Why does 1 Day Screw Everything Up?

Weight loss isn't linear. I get fluctuations of up to 0.8kg (about 1.7lbs) on a daily basis.

One day doesn't derail your progress, unless you let it. So often people will say "screw it" and eat loads over on that one day. Then it'll turn into an extra treat the next day, and another they day after and so on. And now you've lost your deficit for every day. But that hasn't happened so don't let it.

Also, have you only just started, and are you on a low carb diet? It's just that 5lbs is a lot for one week, but on low carb it's very normal to lose a lot of water weight initially. However: manage your expectations. You should be expecting to lose only 2lb a week at most (depending on how much you have to lose). If you don't have huge amount to lose, then 1lb a week or even 0.5lbs a week is more appropriate

Look at long term treads as opposed to weekly or daily trends.

Weight loss is about consistent behaviors over time. One day (or even a few days) doesn't screw anything up. It reflects on the scale, but only temporarily. Resume your better habits, and the weight loss will also resume.

About once a month (near my TOM), I get crazy carb cravings--and I give in to them sometimes (I'm talking 2-3 days worth of calorie surplus). I'll see anywhere from a 5-8lb jump on the scale. When the cravings subside and I get back on my normal schedule, the weight drops off very quickly. Mostly it's just water weight, not actual fat gain. It would take 3500 in excess of my maintenance calories to add a single lb of fat.

It's hard to remember this and not punish ourselves for indulging after "being so good," but the reality is it doesn't work that way. Just get back to meeting your calorie deficit, and things will get back to normal soon enough.

All that happened is that you are seeing the weight of retained water and food volume. These fluctuations are going to be constant, figuring out what makes them happen and riding it out is an important mental part of the process, and will help you stick to your plan no matter what the scale says one day.

It doesn't.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations

Plus, the 5 lbs you lost the first week was mostly water. As long as you are in a deficit, you are continuing to lose fat, but since the water weight is leveling out, it can mask the fat loss for a while.

“Why does 1 Day Screw Everything Up?“ <— short answer is because YOU LET IT!

Long answer...

First, don’t be so ridged in your caloric deficit. Construct a plan that allows for a high calorie day, that is a near to slightly over your caloric daily goal, but by week’s end you’ve an overall deficit, as if you dieted every day. Think of it like balancing your finances/checkbook. I like to cycle my caloric requirements bc it allows me to fit in a more normal life socially, and permits splurges, provided I accommodate the excess with not only an equal amount of calories subtracted over the next day or two or in some cases three, but I tack on “interest.” This also help train you for normal life when you no longer have excess weight to lose.

With that, know your triggers. Some foods can set you on a downward spiral that crashes a whole week, or worse, sets you back on track to what made you overweight/obese in the first place and you eventually throw the baby out with the bath water. Realize that some triggers are physical/chemical, while others are psychological, and adjust your diet/activity accordingly. This may take time and perseverance to learn. For example, if a small piece of candy, cake, or xyz leads to bigger cravings you’ve to now fight off in spades be sure avoid that item/s else it’ll lead you to set yourself up for failure or at the very least a more difficult time, which still may ultimately lead to failure.

Not if, but when, you fall off course, and I mean really fail big bc little fails are worked into your plan (high cal, on track cal, low cal, & no calorie days—yes, if your health permits the very occasional NO calorie day/2!), set up a “punishment,” of sorts, smthg that’ll discourage you from too many big fails (think of it as parenting/policing yourself).

You need to realize that all weight gain and loss are NOT created equal. I can modify my macronutrients and lose/gain up to 10 Lbs in a single day—not a bit of the ten is FAT; it’s glycogen stores and associated water (~1g glycogen is stored w ~4g if H2O and that’s multiplied by numerous molecules.). Because of this I don’t count the first 10Lbs of weight loss as a loss. Also, I don’t count losses or gains that I know, or reasonably suspect, are associated with glycogen/water shifts. Now, when I’m in a weight loss slump, and haven’t seen any down trending circumference measurements, I’ll intentionally play w my macronutrients, over 5-14 days, to create an “artificial” drop in weight in order to give myself a psychological boost. This is actually one of my personal “punishments,” because it’s a difficult food regime (also to note it’s not “healthy” due to the too low fiber content.).

Track your circumference measurements and lean body mass (use calipers, dunk, or dexa—don’t rely on BIA measurements from a scale; stick to the same method; have same individual taking the measurements do all your msrmnts; take measures at the same time of day and before any activities; take measurements during the same place in your cycle if your female.) along with your weight. You may think you’ve hit a stall in weight loss, but you could still be shrinking, losing cm of fat, possibly gaining cm of muscle (muscle takes up 4Xs more space than the same weight in fat mass.).

Weigh and log your weight every day. Some ppl are against every day, but every day over time will allow you to see which foods/meals are artificially altering your weight. Track your circumferences and lean body mass monthly. Use the graphs for weight and measurements as a motivator!

You should know your body’s fat calls are your enemy, especially when you’re shrinking them/have shrunken them. Your fat cells want to be their previous size, so they mount hormonal guerrilla warfare to get you to overeat in order to get fat again. Good motivators to not get fatter than at least your fattest—1) at some point in the get fat journey your body had to create new fat cells because all current ones reached their limit and once you have these new fat cells you’ll never lose them! Sure, they can be shrunken as all the ones you had previously, but it’s that many more that are sending out the army of hormones to make you over eat. 2) google all the negative effects of excess weight. For example, increases your risk of cancers, increase risk of dementia/Alzheimer’s, negatively effects regular cognition and emotional regulation, and SO MANY OTHERS...do the work and make a list!

Look up the number of daily calories your body requires at the weight AND lean body mass you WANT TO BE and make this your typical calorie allowance. Get values from multiple sources (different formulas have a wide berth and you don’t want the higher berth to lead to a bigger *kitten*//hips/gut) and either use the lowest value or take the average. Cycle your calories each day around this value, but do NOT go above the calories for your current physique—or at least try very hard not to go higher. Do, however, meet this value ever so often, for a day to a week, but realize it can be difficult to get back on track. In other words take a diet hiatus every 4-6 months; you still need to maintain healthy eating habits. It’s actually most important during this caloric restriction hiatus to be extra strict with heathy food choices.

A key to success is SUPPORT and ACCOUNTABILITY. Find someone, a few someones, face to face someones or people who are important in your life, who’ll make you own your *kitten* and not coddle you, and do the following... first, publicly state your weight loss goals and inches/centimeters lost goals. Then from time to time report on your progress, the ups and downs. Always report failures with diet and exercise and with the misstep add what you’re in the process of doing in order to make up for your error. The people you choose to see you through have to be honest, have your best interest, and set jealously aside.

Not last, but this is where I’ll end it...food has weight, therefore poop adds to your weight, so don’t sweat 5 extra pounds in a day/2 if you ate more than your diet-level number of calories because some of it is plain ol’ dookie (and/or glycogen and water.)!