The human body is weird

xOlaf
xOlaf Posts: 39 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I bought a treadmill approx a week ago. Since I've implemented walking/jogging for an hour on it everyday, I haven't seen the scale budge at all. Not a single ounce was lost during the past week. And this was me being super strict with my diet as well. I decided to take it easy today. Upped my calories and skipped the workout, weighed myself a while ago after my shower and I'm down 1.5 lbs. Yes, I've been weighing myself the same time everyday. What gives?

Replies

  • xOlaf
    xOlaf Posts: 39 Member
    DeadliftsAndSprinkles wrote: »
    A few things:

    1. A week is too short of a time to wonder why progress hasn't been made
    2. Bodies constantly fluctuate in weight throughout the day
    3. When you begin a new routine, bodies like to retain water

    Hm. It was just odd to me because for the past few weeks, I've been losing approx 2 lbs a week. Comes the implementation of exercise and nothing was lost, not an ounce. But it makes sense now if it's really water retention!
  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
    You've discovered expectations vs. reality. Reality is, weight loss isn't linear.
  • timeforwork
    timeforwork Posts: 114 Member
    I was losing half to 1 lb a week almost every week, started at the gym and went up 8lb! 3 weeks on I'm down to what I started as and now hope to start losing again so don't panic it will go , just temporary water weight x
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
    For the past week my scale has been stuck at 174.4. Every. Single. Morning. This morning I woke up at the same time I always do, weighed myself and I'm at 172.0. Granted I'm happy, but, like you OP, a little confused. <<shrug>>
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Water weight

    Weight loss isn't linear
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited March 2018
    positivepowers wrote: »
    For the past week my scale has been stuck at 174.4. Every. Single. Morning. This morning I woke up at the same time I always do, weighed myself and I'm at 172.0. Granted I'm happy, but, like you OP, a little confused. <<shrug>>

    1) There's nothing confusing about it. The human body is not a machine, there are a multitude of factors in play which influence water balance, etc., and fluctuations, stalls and whooshes are perfectly normal. Weight loss (or on the flip side, weight gain) is not a linear process and will not proceed in an orderly, predictable manner. Even maintenance (staying at the same weight) can have fluctuations of several pounds up and down.

    2) The fact that your weight stayed exactly the same for a full week (right down to the 1/10 of a pound) makes me wonder if your scale is one of the ones that tries to "smooth" weigh-ins. I've been weighing daily for over 2 1/2 years and have never once had an entire week where my bodyweight was exactly the same every day. It's even rare for it to be exactly the same two days in a row. For example, my weigh-ins for the past week: 201.2, 202.8, 203.6, 201.4, 202.1, 201.7, 202.9. And my weigh-ins are done the exact same way on the exact same scale every morning. There's no way I gained 2.4 pounds of fat between the first and third day, and no way I lost 2.2 pounds of fat between the third and fourth day. Those are perfectly normal fluctuations.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,186 Member
    xOlaf wrote: »
    I bought a treadmill approx a week ago. Since I've implemented walking/jogging for an hour on it everyday, I haven't seen the scale budge at all. Not a single ounce was lost during the past week. And this was me being super strict with my diet as well. I decided to take it easy today. Upped my calories and skipped the workout, weighed myself a while ago after my shower and I'm down 1.5 lbs. Yes, I've been weighing myself the same time everyday. What gives?

    Take home lesson: Take a daily shower if you want to lose weight.... :D
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    You're unlikely to see ounces lost every day. I always experienced losses in "waves". Maybe it's not the body that's weird, but our expectations are!

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