Sudden Yo-Yo in weight...

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iBMikey
iBMikey Posts: 35 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So my wife and I are both on this lifestyle change. Over the past month, she's been losing/gaining 1-2 pounds in what seems overnight. Example, she texted me yesterday telling me she lost a pound. Yay!! Only to text me this morning telling me now the scale shows a gain of two pound. I'm experiencing the same just not as frequent. We've been at this for 68 days, and have each lost about 20 pounds. Now, the only things that have changed:

1) We have bought a weight bench, dumbbells and started doing strength training and calisthenics versus cardio (we still incorporate cardio almost everyday; she does a step tape and I either walk, hike, or shoot basketball).

2) We have increased our calories based on Chris Powell's Transform App, upped our activity within MFP and calculating our own resting burn rate and making a deficit. All three numbers where within 100 calories of each other but was still set for a loss and not to gain or maintain. My calories where increases from 1540 to 1650, hers from 1450 to 1600.

Are we missing something here? She's becoming extremely discouraged because she relys so much on that scale showing a loss and it's becoming hard for me to keep her motivated. Appreciate all the help.

Replies

  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
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    bodyweight fluctuates daily...its normal...nothing to worry about...working out could also cause some water retention...
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    If you are lifting your muscles may be retaining some water for healing. Instead of weighing daily which will make these swings seem bigger, weighing weekly on the same day at the same time may work better. Don't get discouraged by one swing.
  • Colt1835
    Colt1835 Posts: 447 Member
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    Anytime you change up your workout routine or increase calories you stand a chance of holding water, even if you are still at a deficit. That's been my experience. If it's worrying you that much try weighing once a week instead of every day. I've had fluctuations of almost 10 pounds in one day. It's normal to yo-yo from day to day.
  • iBMikey
    iBMikey Posts: 35 Member
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    Makes sense. My wife has already said that she will continue to weight in daily. Which will lead to her becoming more discouraged. Smh. Really hope this doesn't lead down the road we're trying to walk away from lol.
  • Kathryn247
    Kathryn247 Posts: 570 Member
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    I still weigh every day, and look at the ups and downs in an "isn't that interesting?" way. (Lately it's been staying exactly the same for days in a row, which seems really strange to me now!)
    Also keep in mind that men and women lose weight very differently even if you're doing everything the same, so the comparisons might be discouraging for her. Maybe remind her of that?
  • heavensshadow
    heavensshadow Posts: 264 Member
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    I would encourage you both to start using body measurements as well, since you've now incorporated strength training and exercise into your routines. Those measurements are often a better indicator of what's going on. She'll likely see a trim down in inches (yay, muscles!), even if her weight on the scale seems to fluctuate or stay the same.
    That may help to encourage her to keep on track. And you, too!
  • iBMikey
    iBMikey Posts: 35 Member
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    I have been. She's actually been losing better than me. Which I would prefer anyways since she's super competitive. When the scale goes up for her, it's am immediate, "I hate this. I work my butt off and this what I get." No matter what I say or how motivational I try to be, it's not enough lol. Which is understandable. I tell her that our body changes every second, and that we have no idea how it's going to react to different things and to try and look past it. Her clothes are becoming loose, she has more energy, which are all massive victories but she is just fixated on what that scale shows.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
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    iBMikey wrote: »
    Makes sense. My wife has already said that she will continue to weight in daily. Which will lead to her becoming more discouraged. Smh. Really hope this doesn't lead down the road we're trying to walk away from lol.

    If she wants to weigh daily, then ask if she will download Libra or Happyscale and track the flucations daily into it. Over time you should see an overall downward trend, and its easier to see that although the scale reads that you "gained" two pounds, its normal and you are still losing weight.
  • mlinci
    mlinci Posts: 403 Member
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    Of course her weight is going up and down, that's how it works. It's impossible to only ever go down. Here is a snapshot of what my weight loss looked like - see how the overall trend is down, but day on day it goes up pretty much as often as it goes down? If she logs her weight on MFP, and she lost 20 lbs in recent months, she'll have a similar looking progress chart.
    zt0ebn7frzks.png
  • Blitzia
    Blitzia Posts: 205 Member
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    laurenebargar wrote: »
    iBMikey wrote: »
    Makes sense. My wife has already said that she will continue to weight in daily. Which will lead to her becoming more discouraged. Smh. Really hope this doesn't lead down the road we're trying to walk away from lol.

    If she wants to weigh daily, then ask if she will download Libra or Happyscale and track the flucations daily into it. Over time you should see an overall downward trend, and its easier to see that although the scale reads that you "gained" two pounds, its normal and you are still losing weight.

    I second this. I weigh every day and sometimes I see spikes of 2 pounds over where I was the day before. I started using Libra because I felt like my weight was stuck, but once I saw the trend in Libra, it was a huge comfort. My weight was trending down even though it didn't seem like it.

    There's nothing wrong with weighing everyday, but if you choose to do that, I think you *have* to get some kind of app that shows you the trend or you'll drive yourself crazy being up a pound one day and down a pound the next.
  • Muana1005
    Muana1005 Posts: 172 Member
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    Is she constipated or does she have IBS? That can cause weight fluctuations in my experience.
  • cardiacmommy
    cardiacmommy Posts: 52 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    If she's going to weigh in daily, she may want to look into a weight trend app that will look past the daily fluctuations and give the overall trend.

    This
  • Froggyh
    Froggyh Posts: 81 Member
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    Kathryn247 wrote: »
    I still weigh every day, and look at the ups and downs in an "isn't that interesting?" way. (Lately it's been staying exactly the same for days in a row, which seems really strange to me now!)
    Also keep in mind that men and women lose weight very differently even if you're doing everything the same, so the comparisons might be discouraging for her. Maybe remind her of that?

    Yeah, I prefer weighing daily because it helps me get used to those fluctuations. I don't expect to lose weight from one day to the next, but if I only weigh once a week I'll be disappointed by a gain, even if that gain is from hormonal fluctuations or doing a new workout the day before.

    I also find it helps me, mentally, to weigh in kilograms. I'm somewhat familiar with them because they were used for weight classes when I competed in karate at university, so I can get a vague idea of where I am, but because there are 2.2 lb to the kg and I'm less than 8kg from my goal, I'm only expecting to lose maaaaybe 0.5kg a week, so when I see fluctuations all within 1kg or so it feels like less of a leap than a fluctuation of a couple of pounds.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    20 lbs loss in 2 months is nothing to be discouraged about. Good for you guys doing this together!

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