Losing weight is not a linear process. If you are not prepared for the bumpy road ahead, it can be very disheartening.

To begin with, it is best to monitor your weight loss over time with a simple  bathroom scale. You can record your weight as little as twice a week or as much as every day, and then calculate the weekly average. This helps to smooth out daily fluctuations. If you weigh yourself only 2 days a week try to get measurements on one training day, and one non-training day. Don`t just pick the best days when you weight the least, and make sure to keep the days consistent.
In order to understand how your bodyweight can fluctuate so widely from day to day we need to understand the factors that lead to bodyweight change.

1) Fat loss(or gain): Of course this is what we are going for(or not). When the calories that we use on a daily basis exceed the number of calories we take in, the body takes the extra that is needed from our body fat stores.

2) Lean tissue loss: This is exactly what we don`t want. Unfortunately, when you can`t supply your body with enough calories your body may also tap into lean tissue, like muscle, to make up the deficit. Then when you go off the you weigh less, but also weaker, and sport a less desirable body shape due to muscle loss. To avoid this a basic weightlifting program will prevent lean tissue loss by sending a signal to the body to take needed calories from fat stores instead.

3) Gut content: The food and liquid that is in your stomach and intestinal tract that hasn`t yet been eliminated from the body. Once you eat something it takes about 2 to 5 days before it is eliminated from the body. Depending on your metabolism, eating patterns, fibre intake, and individual digestion times, your body can retain more or less weight in your gut. We see this when you eat a big meal then the next day your are three pounds heavier. In order for that to be all body fat you would have had to eat over 10,000 calories MORE than what you need to maintain your weight. That would be about 3-4 large pizzas depending on the toppings. The reality is most of this weight is gut content with some fat gain if you indeed go over your daily calories.

4) Muscle and Liver Glycogen: Your muscles and liver hold glycogen for energy. If you have a lot of extra carbohydrate calories one day, you may increase your glycogen stores (if they were depleted) and weigh more even though your fat levels remain unchanged.

5) Water levels: This is related to hydration status. Muscle glycogen also comes into play. Since glycogen also stores water, if you have full stores of glycogen in your muscles and liver then you will have more water in your body. Also, if you intake more (or less) than your usual amount of fluids your bodyweight will change accordingly. A high salt content meal will also cause you to retain more water and thus appear heavier.

So you can see that if you have one day where you eat a little more, had some salty food, and weighed yourself before going to the bathroom, rather than after, your weight may seem to have gone up 3 or 4 pounds from the previous day. However, fat tissue change was probably minimal if at all.

There is also another factor in play. When you lower calories your body may hold on to water more due to higher cortisol levels. You may lose fat and even inches off your waist (this is why it is important to take measurements as well) but very little off the scale due to water retention. Then eventually you reach a tipping point where your body decides it is free to shed that extra water and you lose 3-4 pounds in a week. Nutritionists call this the “whoosh effect”.

In the graph below we get a visual idea between what we expect and what really happens:

So if we aren`t prepared for the roller coster ride of weight loss we may be ecstatic in the first half of our diet then at the eight week mark we may be upset and ready to quit, or radically change our diet, due to stalled weight loss. Whereas if we were to remain patient our weight loss would have restarted again. Remember that whether weight loss is in a straight line or a zig-zag path both lines get us to our goal.

Continue to record you weekly average weight, be patient and wait for about 4 weeks of data before you give up or make any drastic changes to your diet.

For those who need help navigating the roller coaster ride of weight loss, avoid the emotional ups and downs, and achieve real results, personal coaching options are available. Check out the coaching page or send an email to mitch@bodyoptimizedcoaching.com for any questions.