First lost weight now gaining...why?

DietDivaNYC
DietDivaNYC Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Help! my first three weeks I lost 4 lbs, but the last week I gained two.

Here's my normal routine: MFP diet, min 8 glasses water daily, whole grains only, lean proteins, no dairy except for yogurt, no processed foods and good fats such as avocado and peanut butter. I also try to have my large meal around mid-day and eat nothing after 8 pm.

This past week was unusual: a few nights ago I indulged on a late dinner of cheeseburger, fries and a couple glasses of wine. I've been eating fewer calories per day since then because I wasn't hungry. Yesterday, after a winter of inactivity I rode my bicycle for an hour.

Thoughts?

Replies

  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    Are you logging and counting everything you eat? It doesn't matter what you eat or drink, just how many calories you eat and how many you burn.
  • DietDivaNYC
    DietDivaNYC Posts: 10 Member
    Water weight makes sense. I'll give it a couple more weeks and try not to get discouraged and fall off the wagon. thanks!
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    Are you weighing, and or, measuring your food accurately & logging EVERYTHING you eat and drink?
    Fries and cheeseburgers have a lot of sodium, so like others said, water retention.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    Are you weighing yourself every day? That's a game changer. It will show you your bodies fluctuations. I can easily be up 2 pounds one day then go back down to my normal weight the next day or even 2 days later. But if I were weighing myself once a week I would consider it a weight gain and not even be aware of the fluctuations.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited May 2018
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    Are you weighing yourself every day? That's a game changer. It will show you your bodies fluctuations. I can easily be up 2 pounds one day then go back down to my normal weight the next day or even 2 days later. But if I were weighing myself once a week I would consider it a weight gain and not even be aware of the fluctuations.

    Yep, fluctuations from food volume/water retention show up quite clearly when weighing daily.

    Example: I had two spikes this week - we went out for a Thai meal Monday night, which was high in sodium, and I was up 2.5 lbs at Tuesday morning's weigh-in. By Thursday, I was back down to Monday morning's weight. Then I gorged on pizza Friday night, even going beyond my calorie goal. High sodium, lots of food in my belly = I was up 2.4 pounds yesterday morning. This morning the 2.4 was gone, along with an extra 0.1, so 2.5 lbs lighter than yesterday's weigh-in.

    Fluctuations happen for a lot of reasons and are perfectly normal. OP had two "textbook" reasons for her scale increase - a high-sodium meal and a sudden increase in exercise activity (water/glycogen retention in the muscles for repair). Nothing at all to be alarmed at.
  • DietDivaNYC
    DietDivaNYC Posts: 10 Member
    Callitlikeitis - are you a management consultant? :-) Great chart.

    I have been logging my food. I usually limit my sodium intake so I think it makes sense that something like french fries would increase my water retention. And true re frequency of weigh-ins. I've been getting anxious and weighing myself more than once a week (the scale always stares me in the face every time I go into my bathroom).

    Thank you all - you've been helpful! I've used this app before yet never experienced such a yo-yo effect. tho different circumstances.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Because weight loss looks like this...

    weighttrendgraph1.gif

    So does maintenance.


    And weight gain.


    Not in direction obviously, but in variation.


    Always has.


    Always will.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Silentpadna wrote: »
    So does maintenance.


    And weight gain.


    Not in direction obviously, but in variation.


    Always has.


    Always will.

    ^ Yep, exactly true.

    Here was my weight loss in a 12-month period, as logged on Trendweight. The gray line is daily weigh-ins, the red line is overall trend:

    shdaxueuxtb2.png




    Here's a more recent screenshot of my weight in maintenance over six months. Again, gray line is daily weigh-ins, red line is overall trend:

    0maqh2c3xzmz.png
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    What's the MFP diet? MFP is all about calorie counting, so I thought?
    Really the only thing that will cause weight loss is a calorie deficit. It's great to eat healthy, but the only thing you absolutely have to do is eat fewer calories than you burn.

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