[allygirl5]

5 days into my counting calories has me a bit confused. I have stayed at 1200 calories for the past few days and drink 2 gallons of water each day. Each day I have lost an average of 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. I know that the start of any diet is mainly water weight loss, so I know this is not realistic to expect these losses beyond this first week.

But this morning I hopped on the scale and had gained 1 pound from yesterday. I am certainly not worried about it, but I am just looking to understand it.

There are no other factors that could affect it....no AF, no additional exercise, etc...

I am currently 188 at 5'10". Should I be starting off with a higher calorie goal each day? Maybe 1500?

I would love to hear some feedback!

[Breannaj1215]

I would def start at whatever your comfortable with. Yes it was most likely water weight that you lost. When i started 2 weeks ago I lost the first 8 lbs in a lil over a week. The next 2 took a week. But let your body guide you. Plug the numbers in

[bargoo]

Yes, I think 1200 calories a day is too low for someone of your height and goal weight. Do you exercise ? I think you could lose on 1500 calories or even more if you exercise . 1500 is a good place to start, though.

[babygrant]

I agree. Your calories are far too low. I'd start at your bmr which is probably around 1800

[stimkovs]

too low. i eat 1600-1800 at 5'8 / 175ish.

[camper67]

I also agree with you being too low on calories. I would also like to add that it took me WEEKS to see any change on the scale when I started my fitness and weight loss journey. For that reason, I only weighed once a month. I know some women here like to weigh everyday, but for me that just discouraged me. I felt that as long as I was really sticking to my plan, the weight would come off. I lost 57lbs, but it took over a year.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by allygirl5

But this morning I hopped on the scale and had gained 1 pound from yesterday. I am certainly not worried about it, but I am just looking to understand it.

There are no other factors that could affect it....no AF, no additional exercise, etc...

There are THOUSANDS of factors that can affect your daily weight. 1200 calories may or may not be too low, but you can't conclude ANYTHING based on ONE day of data.

Weiging daily is fine, but you can't draw conclusions or make decisions based on one day, or even one week of data - your body doesn't work on a daily or weekly schedule. It may not even work on a monthly schedule. You'll only begin to see patterns emerge after you've collected several months worth of data.

Just a few factors that can affect daily (even hourly) weight fluctuations (and the fluctation can translate into several pounds worth of weight over a very short period of time):

The weight of digesting food and the waste products it produces (food can take up to three days to pass through your system, so you'll carry some of that weight until it passes). I've read that the human intestines can hold up to 25 lbs of no-yet pooped poo (and even more in some freakish cases).

Water weight. The body holds onto more water for tons of reasons, and it's actually a "good thing" most of the time. Just as an example, the healing process requires extra water, so if you have an injury, or even a minor illness, or your body is fighting a cold (and you won't necessarily "feel sick") it will hold onto that water, because the water is used to help the body heal.

Hormonal fluctuations (also usually water retention) also can affect both water weight and intestinal speed (many women, myself included, suffer from a wonky digestive system during their period. During PMS and early TOM I tend to get constipated, and then later in the cycle will have the opposite problem, if not diarrrhea exactly, a day filled with pooping.

Carbohydrate content. The body needs and utilizes more water to digest carbohydrates, so if you have a higher-than-normal carb day, you may see a sudden "mystery gain," and likewise if you have a lower-than-normal carb day you may see a sudden "mystery loss" both of which will reverse themselves when you return to your average.

Temperature. Many people retain water in hot weather (I do).





If you want to weigh daily, don't compare today's weight to yesterday's. Compare it to last month's and the month's before. Or better yet, compare this month's AVERAGE to last month's AVERAGE.

If you try to figure out why today's weight is different than yesterday's weight you'll only, or try to draw conclusions from less than a month's worth of data, you're going to drive yourself absolutely batty (and any conclusions you draw are likely to be wrong).

[freelancemomma]

You didn't actually gain fat. Your weight just showed a fluctuation from one day to another, probably because of extra water retention. It happens all the time, whether you're trying to lose weight or not.

F.

[allygirl5]

Thanks for the input ladies. I love to hear from the more "technical" gals about how the body works.

I am going to up my calories to 1500-1600 range. I guess I was just stuck on the 1200 calories from when I did Jenny Craig 6 years ago. That is the amount they "assigned" to me, so it has always stuck in my mind. However, I am about 15 or 20lbs heavier from my Jenny Craig days....so that makes sense that I should actually start at a higher caloric range.

[amandie]

Originally Posted by allygirl5

Each day I have lost an average of 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. I know that the start of any diet is mainly water weight loss, so I know this is not realistic to expect these losses beyond this first week.

You cannot expect to lose a pound to a pound and half PER day! Per week? Most definitely. It is totally NORMAL for weight to fluctuate day to day, the scale simply weighs all of you- organs, food, water, skin, etc. Maybe you ate something that was ultra salty or sodium laden?? I know I get up a couple of pounds in water weight for a couple of days whenever I eat something that is loaded with salt and/or have not enough water to drink. I would just weigh yourself once a week if you are going to be worrying about day to day fluctuations. I do weigh myself every day but I don't put much stock into it except for the "official" weigh-in days.

I agree with others that you don't need to start off so low, you could still lose with a couple more hundred calories on top of 1200 per day, depending on your body, age and activity level of course. Try plugging in your stats here to get an approximate. Good luck!

[inglesita64]

Whenever I lose weight, I gain it back the next day and then it takes a week for it to stabilize on the low figure. For months I obsessed with daily weigh ins until after almost two months into maintaining I have started to weigh once a week. I feel so liberated! I know that at the beginning we tend to obsess over whether we are losing or not, but I learned something: if we have really started a new lifestyle and we mean to keep the weight off once we lose everything rather than start pigging out again, then we must understand that the healthy eating and the exercising will have to become habits. If we make them into habits, the weight will come off as our body adjusts. It is good to think about something else while that happens, because life goes on!

[allygirl5]

Thanks Amandie for your input.

I do not expect to lose 1 to 1 1/2 lbs per day. I tried to make that clear in my initial posting. I have a pretty clear understanding that I should not lose more than 1% of my body weight per week. In my experience, the first week is aways when I tend to lose up to 5lbs due to water weight.

I am not stressed or worried about the gain. I was just asking for some more technical info to learn more about how the body fluctuates day to day.

[kelly315]

The stickies in the forums are helpful for those questions which you see a lot of people asking (like this one). Here's a link to one that should help you:

The day to day number on the scale means absolutely nothing. Here's why:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/weig...er-weight.html

[Only Me]

Whether or not 1200 calories is too low is a totally separate question from why the scale was up 1lb this morning compared to yesterday. Water retention, undigested food, hormones all make weight fluctuate a lot day to day. 1200 vs 1500 or 1800 calories per day isn't the cause of that.

[allygirl5]

Thanks Kelly....I am brand spanking new to this site and forums. I will make sure to check the stickies in the future