Anyone feel like their weight loss/gain is delayed?

[Anonymous]

I feel like my weight gains or loss isn’t related to what I have done in the prior week, but what the effort (or lack thereof) that I did 3-4 weeks ago. Does that make sense? It’s like when I used to go on vacation and not paid attention to calories as much, and I come back and the next week I think “yay, I didn’t gain weight despite those extra ice creams and margaritas!” But then 3-4 weeks later I’m feeling bloated and sluggish (and it’s not related to my cycle) despite having been eating my normal non-vacation healthy self. Or I start burning more calories with an exercise regimen; but I see zero results until a month later and maybe I didn’t even exercise much the week prior to a sudden loss.

Over this quarantine I have eaten a little differently, but not that much. Baking a little more, but not every day and having a cookie a day for 3 days while we have them, not 4 cookies a day. Putting some sugar in my coffee when I used to just use milk. But otherwise eating the same. I was feeling totally normal and at the same weight since March, and suddenly this week Boom I’m heavier and bloated, but this week isn’t any different than the last few weeks, we didn’t even bake last week. So I feel like this is my delayed reaction to the slight increase in calories, but instead of gradual it’s all at once. Does this happen to anyone else?

[Anonymous]

Yes: it’s known as the “whoosh” effect. You can eat right for like 2 weeks, notice no changes, and in week 3, suddenly 4 lbs go at once. It’s pretty weird but common.

[Anonymous]

Very common. That’s why weight loss is usually in a stairstep pattern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes: it’s known as the “whoosh” effect. You can eat right for like 2 weeks, notice no changes, and in week 3, suddenly 4 lbs go at once. It’s pretty weird but common.

I agree. This is why I weigh myself daily and track the trend over time; weight fluctuates and it takes time to see changes. The overall trend over time is what will really tell you what is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes: it’s known as the “whoosh” effect. You can eat right for like 2 weeks, notice no changes, and in week 3, suddenly 4 lbs go at once. It’s pretty weird but common.

Op here—I have never heard of the whoosh effect! Thank you, this makes me feel less crazy.

[Anonymous]

Yes same here, the vacation effect you describe is spot on

[Anonymous]

Ive noticed the loss effect, but not the gain - does that also happen? When can I breathe a sigh of relief and be happy that what I ate didn't translate to the scale?

[Anonymous]

My husband is dealing with this. He is trying to lose about 40 pounds. He has been running like crazy and eating well. I keep telling him he looks really different (and he does!) but he says the scale, after an initial 10 lb drop, hasn’t budged.

He’s pretty frustrated.

[Anonymous]

I know exactly what you mean, op. I've been wondering for weeks when my poor eating habits would catch up with me. I'm not sure how the scale has managed to stay the same when I should have easily gained by now.

My body looks and feels flabby; however, the scale is not reflecting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband is dealing with this. He is trying to lose about 40 pounds. He has been running like crazy and eating well. I keep telling him he looks really different (and he does!) but he says the scale, after an initial 10 lb drop, hasn’t budged.

He’s pretty frustrated.

I mentioned above weighing in daily and tracking the tread over time. It helped me so much! Seeing the fluctuations and bettering understanding that weigh loss is no linear was huge. Also make sure he is being honest with what he is eating. Exercise is great but it really comes down to diet.

[Anonymous]

Not the case for me. If I’ve been good or bad with my diet/exercise, it will show up on the scale very quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the case for me. If I’ve been good or bad with my diet/exercise, it will show up on the scale very quickly.

These spikes are not typically real fat gains or loses. When I eat more cars or salt one day I will "gain"a few lbs, but this is just water/bloat, not fat gain. This is why the trend over time is what really matters.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried the Fitbit scale? It just records our weight every day, nothing to keep track off. It’s just part of our morning get up, pee, weigh, brush teeth, etc

[Anonymous]

I’ve been intermittent fasting 16:8 for going on three weeks, plus added running 1-3 miles a day and have barely lost anything, maybe 2 lbs. I’m not overeating and am trying to stay low carb as usual. So confused.

[Anonymous]

Same here! It takes about 3 serious days to turn the ship around, then results become visible.