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WEIGHT fluctuations

26/09/2022

Daily weight fluctuations normal. 

The average weight of an adult fluctuates between 2 and 3 kg per day.

 Weight depends on what and when we eat, drink, exercise and even sleep. 

Thousands of different functions take place in our body every minute.

 Let's remember that our body's main goal every day is to keep us alive, not to lose weight.


Possible causes of weight fluctuations:

1. Food and water intake

Our weight depends on the number of calories we consume compared to the number of calories we burn. Some studies suggest that our weight is highest on Sunday night, after a weekend of eating or drinking alcohol, and lowest on Friday morning. Our average weekly weight is therefore probably most accurate on Wednesday morning.

Regardless of caloric content, all food and beverages weigh something. Drinking a glass of water adds weight to our body because water has weight. The same goes for the vegetables in our salad. However, healthy food and water pass through our bodies quickly, so a balanced diet can mean less fluctuations. Food with a high content of carbohydrates, sodium and fat takes longer for our body to process and excrete.


2. Bloating 

Food high in salt and carbohydrates can cause our body to retain water and cause bloating. Our weight may increase until the bloating subsides. Bloating can be minimized by limiting sugary drinks and processed foods. Adding foods rich in potassium and magnesium to our diet can also help balance sodium levels and thus reduce bloating.


3. Excretion and constipation

Our body uses food and fluids for hydration and energy. After successfully getting the nutrition from food, our body begins to excrete waste products such as mucus, sweat, urine, and stool. This may cause a slight decrease in weight. 

The opposite case is constipation. The causes of constipation can be different. It is important to have a general idea of ​​the physiology of our intestines: this large muscular tube needs a certain volume of stool to receive the necessary "impulses" to transport the intestinal contents further. If our diet lacks fiber and the right amount of fluids, the necessary stool volume is missing. If fluid intake is too low, the intestine takes water from the stool, which makes it difficult for it to be transported further - the result is constipation.

4. Other factors

Diet plays a major role in daily weight fluctuations, but other factors can also contribute to the ups and downs.

Exercise - energy expenditure during exercise burns extra calories and this can lead to weight loss. However, if we hydrate the body enough, we may not see an immediate weight loss on the scale. This is because the water we drink replaces the water we lost afterwards. However, water does not contain any calories and does not cause weight gain. Exercise burns calories, so if we burn more calories than we eat and drink, we will lose weight.

Warning: if you have recently started exercising or changed your training plan, you may notice a slight weight gain due to water retention.

Medicines - some medicines cause our body to retain water, increase our appetite or change our metabolism.

Menstrual cycle - our menstrual cycle can cause our body to retain more water at certain times of the month, leading to slight weight gain. On the first day of menstruation, we may notice that our weight is slightly higher than normal. Our normal daily weight should return to average within a few days of starting the cycle

Alcohol consumption - alcohol slows down digestion. In addition, alcohol contains calories that we may not even count in our daily caloric intake.

Illness and stress - weight can increase or decrease due to inflammation or illness (such as the flu) or due to a chronic condition of the body. Some chronic inflammations and diseases increase weight (e.g. PCOS, under active thyroid), some reduce weight (e.g. diabetes I, Crohn's disease).

Lack of sleep - it is no secret that the human body needs approximately 8 hours of sleep a day. However, it is not only a question of the length of sleep, the quality of the night's rest is also important. Poor quality sleep endangers health and also causes weight gain.


When to weigh yourself:

Our lowest weight of the day will be after waking up and visiting the toilet. We can weigh ourselves at another time, but for accurate measurement we must continue weighing at the same time on the same scale.

Weighing yourself during the day will not measure total weight gained or lost, but it will help us understand the overall fluctuation of our weight throughout the day.

In order to lose weight, we need to burn more energy than we consume - we need to be in a caloric deficit.

It is necessary to weigh yourself always at the same time of the day. However, the scale is not the only measurement in our dieting journey, especially when we exercise. Physical change can be seen through our cloths fitting better and by measuring the size of our waist, hips, and other areas you will notice how your body is changing.

However, body size isn't the only way to assess your overall health. For example, you can measure your fitness level by tracking your heart rate while at rest and when engaging in cardio activity. 

If we stick to our plan, the results will come, but we can't go faster than our body wants us to.

When dieting, our only goal is usually weight loss, but our body has a lot of other things it has to take care of.

It flushes out toxins, regulate our hormones, deal with stress, lack of sleep, digest more food, ... let's be kind to our body!

This is why it's important to have goals outside of the numbers on the scale so that focusing on the goal weight doesn't completely consume us and spoils all success.

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