The importance of this phrase "Weight loss is not linear"

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manderson27
manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
edited October 2018 in Getting Started
You will hear this phrase a lot as you start out reading these forums.

So to show new starters what this means I have posted the below graph (yes nerdy and a bit OCD) But this demonstrates why a trending app of some kind is really useful. I use Libra on my android and I transferred the info to Weightgraph for more clarity.

A weight trending app enables you to see the overall trend of your weight loss and to identify the ups and downs more precisely. Your weight will fluctuate on a daily basis and if you know when you a gain a little you can then understand what caused it.

For example was it TOM or when you ate out and the food was salty so it is water weight or possibly like me you have had a couple of holidays recently and ate ALL DA FOODZ.

I think you can see when that happened. The first blip upward was four days in the Isle of Wight the second was a week in Portugal. But you can also see how quickly it came off again when I went back to my normal eating pattern.

Notice I didn't say "Diet" I have a normal eating pattern which incorporates my calorie deficit and then occasionally I have an abnormal eating pattern which is when I eat more than usual. These are short lived days or a week or two when I am not eating at deficit usually holidays or celebration days.

So don't despair when you see your weight go up a little just keep going, if you are weighing and measuring all your food and counting calories accurately it will work, you just have to trust the process.

Happy eating :)

c00ne3lftlib.jpeg

Replies

  • Bentforkx
    Bentforkx Posts: 69 Member
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    I've noticed my weight loss was more exponential than linear. A lot comes off quickly at the beginning of my "lifestyle adjustment", but the last few kilograms take for ever (in comparison) to get off.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    Yup! Most of my big spikes are caused by a higher-than-normal calorie day involving more sodium and more food volume than I usually eat. TOM and ovulation are also usually noticable to me (but not always).

    Anyway, here's a look what at a Libra graph looks like. Apologies to those of you on PC. I know this will be huge but I can't resize on my phone :confused:

    ibbjzysfsxlq.jpg
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
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    I am sure not everyone will have the same experience as me. Some will see (as you did) a more exponential weight loss trend. It would be interesting to compare Male trends to Female. Younger people to Older. For me it was a really useful tool as I used to get disheartened if I didn't lose weight consistently. Once I started recording daily and tracking the trend I found it reassuring and it stopped me from giving up at the first gain.
  • Running2Fit
    Running2Fit Posts: 702 Member
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    Yup, that's pretty much what my own weight loss graph looks like. It goes up and down but as long as the overall trend is down then you are on the right path!

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