Weight Fluctuations in Maintenance

Options
clee1898
clee1898 Posts: 28 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
For those maintaining weight, how much does your weight fluctuate on a daily basis?
Today I weighed 0.4 pounds heavier than yesterday.
What's normal?
«1

Replies

  • madammags
    madammags Posts: 97 Member
    Options
    Depending on when and what I ate the day before and whether I did heavy training, I can easily fluctuate a pound or two.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
    Options
    clee1898 wrote: »
    For those maintaining weight, how much does your weight fluctuate on a daily basis?
    Today I weighed 0.4 pounds heavier than yesterday.
    What's normal?

    I don't think there is a normal. Everyone's different. I will say for me it can be a couple pounds depending on what I ate the day before.
  • ObsidianMist
    ObsidianMist Posts: 519 Member
    Options
    generally no more than a couple pounds. since starting to maintain I've been 108 at my lightest and 111 at my heaviest. usually either 108 or 109.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,154 Member
    Options
    A couple of pounds difference between one morning weigh-in and the next isn't at all unusual, and I've seen as much as 4 pounds (gone in 2 days, so water weight).

    I've been weighing daily for so long that when it happens, I generally know why, and it doesn't bother me.

    In the last 30 days, I've seen weights from 118.2 to 125.2 - all first thing in the morning, dressed as I was born, before eating/drinking. I've been maintaining in a target range of 120 plus-or-minus-3 since late January/early February this year, with only a few isolated outlier days outside that range (on both ends of it) during that time.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Options
    blwyb802jna3.jpeg
  • SandraStamps
    SandraStamps Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    It differs according to my diet and workout timing.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Options
    you should have a maintenance goal range, not a single weight to account for fluctuations. its completely normal
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Options
    Normal for me is between a few tenths of a pound to 2lbs day to day but on odd occasions can be as much as 4lbs.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    Options
    anything from 0.5lbs-2lbs in any one day is normal for me.
  • silvilunazul
    silvilunazul Posts: 59 Member
    Options
    1 and even 2 kg from one day to the next. At the beginning I freaked out, now I've learned that one maintains a range, not a number :)
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Options
    Weekly? 1 -2 - 3 pounds (up or down). Factor weekends? With a little relaxed on food choices it can be only up 3 - 4 - 5 before its over. :(
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,865 Member
    Options
    My weight shifts up and down by about 3 kg. Maintenance, for me, is not about remaining at one specific number forever ..... it's about remaining within a range. Or right now, below a certain number.
  • JoeCWV
    JoeCWV Posts: 213 Member
    Options
    If I really load up on carbs I've gained as much as 4 pounds in a day. I weigh in every morning and even if I am under calorie goal carb loading will add the weigh. I know it will all be gone in a day or two though. I guess If I ate a lot of carbs every day it could be a problem. I have learned my body and when I see a jump of more than a pound or two over night I reflect on the prior days eating.

    .4 pounds wont even register on my scale. The one I use is a digital but only goes .5 pound increments.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
    Options
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    you should have a maintenance goal range, not a single weight to account for fluctuations. its completely normal

    Bingo.

    I keep a ten pound range from 120 to 130. If I get too close to the top or bottom of the range, I adjust accordingly. Otherwise, you are going to have a bad time if you try to stick to a single pound weight or within just 1lb of that.
  • jrwms714
    jrwms714 Posts: 421 Member
    Options
    CrabNebula wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    you should have a maintenance goal range, not a single weight to account for fluctuations. its completely normal

    Bingo again. Having a single weight will drive you crazy and isn't even possible. Like most who answered here, I set myself a range. Since I am small, mine is a 2 lb. range, but my weight has occasionally gone as high as 4 lbs. over, and that is usually water weight. If you hit your "scream weight" (over your set range), assume it's water weight unless you have really been eating poorly and not working out in any way. Then adjust your calories and/or your exercise to get it off.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    Options
    I swing 5+ lbs pretty easily with carb loading/depletion for races or if I have a special occasion where I'm eating a lot (e.g. Thanksgiving).
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
    Options
    My weight doesn't vary much (not even when I was in weight loss mode). Anything more than a 1# variation/day is abnornal for me.

    I attribute such anomalies to scale error or excess water/bowel weight and discount any such change by 50% in my daily weight log to make the chart look less erratic.

    This does not affect the trend (I use a 7 day moving average) and accuracy is confirmed w/a subsequent measurement at or below the adjusted weight the following day.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Options
    Make peace with your scale. A weight range in maintenance is essential. You can if you want to graph like above using an app or a website like weightgrapher.com

    After reading everyone's post from today, you can see that we all fluctuate and being female this add another factor on the scale. Trending your weight using your scale rather than using the scale to laugh at you daily because of what you ate or drank or did not eat or drink the day before will make you a happier maintainer. Also not factoring in exercise, female hormones, undigested food/waste not eliminated (sorry TMI) will drive a person a bit insane and this is true loosing or maintaining.
  • Alienique
    Alienique Posts: 122 Member
    Options
    Day-to-day: about 0.5 lbs.
    Week-to-week: about 2 lbs.

    I try to keep my meals pretty consistent in terms of calories and the allotment of nutrients, so at the end of the day I'm within ~100 calories of my calorie goal and no more than 10% higher/lower than my goal macro proportions (50% carbs, 30% fat, 20% protein).
  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
    edited August 2016
    Options
    lqisprtpn6kc.png


    Weighing first thing in the morning, nekked, and after using the bathroom, usually results in a less than 2 lb fluctuation day to day.

    Throughout the day, from that "empty" morning weight to after dinner, I can see a 6 lb swing in the same day.

    The graph is average morning weights for each month (from May 2011 to Aug 2016). I seem to be actually gaining right now rather than maintaining, but that is fine because I'm seeing some nice gains on my lifts also. Oh, and the neat little spike was a pregnancy.

Categories