Really confused

JulieB21
JulieB21 Posts: 492
edited September 18 in Health and Weight Loss
Stepping on the scales on Monday always scare me, mostly because I'm less than cautious on the weekends. Yesterday was the first day in almost two months that I didn't do any intentional exercise at all. I ate what I consider to be a regular days diet. This morning, just like every other morning, I stepped on the scale & closed my eyes:embarassed: expecting to be disappointed. It turns out I lost 2.6 pounds....in ONE day? How can that be? I even moved the scale to another part of the bathroom floor & tried it again with the same results. Definately doing the Happy Dance:bigsmile: but still don't understand.

Replies

  • JulieB21
    JulieB21 Posts: 492
    Stepping on the scales on Monday always scare me, mostly because I'm less than cautious on the weekends. Yesterday was the first day in almost two months that I didn't do any intentional exercise at all. I ate what I consider to be a regular days diet. This morning, just like every other morning, I stepped on the scale & closed my eyes:embarassed: expecting to be disappointed. It turns out I lost 2.6 pounds....in ONE day? How can that be? I even moved the scale to another part of the bathroom floor & tried it again with the same results. Definately doing the Happy Dance:bigsmile: but still don't understand.
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
    Julie, it's great that you lost, and I feel almost bad even breaking this too you, but I wouldn't feel right letting you think something else.

    Day to day weight loss of more then a pound is usually water weight. I know you don't want to hear that, but I know my weight goes up and down by 3 or 4 pounds from 1 day to the next. That is one of the reasons why I started the scale challenge (the I Challenge all of you post). Because day to day weight is arbitrary and doesn't mean a lot (you need a much longer sample, like 1 month to the next).

    Logically, unless you had some sort of catharsis (lets not get into that) or lost a body part, it's pretty much physically impossible to loose 3 lbs in one day unless you are grossly obese. 2.6 lbs is 9100 calories, at vigorous work out of 1100 calories an hour that's over 8 hours of working out. I think the body would pass out before it would let you do that, even marathoners can' t work that hard for that long.

    Now for the good news! It's ALWAYS good to see the weight drop, no matter what roll the water plays.
    Even if most of it is water, it's still good to see! I would say only this to you, forget the scale for a while, concentrate on how you feel, try work towards getting healthier, thinner, stronger, and happier. If you do that, I think the weight will come off as if by magic.
  • fessler
    fessler Posts: 23
    To avoid disappointment...as a professional, I forebid my clients to weigh daily...and also, make them drink half their body weight in ounces of water.

    Example:
    Person A weighs 180lbs...if they are not active I expect 90ounces of water to be consumed during the day.

    Hope that helps with the water issue.
  • JulieB21
    JulieB21 Posts: 492
    I drink 64 ounces of water (at least) per day and consider myself active. I will continue to weigh myself on a daily basis. It keeps me on track. I'm pretty sure I don't have a water issue...
  • SemperFit
    SemperFit Posts: 3
    Actually it is not as impossible as you think to lose a tremendous amount of weight in a short period of time. I am currently in the Marine Corps, and I remember we weighed in every week during boot camp, I lost 22Lbs the first week I was there. They force us to drink water so we dont get dehydrated we drank way more than the 8 glass rule. It was at least 2-3 gallons per day. We didnt even do anything but check in the first week, when the body is under stress it does amazing things. I couldnt believe it either but they forced me to go to the clinic for eccesive weight loss.
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
    SemperFit,

    22 lbs is a lot of weight, but I'll still risk a bet that it was mostly water weight that you lost. I assume you weren't grossly obese when you started, if that is the case, basic human physiology won't allow a person to loose more then a few pounds (maybe up to 4 or 5 real lbs as opposed to water) a week. It's neither safe, nor is it normally feasable. Now water, a person who just started working out can weigh in with their body retaining lots of extra water, then loose most of that excess water over a tough week (used to happen every year to me during August double sessions of college football, I was 4% body fat in college and I would drop 8 to 10 lbs in 1 week, it was all water I realized later.). When the body's working metaboism changes from relatively sedintary to very active, the first thing the body does is sweat out all the excess water.

    Remember 1 gallon of water is over 8 lbs. so 2 - 3 gallons of water lost a day can be a fluctuation of 16 to 24 lbs a day (that is pretty extreme, but can explain your drastic weight loss)
  • cardgrl
    cardgrl Posts: 175 Member
    I agree, Banks. Even though I WANTED to do the weight challenge, I purchased a new scale and didn't do it. I was weighing myself every day, and it was rather disappointing. I was fluctuating, and wasn't losing any weight. Just this morning, I weighed myself after resisting the scale for a few days, and to my amazement, I had lost 1.5 pounds! The weighing every day thing was really discouraging me. I am glad I finally saw what happens when I give it a rest. I don't think I can cut it back to weighing in once a month, but I am going to at least do it every few days now instead of every day!
  • kerrycwill
    kerrycwill Posts: 4 Member
    I am a scale addict! I weigh myself every time I am in the bathroom. However, this last Thursday (after participating in the programf or one week), I decided to put the scale in my closet. My goal is to weigh in once a week. Thursday morning is the big (one week) day. I hope that I am not disappointed. I have worked very hard this week. I am afraid that if the scale doesn't reflect my efforts, I will lose all of my motivation.
  • mariannamaclean
    mariannamaclean Posts: 5
    The same thing happened to me when I started my diet a few days ago - I think it comes down to a low cal diet will probably be low sodium, so the loss of the salt (a good thing) will have a diuretic effect. The good news is, even losing that water (which is distributed thoughout your body) will change your shape slightly, so it's a good nice early effect of cutting the cals. Just don't be disappointed if you have a high salt day and gain a couple pounds! Keep it in perspective and persevere.
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