I’m seeing a minor weight gain (1.5 lbs) throughout the day. Admittedly, I have been far busier and sweating/drinking water more than usual.
Yesterday was 333.9 but today is 335.2. I took in 1,914 calories yesterday.
IF window: 7pm until Noon.
Lunch (noon): quest chips, banana, vitamins.
Dinner (6:30): food network “Chicken Satay Salad”. All 4 servings.
Weight fluctuates throughout the day and is completely normal. Pick a set time and location and weigh yourself only at that time. Weekly, monthly or daily is up to you but weekly is a good place to start. My preference is to weigh first thing in the morning after I’ve used the toilet and before I’ve had anything to eat or drink. I weigh myself in my bathroom because I can line my scale up with the floor’s pattern so I’m weighing in at the same place every time. Another excellent way to track progress is to take measurements (waist, hips, bust, thigh, upper arm, etc.)
Take your assumed intake calories, subtract from them your assumed TDEE. Divide by 3,500. That’s roughly the fat mass (in pounds) that you would be expected to gain (when the difference is positive) or lose (negative) over 24 hours, if your body operated solely on fat.
Take the same difference as above and divide by 454. That’s roughly the hydrated glycogen (“sugar water”) mass that you would be expected to gain or lose over 24 hours, if your body operated solely on glycogen.
In practice the magnitude of your daily weight swings due to energy imbalance will be somewhere between these two estimates, depending on your carbohydrate intake, whether you ate on a surplus or deficit, and how much glycogen you already had in store.
Oversimplified example:
Note that there’s a multitude of further contributing forces to short-term weight fluctuations, mostly unrelated to energy balance. Perhaps the most notable on day-to-day horizons is digestion-induced water retention, which is why it’s prudent to always maintain a safety distance of at the very least 8 hours between the last meal and weigh-in time.