Can someone please explain this to me?

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CoffeeandCats2
CoffeeandCats2 Posts: 49 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been tracking my calories religiously for the past 4 days with 1200 intake and a lot of exercise. My weight went from 173.6 to 172 and that pretty much matches up to my calorie deficit. The only problem is that when my weight was 173.6, the previous day it was 172 and there is no way I ate enough to gain 1.6 lb. So I thought it was just water retention. So now my weight should be lower than 172, what happened? And TMI but yes I did pass bowel movement so that's not the culprit......
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  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    What Noel said.
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
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    Your weight can fluctuate by several pounds daily just from water.
  • KimiAR
    KimiAR Posts: 117 Member
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    Water. Differing amounts of sodium eaten different days can cause your weight to fluctuate widely. If you're female, the hormone cycle can cause you to retain water. If you work out, how much you sweat compared to how much you hydrated can change how much water your body has in storage. There are several factors.
  • dmt4641
    dmt4641 Posts: 409 Member
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    It has been 4 days. Weight will fluctuate up and down whether you are dieting or not. Your previous 172 may have been a low day, and now it is a normal day. You need to track weight trends over weeks/months, not days.

    Keep at it and it will keep going down.
  • CoffeeandCats2
    CoffeeandCats2 Posts: 49 Member
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    dmt4641 wrote: »
    It has been 4 days. Weight will fluctuate up and down whether you are dieting or not. Your previous 172 may have been a low day, and now it is a normal day. You need to track weight trends over weeks/months, not days.

    Keep at it and it will keep going down.

    Thanks. I did refrain from weighing myself from the 173 until now after reading some posts here about weight not being linear.
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
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    CoffeeandCats2 wrote: »
    I have been tracking my calories religiously for the past 4 days with 1200 intake and a lot of exercise. My weight went from 173.6 to 172 and that pretty much matches up to my calorie deficit. The only problem is that when my weight was 173.6, the previous day it was 172 and there is no way I ate enough to gain 1.6 lb. So I thought it was just water retention. So now my weight should be lower than 172, what happened? And TMI but yes I did pass bowel movement so that's not the culprit......

    You answered your own question. Unless you ate an extra 5600 calories over and above your 1200 plus exercise burn, you didn't gain. Daily fluctuations occur. You've only been at this for 4 days. For your own sanity, relax, read up on how weight loss works, and don't expect instant results. Hopefully, you will look at this as a lifetime change. Follow the advice of people on here that know what they are talking about. If you weigh every day just use the information as data to track your progress. As you figure this out you will notice a downward trend in the weeks and months to come. If these fluctuations are going to stress you out, don't weigh every day. Good luck and hang in there.
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
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    How hard were you exercising? Your body holds onto more water while it repairs muscle.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,944 Member
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    itsthehumidity wrote: »
    CoffeeandCats2 wrote: »
    I have been tracking my calories religiously for the past 4 days

    Gonna stop you right there. The explanation is that's not enough time. If the scale hasn't budged in six weeks, come back and I'll post the flow chart.

    This ^^

    You've got to give it more than 4 days.

    I feel like I've said this to you before ... stick with it and give it 4 weeks or 4 months.

  • leebirm
    leebirm Posts: 95 Member
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    I weigh myself every day, I lost 3lbs in the last 24 hours :smiley:
    However I did gain 2.5lbs in the 24 hours before that but we won't talk about that :wink:
  • Morgaen73
    Morgaen73 Posts: 2,818 Member
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    Rule #1 Weight loss is not linear.
    Rule #2 The way your body loses and picks up weight is not logical. At least not on a micro (day-to-day) level.

    Dont weight yourself on a daily basis and expect the results to follow logically according to how you eat. You will drive yourself crazy.

    I've learnt that lesson and decided to weigh myself on a weekly basis and rather look at medium to long terms trends rather than try to make sense of what my body and the scale conspire to do on any particular morning lol

    Seriously though, give it time.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    leebirm wrote: »
    I weigh myself every day, I lost 3lbs in the last 24 hours :smiley:
    However I did gain 2.5lbs in the 24 hours before that but we won't talk about that :wink:

    :laugh:
  • MarkaStone
    MarkaStone Posts: 55 Member
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    If you are going to weigh yourself everyday don't stress over the small gains and use something like https://trendweight.com/
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    CoffeeandCats2 wrote: »
    I have been tracking my calories religiously for the past 4 days with 1200 intake and a lot of exercise. My weight went from 173.6 to 172 and that pretty much matches up to my calorie deficit. The only problem is that when my weight was 173.6, the previous day it was 172 and there is no way I ate enough to gain 1.6 lb. So I thought it was just water retention. So now my weight should be lower than 172, what happened? And TMI but yes I did pass bowel movement so that's not the culprit......

    Weight is not stable

    Are you within 5-6 lbs of a weight? That's your scale weight range ...the rest is noise

    You can only judge weight on trendline over 6-8 weeks

    Here ..my maintenance with calories en pointe and no great exercise change up ...see the fluctuations mapped by the grey line? That's normality around my 160 goal weight ..the green is the trendweight.com set range for scale weight

    jgewmhsqx4rd.jpeg
  • CoffeeandCats2
    CoffeeandCats2 Posts: 49 Member
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    Sued0nim wrote: »
    CoffeeandCats2 wrote: »
    I have been tracking my calories religiously for the past 4 days with 1200 intake and a lot of exercise. My weight went from 173.6 to 172 and that pretty much matches up to my calorie deficit. The only problem is that when my weight was 173.6, the previous day it was 172 and there is no way I ate enough to gain 1.6 lb. So I thought it was just water retention. So now my weight should be lower than 172, what happened? And TMI but yes I did pass bowel movement so that's not the culprit......

    Weight is not stable

    Are you within 5-6 lbs of a weight? That's your scale weight range ...the rest is noise

    You can only judge weight on trendline over 6-8 weeks

    Here ..my maintenance with calories en pointe and no great exercise change up ...see the fluctuations mapped by the grey line? That's normality around my 160 goal weight ..the green is the trendweight.com set range for scale weight

    jgewmhsqx4rd.jpeg

    Thank you for being patient with me as I start this weight loss journey!
  • oolou
    oolou Posts: 765 Member
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    I like using weightgrapher which also lets you follow the trend of your weight loss and not fret over the daily fluctuations. It's free and easy to use. I don't think you sound like the sort who is going to be able to stay off the scales for now, so I'd recommend using something like weightgrapher or trendweight.
  • rummyqueen
    rummyqueen Posts: 150 Member
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    I only weight myself once a week, and one day it's low next day it's high, my doctor said the way I workout muscle weighs more so you might be gaining muscle and losing fat, plus don't worry about the scale if your losing inches and going down sizes then your going great, I was a size 14 down to 10/12 mostly 10 now . Just eat right workout and be health . I was 175 lbs, couldn't loss it at all but like I said the doctors said once a week weigh your self other wise everyday you will go nuts, just watch and see how much inches you loss just by eating healthy , drinking tons of water and just workout.

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