Quote:
Originally Posted by GenghisKhan
So I know losing is weird. And I know the scale goes up and down. But what I don't know is how my weight is related to what I did or didn;t do the day before.
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That's because it often isn't. Our bodies don't work on a daily or even weekly schedule. Some patterns are seen over a month or even over several months.
It would be like assuming that your paycheck was only dependent upon the work you did the day before payday.
Most of the paycheck's I've gotten weren't even for the previous week's work, they were for the work two or three weeks prior.
And weight loss can be the same... except that our paychecks are given out more randomly, and we can't be sure which days' or weeks' work we're getting paid for.
A restaurant meal yesterday, can affect today's paycheck, but what we did two weeks ago might have just as much or even more impact.
Just some graphically TMI examples that illustrate the issue - it can take up to three days for food to completely pass through the digestive tract (but it can take less time and occasionally even more). Also, the digestive tract can contain up to 25 lbs of undigested food and unpassed waste.
Water weight is also affected by countless factors as well.
It isn't at all surprising that weight can fluctuate so wildly, it's actually shocking that it's as consistent as it is.
But what it isn't - is determined by yesterday's behavior. That's why if you're going to weigh daily, you can't compare any one number, to any one other number. You've got to look at trends and averages, not any one day.
I'm not sure there is a way to FORCE the whooshes to come. Or that doing so would be helpful and not harmful or at the very least pointless.
If you're patient (and even if you're not, but stick with the liftestyle changes anyway) the whooshes will come.
But they may not come every week, or as you get closer to goal (or if you have an impaired metabolism) they may not even come every month.
I'm not even going to say it's frustrating, because it doesn't have to be. Frustration is about not getting what you want and expect. If you don't have the expectation (or at least a very strong hope), you can't be frustrated.
I've learned to just focus on the changes, and let the weight loss happen as a side effect (sort of as a reward or happy accident, rather than as the main goal). It helps me to focus primarily on making the changes, and letting the results take care of themselves.
It can be hard to do that, so you might want a slightly different strategy (say only comparing today's weight to last month's weight or even the months' prior if you lose slowly).
talk to me about the 'whoosh'
