Fluctuation Frustration

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courtneymedwell2014
courtneymedwell2014 Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all! I just wanted to get an idea of how much everyone else see's their weight fluctuate? I weigh every day and do a 'weigh in' on Fridays (today in Australia) where I record my weight on my calendar and update MFP weight. Yesterday I weighed 79.5 and was stoked as I was finally under 80kg. So for the rest of the day I ate like a bird, drank lots of water and did cardio so that I would be able to record this weight today. I weighed before I went to bed and was 80.8 which I thought was ok and that I would be 79.5 again today. So this morning I got up and weighed and I was 80.6. I am sooo angry! Is it normal to fluctuate this much? Would the fluctuation be todays weight of 80.6 of yesterdays weight of 79.5? It's so hard when you get so excited for weight loss especially a milestone like this only to wake up the next day and be 1kg heavier.

Replies

  • Phoenix_Down
    Phoenix_Down Posts: 530 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I weigh as much as 3-4 lbs more from one day to the next depending on a plethora of things. Lack of bowel movements, excess cortisol from stress/lack of sleep, sodium, water retention from exercise, about a week before my TOM my weight spikes up. From morning to night I gain like 5 lbs, some days.

    You're looking for a trend over several weeks, not days. So don't sweat the daily fluctuations. There will be highs and there will be lows but the trend should show a crazy fluctuating line downward. Weight loss is a game of patience :)
  • cottony
    cottony Posts: 109 Member
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    Yup some days I weigh myself and see 57.1 and two days later it says 59.5,it frustrates me alot,but I always remember that yo-yoing is normal.
  • WithWhatsLeft
    WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
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    You don't have a weight. You have a weight range. :)
  • courtneymedwell2014
    courtneymedwell2014 Posts: 27 Member
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    I wish I could stick to only weighing on Fridays to not see these fluctuations but this is difficult when trying to lose weight. I have lost 24.5kgs so far and have at least another 10kg to go so especially at this stage in my weight loss I feel like I need to monitor it more closely so that I can change things quickly if I feel I am plateauing. Like I said it is just very frustrating to get excited about being a certain weight and then a day later being 1kg heavier. Perhaps the frustration will change once I feel like I am in a healthier weight range than I am at the moment.
  • coraborealis80
    coraborealis80 Posts: 53 Member
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    My fluctuation from morning to night tends to be 3-5 lbs/1.3-2.7kg. The higher ranges tend to be on high sodium or hard exercise days. I try not to let it get to me. I record my losses but not the gain up. So, if I'm down to say 79.5, I won't record again until 79.4 or lower.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Nobody weighs exactly XXX Lbs. Most people easily fluctuate 3-5 Lbs (1.36kg-2.26kg) throughout the day and from day to day. There's all kinds of stuff going on that has nothing to do with fat.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    If it's going to be a source of frustration then don't weigh daily. I do but it doesn't bother me. I actually find it reassuring to see how much it can change. Here's a random month from my weigh-in spreadsheet:

    123.4 125 126.8 124.8 125.4 124.4 123.8
    125 124.4 124.6 123.8 124.8 123.8 124.6
    125.8 125.8 125.2 125.2 124.8 125 125
    125.8 126 125.2 127 126.2 125.4 125
    125.8 124.6 123.2

    Notice I've got everything from 123.2 to 127. That's pretty typical.
  • RebelDiamond
    RebelDiamond Posts: 188 Member
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    I know the feeling, it's especially painful when you're trying to get under a milestone number. I've lost 20kgs so far and I'm currently stuck at the 59.9-61.5 mark... I'd just like that range to be under 60... it's such a mind game haha
  • xmarye
    xmarye Posts: 385 Member
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    I weigh-in everyday, but I only log when I lose. Usually, I have noticed that when my weight goes down, it goes back up 1-2lbs in the next couple days, and then I goes back down and some more. I log only when I lose to keep me motivated, unless the weight sticks around for longer, to keep it accurate. This has been working for me. :)
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    courtneymedwell2014 wrote: »
    I wish I could stick to only weighing on Fridays to not see these fluctuations but this is difficult when trying to lose weight. I have lost 24.5kgs so far and have at least another 10kg to go so especially at this stage in my weight loss I feel like I need to monitor it more closely so that I can change things quickly if I feel I am plateauing. Like I said it is just very frustrating to get excited about being a certain weight and then a day later being 1kg heavier. Perhaps the frustration will change once I feel like I am in a healthier weight range than I am at the moment.

    There's no way to know based on any one week whether you're plateauing or not. You need at least a few weeks of no change in order to know there might be a problem. Otherwise you're responding to things that likely don't matter, like water retention from sodium or exercise.
  • hlwick12
    hlwick12 Posts: 135 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I would highly recommend NOT weighing yourself every day. If you absolutely must, then only first thing in the morning, definitely not multiple times. One issue I noticed = "ate like a bird, drank water, and did cardio." Yeah, you're body said forget that, I'm going to hold on to every bit of bird seed and water you gave me. There are no less than 100 possible factors for someone to plateau, but most often it's bc they are not eating enough. You should never go below 1000-1200 net calories per day (calories eaten - calories burned = net). That's the minimum for women in general, but depending on how active you are (plus age, current weight), it should be even higher. If you consistently restrict your calories, your body will fight to hold on to whatever nourishment you give it. Especially closer to your goal weight. And, for ppl who workout, if you're building muscle, the scale won't always be your friend. Pay attention to how your clothes feel too, stuff like that
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    I have hardly fluctuations, sometimes a couple of ounces that is it. And that is only at TOM.
    about 4 ounce up and than from there down we go again.

    I cant prove it, and i dont want to even look if there are studies about it. But i think its because i eat salt less.
    So i dont add salt to my food/cooking at all ( medical reason). I have a couple of low sodium options for bacon and (cottage) cheese and thinned tuna. And the rest is from natural resources, so the salt that is natural there in food.

    But like i said i cant prove it. I only can say i hardly have the fluctuations.
  • ejcanavan
    ejcanavan Posts: 52 Member
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    Wow, I was just saying this to my boyfriend this morning. I have been trying very hard to get under that 140 number for months and just when I think I am going to get there .... boom the scale shows 142, 140.8, 141 .... it gets so frustrating because it's the number I want to see. It makes me angrier at myself knowing I am doing everything I should be including working out since mid-december after some pretty bad surgeries and a triple spinal block. All I can say is ... grrrrrrrrr and I completely get you !
  • saires_au
    saires_au Posts: 175 Member
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    I've been using the website trend weight to record my daily weight, it shows you the trend and smooths out the daily fluctuations

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