will show up. I can't say don't do it, for me daily weighing is almost like a ritual, just re-focusing and trying to remind myself where I am and what I want to do. But if you treat it as a focus, it's likely to send you off course quickly. It'll drop randomly after you've been bad and make you feel like martinis help you lose weight, and it'll rise randomly after you've been good and make you feel like there's no point.

Good luck, just keep doing what you're doing.