F (36) been on IF for three months. I am mostly doing 20:4. I have been avoiding the scale - I have only weighed myself three times, one being mandated at a hospital before seeing a Doctor. I saw such dramatic improvements in the first few days that I didn’t want to be discouraged if the scale was not cooperating. My bloating went away, my energy levels were off the roof, I could drink milk and not have it throw a concert in my stomach, I slept better etc.
I was so tempted yesterday and found out that I have added 0.2kg to my starting weight (62kgs). I am targeting 59kgs and later 55kgs.
Despite that, how I feel and my before and after photos tell a different story. I even look ‘smaller’ (A friend who I haven’t seen in nearly a year brought me some blouses that were too small for her. When we met she said she is not sure the blouses would fit because I have gotten ‘smaller’. And they didn’t, slightly bigger - I will wear them anyway, they are so cute!).
I would love to understand why the scale and my body tell different stories. Any inputs?
Adding muscle is really hard to do, let alone gaining muscle with zero effort. So I don’t think you gained muscle if you are not strength training or doing some sort of strenuous exercise which you did not mention.
For weight loss to happen, you need to be in a caloric deficit. IF can help with that, by limiting your eating window, but there are many people who employ IF and do not in fact eat fewer calories than they burn.
Instead, minor fluctuations in weight can usually be attributed to water retention.
Water can be stored and moved to different parts of the body just depending on what your body needs.
Stress raises cortisol; cortisol causes inflammation. Inflammation is often expressed through water retention. Fasting is a stressor, so is menstruation. Significant dietary changes or caloric restriction can also be sources of stress. Not getting adequate sleep.
High sodium consumption can cause water retention.
Some foods can be inflammatory and that can also be a source of water retention. Onions, nuts, nut butters, dairy, others. Different people tolerate at different levels.
Also consider that many scales round to a certain value, and depending on that sensitivity you may not actually weigh appreciably different.
If your weight is going up instead of down, I would look at water weight as the variable before anything else. A liter of water weighs 1kg, so your having “gained” .2kg could simply be a difference of a glass of water.
Incidentally, it could also be a fuller bowel at that moment.
If your clothes are fitting differently, it could be the confluence of two factors: having in fact lost fat (which is fluffy and takes up space) vs water (which is compact but more dense).
But if you aren’t having that experience, the first thing to check is to determine whether you are in a deficit or not, either by eating less or having a higher activity level. And if you are in a deficit, then water weight is the likely culprit, and it will usually resolve itself without intervention.
If you want a more complete picture, take body measurements instead of relying on the scale to tell the whole story.
After reading your last paragraph I’m glad to see your mind is in the right place, you’re making progress and that’s what’s important. That said, I do know it can be bewildering sometimes as to why the scale does what it does, and sometimes even against all logic we can find ourselves discouraged. There are reasons for it though. You didn’t say anything about exercise but it’s very possible that you could have made some ‘noob gains’ if you started lifting or got back into/serious with your training. It could also be water weight, which can be very very finicky sometimes. For example, I just had surgery this week. On the day of surgery I was 199lbs. The day after…208.9lbs. Obviously my body is carrying a lot of fluid from the trauma of the surgery but gosh dang that can be frustrating lol. In your case, if you’re lifting, I would assume it could be a combo of the two. Some muscle gains and perhaps you caught yourself weighing yourself on a day where you carried extra water. At the end of the day if you’re still seeing positive results then keep doing what you’re doing, and if your results stall then go back to the drawing board and make some alterations, but for now sounds like you’re doing fine!
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Also, with the scale, besides the one at the doctor’s office, have you been using the same scale? Believe it or not I have an older digital scale that no kidding puts me about 6-7lbs heavier than any other scale I use. I need to get rid of that piece of crap lol.