The scale is ruining my life

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tinaalisa15
tinaalisa15 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am not sure what is wrong with my scale. 3 weeks ago I was 339 and then when I weighed in last friday I was 327. I had a rest day for 3 days where I watched my calories and weighed in this morning I was 330. Tell me why today my weight keeps bouncing from 336 to 337. I am getting discouraged
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  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
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    Scales - the domestic ones - are my bane. Some time ago I have decided to only weigh myself on the electronic scales at the gym. They get calibrated every 6 months and can take as much weight as a small cow. I also try to weigh myself there Monday mornings - keeps my weekend meal plan in check.
  • Cat_A_89
    Cat_A_89 Posts: 93 Member
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    My weight can go up by 5 pounds daily. Its all water weight of course. Scales are not the best way to gage weight since water weight can change the number drastically from day to day. If it discourages you I would say only weigh yourself once a week first thing in the morning after you went to the bathroom.
  • jessalittlemore
    jessalittlemore Posts: 65 Member
    edited October 2019
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    Weight loss doesn't look like a diagonal line moving steadily downwards, it's more like a rollercoaster track of ups and downs as your body adjusts, as you digest foods throughout the day, as you gain temporary water weight.

    If you are a person who has periods, this will affect your weight! I gained almost ten pounds of water weight my last period! How do I know it was water weight? Because I shot way up and then lost nine pounds in two days at the end!

    Bodies are weird. I try ("try" being the word) not to weigh more than once a week, because obsessive weighing means you see all of those fluctuations in real time and focus less on your overall downward trajectory.
  • 23tg94
    23tg94 Posts: 2 Member
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    I had this same problem! And like others have said there are so many factors that can fluctuate your weight through out the day, so weighing multiple times a day is going to be super confusing because you are going to get those random looking numbers. I would suggest try picking 1 day a week and weigh yourself at the same time same scale same cloths etc every week. For example I weigh my self every monday when I wake up in my pajamas on my scale. This allows me to keep everything as consistent as possible and eliminate a lot of the fluctuation you will see through out the week. Hopefully that helps a bit and good luck in your endeavor, keep up the good work!
  • vanillaorange2
    vanillaorange2 Posts: 63 Member
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    You can’t watch the scale all the time it can be deceiving. And drive you crazy all at the same time. You can go up in water weight 5-6 lbs a day off and on. You can also build muscle and burn fat and go down in size all while staying even on the scale. I weigh inn once every 2 weeks on a scale that tells me my weight, fat loss, musical gain , water , BMI’s and more. My last weigh in, I lost 2 lbs of body fat, added a lbs of muscle and added a 1lbs in over all weigh on the scale. I feel great and I’m fitting better in my clothes even when the scale stays the same or go’s up a bit. Don’t get discouraged, just stay consistent with your goals, eating healthy and your workouts. Judge by how you feel overall.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
    edited October 2019
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    A 12 pound weight loss in 3 weeks is a lot, hopefully some of it was just water. Check your diary to see if you maintained a 14,000 calorie deficit for each of those three weeks. If you did, I hope you will consider slowing it down to a 7000 calorie weekly deficit from here on out. But assuming you didn't, the problem is less likely to be that you gained 3lbs of fat while eating at a deficit, and more likely to be that your 327lb weigh in involved some degree of dehydration.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,052 Member
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    Congratulations on your loss. 9 pounds in 3 weeks is a high rate of loss. At some point, you will need to slow your rate of loss. But for now it sounds like you are having success. Fluctuations happen. If they drive you crazy, you might like this product https://www.myshapa.com/how-it-works to track progress without numbers.
    Personally, I'm a numbers geek but I can see how this works for people who freak over scale numbers.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
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    Fluctuations and plateaus are a normal part of the process.
  • elfin168
    elfin168 Posts: 202 Member
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    Normal. I actually haven't weighed myself for ages...like 2 months ages. Trust in the process..
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
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    Keep weighing yourself and logging the data. Eventually you will have enough data to see your trends. I know my trends now and I don't freak if the scale is up 3lbs. Typically I know why and I know it will go back down if I stay focused and consistent.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    tinaalisa15 wrote: »
    I am not sure what is wrong with my scale. 3 weeks ago I was 339 and then when I weighed in last friday I was 327. I had a rest day for 3 days where I watched my calories and weighed in this morning I was 330. Tell me why today my weight keeps bouncing from 336 to 337. I am getting discouraged

    Body weight fluctuates...this is what weight loss looks like plotted on a graph...

    weighttrendgraph1.gif

    The red line is the trend...that is the important one to watch, not the blue weigh in to weigh in numbers.

  • cbihatt
    cbihatt Posts: 319 Member
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    AwesomeOpossum74 wrote: »
    cbihatt wrote: »
    Food, water, poo, clothing...they all contribute to weight fluctuations.

    It sounds like you are weighing multiple times a day. If that’s the case, stop. Once a day is plenty.
    You don't weigh before and after your poo session just to see how much your poo weighs? Boring ... ;)

    LOL. No, I guess I am just not that curious.
  • catsperson
    catsperson Posts: 1 Member
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    Lots of good advice here, with nice graphs too. Our bodies are complex and constantly changing. All we can do is making small tweaks and observing the trends.

    The way that works for me is standing on the scale every morning but I don’t always look at the numbers, as most of the time I’m still half asleep and sometimes I simply don’t want to know bad news first thing in the morning. That’s a smart scale though, so it does log the number and builds a nice graph automatically. This way my mfp goals are kept up to date and I can study the patterns and make informed decisions when I need to. I also think it’s just a good habit to have for when I go into maintenance.
  • CassieVoiles
    CassieVoiles Posts: 26 Member
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    I can relate. Especially being a woman. I hate the scale and I’m losing weight so slowly. I just want my clothes to fit.
  • sarko15
    sarko15 Posts: 330 Member
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    So skip the scale. I did for a long time. Focus on measurements instead -- you'll still see the number go down but it's far more reliable than a scale and will actually show you changes in your body (a 5 lb or whatever loss is great, but is far less satisfying than losing an inch off your waist!).

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