The weight rant

[jethrien]

(Those of you who aren't interested in being subjected to a diatribe about the whims of my body can ignore everything behind the cut. Move along, move along.)


So I've been trying to lose weight, and I'll admit I'm somewhat baffled. I put on some pounds in the last few months of college, and have spent the last year trying to get rid of them. I did pretty well with the first ten, and I'm definitely in better shape than I was a year ago. So I'm happy about that.

But the last five that I wanted to get rid of won't budge. (This is the five that put me over the border on the BMI scale into overweight.)

I bought a scale in the fall, and I've been watching my weight fluctuate. I noticed pretty fast that my weight wasn't exactly a steady number, and it's become almost a weird sort of hobby in trying to guess why I'm at the number I'm currently at. Not in an anorexic sort of way - just genuine confusion. Any given day, my weight seems to waver somewhere in a five pound range. (And yes, I do usually try to weigh myself at the same time of day.) One day it'll be 157. The next, 154. The next, 156.

Despite doing a better job of watching what I eat and getting regular exercise, the range of fluctuation hasn't changed in months.

The last week, I've held steady at 154, which is a little on the low side. Despite having eaten a lot of junk over the weekend. Which was nifty. In the last two days, I've been "bad". (And by "bad", I mean I skipped exercising one day, and yesterday I had a muffin instead of my usual veggie snack and then later a handful of chips.) This morning I'm up to 157. So - is this the result of the weekend? If so, why did it take so long to take effect? Is this the result of the weight lifting I've taken up in the last three weeks? (Muscle being heavier than fat and all.) If so, again, why did it not impact my weight today? Is it the result of Mr. Muffin and Chips? Why didn't the weekend's cake cause issues, then?

So I am baffled by two things -
A) My own body. Body, what's up? What is it that you want to be strong and healthy and officially of the right mass for your height and bone structure? Why don't you want to lose that last five pounds of pudge? What makes your weight swing around crazy-like?
B) Other people's weight loss reports. Do other people have this much fluctuation? If so - what's up with people claiming to lose three pounds? I lose three pounds every couple days. They're back the next day, but I lose them. I'm sure water retention and stuff like that must be partially the culprit. But really, how can you tell you lost weight in increments smaller than five pounds unless it keeps going down?

That is all. Go back to your non-obsessive-compulsive days.

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Do you weigh yourself at the same time every day wearing the same amount of clothing? Cause that can account for a lot. Yeah, my weight swings around. Hazard of being a woman, I think. My dad once told me that if he puts on 8 oz., he can feel the difference. My mom and I both looked at him like - are you nuts?? I cannot comprehend being that sensitive to the minutae of my weight. My weight fluctuates over a 5 pound range over the course of a month.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Yep. Also accounting for how long ago I ate or drank and whether my hair is wet, etc. Still all over the place. Being a good little trained engineer, I started trying to eliminate variables. I think the answer really is that my body weighs whatever it feels like weighing that day.

8oz? That's just nuts. I can't tell the difference with four pounds.