I can't be the only one with the weird weight loss here!
 

After reading another thread, I decided to quote part of a post from another member:
I'm beginning to think this may be my [special!] case. I mean, I really do basically eat the same things day-after-day-after-day. I log everything on FitDay. I maintain between 1450-1550 calories daily. As I posted earlier:

So why am I up/down, up/down, up/down every day on the scale? Then I'll have my "zig-zag" day (an extra 400-600 or so calories) and be DOWN on the scale the next day and then, like yesterday, I had a 1385 calorie day. Guess what? Scale UP this morning. (FTR, I use my lowest weigh-in to log my progress here.)

While I still believe the "water-weight" issue is the cause here, I still DO NOT like to see the scale go UP when I have clearly had LESS calories than normal the day before. I exercise enough for good fitness (for my age) but not enough to equate a major burn in metabolism, so I really don't think that it effecting my weight loss.

So what gives?? :?:

Not alone!

I zig-zag too. I'm not as rock solid on my calorie intake as you, so sometimes I know the reason, but not always. Here's two weeks of my calories and weigh-ins:

7/14 1347 195
7/15 1585 196
7/16 2044 198
7/17 1405 196
7/18 1752 196
7/19 1250 195
7/20 2027 195
7/21 1579 196
7/22 2015 196
7/23 1576 197
7/24 2168 195
7/25 1131 198
7/26 1543 196
7/27 1463 195
7/28 1825 194

I zig zag all the time and it seems like my weight has no rhyme or reason sometimes.

But that's why I don't get upset about fluctuations over days, instead, I focus on the overall trend by the week (I have one official "weigh in" day per week).

If the fluctuations bother you, maybe once a week weigh-ins would be a better solution.

I see a direct correlation between what I eat one day and what the scale says the next day. When I weigh myself it's in the morning - first thing, after I've used the bathroom and without any clothes on.

I don't have a direct correlation on a day to day basis. I generally see the changes 2 or 3 days later, if I've been particularly active or particularly high or low on food intake. (except for salt, which can show up right away!)

I've given up daily weighing because of not wanting to be frustrated by not seeing any direct cause and effect. I WI enough to see a trend, but not so much that I'm trying to pinpoint the number to something specific I ate or activity I did.

that's exactly what I do.

the fluctuations aren't "bothering me" per say, because OVERALL, I AM LOSING WEIGHT... and that's what I'm trying to do!... but I just don't get it how eating MORE calories one day & weighing less the next, or eating LESS calories one day & weighing MORE the next correlates. I mean, it's craziness. :dizzy:

You would be weird if it didn't fluctuate like that! No worries.

ditto :)

Those fluctuations are perfectly normal! Remember that most of you is water and water weight varies for all sorts of reasons! This is one of the reasons we say that weight loss is not linear.

One problem is that the scale is our most frequently used tool, but it's NOT the best measure of fat loss.

I am right there with you! This week, my weight has fluctuated from a low of 183.0 to today's high of 185.6. I've eaten well within my calorie range, I haven't exercised significantly more or less than usual, I'm not expecting my period, I haven't had extra sodium--my body just wants to say, "Hey, let's cling to an extra pound or two for old time's sake, whaddaya think?"

It doesn't upset me a bit as long as I know I've been on track with my eating and exercise, but it is a great mystery to me where my body's finding the weight and why it does what it does. The good news is that the upswings usually precede a nice little down-tick, so maybe I'll get to change my ticker within a few days. :)

i also have weight fluctuations....it usually bounces up a bit if i've eaten higher carb than usual...but there was one time this month i whooshed down from 211(i think) to 204, held onto 204 for a day, up to 207, down to 204 and then all the way back to 211 and it's slowlyyyyy been headed back down to 204 again...i have NO idea what caused that...i dont think 204 was a fluke because it registered for so long....but as long as its going downward consistently, i'm pretty good with that :)

Sorry! You're totally normal. This is exactly what my weight does. It takes more than 24 hours to process the 3500 calories (or LACK thereof) into fat, or burned fat. So the next day's weight doesn't have much to do with what you ate the day before (except where you had too much sodium and are retaining extra water b/c of that). And unless you are reguarly eating 3500 extra calories, or have a 3500 calorie deficit from BMR over a day or two period - there just won't be enough FAT change to even show up on the scale, so most of what you are seeing day-to-day (as Heather said) has to do with how hydrated/retaining water you are, whether your GI tract is still full of content, etc.

You could be especially disappointed after a GREAT food and hard workout day becuase the scale is up even more than usual - probably because your muscles are even retaining a little extra water to build more muscles.

You have to look at the trend of loss over a week or two weeks, that's the only way the scale will tell you whether you are losing FAT (and it may not even tell you that - if you are loosing muscle mass your fat loss will be exaggerated, or vice versa, if you are building muscle mass, your fat loss will be mitigated).

If it does bug you to ever see the scale move up, then I second the idea of stopping the daily weighing for a while and do once or twice a week for a while to see if it gives more peace of mind.

TMI alert:

Frustration is all about expectations. If you expect and understand the fluctuations, you'll be far less frustrated by them.

Most of us don't really know what "normal" fluctuations look like because we don't really discuss it very often in real life.

The human body is very complicated machinery. Some of the lowest calorie foods are quite heavy because of the water and fiber. Digestion doesn't work on clockwork. Even if you eat exactly the same food every day, the speed of digestion will still vary, because it's affected by all sorts of variables, including your activity level, your stress level and other factors in your environment and physiology. To be graphic, what you poop and pee out today isn't necessarily from the food you ate within the last 24 hours.

Say you ate 10 lbs of lettuce yesterday (unlikely, but bear with me). The calories would be negligible, but if you get on the scale, you're going to be 10 lbs heavier until you pee and poop out those 10 lbs. How long is it going to take? Well the liquid may come out very soon, but it may not, and the solid part may or may not be pooped out within 24 hours (Digestion can take up to 72 hours - so you can have up to three days worth of digesting food in your gut).

It's a bit like starting your own business and getting frustrated that you're not a millionaire after three days. The income fluctuates based on a lot of variables and the money's coming in on an irregular basis, based on variables you have only limited control over.

If you keep a food journal for several months, you will start noticing patterns, but they're not going to be pound for pound. Your body doesn't know or care what a pound is - and a pound isn't much. Step on the scale after drinking a large glass of water and you'll have "gained" a pound. If you're drinking 8-10 glasses of water per day - that's 5 lbs just in water weight. Now add the weight of fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat and fat - and you've got up to 10 lbs of material going into your body. And you're expecting exactly that number to go out within 24 hours? Not necessarily going to happen, because you could have up to three days of digesting food in your gut (which can add up to a lot of unaccounted for weight. I've read that the intestines can hold between 5 and 25 lbs of fecal matter).

If you weighed every bit of food and water you drank (rather than counted the calories), and weighed everything that went into the toilet as well, the math on the scale would make more sense to you, but even if it's less precise, using the scale is a lot more convenient (and less gross).

If you can't learn to accept the fluctuations, you may find weighing weekly or even monthly less frustrating - or you can realize that what happens on the scale today is reflecting a lot more than what you ate yesterday.

And of course if you're a premenopausal woman (or using hormone therapy) don't forget the influence of the monthly cycle. I gain up to 10 lbs during TOM (even when I'm super-strictly on plan). I suspect that I would gain weight that week even if I ate nothing the previous week and only drank water (the water weight would have to come from somewhere).

Oh, I'm so glad to know that I'm not alone in this! I have really struggled this week seeing the scale go up, up, up, down, up, up. I think I need to put the scale away and just weigh once a week.