Okay...I don't get it! HELP!

KimF0715
KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member
in Motivation and Support
Last week was my 2nd full week on MFP. I was down 6.2lbs at my 2nd weigh in...feeling great....especially since it was that TOM. I participated in a mini-challenge and finished week three. It wasn't a GREAT week....but I logged EVERYTHING. How do I step on the scale for today's weigh in at a 4.2 GAIN!?!?!?!?

Anyone? Seriously?????

Replies

  • alisfitgoal
    alisfitgoal Posts: 32 Member
    Keep tracking your weight and calories and look for a long-term trend of weight loss. My weight (at 5'1") can fluctuate more than 5 pounds during the same day, based on water intake, what I ate, time of day, what my workout was, etc. Don't get discouraged by one weigh-in.
  • KimF0715
    KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member
    Thank you. I appreciate that. Trust me...I didn't expect a LOSS this week. Maybe stay the same....or gained a pound....but 4.2???? Yikes
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    KimF0715 wrote: »
    Thank you. I appreciate that. Trust me...I didn't expect a LOSS this week. Maybe stay the same....or gained a pound....but 4.2???? Yikes

    You also shouldn't expect to lose 6lbs in a week (or even two). Your weight is jumping around; it's ok. Fluctuations are normal. Look at overall trends (there are lots of apps and websites for viewing overall weight trends instead of individual weigh-ins).
  • sanfromny
    sanfromny Posts: 770 Member
    Not sure what your starting weight was but losing 6lbs in a week sounds pretty drastic and uncommon and a bad set up because you can't possibly lose that much for an extended period of time. 1-2lbs is usually target so it actually sounds like your body evened out. Possibly water weight?
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    Keep track of your weight loss as an average. Sounds like you are losing about 1 lb/week, which is great! Sad to say, a 4 lb fluctuation is not all that unusual.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Unless you are obese, you should expect to lose on average around a pound a week. Some weeks you may lose a lot more, and other weeks you may gain, but over the course of 4-6 weeks you should look at the average to get a feel for your rate of loss. TOM will mess with your numbers - water weight shoots up, water weight shoots down. I never weigh myself during that time, it's always a weird a useless number :)
  • upoffthemat
    upoffthemat Posts: 679 Member
    I know when last I lost 80 pounds in three months my weight loss was sometimes like that. I would lose 10 pounds in a week, gain a few, lose a few, lose a lot, gain a few. The thing was the trend was always downward. There are a lot of things that can impact weight loss though, are you weighing at the same time? I would recommend in the morning before you eat or drink every time.
  • KimF0715
    KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member
    edited January 2016
    Ugh! I hear ya. A 4.2 loss my first week was HUGE, but I wasn't too shocked. My eating habits were awful during much of November and December. I hate to be graphic, but constipation was an ongoing thing at that time. I was really eating so poorly....and not just snacking...but having crummy rushed meals of whatever I could grab, which was AWFUL. I have Celiac Disease, so I am limited to begin with and in order to stay gluten free....hey....two mini bags of Baked Lays potato chips for lunch? No problem.

    So, when I started to eat tons of fruits and veggies and drink 100oz of water a day in my first week...? Not only did my stomach say "what the heck is going on here?" but I DID expect the scale to move. I knew it wasn't a FAT loss, but a loss of bloat and toxins and God knows what else. LOL

    The two pounds the week after I thought was a little big too....but I was glad...I was really disciplined.

    But to show a gain of 4.2 is NUTS. Fluctuation CITY!!!!!!!

    BTW...I am 5'3" and ....as of today anyway...144 lbs. I would love to lose about 15 pounds. 130 would be a great goal weight. I was 124 pre-pregnancy (gulp! 12 years ago) and I think that would be too thin for me now, at my age, soon to be 45.

    So I'll keep on truckin' !!

  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
    edited January 2016
    A lb of fat is about 3500 calories. If you consider the amount you lost x 3500, you should be able to quickly deduce that you haven't been running that large of a deficit below maintenance that would be necessary to account for that large of a loss.

    Likewise, you should also be able to deduce that you didn't consume the amount of calories required above maintenance to account for that large of a weight gain.

    Fluctuations are annoying but they're part of learning to understanding your weight and your progress and even your diet.
    I track daily weight in a trending app to have a record and to see if my weight is trending up, down, or staying the same, and I just record all-time new low weights in MFP and consider new lows as my true weight.
  • KimF0715
    KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member
    sanfromny wrote: »
    Not sure what your starting weight was but losing 6lbs in a week sounds pretty drastic and uncommon and a bad set up because you can't possibly lose that much for an extended period of time. 1-2lbs is usually target so it actually sounds like your body evened out. Possibly water weight?


    I hear ya. The 6.2 was over two weeks. But yeah...big change.
  • KimF0715
    KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member
    makingmark wrote: »
    I know when last I lost 80 pounds in three months my weight loss was sometimes like that. I would lose 10 pounds in a week, gain a few, lose a few, lose a lot, gain a few. The thing was the trend was always downward. There are a lot of things that can impact weight loss though, are you weighing at the same time? I would recommend in the morning before you eat or drink every time.

    I am. I am always on the scale on Monday mornings before breakfast.

    You know...I've only owned a scale for the past 5 years or so. I rarely weighed myself when I was in my 20s (my weight was so stable) and I only started weighing myself regularly in work (at the school nurse's office) in my 30s when I was sick and losing weight at an alarming rate. I never thought a scale was a good idea in anyone's home. Being a teenager in the 1980s ....when anorexia and bulimia were suddenly becoming public for awareness....I knew early on not to attach any emotions or frustrations to a number on a scale. My mother never owned a scale either.

    So now that I'm older, over 40....pre-menopausal....now I'm watching this scale thing. Very interesting.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    KimF0715 wrote: »

    BTW...I am 5'3" and ....as of today anyway...144 lbs. I would love to lose about 15 pounds. 130 would be a great goal weight. I was 124 pre-pregnancy (gulp! 12 years ago) and I think that would be too thin for me now, at my age, soon to be 45.

    So I'll keep on truckin' !!

    I don't say this to be a negative Nancy but to give you a frame of reference - I have pretty similar stats to you. I went from 145 to now @ 130. It took me over a year to lose that 15 lbs. When you are already in a healthy weight range, it is really hard to eat low enough calories to lose more than half pound per week, and every little water-weight or hormonal or digestive fluctuation or scale inconsistency can make it difficult to see your progress. I would sometimes go a month with no change or even a gain, and then a quick correction down a couple of lbs over a week or two. Patience, careful logging, and consistency are the best tips that I can give you. Good luck!
  • tcatcarson
    tcatcarson Posts: 227 Member
    Have a look here - take a longer term view and most of us notice ups as well as downs. But good will triumph in the end!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10283553/weight-loss-is-not-linear
  • KimF0715
    KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member


    [/quote]

    I don't say this to be a negative Nancy but to give you a frame of reference - I have pretty similar stats to you. I went from 145 to now @ 130. It took me over a year to lose that 15 lbs. When you are already in a healthy weight range, it is really hard to eat low enough calories to lose more than half pound per week, and every little water-weight or hormonal or digestive fluctuation or scale inconsistency can make it difficult to see your progress. I would sometimes go a month with no change or even a gain, and then a quick correction down a couple of lbs over a week or two. Patience, careful logging, and consistency are the best tips that I can give you. Good luck![/quote]

    No not negative Nancy at all. When you are at a healthy BMI weight will crawl off....it's as though you are always trying to lose the last 10 pounds.

  • KimF0715
    KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member
    tcatcarson wrote: »
    Have a look here - take a longer term view and most of us notice ups as well as downs. But good will triumph in the end!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10283553/weight-loss-is-not-linear

    Thank you! Very informative!
  • KimF0715
    KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member
    And just like that....in 24 hours....4 pound gain is gone. Cue the Twillight Zone theme. Lol

    Thanks for the encouraging words!
  • Amby6912
    Amby6912 Posts: 17 Member


    1. Always weigh in at the same time and under the same conditions every time you weigh. For me this is first thing in the morning. I use the toilet, strip and weigh. The scale is in front of the toilet so I don't forget. It doesn't matter what time I get up, so long as I drink or eat absolutely nothing prior to stepping on the scale.
    2. Take other measurements such as waist and hips. You may not see a difference on the scale but the measurements might.
    3. A pound of fat and pound of muscle each weigh a pound. The difference is a pound of muscle takes up less space in your body than the pound of fat. You may not have lost weight but gained the equivalent in muscle.

    The last few weeks I've had to learn this myself. It's hard, not seeing the scale budge. I also had to learn to only weigh once a week or every other week. It's hard to see so much fluctuation. Weight fluctuates so much. Even needing to poop can cause you to retain weight. For women, the point in the menstrual cycle can cause bloat and water retention.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    You might also see if your scale weighs ounces as well as pounds. Like, 150.4. That was much more encouraging than I thought it would be for that last 10 pounds as I could see little differences each week.
  • 3bambi3
    3bambi3 Posts: 1,650 Member
    Just a thought:

    If you're always weighing in on Mondays, maybe change it to Wednesdays if you're only doing once a week. On the weekends many of us indulge in extra sodium or carbs that can lead to water retention and crazier fluctuations. I know that I am always up on Mondays because waffles, but it's gone in a day or two.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    - Early, quick losses are normal, but they aren't what most people think or would like to think they are...they are mostly water losses and scale losses due to less inherent waste in your system from eating less in general.

    - After two to three weeks, things normalize...this is when people generally tend to get discouraged because it slows down to a normal rate of loss and this is also where natural fluctuations can mask things on the scale. This is where people tend to fall off the wagon rather than understanding and putting faith in the overall process...they fall of the wagon and go backwards. Consistency in the process is where you get results over time (like more than a few weeks).

    - The process isn't a linear one...body weight isn't a static figure, thus weight loss cannot be a linear function. You will always have natural fluctuations due to water retention/release, more/less waste in your system, hormones, etc. These fluctuations can be 3-5 Lbs day to day for many people...so let's say you lose 1 Lb of fat, but are retaining 3 Lbs of water...what's the scale going to say? Weight management in general is about long term trend analysis, not a few weigh ins.

    - I personally don't find Monday to be the best weigh in day...weekends are when I indulge in things that I might otherwise not indulge in during the week...more alcohol, out to dinner at a nice restaurant but it's still a sodium bomb none the less...things like that. These kind of things are probably not going to put on a bunch of fat over a weekend, but the excess salt, possible dehydration, etc can show up on the scale. While I do weigh in daily, my official day is Thursday.

    - Make sure you're weighing in under the same conditions at roughly the same time.
  • KimF0715
    KimF0715 Posts: 114 Member
    3bambi3 wrote: »
    Just a thought:

    If you're always weighing in on Mondays, maybe change it to Wednesdays if you're only doing once a week. On the weekends many of us indulge in extra sodium or carbs that can lead to water retention and crazier fluctuations. I know that I am always up on Mondays because waffles, but it's gone in a day or two.

    That's a great idea !!!!

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