Lost progress possibly due to my period

Simply_Being_Me
Simply_Being_Me Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just feeling a little demotivated. I've been calorie-tracking and aiming to lose weight for about 7 weeks now and I've done quite well so far. Started out at 70.8kg and my last end-of-week weigh-in was 67.0kg.

I lost 0.9kg last week alone and felt really good until the morning after my weekly weigh-in and I'd put on 0.8kg overnight... My calorie deficit and diet was exactly the same that day as a normal day so it was a little disheartening to have lost a week's worth of really good progress literally overnight.

However, I started my period a few days ago and understand that it's fairly common to put weight on during it. I fully know that weight-loss isn't linear, I'm just gutted that it took a week to lose the weight and it all went back on literally overnight.

It's my first period since starting tracking my weight so I don't know whether it'll go away again (and if so, when) but I now understand why some people don't recommend daily weigh-ins. I hadn't been until last week so maybe if I'd stuck with weekly, I wouldn't have even noticed.

Replies

  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,278 Member
    Carry on as usual! The gain will likely disappear.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 7,065 Member
    Weight gain related to your period is water weight, nothing to do with the fat you've been losing these past 7 weeks. Just hang in there, focus on the long-term trend!
  • zebasschick
    zebasschick Posts: 1,067 Member
    edited August 2023
    Don't worry. I used to put on between 2 and 3 lb of water weight at the start every period, and it would drop away soon afterwards.

    That's so common that here in the US, there used to be menstrual products with a pain reliever for cramps and a diuretic to get rid of the water weight.
  • ddsb1111
    ddsb1111 Posts: 950 Member
    edited August 2023
    I didn’t like seeing my weight increase due to TOM either but I kept weighing myself so I could learn the trend. Now I have peace of mind because I know what will happen, when, and when I can expect to feel normal again. The other advantage of weighing is that now I know, if I’m 1 or 2 lbs up, then I’ll be 3-5 lbs down when it’s over, so I get excited more than frustrated. The same thing happens during ovulation. I had no prior knowledge that it effected my weight, I would just get frustrated and depressed because I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong. At the end of the day the scale is a tool. Using a weight trend app or just logging your weight consistently can be incredibly empowering if you lean into it as a game of numbers and not as the value of your self worth 💕
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 921 Member
    edited August 2023
    Carry on, you're doing everything right. Your weight (regardless of your menstrual cycle) will fluctuate here and there. You are right that it will fluctuate with your menstrual cycle...but it can (and will) also fluctuate outside of effects from your menstrual cycle.

    If this is something that has a significant negative impact on you I'd suggest not weighing yourself as often. It will make it more likely that you will not see each and every one of those fluctuations - they aren't useful data really and if it only makes you feel discouraged...you don't have to do it. I'd suggest trying to weigh yourself every 2 weeks instead.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    Weighing daily and logging it into the weight trend app Happy Scale (for iphone) helped my brain deal with the normal fluctuations.

    It also taught me that I gained water weight at ovulation as well as right before my TOM, and that I have a subsequent loss afterwards. Because of this, I compare myself to the same point in my cycle as last month, not last week.

    At one point I experimented with only weighing myself once a month, but I got off track while doing this. :lol:
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,284 Member
    I suggest this thread:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1275030/whats-your-most-recent-nsv

    Sometimes we are so invested in the scale, we lose track of the NSVs, aka the Non-Scale Victories.

    I’ve read every single post on this thread, and it has pushed and pulled me through tough times, even in maintenance.
  • Lildarlinz
    Lildarlinz Posts: 282 Member
    I weighed 11 stone 7 this morning
    Come home and I’ve weight 11 stone 12
    I guess this is water weight as I have just come on my period too
    Don’t lose hope
    I’m hoping by the time my period ends it will go back down

    Wishing you the best of luck :) xx

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