A few weeks in and not losing anymore? or even gaining?

We're a few weeks into the new year and new year's resolutions so many new losers are probably seeing their great start (gotta love that water & waste weight bonus) slow down, level off, or go the other direction but if you're still eating at a deficit then that plateau or gain might just be some water weight coming back for some reason.

Water weight is fun & annoying - being up 9 lbs overnight,that the first 2-4 weeks of rapid water weight loss, going up 1 lb a day for a while, or what I had the other day up half a pound & down 1.5% bf on my home scale. I notice that weight fluctuates on a few different time scales:

• daily-empty vs full(water & food)
• weekly-based on routine, exercise, diet content
• monthly-hormone based mostly.

The scale does lie technically(well it says how much weight is on it but not why), but there are things that make the scale into a lying liar who lies about weight-loss progress via water weight & regular fluctuations(seems like everything can cause a spike):

• Bodies aren't perfect machines(aka black magic), sometimes they're going to just be weird for a few weeks(why can't they lose exactly 1 lb per week like a 500 cal deficit says they should)
• Hormone cycles(everyone has one, menstruaters just have the most obvious) can mess with weight loss & water retention via hormone shenanigans and appetite changes
• Changes in activity can cause short term water retention(gotta fix those muscles) for as much as 6 weeks
• Salt, carbohydrates, caffeine, & alcohol can mess with water retention. A change in consumption of these can see the scale spike or woosh
• Hydration-being dehydrated is bad(too much water is bad too but you have to work at that), so drink your water but remember that it has weight too & how much your body holds onto changes with it's needs
• Stress is a pain(physical or mental)- relax a bit with whatever does it for you to get those cortisol levels down. You may consider eating at maintenance rather than a deficit for a day or two(so many of these items on the list are stressors of one sort or another)
• lack of sleep throws off regulation of nearly everything
• Change in weather-temperature & pressure being the big offenders
• getting sick, injuries, or surgery(the surgery itself, the meds, any fluids they gave you, the change in activity, the change in diet, the stress)
• medication-some are famous for making it seem like you're suddenly absorbing all the water in the atmosphere
• oddly fat loss is on the list-water replacing the energy you're burning until you woosh
  

And this list didn't even touch on scale calibration, fresh batteries, level floor, & digital scale weirdness(replace the batteries, put it in a flat & level spot then avoid moving it so you can weigh in at the same spot each time).

So if you're on plan, just wait it out for a few more weeks by staying on plan. You've got this and we're all here if you have questions.

submitted by /u/celosia89
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