I wish I’d known this when I started - it took a few months for me to notice a pattern while I was losing 50lb last year.
Everyone’s pattern is different, but your menstrual cycle is likely to affect your scale weight due to water retention. It can be disheartening to see the scale readings go up when you know you’re in a calorie deficit, but once you know your own pattern, you can make peace with it.
Lots of weight loss research studied men and for years people thought women were the same but smaller. We’re not, as our hormones change throughout the month and these can make you retain water.
Your cycle has phases: your period, the follicular phase, ovulation, and the luteal phase. It’s worth looking up what James Smith and Lyle McDonald have to say on female fat loss in relation to hormones.
My pattern is unusual: I stall when my period starts, then gradually gain 2-3lb, peaking at ovulation. For the last two weeks I experience a “whoosh” where my month’s weight loss is revealed. Then it all begins again. Many women experience the opposite, stalling/gaining in the luteal phase.
Here’s my graph from the last year where you can see every cycle as a hump! https://imgur.com/a/kIDXevR
I weigh daily and also track on the Happy Scale app (Libra on Android) so I can see a moving average. Weekly weighing doesn’t work for me due to the fluctuations - I could just be spot-checking a “high” day and I like to gather all the data I can.
Note when your period starts and also retrospectively note the middle of your cycle as this is likely to be ovulation. It may not work if you take birth control.
I hope this helps someone and stops you giving up in frustration!
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