Why Your Weight Fluctuates During Fat Loss

We need to chat!

I need to talk to you about why your weight fluctuates during fat loss (and always) so you don't blow a gasket every time you see the scale spike up.

Picture this, you are crushing your nutrition and have been killing it in the gym. You are super proud of the consistency and effort you have put in.

But then what?

You step on the scale, and it’s not going in the direction you want it to.

It kills your momentum, and you think, “Fuck it. It’s not working, so why bother!”  And stop doing everything you were doing…

Does this sound familiar to you?

It's ok; You are not alone.

When you hit your nutrition and training goals and see the scale spike up, this moment causes you to feel like what you are doing isn’t working.

It may even cause you to quit.

But listen, scale fluctuations are normal and ARE GOING TO HAPPEN no matter how “perfect” you are!

Judging daily scale fluctuations are like how Joey Tribiani puts it, “a Moo-Point… Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion, you know, it just doesn't matter.”

Repeat this back to me; Weight does not equal fat!

If you took a poop right now, your weight on the scale would go down.

If you ate a Thanksgiving-style meal right now, your weight on the scale would go up.

So it’s important to remember that weight does not equal fat. 

Which leads to the following question:

How do I measure my scale progress to know if I am losing fat?

You may judge your progress day to day or week to week. You are to stop being so shortsighted.

Instead, you have to think big picture. Then, judge it over the course of a couple of weeks to even a couple of months.

If you see that global downward trend over that longer period of time,  you are making progress, and what you are doing is working.

If not, that’s ok. Now, you have data that you can analyze to make more adjustments. (Read this blog to see if there are any areas you are missing or you can improve on)

So again, Weight DOES NOT equal fat, and think about the bigger picture.

Now, let’s give you some more input on why the scale fluctuated overnight, so you can stop flipping your shit and realize you don’t have to down a bottle of laxatives and hit the sauna for an hour to make sure it goes right back down.

1. Your Sodium Intake was Higher 

Consuming more salt than usual will cause your body to hold on to more water. So if you ate more salt yesterday than you normally due, there is a good chance you will be retaining more water, causing you to weigh more.

More salt = more water = more weight (not fat).

This isn’t saying you should avoid salt & it’s “bad” by any means. You just need to know that eating some extra salt can cause you to retain water.

2. You Ate More Food or Later at Night than Normal

Say you had a crazy day at work, so all you eat is a protein bar.

Then, after work, you have to go to your kid’s school play, so you rush right over there and are unable to stop to eat.

Finally, you get home that night, eat 1500 calories for dinner, and then go to bed.

Well, when you wake up the following day, you will have a bunch of food sitting in your stomach from the night before.

You didn’t overeat your calories. Instead, you ate most of your calories the night before and physically had more food than usual.

If you eat more food (not necessarily calories) than you usually do or later than you normally do, you have more food in your stomach when you weigh yourself.

Eating more or later than usual = More food in the stomach when stepping on the scale = More weight (not fat).

3. You Ate More Carbs

Carbs can be like a sponge. When you dip a sponge in water, it absorbs the water. It doesn't look much different, but it will be a bit heavier since there is all this water in it.

The same goes for carbs.

Eating more carbs than you usually do will increase your water retention, causing you to hold on to more water and weigh more. 

More carbs = more water = more weight (not fat).

Side note: when people start Keto, they initially lose weight rapidly because they have less water retention, not inherently because they lose body fat.

#TeamCarbs

4. Your Stress Levels Increased

Maybe you didn't get enough sleep, work is bananas pants, or you are just going through so shit;

An increase in stress can do two things:

1. It causes you to eat more than usual.

2. Also, when cortisol spikes up, it causes your body can hold on to more water.

Stress increase = more cortisol = (possibly more food in stomach &) more water retention = more weight (not fat).

5. You Trained Yesterday

Strength training beats up your muscles. After training, your muscles are looking to get replenished to start healing and recovering.

What do they do?

They suck up water and nutrients in your body from what you eat & drink.

Now, they are holding on to more weight than usual, causing a brief weight gain.

Strength Training = more water retention & nutrient absorption = more weight (not fat).

6. You Gotta Take a Dookie

That is it. 

You gotta take a poop.

You have more poop in your digestion tract than usual = more weight (not fat).

7. Menstrual cycle

When you have a menstrual cycle, it is going to cause your body to retain more water during that time of the month.

It may increase early on in your cycle, but over time (since we are not short-sighted anymore), it will pan out.

So again, the menstrual cycle = more water = more weight (not fat).

Did I convince you yet?

Now you don’t have to freak out the moment you step on the scale and see it spiked up overnight.

Just because the scale went up, I promise you didn’t ruin your progress or what you are doing isn’t working.

I have for you here what you are going to do moving forward.

You will use 3 tools to measure your progress:

The Scale

Progress Pictures (Front, Side, and Back Pictures)

Body Measurements (Waist & Hips (& Chest, for men))

For the scale, weigh yourself every morning and every day. Then, look at how your weight trends after a month, not day to day.

After looking at your data, if your weight is trending downward, keep going. What you are doing is working!

If not, you may have to adjust depending on how pictures and measurements progress.

For progress pictures, update them every 2-4 weeks. If you notice fat loss or more muscle definition, BOOM! What you are doing is working, so keep on rocking it.

If not, you may have to adjust depending on how the scale and measurements progress.

AND for Body Measurements, if you measure and see that measurements are getting smaller (i.e., making progress), heyooo! What you are doing is working, so keep on keeping on.

If not, you may have to adjust depending on how the scale and progress pictures are progressing.

Finally, if any of these are progress, you are making progress!

If the scale doesn’t move, but you notice the progress pictures are improving, you are losing fat even though the scale isn't moving.

If you can’t see much progress in progress pictures and the scale isn’t moving, BUT measurements are down BOOM! You are still making progress and losing fat.

So as long as you progress in one of these areas, keep going because progress is happening!

I hope this helped you tame that negative voice that freaks out when the scale fluctuates.

The big thing here is to play the long game and look big picture. It is totally and completely normal for the scale to fluctuate a couple of pounds day to day and even week to week.

Reminder yourself that everything is ok. If you need to, get right back on track.

No matter what, keep going!

You got this!

 - Kevin

As I Am