Why am I gaining weight instead of losing it?

Juliet

Hi everyone.

Until two days ago mine was a success journey as I lost weight consistently (7kg) in the past 4 months using cronometer and exercising. Yet in the past 2 days, I've gained 2 kilos back and I don't understand why.

I have consistently eaten below my calorie limits, including these two times, and although I didn't exercise both times, I did go for long walks both yesterday and the day before. So does the scale lie? Why did I gain back a kilo a day for the past two days and how do I stop it from happening?

I do tend to suffer with constipation, and it did happen that on days when I was more bloated I gained back around 300-400gr from the days before. But never a kg a day! And never two days in a row.

Hope some of you can help me, I feel like all these 4 months of efforts were for nothing. Thank you in advance!

Note: I did get drunk last night, but even counting all of the alcohol I was still within my calorie limits.

Leanne

This is why many frown upon the daily weigh-in. It gets in your head. You did not get 4 pounds of fat over night. Between alcohol and (assuming) you being a female, water weight can shift. Depending where I am in my cycle, I can gain up to 8 pounds (3.6 kilos). Just keep doing what you're supposed to do and you'll average back out. When you stall for a month or longer, then repost.

Karen_Cronometer

Hi Juliet,

We have a great article on our blog that discusses weight plateaus and some tips for staying motivated and moving past them: https://cronometer.com/blog/why-is-my-weight-plateauing/

Best of luck!

Susan_RD_101

@Juliet

Agree with above; it's not possibly to gain this much over such a short period of time. The scale is reflecting changes to physiology, not weight (specifically, food intake, stool weight, and hydration status). When I'm following weight trends, I look at month-to-month trends, as these are more indicative of true weight alterations.

Kind regards,

robartsd

Each morning I wake up, use the toilet, then weigh myself. My body analysis scale sends the readings to my phone and the app keeps a history. Most days I just see that the record has been stored and move on without looking at the data. Once or twice a week I import the data into my tracking spreadsheet where I look at trends over various time periods (none less than two weeks). There are always some swings in the individual values, but the trends don't change much. The largest fluctuations seem to be caused by changes in hydration (I suspect sodium intake over the previous day or two has the biggest impact on this).

I certainly suspect my scale's accuracy for some of my readings. One source of error that I started being more careful about after about a month of recording is being sure that the scale is level on the floor (I live in an old house - the floors are not flat everywhere). My scale has four feet and if they are not all making good contact with the floor, the scale's values can fluctuate by a few pounds (I have a 1 day change of 8.4 lbs in my data from the period before I realized this was an issue). I also suspect that my scale may have more fluctuations in the readings as the batteries get low.

Susan_RD_101

@robartsd

Good point! When my scale's batteries start to die, an extra 5 lbs is added!

OldHobo

Like @robartsd I weigh myself second thing each morning. With fewer exceptions than fingers on one hand, done it every day for three years.
If you're gonna do something like that, might as well write it down.
If you "write" it down in spreadsheet like Google sheets, then some boring afternoon you click stuff till you have a chart that gets updated automatically every morning.

Then when something weird happens you can look back and notice stuff.

• When salt intakes spikes 300% for a few days weight will increases two or three pounds, lagging a day behind salt.
• When I go on a cheddar cheese binge I gain weight due to constipation, not caloric surplus.
• An alcoholic binge causes me lose weight the next day due to dehydration and on subsequent days gain it all back plus more because of other related excesses.

Then, some sleepless night, you decide might as well include some other stuff.

Next thing you know, you're showing up for a semi-annual doctor appointment with annotated charts for weight, blood pressure, glucose, oxygen saturation, and seven other data points but for some reason, all the doctor wants to talk about is OCD.

robartsd

LOL OldHobo. What is this OCD you speak of?

I think my chart in Google Sheets is beautiful - I've got a stacked area graph of body composition based on my scale data: bone (yellow), protein (green), water (blue), fat (orange).

MetalPirate

One site I really like that is free is:
https://trendweight.com

You just need either a Withings Scale or a Fitbit account, which you can register for free even without a Fitbit device. I personally have a WeightGuru scale that syncs to Fitbit, which the app can then pull from. It creates a "trend" using an algorithm, and gives some good insight as to where your real weight loss probably is. Funnily enough I now use a Garmin tracker/watch, but keep my Fitbit account just as a sync hub for several services.

Even when it's nice to see the scale dropping a full lb in a day, it's probably not all fat, same if you gain.

There are also apps that do this if you wish to input your data manually, Libra on Android and HappyScale on iOS.

Your body weight is a lot more than just fat/muscle, for example I know if I eat too much salt in a day I'll gain 1-2 lbs alone just from water retention.

I actually made a post a while back suggesting Cronometer add a feature like this.

Phoenix4life

I have a Withings...love it. I weigh daily first thing as I hit the floor. I have noticed over the years certain consequences depending on lifestyle. It keeps me accountable and focused.