Losing weight while going over?

Alarmed_one · April 2018

So, I’m pretty good at keeping my calories within my recommend calorie range to lose weight (which is 1200). I have bad days like most people. Why is that on my bad days, I lose weight? That makes no sense. Of course I’m going to start going over my calories, but if anyone has any info on that. Would be appreciated because I’m shocked. After I killed those pizzas last night I lost weight....

malibu927 · April 2018

Because even if you went over, you’re still under your maintenance calories

amusedmonkey · April 2018

Dieting is stressful. 1200 calories is too little for most people which is doubly stressful. The body tends to retain water when stressed and lets go when less stressed. On your higher days your body is less stressed so you lose some water weight.

cwolfman13 · April 2018

Alarmed_one wrote: »

So, I’m pretty good at keeping my calories within my recommend calorie range to lose weight (which is 1200). I have bad days like most people. Why is that on my bad days, I lose weight? That makes no sense. Of course I’m going to start going over my calories, but if anyone has any info on that. Would be appreciated because I’m shocked. After I killed those pizzas last night I lost weight....

Because your calorie target isn't maintenance...1200 calories is a substantial cut from your maintenance calories Also, weight loss isn't about this day or that day and there isn't an immediate cause and effect relationship where body fat is concerned...weight management is the cumulative effect of what you're doing overall.

To see the math, I need about 2800-3000 calories to maintain my weight. If I had a calorie target of 2000 calories and I ate 2300 calories, I'd still be in a deficit from my 2800-3000 calorie maintenance numbers.

DancingMoosie · April 2018

You should look at your calories and weight loss weekly, not daily. The scale doesn't show everything that happens on a daily basis. And weight loss is not linear. It changes up and down depending on so many variables, like exercise, stress, sodium, water, etc. 1200 calories probably puts you in enough of a deficit that you are still under for the week even when you go over for a day.