I have no idea if I'm doing absolutely fine, or if there's something I need to worry about here, so I figured I'd ask and see what everyone else thinks.

I weigh daily, first thing in the morning, and I keep a record of all those weights so I can see patterns and trends and generally be reassured that everything's going in the right direction. Looking at the numbers, I can see that I typically lose a little every day for perhaps five days or a week, then spend at least that long (often as much as twice that long) bouncing up and down over the same pound or two. The cycle then repeats.

Here are my morning weigh ins for the past fortnight:

206.6 / 209 / 210.4 / 209.8 / 209.6 / 209.4 / 208.4
208.2 / 207.6 / 206.6 / 206.6 / 205.2 / 204.2 / 203.2
202.2

That first one was artificially low - I was dehydrated thanks to drinking the night before, and it bounced back to what it had been the day before. The rest of that first week shows my normal pattern during the losing phase. The second week is what's worrying me. Not only have I not hit the bouncing phase, I've also started dropping a pound every day.

I know a lot of people would kill to lose that much that fast. People post here often enough saying that, and are always reassured that slow and steady is good, it's unrealistic to expect to lose loads of pounds each week, just one a week is actually really good, and so on. I believe that. But then that makes me worried, because if one a week is really good and slow is better, doesn't that mean me losing this fast is bad?

So first off, I think I could use a bit of reassurance (if what I'm experiencing on the scales is normal). Also, if anyone's got any theories about what's causing this sudden pound-a-day loss, I'd love to hear them - I know no one here can tell me for definite what's happening, but at the moment I have no idea what's going on, and knowing what might be happening would put my mind at ease.

I've considered the possibility that it could be a water retention related to TOM thing, but it's hard to say - I came off the pill on May 10th and don't have enough data yet to see any trends there. Last period was early and unusually short and light, and lasted from the 4th to the 6th of June. If the data showed a spike before or during that time, I could say "aha, water weight went on there, and now it's coming off!" but there's been no such spike.

I am so confused about what my body is doing. Please help me by postulating any theories that spring to mind, so I can stop worrying that something really dreadful is going on.

it's likely your coming off BC and nearing TOM. This same thing happens to me. I also weight daily when I wake up and I usually lost a bit. About a week or two before TOM I'll start dropping like crazy (sometimes 2lbs a day!), my clothes will be super lose and my rings will not stay on my fingers at all. Even measurements are usually 1-2 inches smaller all over. Even while on TOM this will countinue, afterwards I go back to normal loses. Sometimes I gain it all back minus what usually do, yet sometimes I don't. I know I'm really 214 right now but I've had several weigh ins say 210 and I'm a few days from TOM.

Tom does crazyyyy things. I also gained 20lbs when I started taking bC last year. I only took it for a few months and had to come of it for the weight gain and the fact that I was literally losing my mind. I also had a period for 30 days when I started - boy did that SUCK - and no period the month tha I quit. So, TOM does a lot and coupling that with coming off BC your body is doing some serious adjusting. If you are eating normally, I wouldn't worry about it !

Ok you lost 7 pounds in 2 weeks. If you weighed once a week, that's what you would have seen. That's 3.5 pounds a week. "Healthy" weight loss is usually described as losing 1-2% of your body weight per week. So for you that would be 2-4 pounds per week. Sounds like you are still within the healthy range.

Keep tracking it, and if it gets "worse" or you worry more, visit your doctor and they can make sure nothing else is going on.

Seagirl - actually I'd've seen about half a pound in a week and then about six pounds in a week. But I take your point - it evens out, and I shouldn't get hung up on fluctuations over a short space of time. It's just such a big fluctuation, it threw me a bit.

Alyj89 - a thirty day period? Not fun! I've had a ninety day one before thanks to the contraceptive injection Light spotting rather than full on gushing, thankfully, but still not a lot of fun! I will keep tracking data, and hopefully with a few more periods under my belt I'll know not to worry so much.

There's no chance being pregnant could cause sudden and rapid loss of pounds, is there?

Yep, your body doesn't run on our calendar so it's pretty normal for that to happen.

I usually lose weight like that. Sometimes I get stuck around a certain weight for a week or two even though I'm doing everything right. Or I only lose a tiny amount and then the next week I suddenly drop 3-4lbs.. sometimes a pound a night.

Sometimes your body just changes up the loss pattern. I would half-expect that your weight will bounce a bit/hold steady for a week or two, now. Or maybe it'll just go back to drip-drip-drip little losses, who can really say. If the big losses continue and you find yourself down another 5 lbs in 5 days, then you might want to check up on yourself.... otherwise, keep on trucking!

That's pretty much how it looks for me too. I'll hover, gain, hover, then whoosh. I wouldn't worry.

No telling WHAT pregnancy can do. If you're worried, take a test!

Not so much worried as just trying to rule out possibilities.

Would this be what's meant by a whoosh then? Intriguing... A lot of people here seem to have whooshes related to their menstrual cycle, don't they? When I was on birth control, it was all regular hormones and a body tricked into thinking it's pregnant, and that means I've never had those big fluctuations before. I think we might be getting somewhere with this!

Well, your net loss over 2 weeks is 4.4 pounds, so nothing too unusual. You have to look at the longer-term trends rather than the short-term fluctuations. You're doing well, carry on!

F.

I didn't even look at the middley numbers.

Start of 2 weeks: 206.6
End of 2 weeks: 202.2

Ok, -4 lbs.

-2 lbs a week average.

Where is prob? So long as you do not expect a solid -2 every week and are content with "moving down still" you are solid.

Stop overthinking it or overworrying it.

Yes, sodium, periods, drinking more zero-calories-but-still-weighs-something-inside-me-til-I-pee-water -- all affect what the scale shows.

In one day I can jiggle so I'm 3 lbs heavier by bed time. Then poof -- next morning after bathroom -- gone.

Try weighing MORE in a DAY. Like morning, noon, night. Or every hour on the hour. Once you know your personal "daily spread" like I know mine is roughly 3 lbs -- you may be able to relax about the daily jiggles and start thinking instead about once a week weigh in that "counts" and all over times its just for fun to watch the daily jiggle.

But however you kill the mind game gremlins -- kill 'em. It's just static over the channel, it's not the news. Get you to the place where you can see it for static jiggles and not anything alarming.

You will be ok. Hang in there!

A.

That's the first time anyone's suggested I weigh myself even more! I actually note down my weight at various points in the day (generally after exercise) just because I find it interesting. It's only the first-thing-in-the-morning weight that's able to worry me, because I know I can fluctuate a lot over the day - I was up two and a half pounds after a big cuppa and my breakfast today, for example. I agree it's fun to watch it jumping around over the course of the day!

Right, I'm going to get off the computer and go do something else to distract myself. Worrying isn't going to change anything!