Weight fluctuation vs. real weight loss

i only track my loss on one day a week, first thing in the morning, after i pee, and naked. this keeps things consistent, but I still weigh myself every day and often 2 - 3 times a day or more.... i often will weigh before / after workouts, and sometimes before bed. what i find interesting is that i often weigh less in the evening than i do in the morning. but i don't track those weights - only the 1x a week morning weigh-in. so even though this week, the scale went down to 127, my recorded weight is still at 128 (sucks, huh?)

i can weigh myself in the mornin and by afternoon at the docs..with more clothes be 5 lbs more... very normal...with food water as others have said...and clothes too.
any weightloss journey you will have fluctuations...whether if its due to sodium intake...food intake...time of the month lol...or just a plateau or stall u have reached where the body is readjusting... you can expect a few of these in your journey and they can me more easily noted weighing each day. dont be alarmed...if you are doing everything you should...keep to it...eventually it will break and you will lose once again.

Weigh yourself the same time of the day on the days you do step on the scale.

As a point of reference, I can easily have my weight drop 5 pounds overnight, especially If I've had alot of water or other fluids to drink in the evening.

Tim

Girl, you need to try to relax!! You remind me of myself when I started my journey (actually we have the same amount of total weight to lose!). Depending on what you eat and water retention, your weight will go nuts throughout the day... mine varies by about 5lbs some days.

What works for me, is I weigh every morning, after potty and before I get dressed and eat. However! Because I work out some days and not others, because I dont ALWAYS drink the same amount of water or eat the exact same thing, my weight is a bit different then next day.. it will gradually go down, but some days it spikes a bit.

Pick a "logging" day though.. Mine is friday morning, thats when its been 7 days since I last logged and I check my weight compared to that once a week.. you will notice it going down.

Good luck!
Coralie

The best way (not the way I do it) is to weigh once per week... say on Sunday morning .. every week. That being said, weight fluctuations are normal. five pounds or even more from one day to the next not out of question... Factors may include things such as... monthly bloating, fluid retention, recent defecation, gaining muscle mass from the strength training, etc. I have weighed 306.8 one day and a couple of days later 309.4... (yes that is less than 5 lbs but that was morning weights).... As far as later in the day, as one post said the food and fluids you consume weigh something. Even the elevation that you are (if you go from one elevation to another and weigh) can factor in. I suspect even the barometric pressure and moon phases can factor in (though admittedly we are probably talking ounces rather than lbs). I like to weigh myself daily but don't get too alarmed unless I don't show a loss in less than a week. There are really too many variables. Take in fewer calories than you burn on a regular basis and you will get where you are going....

You can tell the difference in your clothing with real weight loss, compare to fluctuation

You need to pick one specific day as your weigh in day. Stick with the same day every week and in the morning after you relieve yourself and naked. If you have more sodium than usual the day before the numbers will be higher. You can't weigh everyday or you'll drive yourself crazy. ALSO, don't forget during TOM you can gain up to 7lbs.

^^^^^^exactly - I weighed myself in the morning and night last week just to see what my typical weight flunctuations have been during a week...just to have an idea....I varied as much as 4 lbs during last week...my high was 184 and my low was 180...even though I may weigh myself a few times a week I use my Saturday or Sunday morning weigh in (depends on what I am doing the night before - tonight I am going out with friends and will be out late and eating later than normal so I will probably wait until Sunday) as my main weigh-in - and I record it EVEN if it is higher then the previous week...For me over the past few weeks on my offical weigh in day I have been less then the previous week (even if I had been higher at some point during the week). At one point this week I was at 179....this morning I was at 180...I am hoping I see that 179 this weekend for my main weigh-in...but if I don't I know my body is "heading" that way - KWIM

A lot of things factor into daily weight fluctuations...I have found based on me weighing in and out last week that the mornings where I worked out hard the night before were always higher in the morning than in the evening...probably because my body was still holding on to fluid to help my muscles repair - but 24 hours after and drinking lost of water it flushed out a lot of that excess that my muscles needed....

I will say even though I deal with the scale I also have some clothes I use as a gauge to see how I am really doing as I am lifting weights...so for me the number on the scale is slow going but my body shape is really changing...pants I could barely get on (and not zipped) 5 lbs ago are almost on the looser side now...because I am becoming leaner even though the scale is slow going...

I am pretty much the same way, thought it was my scale.
As long as I see the lower weight at some point during the week I don't worry too much.
It's when I don't see the fluctuation that I worry.
You will see the flux go down as you go down, so you will be playing with 5lbs still but at a lower weight.
It feels so good for me to see 181 and 184.5 instead of 203 and 207.5!

This happens to me also I've been battling from 150 down to 146 (my lowest) back to 150 for the last month i eat extremely healthy have two kids and work so I'm not sitting on my butt all day. Right now I'm up to 158 but just two days ago i was 156 its really frustrating. my doctor also prescribed me phentermine (a prescribed diet pill) to help with weight loss. i don't understand why I'm so stuck around 150 I'm naturally a small person size 4-5 and I'm about a 8 now. my goal is to get down to 135 and it seems like I'm having the hardest time doing it I'm so frustrated!!!

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My weight fluctuates 1 to 3 pounds a day. Still losing it...no worries.

So 5 lb fluctuation is normal then? I've been told by multiple people, none actually doctors but some medical students, that that much fluctuation is kinda crazy. 1-3 lbs yes, but a full 5 is a bit much.

\

True, 5 is kind of high, but if you had a high sodium day the day before that's why. I typically "lose" 1.5 to 2 lbs. each morning from the night before. On high sodium days, I can lose more than that.

Kind of high, depending on whom.

For those that enjoy athletic activities (esp. aerobic, I know a large amount of the community here emphasizes resistance training) 1 gram of glycogen stored (carbs) requires 4 grams of water for storage. A well trained athlete can store 1,000 - 2,000 cal of glycogen (which is why you don't pass out immediately if you try to work out fasted).

Do the math - 2,000 Cal of glycogen = 500 grams (roughly a pound). Plus 2000 g. of water. That's almost 6 pounds of stored, easily accessible energy (not fat). I used to freak out over this, being so heavy on "race day". Now I understand that it is normal, and not counting things like sodium/electrolyte induced water retention, gastric/bladder emptying, etc.

My largest fluctuation has been 4.5 kg. That's a full 10 pounds, from 7 am to 7 pm on a big bike ride day.