The Weird and Highly Annoying World of Scale Fluctuations

System
System Posts: 1,899 MFP Staff
Great read for anybody who wants to understand why your scale weight bounces up and down, courtesy of Aadam at Physiqonomics:

http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
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Replies

  • Torxa
    Torxa Posts: 61 Member
    Maxematics wrote: »
    I'll just leave this here.

    4w.png

    The fluctuations were so bad this week that Trendweight now thinks I'm gaining over half a pound per week.

    That's amazing, where can I go to build this chart?
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
    Nearly 6 lbs for me the other day... damn pizza and icecream. Back to normal, at least for today.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Torxa wrote: »
    Maxematics wrote: »
    I'll just leave this here.

    4w.png

    The fluctuations were so bad this week that Trendweight now thinks I'm gaining over half a pound per week.

    That's amazing, where can I go to build this chart?

    As others have said, it's Trendweight.com. I see that Trendweight has updated the link I posted since that day and it's now showing the huge downward slope since the half pound per week "gain". This is exactly why tracking weight is so important, especially for women. If I would have caught myself on a high weight day, I would have cut calories and my weight would drop quickly.
  • ExistingFish
    ExistingFish Posts: 1,259 Member
    I just downloaded and set up an app, Libra I think.
  • layladrew26
    layladrew26 Posts: 111 Member
    Thanks for this. I think it will help a lot of people. It took me a while to get used to the fluctuations. It is still frustating seeing the scale jump up but I've found that weighing daily gets you used to those jumps. Taking measurements and how your clothes fit is a better indication of fat loss. B)
  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
    Yeah it’s important to remember these things! My weight jumped up this week but I’m also injured and mildly constipated.
  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
    edited July 2018
    Yep, I can be in a serious calorie deficit after a weekend of riding my bicycle, and weigh more on Monday morning.

    Gained some water due to repairing muscle after riding.

    I did that this weekend. I rode a total of 45 miles, consumed 5200 calories Saturday and Sunday, but allegedly burned 9075. Even if half my recorded cycling calories didn't really happen, I'd still have burnt about 7000 calories over that same time.

    Yet I weighed 3 pounds more than I did Friday when I weighed this AM.

    I didn't eat enough calories, over 10k OVER what I burnt to gain fat.

    So something else is in play.

    I'll probably weigh 2-4 pounds less tomorrow as things get sorted out.

    I did eat more carbs, but not an insane amount.

    My diabetes coach and dietitian has me on 225g carbs/day and I had 227g on Saturday and 252g on Sunday. I ate some fruit and a muffin with my breakfast.

    Yet my fasting BG this AM was in the normal range, so I couldn't have done too poorly. I didn't eat so many carbs that I threw my blood glucose out of the normal range.

    Of course, as I approach dinner today, I've consumed on 96g of carbs, so balance in my universe :)

    But weight and fat are not the same which is what this article is saying.

    I have been at the same weight within 5 pounds for the past month, but my pants are getting looser.

    I'll probably start losing weight again as things get sorted out. The body is doing its thing and the fat is coming off, as evidenced by the looser clothes. But weight remains in the same pretty narrow range, for now.

    It cannot stay here, and fat will have to be consumed as I maintain a 500-800 calorie/day deficit on average.

    And of course, today I’m 2.5 pounds lighter than yesterday. I didn’t burn 9000 calories, let alone 9000 more than I ate.

    As others have noted, the trend is more meaningful than the daily or periodic weight values.