Accurate weight recording after a binge.

Bella77007
Bella77007 Posts: 78 Member
edited December 1 in Health and Weight Loss
On Saturday I had a binge, my TDEE is about 1400, I ate 4200 so should gain from that.

Anyway as suspected the next day I was 4 pounds up, never mind, I know that can happen.

Wednesday is my day for weighing and recording my weight, I got on the scale today and the water weight is gone and my weight is back to what it was before my not so little splurge, well down a bit actually.

Wednesday last week it was 100.3 pounds, today it is 99.5 pounds.

I am not trying to lose weight, in fact I am trying to maintain it and it doesn't even matter if I go up a pound or two but my question is do I trust today's reading and log it or should I wait a few days?

I ask because when I was losing it would take a week to see the loss, now that I am expecting to gain I am wondering if 4 days is really long enough for that gain to show or would it need a bit longer to register?

Replies

  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    You only gained easily available glycogen and water with the quick gain-- not stored yet as fat. If you burn off the new glycogen stores right away you will lose water weight at about a rate of a 3:1 water to glycogen ratio. That is why it dropped off so suddenly. I can gain 4 pounds quickly also, but it takes me several days to drop new water weight in my case.
  • Bella77007
    Bella77007 Posts: 78 Member
    Thank you, yes I am over thinking, my BMI had gone to 18.6 and my husband was saying I am anorexic, in a very childish and petulant act of 'proving him wrong' I just ate...and ate!

    Although I realize that it was childish I was somewhat hoping that I may see a gain and was surprised when I didn't or at least have not done yet and am rather surprised to have instead seen yet another loss, I eat well on a daily basis,no restricting and happily indulge on birthdays and such yet have been seeing loss on a steady basis and I had increased calories too.

    Anyway I'm off to see the doctor tomorrow afternoon, I really don't think I have an eating disorder but if it reassures my husband I am happy to go and I can go over my calorie intake and activity with her too, I know many people who are at low end BMI and healthy but I don't want to drop any lower, based on this week's weight it is now 18.5 so I can't afford to lose anymore.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    To maintain your weight, you should eat at maintenance every day. If you exercise, you need to make sure you're eating more on average or eating more that day. How did you calculate your TDEE? Maybe you're underestimating exercise calories?
  • Bella77007
    Bella77007 Posts: 78 Member
    I was going off MFP guide initially but steadily lost 0.5 pounds per week, I increased by 100 per day but soon after that got a Fitbit, at that point I really should have been eating back some exercise calories but it was my daughter's birthday on May 11th and I knew I would eat more than usual so didn't think I would need to that week.

    A week later I had lost 1.3 pounds so again I was slightly confused but thought 'Never mind, I'll just make sure I eat back some exercise calories in future', I only went for half of them because I was worried the amounts were too generous,but based on my body data it would seem they are not and I do need to eat them all back, I am fairly new to exercise and it has just been fast paced walking so far but it does seem to be making more difference than I initially thought it would.
  • KorvapuustiPossu
    KorvapuustiPossu Posts: 434 Member
    edited May 2016
    You need to eat more if you are still losing weigh. As far as Fitbit goes I personally find mine to be pretty accurate. Try eating ALL of your exercise calories back...if you notice you are slowly gaining you can lower it a little bit. At that low BMI it's better to eat a bit more rather than less. There is no damage to your body at this point if you'd end up gaining 1-2 lbs while figuring out your TDEE...however getting to even lower weight might be bad and unhealthy.
  • Bella77007
    Bella77007 Posts: 78 Member
    Thank you, yes you are right, it would be far better to gain a little weight than to lose some at this point, I will match my intake with my fitbit reading and hopefully things will steady out that way.
  • skinnyforhi
    skinnyforhi Posts: 340 Member
    If your husband made that comment in a not-joking way, I would probably wonder what was behind that, regardless of what the doctor says. The doctor will see you for 15 minutes. Your husband is around you all the time.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    if you have a fitbit, to maintain, eat every calorie it tells you you burned, every day. It will be close enough that you shouldn't see sudden surges one way or the other. Once you notice a trend (as in 4 weeks of data) that say you're gaining/losing, then maybe tweak what you're doing. But to maintain, I'd definitely trust if for now.
  • Bella77007
    Bella77007 Posts: 78 Member
    Thank you @WBB55 I will do that and see what happens over 4 weeks, I know you need a bit of time to get a true picture of what is going on, obviously eating back half isn't enough so I need more and it wouldn't be an issue if I did gain a little initially.

    @skinnyforhi I do understand what you are saying, personally I don't think I have a problem but I appreciate that often it takes someone else who is close to you to see it, unfortunately I have an anxiety disorder but the plus side to that is that I do also have a mental health nurse who I am in regular contact with, this gives me somewhat of an advantage because I can go over this with both my doctor and the MH nurse and my husband is going to be there so he can voice his concerns too.
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