Weight Loss Patterns- Do you have one?
 

I came across a quote a few days ago that says,
"Life is not linear. It's organic."

Isn't that the truth?
My weight loss is is absolutely not linear. And as I lose weight and my hormones are doing...whatever hormones do, my patterns seem to be shifting.

Do you have a weight loss pattern? What does it look like?
(There was a thread about this about two years ago- has your pattern changed since then?)

Does anyone else get discouraged on the scale- even if they know that their weight loss journey won't be linear?

Oh...so I find my pattern to be particularly frustrating. I gain about 4-6 pounds every two weeks with ovulation (is there a secret acronym for this?) and TOM. I will hit an all time low days before...HOORRAY....SO excited...for like..A DAY...and then BAM- UP UP and AWAY!

I feel like a buoy that is being pulled by the currents.

It's messing with my emotions. I know it shouldn't- and I'm trying to work on it, but it's frustrating. Even when I know that my fat percentage goes down every single week... I am so emotionally attached to the scale.

I'm not seeing any real pattern over the course of the past year, other than averaging .96 pounds per week. Which seems rather odd given that I often gain for no apparent reason other than my body wants to mock me. :p Why yes, it's just fluctuations I'm sure, but still . . . :lol: Oddly enough, it doesn't seem tied to TOM like you'd think. :?:

I have noticed set-points I've stayed at for months or even years, and that I've had the pattern of losing 20-40 pounds before maintaining for eons before losing another 20-40 pounds. I finally broke that pattern this year, and hope I can keep plowing through. :dizzy:

When I was much heavier a long time ago & began the protracted journey to lose excess weight & maintain, the pattern was more linear. I lost consistent amounts, sometimes plateaued, occasionally gained.

These days I maintain, regain a bit, lose it, repeat, sometimes it is linear, but mostly punctuated equilibrium.

My graph pretty much sums it up. Big drops. Then up a little. Down a little. Stay a little. Drop.

It's my man cycle.

I seem to hold the same weight for 2-3 days, then lose, then shoot up, then lose.

Rinse wash repeat

In each of my previous weight loss attempts, I would drop the first 15-20lbs with ease, & then hit a wall. At this point, I would either fight to keep trying or totally give up, which would lead to gaining it all back & more. Beyond that, I have no idea what my pattern would be because I've never kept at it long enough to find out. This time, I'm not quitting, so I'll soon find out.

I used to drop all month until a week before TOM. Then I'd gain. A week later I'd get the woosh. Rinse and repeat.

Yup, I have a pattern - when I go Off Plan, I gain weight, and when I stay On Plan, I lose ;)

Other than that, I don't have a truly consistent pattern - sometimes I gain around TOM, but not always. Sometimes I stall out around ovulation, but not always. Most of my gains/stalls are related to something I did. I can usually tell if I'm retaining water, so I usually don't stress that.

Same here!! I'm sure its also related to the fact that I have my higher calorie days on the weekends. The scale usually drops Saturday, goes up Sunday and Monday, drops and holds a bit for the rest of the week and then by Friday and Saturday drops again.

Not for me. Weekends are focus time.

Sticking around the house is way more active than work!

And the salads in this place are a lot smaller than at the work canteen!

When I first began losing weight, I steadily shed ~30 pounds and then stopped working out. I think I just burned myself out. Since then, I've developed a pattern of stopping and starting that has resulted in a 7 pound loss since, maybe, November. It's slow but the weight stays off so I'm very happy about that.

I work out for a week or so, take a break, work out some more...but I steadily keep what I'm eating in mind so that I, at the very least, don't gain weight back. It results in something like...

150
151
150
149
150

Then there will be a slow drop...

150
149
148

Then I'll plateau again. Then drop. Then plateau. I'm currently dropping off a plateau I think, I weighed in at 133 (used to hover near 135) on Friday so we'll see where I am at my next weigh in. That will give me a better idea of which part of the cycle I'm in now. :)

So someone encouraged me to do a little weight loss graphing and the results were pretty interesting...I definitely have a pattern:
http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/...ps91541439.jpg

Does anyone else graph?

That is really cool, lunarsongbird!

...And exhausting. LOL. It's like I have two completely different weight loss patterns- you can connect the top dots...and the bottom dots. My weight loss journey has multiple personalities. -_-

The app is called Monitor Your Weight.
http://www.bustan.net/monitoryourweight/

I lose for 1.5 / 2 weeks and then I gain or maintain the week before TOM. Then sometime during the week of TOM, I have a little catch-up loss (release of retained water) or I have a nice woosh (of water and some fat).

As a daily weigher, the week before TOM is a really difficult time for me. I'm snacky and I'm gaining (or not losing). It's so emotionally trying for me!

I tend to lose my normal rate for two weeks, then gain a small amount or stay the same for a week, then gain a larger amount for a week and then drop a large amount and then repeat.

The gains generally occur around TOM and i'm sure are hormone related water retention for the most part.

I just try to not get to wrapped up with the scale numbers and focus more on whether or not I'm hitting my other goals.

The way it is right now, I lose maybe half a pound from the last lowest weight, and then from the day after I fluctuate within a 1.5 pound range for a few weeks, and repeat....I'm not in a big hurry, but this is just too painfully slow. Doing some tweaks now, hoping it changes :)

Typically, and I did it again this past month and I'll probably do it again to hit goal, but my weight loss was always in relation to my period. Have my period, have a woosh, maybe lose another pound or two right after my period, then I'll hold steady and might shoot up a bit right before my period, and then I'll woosh again and the cycle starts again. Sometimes it frustrates me, but I kind of enjoy watching 5lbs come off at one time every month, lol.

I have looked at this again using the app on my phone. I have a really strange pattern. I tend to gain weight one day every week! In fact it's so regular I should be able to predict it. The other days I lose a little bit, sometimes with a big bang on the weekend.

This is my graph since January. I think I see a bit of a trend here. The first month, I tracked sporadically and since then it has been Daily. You can kinda see where I started going to the gym in the middle of March, the weight loss leveled out a bit. I like the charts and graphs. They are so much more visual than plain old numbers. :D

https://mail-attachment.googleuserco...uR1y4&sadssc=1

I tend to maintain or bounce around the same 2 lbs from Tom to ovulation. Then I lose pretty steady from after ovulation to the start of my new cycle. So about 20 days out of the month I'm not losing much but the last 10 days is pretty fun.

My patterns of losses probably are the most unusual!
After every Holiday....I drop weight.:dizzy:

I have stated OP throughout all the holidays.....so I guess the universe is balancing things out for me ! LOL!:dizzy:

Has happened after all holidays ,birthdays and events I have attended!

I have tried not to let my weight loss train get derailed....and it has worked for me. I do not feel deprived at all! Just have the resolve to get it done!
For me staying Laser Focused is the key!:carrot:
Roo2:carrot::carrot::carrot:

^^^^THIS!!