Yen

A close friend of mine is struggling to keep her weight down. She is only 5' tall so her caloric needs are not high. She has a very busy job so she doesn't have much extra time. She rides her stationery bike on most days and part of her job involves some walking. She skips dinner, so her daily intake is for breakfast and lunch only.... and snacks if they are there.

She tells me she weighs herself daily. Often, she will tell me she gained 2 pounds after eating dinner the night before with friends. I explain that a permanent 2-pound weight gain of fat would mean she consumed 7000 calories above her daily requirements. Assuming her daily requirement is 1300 calories (given her short stature and small frame), she'd have to consume 8300 calories that day to gain 2 pounds overnight. I know she doesn't eat anywhere near that amount on any day.

I don't think it is possible to overeat a little bit one day (say, a couple of cookies or a bowl of ice cream, and an extra helping of potatoes) and experience a permanent 2-pound gain of fat (or 7000 calories) weight literally overnight.

I don't want to misguide her if I am wrong. She needs to do what's right for her, which may be totally different than what's right for me. I just want to help her if I can.

Jen

aikigreg

She's hyperfocused and likely doing everything wrong. She's likely undereating, and skipping meals is ruining her body and metabolism. . Tell her to ignore the scale for a while and get measurements of all the body parts she wants to get slimmer. Then tell her to log everything with calories she puts in her mouth, and join a gym. She should eat 5 small meals every 3 hours and as much as possible make them protein + veggies of whatever kind she likes. Take measurements once a week and watch the numbers on the tape shrink!

NomadVW 

Judging weight gain/loss day by day is a horrible trap to get into for people struggling with trying to lose. Literally "heavy" foods at dinner time will make you "heavier" in the morning as the body tries to consume the calories and dispose of the non-combustibles, sort of. For instance, I'm sitting here with a 20-24 oz bowl of cereal. Total calories around 300 for the large bowl. I can eat an 8 oz powerbar for 250 calories. While the body is consuming those calories, which one makes me physically heavier? I try to keep my meal times as consistent as possible so that my weight in relationship to food in the stomach the next morning is roughly the same. Also remember that all the fiber calories don't get digested. They get pooped. I have recently found that if I go a few days on a higher fiber intake, my weight might plateau or even go up if I'm not "regular" if ya know what I mean

The most important thing to do is watch the trend of weight overall, and know the math does in fact work. Calories in - Calories out.

Phantoj

Drink a 32-oz soda. Ta daa! Two pounds heavier (until you pee).

I think a two-pound dump is possible.

Hydration level greatly affects weight... I can drop several pounds - very temporarily - by going on a bike ride and not drinking enough water.

A good idea is to weigh every day at the same time, and track the 5 or 7-day average weight weekly.

DannoXYZ 

My weight varies +/- 3 lbs weekly depending when I weigh myself. That's a 6 lb variation from day to day and I'd go crazy if I weighed myself daily. Since work and workouts go on a weekly cycle, I only weigh myself on Tuesday mornings after a wiz and before breakfast. That's the most consistent time from week-to-week I've found for myself and it seldom vary more than 0.5 lbs when I'm maintaining steady weight.

rodrigaj

This software may help your friend see the weight trends from her food intake:

https://www.weightware.com/

It was written by one of the BF members, who also advertises cyclistats. I have no affiliation with the company, but use both pieces of software and can vouch for their usefulness in setting up and maintaining sensible, objective weight and training goals.

socalrider

If you friend is eating salty foods, most of her weight gain will be water weight.. Cut back on the salty foods and drink more water and she can get back on track..

Even at her height 1300 calories is pretty low, her BMR depending on her weight is around 1300-1400 calories. Is she tracking all her calories with a food journal?

kuan

I weight 3-4lbs more at night, then drop it all the next morning after pee and dump.

mateo44

I take a slightly different approach. Knowing that I'm trying to measure something that varies, I weight myself several times a day. Then I compute a 7-day moving average to find my weekly weight. I figure my weight loss as the difference between the weekly average for the current week and the previous week. That way not only is the variation taken care of, but I don't have to stress each time I get on the scale, since each time only contributes one data point. So I don't "root" for a low reading each time.

Having done this for several months now, I notice several things. First, My readings each day (+/- 4 pounds) vary much more than do the averages across weeks (about a pound, usually trending downward!). Second, my readings first thing in the morning are not typically my lowest of the day. Third, after long rides (say, >50 miles), I usually weigh more for a day or two after. I assume this is water retention.

I realize the multiple-weighing strategy would drive lots of people crazy. But it's been great for me.

ronjon10

That's a good way to do it, but way too much work for me. I just log my morning weight and go with it, as long as it's down I'm good.


Recently, I found that I'm also getting short term weight after longer rides. This morning, I'm up 2 pounds over yesterday after a 60 mile ride yesterday.

I find the opposite after my 18 mile, 1700 ft ride. I'm usually low after those rides.

DannoXYZ 

So do you use a simple or weighted moving average? How about a long-term vs. short-term average as well? Say 3 vs. 7-day EMA? Then we can determine whether an intraweek movement up or down is simply due to a drinking-night or whether it's part of a long-term trend.

Yeah, my lowest weight is on Sunday nights after I've done my long endurance rides. By Tuesday morning, I've regained that water back to normal levels.

mateo44

It's a simple moving average, with each day weighted the same (if that's what you mean). I could weight those days with fewer data points less (since it's a less reliable estimate of the day's weight), but that might be a bit much.

I do a daily average, then each day I compute a simply moving average until day 7. Of course, the moving average on day 7 is just the average of the 7 daily averages. But it's nice to see what my current moving average is at any point during the week. I haven't gotten fancier than that.

My weekly trend is generally heavier on Monday and Tuesday after a hard weekend of working out, then down the rest of the week. As long as the weekly average is lower than the previous week, all is well.

mateo44

It's really not much work once you set up the spreadsheet. Then it's just data entry. The fact that it's medium-obsessive keeps me honest.

Yeah after a long ride my weight is usually up a bit. But after 60 minutes of sweaty basketball, it's down.

Yen

Thanks. I will try to encourage her to not pay so much attention to the scale... it may be a matter of education about the details.

zowie

Not just consummed, but metabolized and stored.

DannoXYZ 

Meaning that she would have to eat actually more than 2-lbs of food in order to gain that weight. And not burnt it off for activity at all.

Phantoj

If you have a personalized Google homepage, the Google 15 widget is a really easy way to keep a moving average of your weight.

twobikes

Salts are in surprising places. Look for the word sodium on labels. Btu, I can also go to a restaurant and make healthy choices. Yet, I show an unexpected weight increase the next day. It happens if I have a soft drink or two. It also happens if there is more salt than expected used in preparation of the meal. Even breakfast cereals have a surprising amount of salt (sodium) in them. According to a news reports several years ago a bowl of most cereals contains about as much sodium as a small bag of potato chips.

chinotex

I think a two-pound dump is possible.

That would be like a four-footer.

Tom Stormcrowe

Another factor.

You mentioned your friend is a SHE! Every 28 days, a woman experiences a short term water weight gain......