Question about weight loss patterns.

Same exact thing for me. It is helpful to know your own patterns too- because I now don’t get worked up when the scale is “stuck”- just keep going and a drop like you described is a-coming (assuming I’m staying where I should w/everything else of course!).

Hello!

So yes, the pattern you're seeing is normal and commonly seen and is one of the reasons I often suggest the use of a daily weigh-ins entered into a trending weight application or web site so that one can look at one's overall trend over time.

In your case the fact that you're exercising and lifting weights could also further complicate the results you're seeing due to water weight variations caused by exercise , but overall the pattern should continue.

It is early going and it is also very common to have an initial faster rate of loss when you first start restricting calories, so because of this I would not be, quite yet, worried that your 14lbs a month is an indication that you're in an excessive deficit.

However, if in your situation and my rate of loss continued to exceed 2lbs a week past week 6, I would most certainly revisit the issue and seriously consider increasing my calories to slow the rate of loss so as to ensure that my workouts continued to be fuelled and my weight loss predominantly consisted of fat mass.

Usually 1% of body weight per week is considered a good limit to ensure maximum lean mass retention. And, of course, what is actually long term sustainable is much more important than achieving optimizing rates. In other words, long term adherence comes ahead of any other optimization including speed. So don't be afraid to adjust even so as to promote long term adherence.

One of the reasons I chose to mention this is that the pattern you notice (flat flat drop, flat flat drop) anecdotally tends to not happen immediately, when fat reserves are abundant, but to start at a time when lower fat reserves would suggest a speed of loss of less than 2lbs a week.

Of course a complicating factor could indeed be your 0.2lb scale. A lot of scales in the market exhibit "fake consistency" in which they show the same number regardless of detection as long as the difference doesn't exceed a manufacturer defined parameter. This is greater than 0.2lbs of detected difference.

One way to work around this could be a double weigh in. Start by holding a jug of water or something else more than 0.5 lb and then weight yourself again without it--assuming your scale doesn't automatically keep track of multiple people you should be able to fake it out that way!

Good going so far! With 100lbs you will have to do some work about re-defining your new normal. I would encourage you to explore options and to make decisions that establish useful habits and promote choices you see yourself making for at least the next five years!

Watch your weight fluctuation with respect to your weight lifting schedule. I'll bet you $1 you see a correlation. ;-) I usually lose all my weight for the week after my 2 back-to-back rest days on the weekend.

I weigh myself daily at the same time and have also noticed day to day fluctuation is all over the place. What I have found is that of I log my daily weights in a spreadsheet and then calculate a 7 day rolling average I get pretty much a straight line on a nice downward slope.

Might be worth a go and if a 7 day rolling average doesn't work try a different period.

Weightgrapher and trendweight are PC based. I started using trendweight before I had a Fitbit, using a free Fitbit account to perform the data entry.

Weightgrapher allows you to superimpose a user adjustable trend line of your previous cycle in order to visualize similar points of time in your cycle. However I find their suggestions annoying so I would suggest telling it you want to maintain your weight so that it shuts up

A healthy level of carbs makes no sense to me as a concept unless your unhealthy level of carbs is one that is crowding out your protein, your healthy fats, or other nutrients. it doesn't mean that you can't have a preferred level, though!

While part of your loss *could* be related to a reduction in carbs, I would not expect to see much glycogen depletion at a hundred gram intake.

Your stated level of calories is low enough that I don't have much trouble envisioning your loss as being primarily driven by the reduction in calories. However reduction of food in transit, reduction in sodium, more vegetables and fibre could all be involved in some extra initial losses! Which is why Ann and myself are only cautioning as opposed to jumping up and down in earnest

The step-ladder weight loss pattern might be the most common one of all. I've never heard of someone losing weight in a linear "each day it goes down a little" way before, beyond the first few weeks of a diet when it's indeed possible for the scale to go lower every day temporarily as the water drains off. After that honeymoon period, it's step ladder for most people, exactly as you are experiencing.