Bizarre weigh ins - makes no sense! 2lbs gain overnight?
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RamboKitty87 wrote: »I know full well how the scales can get annoying but trust your instincts I knew I had lost weight but sometimes just keep weighing yourself, I had put 2 lbs on recently but I knew I could not have due to my restricted diet ( I have a faulty gallbladder ) I have a very sluggish digestive system due to my illness and constipation and water retention plays a big part in it for me, you could be consuming too many carbs or sodium which can have an impact on weight, make sure the food you are logging is accurate in the system as sometimes it can be wrong so compare food labels with the system, weighing/measuring can make a huge difference also, you'd be surprised how different you think it weighs to actually weighing it, I made a few mistakes a long time ago due to this, especially bananas lol I used to just put them down as 100g.... sometimes bananas can weigh anywhere between 60g - 200g maybe more... anyway plus the less you weigh the harder it can be to lose weight (sometimes) I would put if you haven't already to lose 1lb per week and see if it makes a difference. I wish you all the best.
Edit: maybe lay off the burgers and what are you doing with the eggs as you have just put eggs, are you frying them? boiling them, poaching? scrambling? also maybe make sure fat, carbs, sodium, etc are not in the red, it can make a difference, even switching to reduced fat versions of things or wheat versions of things can make a huge difference.
Thank you. With my eggs I usually scramble with a bit of frylight (the 1kcal cooking spray).
I find burgers are very satiating for me and help me feel like I'm not on a diet! Stupid really but hey, after trying to lose weight so long I need home comforts.
There's nothing wrong with having your burgers so long as they fit your calories. If they're what is pushing your sodium up, make sure to drink plenty of water those days to help flush the excess out. And you can ignore that stuff about fats and carbs as well. Dietary fat doesn't make you fat, and neither do carbs. Carbs are only an issue if you have a medical reason to keep them lower.
And if you raise your calories to a more sensible level, you'll feel a whole lot less like you're on a diet. This doesn't have to be a miserable experience.7 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »RamboKitty87 wrote: »I know full well how the scales can get annoying but trust your instincts I knew I had lost weight but sometimes just keep weighing yourself, I had put 2 lbs on recently but I knew I could not have due to my restricted diet ( I have a faulty gallbladder ) I have a very sluggish digestive system due to my illness and constipation and water retention plays a big part in it for me, you could be consuming too many carbs or sodium which can have an impact on weight, make sure the food you are logging is accurate in the system as sometimes it can be wrong so compare food labels with the system, weighing/measuring can make a huge difference also, you'd be surprised how different you think it weighs to actually weighing it, I made a few mistakes a long time ago due to this, especially bananas lol I used to just put them down as 100g.... sometimes bananas can weigh anywhere between 60g - 200g maybe more... anyway plus the less you weigh the harder it can be to lose weight (sometimes) I would put if you haven't already to lose 1lb per week and see if it makes a difference. I wish you all the best.
Edit: maybe lay off the burgers and what are you doing with the eggs as you have just put eggs, are you frying them? boiling them, poaching? scrambling? also maybe make sure fat, carbs, sodium, etc are not in the red, it can make a difference, even switching to reduced fat versions of things or wheat versions of things can make a huge difference.
Thank you. With my eggs I usually scramble with a bit of frylight (the 1kcal cooking spray).
I find burgers are very satiating for me and help me feel like I'm not on a diet! Stupid really but hey, after trying to lose weight so long I need home comforts.
There's nothing wrong with having your burgers so long as they fit your calories. If they're what is pushing your sodium up, make sure to drink plenty of water those days to help flush the excess out. And you can ignore that stuff about fats and carbs as well. Dietary fat doesn't make you fat, and neither do carbs. Carbs are only an issue if you have a medical reason to keep them lower.
And if you raise your calories to a more sensible level, you'll feel a whole lot less like you're on a diet. This doesn't have to be a miserable experience.
It seemingly does have to be miserable, because whenever I raise my calories above 2000 my weight loss stalls!
And yes, I try very hard to keep everything within calorie limits!
Thanks
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your sodium is very high most days, which is fine in of itself, but if you're not well hydrated then it will make fluctuations worse.
i agree with re-setting your calorie goal to be more reasonable - i would even go to lose 0.5lb per week.
whats your exercise routine? are you strength training to help retain muscle?
you might want to eat a bit of veg every so often too.... :laugh:6 -
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »RamboKitty87 wrote: »I know full well how the scales can get annoying but trust your instincts I knew I had lost weight but sometimes just keep weighing yourself, I had put 2 lbs on recently but I knew I could not have due to my restricted diet ( I have a faulty gallbladder ) I have a very sluggish digestive system due to my illness and constipation and water retention plays a big part in it for me, you could be consuming too many carbs or sodium which can have an impact on weight, make sure the food you are logging is accurate in the system as sometimes it can be wrong so compare food labels with the system, weighing/measuring can make a huge difference also, you'd be surprised how different you think it weighs to actually weighing it, I made a few mistakes a long time ago due to this, especially bananas lol I used to just put them down as 100g.... sometimes bananas can weigh anywhere between 60g - 200g maybe more... anyway plus the less you weigh the harder it can be to lose weight (sometimes) I would put if you haven't already to lose 1lb per week and see if it makes a difference. I wish you all the best.
Edit: maybe lay off the burgers and what are you doing with the eggs as you have just put eggs, are you frying them? boiling them, poaching? scrambling? also maybe make sure fat, carbs, sodium, etc are not in the red, it can make a difference, even switching to reduced fat versions of things or wheat versions of things can make a huge difference.
Thank you. With my eggs I usually scramble with a bit of frylight (the 1kcal cooking spray).
I find burgers are very satiating for me and help me feel like I'm not on a diet! Stupid really but hey, after trying to lose weight so long I need home comforts.
There's nothing wrong with having your burgers so long as they fit your calories. If they're what is pushing your sodium up, make sure to drink plenty of water those days to help flush the excess out. And you can ignore that stuff about fats and carbs as well. Dietary fat doesn't make you fat, and neither do carbs. Carbs are only an issue if you have a medical reason to keep them lower.
And if you raise your calories to a more sensible level, you'll feel a whole lot less like you're on a diet. This doesn't have to be a miserable experience.
It seemingly does have to be miserable, because whenever I raise my calories above 2000 my weight loss stalls!
And yes, I try very hard to keep everything within calorie limits!
Thanks
how long have you tried 2000 for?0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »your sodium is very high most days, which is fine in of itself, but if you're not well hydrated then it will make fluctuations worse.
i agree with re-setting your calorie goal to be more reasonable - i would even go to lose 0.5lb per week.
whats your exercise routine? are you strength training to help retain muscle?
you might want to eat a bit of veg every so often too.... :laugh:
I eat veg, just dont track it in diary.
I used to lift alot while bulking, put on a good amount of muscle but a ton of fat too. I work out 2-3x a week trying to maintain my strength on all my lifts.2 -
TavistockToad wrote: »your sodium is very high most days, which is fine in of itself, but if you're not well hydrated then it will make fluctuations worse.
i agree with re-setting your calorie goal to be more reasonable - i would even go to lose 0.5lb per week.
whats your exercise routine? are you strength training to help retain muscle?
you might want to eat a bit of veg every so often too.... :laugh:
I eat veg, just dont track it in diary.
I used to lift alot while bulking, put on a good amount of muscle but a ton of fat too. I work out 2-3x a week trying to maintain my strength on all my lifts.
ok, so start tracking everything, all the food, all the exercise.... then you have some actual data to work with.10 -
Yet last night I ate 1900 cals, but when I weighed in just now I'm 194!!
What gives? Hugely demotivating to see 2lbs extra on the scale in the morning on an empty stomach.
This is the central question of your post. And it's a very simple answer, answered early on. It is fluid retention. Or water weight or whatever you want to call it. There is absolutely zero reason to tweak anything at all based on a 2 (or even 5) pound daily fluctuation. Your body has been doing this you whole life, even when you weren't paying attention to it.
Water retention varies for many reasons and your body has automatic mechanisms for doing it. Almost all of those reasons are good ones. If you are eating at a deficit, it is not possible to gain fat at the same time.
To give you an example, I'm 5'11", male, 54, 192.2 pounds (low) to 196.5 pounds (high) at the moment. Yes, my weight is a range, not a number. 2000 calories per day at my current activity level is about right for a 1 lb per week loss.
I can weigh up to 5 pounds more this morning than I did yesterday afternoon. That's 5 times greater than my weekly weight loss goal. Further, I can (and have seen this many times) be 4-5 pounds less half way through the day than I was early in the morning - when the supposed lightest conditions are supposed to be. Anyway, if that 5 pounds extra I have this morning was fat, I would have had to eat 17,500 calories over maintenance. Your fluctuations will hide fat loss. They can also exaggerate fat loss - as I am also pretty confident that you haven't lost 4.8 pounds of fat in 6 days. You likely lost some water weight.
The lesson here, and the main answer to your question, is that you need enough time to see a slow loss and see an actual trend. At your size, and hopefully with a modest goal, you just have to be patient and trust the process. Your frustration is with something that is absolutely normal.8 -
I agree with those saying just pay attention to the overall trend-I'm on week 7 and have lost 7 pounds- but it goes up and down like you mentioned- maybe try the app "Happy Scale" as it keeps an average trend and allows you to set mini-goals. First 2 weeks I had no loss at all then it started dropping- I've also noticed that some mornings I just feel more bloated and don't weigh in on those days anymore- I know the scale will show fluid retention, I can just feel it.0
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It's taken over 3 months just to lose 10 lbs, but nearly 5 of those were lost in the last week (from your fitness tracker)?!?!? And you only have 10 lbs or more to lose anyways?
One word: patience.6 -
I regularly fluctuate 5lbs day to day and am maintaining...6
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If you're that close to your goal and miserable with dieting, it sounds like time to switch to maintenance and focus on fitness. As for the fluctuations, you will only drive yourself bonkers unless you can make some peace with the fact that they happen. I find it helpful to take notes whenever I have an usual spike to try and see the patterns. For example, I almost always gain a pound or so of water weight when I eat pizza, even if it's comfortably within my calorie goals. Burgers, fries, buttered popcorn are all fine, but pizza gets me every time.0
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Once, I weighed myself first thing in the morning after having a pee. I then ate breakfast, lunch and a snack before pooping later in the day. Weighed myself after dropping a deuce and weighed two pounds less than I had that morning (even after having consumed two meals).
Poop is heavy.6 -
The answer to the original question is easy. Water weight is repsonsible for the majority of daily fluctuations. Beer is a diuretic so drinking a lot of it still means you're going to pee a lot out. Sodium and carbs affect water retention, as does starting a new workout regimen or something like that. Therefore it shouldn't be surprising you were low after taking a diuretic and higher the following day. Don't pay attention to risky fluctuations, pay attention to long term trends. If you're not losing the weight you expect to, sounds like you need to tighten up your logging.2
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It doesn't pay when dieting to try and maintain total control. It's made worse if the dieter thinks that if less is good, even less is better.
This has taken all the fun out of your experience.
Track your weight on weightgrapher or something similar. Follow your trend line.
Eat as much as you can possibly get away with and still lose weight.2 -
My water weight fluctuates ~5lbs daily.
I started a run and weighed in at 227.2. After 10 mi I weighed in at 222.4. I lifted heavy that evening and weighed in at 229.6 the following morning.
Water and glycogen have a short term impact, but really irrelevant as your primary concern is reducing body fat %.
Focus on the long term trend, not a few aberrant data points over a day or week.7 -
People need to stop looking at weight as this absolute quantity in weight loss. Here's a much more healthy view- as someone said it's not linear. Calories in and calories out over time make up our weight. Muscle mass, water retention also make up our weight. I do weigh myself everyday, despite advice that its better to weigh weekly. I go in looking at my weight as a range- it's always going to vary 1, 2, 3 pounds (heck maybe 5 some days) based on time of day, hormones, water retention, etc. I am always hunting for that new low- that's real weight loss. That's a new low in my range! If I have sushi for dinner and soy sauce- I expect my weight range to be higher for a couple of days. If I am sore from working out, I expect my muscles are retaining more water and I'll be up a little. Start looking at weight as a changing range and every little fluctuation isn't an "OMG! I gained two pounds moment" PS. this is said with love and the scale is an *kitten*.2
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »Weight loss isn't linear. Most likely it's fluid retention, for who knows why. It will balance out in a day or two. You would have had to eat 7000 calories over maintenance to gain two lbs of fat.
How big is your deficit that it's affecting your libido? 1900 cals isn't a lot for a male, unless you're not particularly tall. My guess is that your deficit is too aggressive.
Why would I retain more water on a day when I drank zero alcohol and was under 2000 cals??? Of all the times the scale should've gone up it should've been yesterday (the day after drinking)
There's no linear relationship between what you did yesterday and what's going on with the scale today...
Weight management is about trends over time...6 -
My water weight fluctuates ~5lbs daily.
I started a run and weighed in at 227.2. After 10 mi I weighed in at 222.4. I lifted heavy that evening and weighed in at 229.6 the following morning.
Water and glycogen have a short term impact, but really irrelevant as your primary concern is reducing body fat %.
Focus on the long term trend, not a few aberrant data points over a day or week.
This. If my weight is funky high, I'll go for a run to see how much of it was just water. I've dropped 7 pounds of water weight in a weekend just by going for some long walks in the hot summer sun. Low and behold I realized that I had been eating gumbo the week before, basically salt water with salty meat and some veggies. All that salt was keeping it in. Worse yet, you can have more salt than you need and hold on to more water than usual for up to a week after you've consumed the salt. Go sweat and watch the scale meet your calorie consumption.3 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »If you're that close to your goal and miserable with dieting, it sounds like time to switch to maintenance and focus on fitness. As for the fluctuations, you will only drive yourself bonkers unless you can make some peace with the fact that they happen. I find it helpful to take notes whenever I have an usual spike to try and see the patterns. For example, I almost always gain a pound or so of water weight when I eat pizza, even if it's comfortably within my calorie goals. Burgers, fries, buttered popcorn are all fine, but pizza gets me every time.
Spaghetti for me, not pizza. Pizza hits my hubby, though. Pretty weird.0
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