How long do fluctuations last?

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JohnDaConqueror
JohnDaConqueror Posts: 52 Member
edited May 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
Not sure what happened to my post.

But, while I’m re-writing let me summarize, my weights been going down but has been fluctuating 2-3 pounds the past two days (that’s fine).

How long do fluctuations last, what are your experiences and how long until you get that “woosh” and break your lowest weight I wanna break my lowest weight already lol, thank you!

My stats:

My lowest weight: 351.7 - May 29th
Current weight as of this morning: 352.0 - May 31

Yesterday weight: 353.6 - May 30th

Added these records so you guys can see the fluctuations.

Replies

  • Ldenzel
    Ldenzel Posts: 91 Member
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    For me, it really depends on how much sodium I've had and the time of the month. I've had fluctuations last as long as 2 weeks, but I've also had a few that happen within a day or 2. I'd recommend downloading a weight trending app. I use Libra for Android. It has helped me worry less about daily fluctuations as it still shows a downward trend even if the scale goes up for a few days.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,943 Member
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    Just keep doing the right things and try to let go of time frames. It will happen when it's supposed to happen and there are too many factors at play to try to figure it out and which will affect you in different ways.

    You're just getting started and it's going to be a long process so I wouldn't get too hung up on any 3-5 pound changes.

    Keep going, I know you're excited. :flowerforyou:
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    They can last a day and they can last over a week. I very often wait 3 weeks in between new low weights. I think it is perfectly fine to be excited about seeing progress early on but you should not rely on the scale for motivation. The reality is you have about 2 years of this ahead of you and even when the pounds are coming off quick if you need them for motivation they still come off really slow.

    I think it is better to concentrate on the process of staying in a calorie deficit and managing your daily happiness. Make that your goal and just let weight loss happen as a bonus perk.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,055 Member
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    It varies, honestly, depending on the cause.

    If I gain water weight from something like eating extra sodium, it's usually gone in a day or two. However, if I gain water weight for muscle repair because I started off-season weight training, I usually hang onto it as long as I keep progressively challenging those muscles. (I've seen other people cite different durations for those same circumstances, BTW.) Heck, if I drink 16 oz of water, I'll gain a pound right then and there (because the water's sitting in my stomach), but most of it will probably leave next time I urinate.

    Women who experience water weight fluctuations related to menstrual cycle can see those water weight gains hang around for a few days to a week.

    Weight loss is a personal learning experience. If you track your weight carefully (as you're doing), stay with your weight loss plans, and pay attention, you'll soon learn how your very own body behaves: What causes fluctuations for you, how long they hand around for you, etc. - it's very individualized. That's very useful knowledge!

    I like to think of weight not as a number on the scale, but as being a current range of weights, with a long-term trend. The trend is where fat loss shows up.

    Over the course of a day to a few days, maybe even a week or two sometimes, my weight will cycle up and down through a small range of numbers on the scale. That's the current weight range.

    Over the course of weeks to months, the numbers in that range change. Like while I was losing weight, one week the current range might be between 175 and 179, up and down; a couple of weeks later, it might be between 173 and 176 for a few days. In that example, I'm periodically seeing new low numbers, but it fluctuates back up again, before hitting a new low. When the range gets lower like that, I'm losing weight. If it hovers around the same numbers for a long while, I'm maintaining weight. If the range gradually keeps creeping upward, I'm gaining.

    There are apps available that use statistical techniques to guess at the weight trend, by smoothing out the daily bumps a little. It takes a few weeks of data to really get them going properly, but after that they can be insight-provoking. (Common ones are Libra for Android, Happy Scale for iOS, Trendweight, etc.)

    In my weight-trending app (Libra), one chunk of my weight loss looked like the graph below. (The connected down-hill-ish line is the trend; the little upright bars connect each daily weight to the trend. You can see that the daily weights bounce all over: That's the fluctuation. (And that's while in menopause: It'd be more extreme for pre-menopausal women!). But the downhill trend shows that I was losing fat (mostly), over the longer term.)

    79f9phe4s9qg.png

    P.S. I accidentally lost weight too fast for a while during the time period shown in the graph above. Don't do that: It's a Really Bad Plan. ;)

    Best wishes!

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