Struggling with fluctuation

[DucksInABow]

Hey everyone
First time posting in weight loss chat. Just looking for some advice really.

ive been trying to lose a little weight recently, and have lost half a stone by tracking my calories and staying in a deficit along with increasing my activity.

Bur, I’ve noticed that I will get to 7lb lose, then next time I weight I will of put on 1-1.5lb even tho I’m going all the right things. Then I’ll go back down to 7lb off then back up a little and it just yo-yos
I know weight fluctuates and that it’s unlikely I’ve actually put the weight back on, but it’s so frustrating that I do so well and then I feel like I’m failing again.

Can anyone offer any advice?
im 5’ 5”
13st exactly
Eating roughly 1650 calories a day and walking between 15,000-20,000 steps most days.

Hi, are you still trying to lose more weight or maintain? I’ve recently lost weight and now in maintenance and this happens to me a lot. I weigh twice a week and can fluctuate a couple of pounds either side of my goal weight then always come back to it after a few days.

if you’re still trying to lose weight and stick to a deficit, keep going. It’s also normal to plateau for a bit and the whoosh you lose 3lb for example.

How have you worked out your deficit? My maintenance is 1500, I need to eat 1000 a day to lose 1lb a week! Try www.tdeecalculator.net to see what it gives you for maintenance and cutting. For me to lose easily I have to reduce carbs and increase protein.
The fluctuation will be water weight, drink plenty of water and limit carbs to reduce it.

Changes in body weight are different from changes in body fat. Water content fluctuates a lot. Step on the scale every day and then take a weekly average and that should indicate real changes more than normal fluctuation.

Also are you walking those 15000 steps as in shoes on and out for an hour walk or is it the steps that your phone or watch is measuring during the day. Those do not really influence weight loss.

Your calories are quite high for your height.

I am trying to "hear" this message today. After posting my "hey it's working!" post yesterday, today I weighed myself and over the week I'd gained 1.5 lbs. I weigh daily because I know weight fluctuates but actually according to that I gained 4lbs in 2 days!

After getting in a right twist about it all, I've actually found AI is pretty helpful sometimes. It pointed out that there is no physical way I could actually gain 4lbs of fat in 2 days. Not even if I'm overeating the food I eat (my idea of a "treat" is some prunes. If I ate enough prunes to put on weight, let's face it, there'd be some "loss" the other end too!)

I used to do the Paul McKenna "I can make you thin" which worked for years till perimenopause then it didn't work at all. One of his suggestions though was to only weigh every 2 weeks. The reason being that daily fluctuations are too much to not then overreact to. Personally I didn't find it worked for me and found that I didn't hold myself accountable enough long term only weighing that often. But I mention it as one way to overcome that fluctuating scale.

(Also hoping if I have a really big poo I might weigh less tomorrow... Sorry TMI!)

These are my fluctuations the last 4 days just so everyone can see what can happen!

8th March - +3lbs
9th March - +0.75 lb
10th March - -1.5lbs
11th March - 1.25lbs

Bizarre heh? and the net impact is... Drumroll, +1lbs over 4 days but the swing was 3.75lbs over that time. I'm not even bothered at that +1lb as the lowest reading (on 8th) was the lightest I've been for years. (Over the previous two days I'd lost 2lbs so put it in the context of a week and I'm probably 1 lb down).

It's a bit like when you're going down a country road IMO, you're constantly turning left and right and it takes time but you eventually get to where you're going. It can be hard to trust you're going the right way sometimes.

@Lemonthyme you have a salty dinner, you hold on to water. You had a tough workout at the gym, same thing, you retain water as you repair muscle damage. Your cycle enters a new phase, you retain water.
It is normal. The direction of the fluctuations will depend on what you eat and how much of it.
So that’s the next question. What are you eating?

I wasn't really asking a question, I was sharing my experience in that even if you know all the facts you shared, it can be hard to emotionally accept them when that scale goes up and it's the longer trend that matters.