Ugh! I thought my weight had finally stabilized at 140-145, but with the holidays last week and all the stress I've been going through lately, caution went out the window a bit and I average 2300 cals Sunday to Sunday. Today...a new low weight 139! Part of me wants to be excited, I've secretly been wanting to see the 130s, but the lower I go the saggier my tummy looks and the skinnier I look. I'm guessing it may be the slight change in exercise. I live at the top of a long gradual hill now, so no matter which way I run, I have to run up it at some point. Before my runs were pretty flat. Other than that and stress, nothing is different. So why am I still losing???? Is my body just picking my end weight for me? I'm not sure, but my cals may be no different than other weeks because I usually eat low all week and then indulge and sometimes binge on the weekends, last week was more even. I'm so confused. I hesitated to post this, cause no one wants to hear about people with this problem, and I never thought in a million years I'd have it, but I'm at a bit of a loss. I guess I'm panicking because 140 was really as low as I wanted to go, I've never weighed less than that and I certainly don't want to have to go into gain mode, I mean how ridiculous. I suppose for now I'll just have to ride it out...
I do not think you have enough data to draw this conclusion.
I have seen a similar drop this past week after a week of higher counts and do not for a minute believe I can eat higher calorie/carbs counts and have the body I do. I need a lot more observation over a span of months to determine this. One week is not enough. I am ever cautious of confusing causality with correlation.
So stick to the plan, not last week's plan, but the plan that had me at 140-145. I'm just eager to have maintenance "figured" out, but that's just ignorant. I should know that will take months, maybe years.
Even once you get maintenance "figured out", your body will change and adapt to that and you'll get older and you'll have to figure it out all over again.
I think part of maintenance is making sure you stay a healthy weight, and that does mean being careful to not go too low either, so no worries about posting this question at all. I think it is a good question. I don't have an answer for you though! Other than continue to track and learn about your body.
Your stress level could have something to do with it. I know that when I'm under stress, my body can either hold onto fat or get rid of it. Sometimes, when I eat more for a few days and lose, I take it as a red flag that I might not be eating enough in general and that my body was in starvation/storage mode. I wonder if increasing your daily calories in general would help? I would certainly consider talking with a nutritionist if the trend continued.
I also wouldn't worry about this for one week. See if it continues to trend over the next month or two. I posed a similar question probably a year ago when I was hovering around 121-122 and I was worried that I would go under 120 (never did!). I haven't really changed anything and now I'm hovering 125-128 and now I'm wishing I was back to worrying about losing too much! Our bodies change and fluctuate. Stress could also be an issue in your case.
I hesitated to post this, cause no one wants to hear about people with this problem, and I never thought in a million years I'd have it, but I'm at a bit of a loss.
Hey! I'm just chiming in to say I appreciate your honesty, and I don't feel there's any need to be worried about asking a question like this. If 3FC isn't a safe place to ask the hard questions, then where else could we go?