My weight keeps going up and down.What am I doing wrong?

Sounds completely normal. Here's what you can do:
1) only weigh yourself naked first thing in the morning after using the restroom before drinking anything.
2) focus on trends, not isolated data points.

This morning I weighed myself, drank a big glass of water and for grins weighed myself again... 1 pound heavier. Weighing at different times of day really clouds the picture. There's a good you tube video on that.

I put my weight in a spreadsheet and look at a 7-day trailing average. A 28-day trailing average is even better because it evens out the normal menstrual water weight fluctuations. Others use weight trend apps. I've been maintaining my weight for years, and even though I should know better, I can still get psyched out by a spurious scale reading. Context matters. Don't let a data point out of context frustrate you!

I'm sure more knowledgeable ppl will be more helpful. I've been on here a year & lost 42 lbs so far. You didn't give your stats or how long you've been doing this. My experience since I started & what others have told me is that my wt goes up/down up to 5lbs a day. I heard it's due to water retention, periods, etc. Also weigh at the same time every time. I weigh first thing in the morning after potty. Sometimes I don't lose anything for up to 2 weeks then start loosing. Personally, I don't record anything I lost till it's consistent for a week. Everyone's body is different. When I started, I started at 1200/cal/day. My friend who lost 75 lbs said I need to eat more so I did by adjusting the rate of loss, so it gave me1450/cal/day & lost weight pretty consistently but it depends on your wt & height is. Another thing I'm doing is eating the way I plan to eat the rest of my life except less of it so when I do lose it all I won't gain it back by going back to my old way of eating. I'm taking my time losing so I can live with it.I always go over all my macros & it hasn't stopped me from losing. Also you need to weigh everything. It's surprising how off you can be when you don't weigh every bit of food. I eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories. I hope that helps & others add more insight

Why are you eating so little?
Unless you're 5 feet tall and completely sendentary, there's no reason to eat 1000-1200 calories a day.
Go back and read all the stickies (most helpful posts).

newstart1988 wrote: »

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Maybe you can tell me. I eat 1,000-1200 calories a day sometimes I go A little over and sometimes I go A little under. A lot of times I go over on sodium or sugar but I'm still within my calories. Every other day I'm gaining 2 pounds back then the next day I lose the 2 pounds and then I gain them back again the next day. What can I do to consistently lose weight and not go up and down?

How long has this been going on? A week or two, totally normal. A month or two, you may need to tighten up your logging.

The scale is a cruel and fickle mistress... I had a food blowout day last week which resulted in an instant 4lb overnight gain which lasted half the week. I finally dropped the water weight plus a little more, which lasted a whole 2 days, and now I'm back up those 4lbs due to ovulation. This will disappear by next week for a short amount of time, only to return again a couple of days before my period starts

I highly recommend weighing yourself every morning, and downloading a weight trending app. I use Trendweight.

Phone apps:

Libra- Android
Happy Scale- iphone.

I've just downloaded the Libra app for this exact reason. My weight can jump up by 4lb overnight sometimes more and although I know its because I've eaten something carb heavy/high in sodium or its to do with monthly hormone changes it still freaks me out! Hoping this app can give me some peace, the scales drive me absolutely mad.

You mention your oftern over on sodium and althought this won't make you gain weight it could be making you retain water. If you have been at this weight for a while then you are eating at maintanance even if you think your not but if it's a recent thing don't worry it's normal. What you should think about is that it's not recommended to eat under 1200 cal a day ( a aranged out over a week ) so make sure your logging is super accurate for a few days as you may be eating more than you think

TavistockToad wrote: »

BabyBear76 wrote: »

You're dieting!!!! That's why you can't keep the weight off. I'm being very serious. I used to weigh 300+ and my weight would yo-yo all the time. Then I did a major life overhaul. Went to an actual nutritionist. First problem: I wasn't eating enough .. I know, I know, counterintuitive as all get up. But, it's true. I wasn't eating enough of the right foods at the right times. He literally put me on a plan that had me eating 1800 calories a day in 5 meals, and a miracle happened: I started losing weight, a lot of weight, and kept it off. I hit a plateu at about 220lbs. So I hired a personal trainer/nutritionist. It's been 3 months. He put me on another high food nutrition plan and incorporated weight lifting. I am now 188lbs and my waist is 30.25". Now, because of the weight lifting I need to eat about 3,500 calories a day if I just want to stay the same, that's A LOT of food!!!!! So yeah, I'm still losing fat.

Sorry but you did not get to be over 300lbs by 'not eating enough' :noway:

Agreed.