What do you do when the scale reads that you gained weight?

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  • PixelPuff
    PixelPuff Posts: 901 Member
    edited March 2018
    donnapal79 wrote: »
    PixelPuff wrote: »
    mimigotay wrote: »
    I check how my clothes feel because muscle weights more than fat.

    A pound is a pound. I believe you mean muscle is denser/smaller than fat for the same weight.

    No, she means muscle weighs more than fat by volume. And, yes, that's because it is more dense. The "by volume" is implied. No one thinks one pound of one thing weighs more than one pound of another. That makes no sense. Why anyone would ever think that's what someone means by that sentence is beyond me.

    You would be absolutely shocked the amount that the implied 'by volume' doesn't actually happen here. We correct, double-check, and move on. Not only that, this context didn't make sense for it at all, especially with her thread. You don't put on that much muscle this quickly, either.

    I wish. I'm technically in 'maintenance', but I'm working on my muscle mass. Likely slow gain of 2-5lbs muscle depending on how it goes.
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
    I check my food diary to see if there is anything obvious I did wrong. If there isn't I accept it as a natural fluctuation. If there is, I learn from it. Up and down is normal, but logging to see an overall trend is the way to see progress in the long term.
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  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,129 Member
    If it's one weigh in that is up, I don't worry about it if I see the overall trend starting to creep up, I get back to basics, which usually just means ensuring I am being accurate in my logging. The only time my trend tends to creep up is around a holiday.

    Anyway, I am sure there are plenty of examples above anyway but I will go ahead and post the first 6 months of my weight loss and a handy infographic about water weight.

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  • cynthiaconserva
    cynthiaconserva Posts: 3 Member
    I feel the same way. I worked out 5 days did over 10k steps ate super healthy stayed on my calorie intake with out going over! And I gained 2lbs. I do feel bloated but it’s so annoying. I won’t give up though.
  • cmclairer
    cmclairer Posts: 4 Member
    Have a good little swear. Then regroup and get back to it. :D
  • LW3380
    LW3380 Posts: 118 Member
    Normally give the scales a kick, swear that I'm giving up, it's just a waste of time...etc, etc...then log what I'm going to be eating that day and carry on as I always do lol.
  • Clobern80
    Clobern80 Posts: 714 Member
    If it happens for one week, I don't do anything, continue as normal.

    If it happens for two weeks, I don't do anything, continue as normal.

    If it happens for three weeks, I don't do anything, continue as normal.

    If it happens for four weeks, then I start looking at what I am eating and adjust.
  • cbohling1987
    cbohling1987 Posts: 99 Member
    Now I don't have the world's most expensive scale, but I have seen my weight as reported by the scale fluctuate by as much as 6lb in a SINGLE DAY depending on whether I weighed myself after waking up, after exercising, after eating, etc. I am about 150lb so 6lb of fluctuation means that my body weight as measured by the scale is fluctuating by as much as 4% during the day depending on what I just did.

    So in other words, weight loss isn't linear.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Part of succeeding is choosing over and over again not to quit, no matter how bad you feel or how many mistakes you make.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,253 Member
    I think "That time of the month already?" and check my sanitary supplies.
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
    I ask myself a question and answer it honestly: "Have you been eating more than typical lately, such as going out to dinner more often, having more wine, taking nibbles of the kids' food? Or have you skipped some workouts?" If the answer to that is YES, I remind myself that this sort of behavior will lead to scale creep. Which means even if the pound gained was "sodium" or "undigested food" or whatever, science says that this type of behavior will likely lead to the number on the scale increasing over time.

    If the answer to my question is NO, I just go back to my regular behavior and shrug it off. It IS true that undigested food/sodium/whatever can cause the numbers to bloat up a bit, and this is a fact of life.

    BTW, sometimes I willingly continue behavior that will make the scale creep up because I'm a human being. Sometimes I stress-eat, go on vacations or deprioritize dieting. when this happens, I do anticipate a small gain. I think being honest with myself makes it easier for me to handle gains when they happen because a weight gain isn't an indictment of character or morality, but simply what happens when you eat more food than you need to maintain. But, I'd be lying if I said these gains have no impact on my mood that morning...they are not fun, even if they are expected!
  • Kimmotion5783
    Kimmotion5783 Posts: 417 Member
    Amanda, I know how you feel- "been there, done that". This is easier said than done, but don't let the scale get you down. The scale is not the be-all, end-all of weight loss. It's water weight, most likely. Do not beat yourself up over it. Just learn from the experience and move forward. Whatever you have gained will come right back off again so long as you don't give up. "Get fit don't quit!"
  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
    amandawhatup62 wrote: »
    Today was the first day that on my weight loss journey, the scale stated I gained weight... I feel totally discouraged. Granted, I haven’t been making the best of choices this past week... I know this next week I’ll see better results, but as of today, I feel horrible... how do you get back on track from feeling so bad?!? I literally feel disgusted with myself...

    I understand that my body is a complex machine.

    Recently, I did a 38.5 mile bike ride, ate three bananas, then a brat with no bun. I had a 2000 plus calorie deficit for that day.

    Next day, I was 5 pounds heavier.

    Why? I didn't eat 17500 calories worth of food.

    But my body retained water to repair muscles.

    Don't let ONE day fluctuations get you down. Look at the long term trend.

    I probably lost a pound or two each day after that for the next three or four days. I certainly wasn't in a 3500-7000 calorie deficit each day.

    My body was doing what it needed to do to repair muscles. When done with the water and other products, my body disposed of them.

    Your body weight is more than just fat. It will rise and fall based on many factors. Fat gain or loss is merely one of those factors.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    amandawhatup62 wrote: »
    Today was the first day that on my weight loss journey, the scale stated I gained weight... I feel totally discouraged. Granted, I haven’t been making the best of choices this past week... I know this next week I’ll see better results, but as of today, I feel horrible... how do you get back on track from feeling so bad?!? I literally feel disgusted with myself...

    I realize that it's normal and that body weight fluctuates naturally and it has zero effect on me because I watch trends, not weigh in to weigh in numbers.

    You're going to need to get a handle on this, or maintenance is going to drive you bat *kitten* crazy because you're never going to weigh exactly XXX Lbs all of the time.
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    edited June 2018
    When I'm done sobbing and gnashing my teeth, I run to my 2 best friends for sweet consolation: Ben and Jerry!
  • mkculs
    mkculs Posts: 316 Member
    I only log "new lows," so I have built in the expectation that my scale WILL show higher numbers many days. If I don't have a "new low" after a few of weeks, I'm not surprised b/c I know I haven't been doing all that I need to do. In other words, I know before I get on a scale whether or not I can reasonably expect to show a "true" gain, or if is just fluctuation. If I am doing everything I need to do and not cutting corners, I will lose--it's that simple. Anything the scale says outside of that is just the noise of life--more salt this day, more inflammation from a hard workout that day, not enough water one day (which makes me retain what I do get), etc.

    We know when we are not being honest with ourselves, so I don't worry when I have been honest and the scale doesn't move. It will move--in the right direction--sooner or later.

    Good luck and hang in there.

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