Slowing down

rossdking
rossdking Posts: 1 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I have been dieting since October and I went from 224 to 186. I have been trying to go slow. but my question is i am trying to slow down and maintain my weight based off the app and i am starting to gain weight.

After i started maintaining i shot up to 188 then the next day another two ponds to 190. is this because i am just holding more food in my body (bowels)? it all seems pretty quick.

Side note: don't know if it matters but i take medication that will make it harder for my body to burn fat

Replies

  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Two days is not enough to know whether or not your maintenance plan is working. You're right that the weight change is almost certainly water and undigested food. You didn't gain four pounds of fat in two days.
  • MichelleSilverleaf
    MichelleSilverleaf Posts: 2,025 Member
    Fluctuations will happen. Think of it this way; you'd have to eat roughly 3500cal OVER your maintenance to gain 1lb of fat. If you know you haven't done that, it's fluctuations. If it keeps going up and up then look at your logging or eating. Too many sodium-heavy meals can make me jump as much as 5lbs. It's annoying and can take a week to shift off. But it's not fat, so I don't worry too much about it.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 38,136 Community Helper
    More food (to get to maintenance calories) means (1) a little more carbs and sodium, which will hold a little more water in your body for metabolization purposes (part of healthy body functioning), and (2) more average food volume in transit in the digestive tract.

    So, yes: Many people see a scale jump when they go to maintenance calories. Unless you somehow you ate 14,000 calories above your actual maintenance in the last few days (betting you know you didn't ;) ), then the 4 pounds isn't fat, so isn't worth worrying about.

    If you were taking the medication while losing, and still taking it now, that shouldn't be a factor.

    Expect a week or two of roller-coaster as your body adjusts, and stay calm. Hang in there; you'll be fine.

    Best wishes! :)
  • amy19355
    amy19355 Posts: 812 Member
    I would be surprised if your weight was steady on the loss during the past few months. Point being, fluctuations happen for a number of reasons, and the average over time is a more useful way to assess the progress.

    Maintaining is similar to losing, in terms of calories - you have to do the calculation for calories needed for your current weight. It's easy to make the mistake of returning to the Old Way Of Eating.

    Calories are King.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,864 Member
    Most people put on some scale weight when they go to maintenance because of more food and inherent waste in the system and an increase in water weight from glycogen replenishment. Any kind of increase like that over the course of a day or two is water and waste...mathematically you would have to eat 14,000 calories over your maintenance calories to put on 4 Lbs of fat in two days...and I'm pretty sure you'd know if you did that.
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