Broke a plateau -- lost 3 lbs. in one week. How?

rosebette
rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I wish I could explain this, but I've been at a plateau for almost four months. All of a sudden, I lost 3 lbs. this week. I got on the scale 3 times to make sure (I have an analog scale, not a digital one). I haven't been doing anything differently; in fact, this week I worked out less than in previous weeks due to a busy schedule and unable to go to the gym. I've just been walking 30 minutes a day, whereas I usually do strength training, etc. I have been eating less because I don't have the exercise calories; maybe I was overeating on the exercise calories? I just hope I'm not losing muscle.

Replies

  • allyphoe
    allyphoe Posts: 618 Member
    Random water weight fluctuation.
  • rprussell2004
    rprussell2004 Posts: 870 Member
    Random water weight fluctuation.

    Probably this.

    I fluctuate 3 lbs in a single DAY.

    On the (hopefully) more reassuring side - I recently broke a plateau of four months. It just took patience, with a side of dropping my daily calorie allotment by 200 because I think I started needing less.

    Don't sweat it, if you're doing everything right.
  • shireeniebeanie
    shireeniebeanie Posts: 293 Member
    It's the "whoosh!"
    Weight loss is rarely ever linear.

    For me, it often follows an occasional maintenance-level day.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    It's probably a drop in water owing to not strength training. Be prepared that this may return once you start training again.
  • sismyn13
    sismyn13 Posts: 23 Member
    When you work out your muscles may get sore and hydrate themselves with water. This makes you hold onto excess fluid. When the muscle heal, they release the extra water. I gained 10 pounds overnight when I first started working out. I have lost most of it this past week. You go! Great way to keep motivated!
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
    The last 3 times something similar happened to me, I'm pretty sure I was dehydrated. For me, less workouts= less water.
  • danelutza19
    danelutza19 Posts: 2,025 Member
    It's funny how that happens: you workout really hard, you eat good but the lb don't go nowhere. Then, for various reasons you break out of your routine, you do less and bam: you are loosing!
    How can that be? It is so common you wouldn't believe!
    Relax, you are not loosing muscle, what you are loosing is water and some fat. After you put your body in a state of stress( the good kind, exercise ) your body is thrown a curve ball and will sometimes fight you to make sure it has resources to keep you going: (your eating less than maintenance and exercising ) so it's storing extra water, even fat because it believes it's in a state of peril. When you take it easy for a week or two your body normalizes, finds a balance and is willing to shed the extra deposits.
    Think of this as an internal regulation where the body adjusts to the new weight, does some math and realizes that it's efficient to loose some stored fat. It's finally catching up with all that you've been doing.
    Let this be a milestone and lesson for you to adjust your activity level, sometimes less is more. Just to be clear, unless you're training for an event there no reason you should burn more than 3500 exercise calories a week. Remember that weight loss is 80% diet and only 20% exercise. Another way to avoid such plateau is to have refeed days every week when you eat more, around maintenance, or just up your daily calories to accommodate your active lifestyle ( aim for about 200 cal extra a day).
    Congrats on your loss! Enjoy
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Assuming you're not dehydrated at the moment, odds are that you were losing fat all along but water retention was masking the fat loss.
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    It's very possible you're burning more calories in your 30 minute walks vs strength training. I don't know how you estimated what you burned doing the strength training, but those extra calories you ate back might be why you were in a plateau in the first place.
  • LoneWolf_70
    LoneWolf_70 Posts: 1,151 Member
    poop
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    My weight loss has been like this for the entire 5+ months I've been doing this. Nothing (or very little) lost for 4 weeks at a time, then 2+lbs in a week. Then another 3-4 week "stall" followed by 3 lbs lost over a week or so. No appreciable change in workouts or dietary intake, either. I've stopped questioning why this is and just accept this is a water/glycogen store type of thing.

    ETA: Oh, I reread the OP where you state you've done less/no strength training this week. Yep, extra glycogen stores being dropped. When you restart the strength training, do not be surprised if the weight goes back up a little bit. Your body needs those stores for muscle repair!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    It's probably a drop in water owing to not strength training. Be prepared that this may return once you start training again.
    Very possibly this. Also, it's possible that you've lost some fat. as a result of your hard work. As fat cells are emptied, they fill with water. Eventually, that water is released and often all at once which gives the "whoosh!" effect.
  • kwantlen2051
    kwantlen2051 Posts: 455 Member
    Moderate exercise mainly walking and trying not to eat back all exercise calories - that's how I lost weight too! I found that when I ate back my exercise calories even when I was exercising a lot, I didn't lose weight! funny!
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
    Well, let's see if the loss sticks. I actually lost inches before the pounds fell off. I guess I shouldn't worry if I go up a bit when I resume my training schedule. I do wonder about the calorie estimate for walking. MFP estimates 90 for 30 minutes for 3 MPH, so eating back 90 calories is not eating a heck of a lot -- an apple or a nonfat yogurt, compared to the 300+ I would eat back for a kickboxing or circuit training workout. If I don't eat everything back after a heavier workout, though, I really notice the fatigue

    The other thing is that my classroom/office locations are further away than in the summer and I have a 15-20 lb. roller bag. I put in about 2-3 miles (I wear a pedometer) on campus as part of my daily work routinethat I don't track, and on at least one day during the week, the elevator is broken, and I have to climb 4 flights of stairs with the bag. I would not recommend this as a regular fitness practice, though; my shoulder is in worse shape than if I had worked out. So, my TDEE may be higher than I think it is.

    For the person who said "poop" probably not since those habits haven't changed this week!

    Anyway, I guess it's a good lesson on why we shouldn't give up.
  • uconnwinsnc1
    uconnwinsnc1 Posts: 902 Member
    I weigh like 5 pounds more at night than I do in the morning...lol

    Our bodies lose weight all kinds of weird ways. Sometimes it just comes off really quickly other times it happens slowly. As long your bf% or body weight is going down with no signs of muscles weakening then you're good to go!

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