Since I started my journey, I have been keeping meticulous records on just about everything I could measure. Things like the complete nutritional information of everything I put in my mouth (more on this in a future post) to weighing in daily.
One of the most FRUSTRATING things for me was the scale fluctuations! I would hit a new "low weight" on Tuesday and find that Wednesday I had gained back 2 pounds! What was going on?
It turns out that this is a pretty common thing - and pretty much happens to everyone. The reason being is that there are SO many different contributing factors involved. Even so, for people like me, it drives me nuts.
To start with, weight and size measurements should be at the same time of day. Your body is going to fluctuate like crazy throughout the day - not only because of what you ate/drank but also because of what you have been doing. I recommend taking all measurements as soon as practical after waking up. While there are still a lot of variables involved in causing your scale fluctuations, you will have mitigated SOME of them.
The next point I learned is that I REALLY need 7-8 hours of GOOD sleep. I am one of those kinds of people that can work quite late - and get up early the next morning ready to do it all over again. Not getting a 7-8 hour span of quality sleep can cause me to show a scale gain of 2-3 lbs easily.
Another key part is eating ENOUGH food of the RIGHT food. If you miss your calorie goal (or eat the wrong foods) you are almost certain to see results (and not good ones) on the scale. For me, my target calories is currently 1800-2000 daily. If I miss some meals, get a large percentage of my calories in one meal, or overshoot my goals I will not see good results. Note this doesn't mean you gained back body fat - it just means you either tricked your body to holding on to waste longer OR you haven't processed all the food you injested. This is SO hard to dial in - so just EXPECT weight fluctuations.
Some people recommend only weighing in on a weekly basis - so that the rolling average takes care of itself. I prefer to weigh and measure daily - I just had to learn to not freak out over the variances.
There is a LOT more I have learned about this topic - so will have another post in the future that shares more of what I have learned. But before I sign off for today - I want to stress that water is probably the most important factor in minimizing fluctuations (but certainly not the only factor).
A good rule of thumb is to drink half of your body weight (in ounces) of water every day (up to 120 ounces). Liquids that have SOMETHING ELSE in them (like coffee, tea, diet soda) ALL have stuff your body needs to deal with as it gets the hydration it requires. Turns out that plain old water is the best stuff. Getting your water in (earlier in the day is better so you won't be awakened with full bladders) is a great tactic to help minimize scale fluctuations.
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