I gained a pound back (after losing 4) on Day 6. Is that normal?


(Maddy) #1

I am only checking my weight everyday because I am interested to see how my body is responding to the keto diet. But, gaining a pound back seems like maybe I am doing something wrong in this first week. Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks!


Weight goes up before it goes down?
(John) #2

Yes


#3

Weight can flucuate a lot. It is normal


(Allie) #4

Completely


(Maddy) #5

Thank you! Should I change up anything or too soon to determine that?


(Scott) #6

It happens KCKO


(Allie) #7

Just carry on doing what you’re doing


#8

I’d highly recommend to either switch to weighing only once a week or to ditch the scale and buy a tape measure instead. Water retention can cause anywhere between 1-5lb fluctuation.


(Karen) #9

^^^ this. The scale is not your friend. It’s the lying liar who lies. You can gain and lose many times in a week.


(less is more, more or less) #10

Here’s something to try. Pour yourself a nice tall, say, 24 ounces of water, but don’t drink it just yet. 24 ounces of water is 1.5 pounds. Now, go to the room where your scale is and weigh yourself. Any time of day is fine, clothed as your are, etc. Make note of the number, remain calm if “too high.” Now, carefully drink that nice tall glass of water. Weigh yourself, again. You’re up 1.5 pounds from before you drank that water. So you’ve gained weight, but that’s a red herring, right?.

Your body is performing a myriad of adjustments during the day. The scale can be your enemy. You’re better of focusing on whether you’re eating the best low-carb food you can prepare and eat.


(Scott) #11

I say keep the scale. Better yet get one that logs your weight. Weigh daily at the same time and you will see many ups and downs but on the graph you will see a nice line that averages it out to reveal the trend.


(Jennibc) #12

Totally normal. Your water weight will fluctuate like that. If you are in the first week you will drop a lot of water. In fact in the first month you are going to drop water. Your body putting a pound back of water is fine. I am up a pound from a couple of days ago and it’s because I realized I was getting dehydrated, which can happen - I could tell because I had a charlie horse in the middle of the night. It meant it was time to up my salt intake. So up a pound I went. It didn’t bother me - I was expecting to see it. I am in disagreement with many people with regards to weighing on a regular basis. I do it and find it helpful and motivating BUT if you cannot divorce the number on the scale from your self worth or if little blips like that distress you, then I totally agree with them don’t weigh yourself and find a different way to measure progress.


#13

i’m new to the diet too, and am up two lb since yesterday. i do check my weight daily, because when it drops it’s a huge motivation for me and makes me excited all over again. but today i’m not concerned. if it doesn’t move in a month or so i will re-evaluate and possibly switch something up.


(less is more, more or less) #14

Yea, I’ve never let the scale freak me out. It’s but one of many data points. Daily DEXA scans are another matter. :wink:


(less is more, more or less) #15

If everyone saw how my daily weight fluctuates as his or her own weight fluctuations, I’d be filling all the empty chairs at psychotherapist’s offices within a 50 mile radius. I see roughly a ±4 pound variation potential.


(Maddy) #16

You all are awesome! Thanks for taking the time to reply. I am going to keep doing what I am doing and weigh myself less often and also pay attention to the measurements. And, stay under the assumption that if I am in ketosis, then I am on the right track.


#17

If you weigh regularly, do it because the data will be cool to look at later and graph etc, and don’t obsess over the numbers. If you think fluctuations will frustrate you and possibly lead to stress and/or changing what you eat that day to compensate (at risk of becoming an eating disorder, potentially) then take scale measurements less frequently, perhaps monthly at first.

Look at all the ups and downs on my own weight loss graph, yet the trend is obvious:

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/gaffs-progress-and-journal-thread/58798

Good job with the loss so far. Keep calm and keto on!


(Maddy) #18

WOW! That is awesome! Congrats to you and thanks for sharing the graph.


#19

Thanks! And please don’t think everyone’s journey should look like that - some people will lose faster and others will lose slower. You might even see a trend up at first before any downwards trend (us blokes tend to lose a lot easier at the start, as well as people who are significantly overweight and have a lot of fat to give up).

The key thing I wanted to show is you can see some periods of time where my results just seemed to be going up every day, yet a week later I was hitting a new low for the first time, etc. It’s genuinely a bit difficult – at first – to be interested in the data but not to be too engaged in it, especially as the whole reason you’ve picked up keto is because you want to see results for the first time!

Good luck.


(Jennibc) #20

That’s for sure on not looking like others! Mine started back in 2008 and has the same change with an awful lot of year long flat lines :laughing: