I know that it's normal for the scale to fluctuate, especially since I weigh everyday. Normally I'm okay with that and it doesn't bother me too much. However, yesterday I bounced up 1.2 pounds and today I'm up another .4 pounds and for some reason I'm having a really difficult time shaking it off.
I've been 100% on plan. I've made healthy choices, avoided the brownies and cupcakes at work yesterday and still I'm up 1.6 pounds in the past two days. I feel like I could just sit here and cry I'm so frustrated and disappointed with myself. I don't know why I'm letting this get to me so much today. Ugh!
A single meal, or salt, or lack of sleep (or who knows what) can do that to the scale. I think it is often an affect on the body's water retention. The body will settle down and get back to recognizing the good you are doing. Keeping op will continue to add up to good results. I just got through the same thing. One dinner messed me up for a week. The good part was that, keeping on track after, the hard work is showing again. You've made some very nice progress. You are worth the success. Hang on to it!
Well, I'd say you need a hug and some perspective.
1.6 pounds difference at your current weight is nothing. Nothing! It could be the phases of the moon! The pull of Mars! I am much smaller than you, and my weight can go up 4 pounds in one day if I eat salty foods and forget to drink water. So please don't let this tiny change bother you!
What is your weight loss plan? Do you count calories, or...? Do you have a daily target?
I don't know about you, but weighing myself every day has made me alot more aware of what is going on inside my body. If I ate heavy pasta the night before without a care, or maybe I just ate alittle bit more than usual, it shows up on the scale, for at least 2 days. Same with greasy foods, or if I eat RIGHT before bed. BUT, weighing every day also shows me a pattern. A pattern that is frustarting as ****, but a pattern nonetheless. First I bounce around for a good 3-5 days before I see a significant drop in the scale, then it bounces around for another few days, then I see another drop. It's pretty slow, but it happens.
You need to remember that the scale does lie. It doesn't mean to, but it's meant to tell you how much you weigh,so it does. Sometimes even drinking too much water and weighing before you pee can make the scale read heavier. Even TOM or if you're about to start can mess with the scale.
But if that isn't happening at ALL, you might want to reevaluate what's going on. Make sure you aren't eating a bunch of foods that are secretly bad for you (I am a cheese fiend. And yes cheese is good for you- but not the amount I eat lol), pasta, breads, potarts, ramen, even sushi rolls can effect things.
Like Jayell said, though, 1.6 is nothing. People bounce around like that regularly, most likely due to water weightm, but it defintely happens. Don't let it get you down! Just keep at what you're doing, if you don't see any results by the end of the month, sit down and re-think your plan.
Jayell and YH hit it on the head. Here is what I just started doing so I could detect a pattern to my bounces. I started weighing every day (from once a week) and put that in an excel spreadsheet. Then I have a comment section for each day so I can note what I did good or bad, so I can pinpoint the guilty behavior that puts me up. I don't want to see that scale go up ever (who does?) but the truth is, is that it does and you just have to deal with it, but attempt to learn what triggers it so we can avoid that (except TOM, which obviously we can not).
In the end, don't sweat it if you are staying on plan.
I know EXACTLY how you're feeling -been there again and again. You've gotten some great advice and here's one more suggestion : try not getting on the scale everyday since the frustration and disappointment can derail you. So many of my failed diet attempts were the direct result of the scale numbers not moving down or even going up when I was so sure I had been "good." I felt that there was no point in suffering - if I was going to gain weight anyway - I may as well enjoy eating -surely similar to what you may be feeling now.
I know it's hard not to get on the scale but it's what's helped me with the roller coaster emotions and enabled me to stay focused on the long term this time. Hope this helps and Good Luck
@ Sea I know it's probably just too much sodium or something silly like that - normally I can brush it off but for some reason I'm having a much more difficult time this morning doing just that. Bleh. I just need to keep going forward and trust my body will snap into shape and do what it's supposed to be doing!
@ JayEll LOL. Thanks! I think I'm going to blame this one on a combination of the time change and Mars. I don't have a daily target other than to see the scales creeping downward (or even holding steady for a few days). I'm doing a combination of calorie counting and lower carbs and I've been very faithful to both so I know that it's got to be just one of those weird weight fluctuations.
@ yhahmd Thanks! I record everything I eat on livestrong so I'm good with my calorie/carb consumption but water retention due to elevated sodium would not be out of the question. And, like you, I tend to have a few days where I bounce around - gaining and losing the same pound - before having a drop. Weighing everyday has allowed me to see that pattern so I don't know why it's bothering me so much today. Maybe it's because it took so much willpower to bypass the sweets at work yesterday? Who knows. *sigh*
I'm just going to keep going forward and even if the scale isn't showing progress I have to be healthier on the inside because I'm fueling my body with healthier foods.
@sunshine73 I know exactly how you feel... I've been bouncing around, seeing 170-something since before November started and I was beginning to feel really discouraged, and almost dropped my calories. I'm so glad I didn't, because today out of NOWHERE I dropped out of the 170s completely.
You'll get there eventually, I promise! Even if you have to make some minor adjustments (though you probably don't. Waiting is the worst part! haha)
You can't look at the weight loss process on a time scale of days - even weeks is often not enough to really see changes. Trust in your plan. Even though you can't expect the numbers to march downward day after day like clockwork - the body simply doesn't work that way - if you stick to your plan and take a long enough view, the weight will come off.
That said, if weighing every day and seeing the fluctuations is going to drive you batty, you don't have to do it. You can weigh once a week and smooth out some of those fluctuations. Personally, I'd rather weigh every day, get to know the patterns and embrace them - and also not risk missing the low end of a fluctuation! But that's not for everyone. Experiment for a few weeks and see what works.
But whatever you do, don't let a couple of days' worth of data discourage you. It sounds corny but - you didn't put it all on in a couple of days' worth of eating, so you can't let a couple of days' worth of eating decide whether what you are doing is working. You just can't.
Jayell and YH hit it on the head. Here is what I just started doing so I could detect a pattern to my bounces. I started weighing every day (from once a week) and put that in an excel spreadsheet. Then I have a comment section for each day so I can note what I did good or bad, so I can pinpoint the guilty behavior that puts me up. I don't want to see that scale go up ever (who does?) but the truth is, is that it does and you just have to deal with it, but attempt to learn what triggers it so we can avoid that (except TOM, which obviously we can not).
In the end, don't sweat it if you are staying on plan.
That is what I do too. AND I have a graph. So I can totally see trends. When something is new or different Birthdays, wedding tastings, new work out, a cold, TOM whatever, I put it on the comments section. 9 out of 10 times a spike of any significance (more than 1 lb) generally has a corresponding note. So it is never a "shock". Then I just know that I have to work harder or smarter rather the rest of the week. It used to really frustrate me, but having the graph has helped. I see a downward trend. Sure it is not as much as I would like, but its ALWAYS downward. Even when I totally "blow" it one day, at the end of the week, it has never gone up higher than the previous week. That is good.
Also what helped me is to sort of "tweak" my thinking. This is a life change, a full time always and forever lifestyle change. It is not a "diet". And because it is a lifestyle change...life happens. Birthdays, weddings, holidays, bad days ALL happen. Its ok. I have always said, if I gain 5lbs from goal weight, I am changing things up to lose that 5lbs, lately I just do that weekly. If my scale goes up more than 1.5lbs in a week, I hit it pretty hard the next week, and drop it back off.
It is frustrating for sure, but just keep at it and it will happen. Just do not beat yourself up too bad about it.
Scale Bouncing Around - Discouraged
and some perspective.
I don't have a daily target other than to see the scales creeping downward (or even holding steady for a few days). I'm doing a combination of calorie counting and lower carbs and I've been very faithful to both so I know that it's got to be just one of those weird weight fluctuations.
