 Hi friends welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach today's video is on a topic that I get asked about all the time I mean daily whether it comes from a coaching client a comment on YouTube Instagram Facebook in my Facebook group. I am asked all the time What is the difference between a weight gain and a weight fluctuation and how the heck do I know if I actually gained? Or if I shouldn't panic when I get on the scale because it's simply a weight fluctuation I want to deep dive into this with you guys today I talk about weight fluctuations a lot in my weigh-in videos if you're new to my channel I do a weigh-in every Friday and whenever my weight fluctuates I talk about what may or may not have caused that fluctuation and then when I actually have a weight gain I talk about what may have caused that actual weight gain and there is a Huge difference between a weight gain and a weight fluctuation So let's talk all about the difference and hopefully this helps you understand the scale a little bit better And helps you learn that the scale is probably the least important measurement of success on your weight loss journey So if you're excited give this video again a big thumbs up subscribe turn your bell on I upload five videos every single week Down in the description box. I will link nutrition coaching. I do offer personalized macros and calories I highly recommend this is how I've lost and maintained my hundred and forty pound weight loss And then I have one-on-one coaching for accountability to ask questions or if you really truly just need some additional support I have coaching available as well links and discounts to my favorite things and come join my Facebook group It's free. It's supportive and we would love to have you so let's jump into talking all about weight gain versus weight fluctuation Guess what weight fluctuation is? Absolutely positively normal and it's going to happen to every single one of us on a very regular basis on our weight loss journey Did you know that the average adults weight actually fluctuates between five and six pounds per day? It all comes down to what you eat what you drink how you sleep exercise hormones There are so many factors that play a part in a weight fluctuation versus a weight gain Now when we step on the scale and we see the scale go up We automatically assume that we've gained weight and weight means fat We assume that at the scales up. We've gained fat when in reality 90% of the time when the scales up 90% of the time it is simply just a weight Fluxuation what I want you to really think about is what it's going to take for you to actually gain weight Slash fat we know that in order to lose a pound of fat We have to be in a deficit of about 3500 calories over the course of a week so for you to gain a pound in a week you would have to be in excess of 3500 calories above your maintenance I can guarantee almost everybody watching this video was in a calorie deficit You're not eating at your maintenance. You're eating anywhere from 500 to 700 calories under your maintenance So in order for you to gain a pound of fat or or in order for you to gain weight You would have to eat 3500 calories above your maintenance, which is generally in the 2000s So if you ate three four five thousand calories, then yeah, you probably actually gained weight If you didn't which I'm venturing to guess which again is 90% of us being in a calorie deficit It wasn't a weight gain or a fat gain. It was simply a weight Fluxulation so I really want you to take that in you have to eat 3500 calories above your maintenance in order to gain one Actual pound if you didn't do that guess what you didn't gain weight you didn't gain fat You simply had a weight fluctuation and I'll tell you weight fluctuations are way more common than actual weight gain Especially if you're involved in a healthy lifestyle if you're on a weight loss journey if you're in a calorie deficit It is very very very unlikely that you gain actual weight So the number one reason of a weight fluctuation is usually a result of food and water intake We know our weight is determined by the number of calories we consume versus the number of calories We put out if we're putting out more than we're consuming we're going to lose weight That doesn't mean that the scales always going to show that we may be doing everything right We may be in a deficit We may be putting out more calories than we're taking in yet the scale doesn't reflect that and that's because Of our intake of food and water and that's affecting the scale in a way that is a weight fluctuation again Not a weight gain so some of the main contributing factors relating to food That can cause the scale to go in the wrong direction is your intake of sodium and carbohydrates food high in salt and food high in carbs may cause your body to retain Water your weight may spike up until that bloating subsides now how you can minimize Water retention is really cutting back on sugary foods and processed foods adding potassium and magnesium Magnesium rich foods to your diet which are going to help prevent bloating and water retention Now there's nothing wrong with sodium and carbohydrates In fact, you should be having sodium every day you should be eating carbs with every meal But those are but they retain water now again This doesn't mean you gained weight right this means that you had a weight fluctuation based on the foods that you chose again High in sodium high in carbohydrates Also, I have to remember that everything you consume all food and drinks actually have some weight No matter the caloric value of the food or drinks that you're consuming They're all going to have some weight when you wake up in the morning You're typically at your lightest weight that is because you've been fasting at night You're typically in need of some water and some hydration So of course the scale is going to be the lowest and as we eat food and consume food during the day The scale will typically go up if you ever weigh yourself in the morning and then weigh yourself at night The scale is generally up at night That's because all of the food and drinks that you've consumed during the day have some weight to them What you have to remember is that healthier foods generally pass through your body a little bit more quickly So they may not show up on this scale as much as sodium Carbohydrates and processed foods may show up on this scale But again, you didn't gain any weight. You're having a weight fluctuation based on those foods You also might need to go poop. Have you ever weighed yourself before and after and seen the scale go down? Again, that is a mass in your body has weight to it when we get rid of these things our weight typically Changes again, you didn't lose fat because you went to the bathroom, right? You didn't lose weight because you went to the bathroom You had another weight fluctuation this time in the positive direction Those are some of the main contributing factors to a weight fluctuation Again, the food and the drinks that you're consuming But there are a lot and I mean a lot of other factors that can cause a weight fluctuation That you may be looking at as a weight gain another one is exercise Did you know that when you exercise whether it's cardio or strength training? You are breaking down your muscles and in order for your muscles to rebuild And to grow especially if you're lifting weights in strength training They become inflamed and retain water and retain water So when you get on the scale post a workout, especially the day after or even two days later The scale is most likely going to be up until your muscles repair and rebuild And shed the inflammation and the water retention But what you can do to prevent but what you can do to really help with this weight fluctuation is make sure you're drinking A lot of water flush it all out. Believe it or not more water helps with water retention I know it sounds counterproductive, but it's a real thing the more water you drink the less inflammation and water retention You'll have from exercise. I will tell you from personal experience. I am very very active I work out about six days a week. I can literally gain Gain three pounds overnight after a hard workout when I'm sore when I'm tired when my muscles are rebuilding I can actually see the scale spike up several pounds I never let it affect me because I know that I didn't gain three pounds in order to gain one pound I would have had to eat 3,500 calories above my maintenance and in order for me to actually gain three pounds I would have had to eat 11,000 calories Above my maintenance, so that means that I would have had to eat upwards of 13, 14, 15,000 calories the day before to gain weight That didn't happen. It's just a weight fluctuation based on exercise Another thing that can really affect your weight on this scale is medication There's a lot of medication that cause your body to retain water There's medications that increase your hunger and there's even medications that unfortunately can change your metabolism And not in a good way. I'll go ahead and pop up here on the screen Some of the medications that commonly can affect your weight can cause you to retain water increase your appetite change your metabolism If you think your medication is affecting your weight, I would definitely have a conversation with your doctor Maybe there's a different medication that they can prescribe you that doesn't have these side effects Most of the time medications lead to weight fluctuations not actual weight gain Now we know that steroids can actually have a negative effect on our weight Again, have a conversation with your doctor See what you can do to counteract these medications when it comes to seeing the scale move in the wrong direction Another thing that can really really affect the scale is your menstrual cycle You actually retain a lot of water at certain times during your menstrual cycle. Now this varies for everybody I actually talk a lot about hormones and how my cycle affects my weight and my weight fluctuations Everybody is different. So your how this affects you is going to be different for everybody But typically there's a period of time Prior to your cycle in a period of time during and after your cycle that your body just retains extra water And that's again when you see the scale go up Not because you gained weight but because of hormones and your menstrual cycle You're retaining extra water and it's another weight fluctuation There are also times leading up to during and after that you're at your leanness when you see the number on the Scale go down that is because that weight fluctuation and that retaining of water has subsided And now the scale is recording lower weight. Typically we see a big spike the first day of our cycle and then it levels out Thereafter just remember you didn't gain weight. It's another weight fluctuation Another thing is your intake of alcohol now If you follow me, you know that I don't consume any alcohol. It's just a personal choice for me Listen, I'd rather eat my calories than drink them. That just works a lot better for me My recommendation for you if you are on a weight loss journey is to limit your alcohol or avoid it all together Alcohol isn't processed by your body the same way as food in other beverages It actually takes your body longer to process alcohol It actually slows the digestion of the other food and things the other foods and drinks that you're consuming Which again can lead to retaining some water beyond all of that alcohol is basically empty calories Alcohol is a carbohydrate when you consume it it turns to sugar Doesn't matter the alcohol hard alcohol beer wine. It all has the same effect on your body Also, when we consume alcohol it can lower our inhibitions. Maybe we don't make the best food choices Or maybe we over consume alcohol meaning we're over consuming calories So it's likely that your alcohol intake would cause a weight fluctuation But continued excess alcohol intake in addition to food can actually lead to a weight gain Be mindful of alcohol on a weight loss journey. Another factor may be Illness now. We don't even take into account that an illness could affect our weight While conditions like underactive thyroid pushing syndrome and polycystic ovarian syndrome or otherwise known as pcos Can lead to unexpected weight gain diabetes and Crohn's disease are often associated with unexpected weight loss If you're experiencing any of these weird symptoms again, have a conversation with your doctor Have the appropriate blood testing and other testing to see if you have any illness That may be affecting your weight loss in a negative or positive way Sometimes when we're sick with things like a cold or a flu our hunger is less So we consume less calories and we can see the scale go down and that's just an effect of the illness Unfortunately when the illness is over and we go back to eating like normal Generally the scale goes right back to where it was But there are a lot of different contributing factors to weight fluctuations when it comes to illness Again, if you think you're suffering from something definitely have a conversation with your doctor So because weight fluctuates and weight can fluctuate five to six pounds every single day I want to talk about when is the ideal time to actually weigh yourself Most importantly with weighing in be consistent weigh at the same time Every single day or every single week my recommendation for you If you have an unhealthy relationship with the scale and what I mean by that is if the number on the scale dictates your mood Can ruin your day can make you have a good day can keep you on track can take you off of track Stop weighing yourself so frequently Focus on weighing yourself once a week or every two weeks Just try not to go more than a month without weighing yourself If you have a healthy relationship with the scale and you can understand the difference between weight gain and weight fluctuation I personally think weighing yourself daily can be really beneficial It allows you to see those weight fluctuations and to be okay with them to know that you may go up Overnight and know that that wasn't a weight gain It can really help heal your relationship with the scale and better understand the difference between weight gain and weight fluctuation You can even weigh yourself in the morning midday and at night for a week or so to see how your body changes and fluctuates throughout the day I personally weigh daily I weigh myself in the morning and I weigh myself at night And that just gives me a good baseline for my morning weigh in at night And a good baseline to see kind of what happened with my body during the day from the morning to the night And again, this is different for everybody based on your relationship with the scale Now there are also some different ways to weigh yourself How should you weigh yourself again to determine? Are you gaining weight or is it simply a weight fluctuation? The obvious answer to this is to use your scale That's going to be the biggest indicator of your actual weight weigh yourself on a scale that you know is accurate Make sure you're changing your batteries regularly if you get on the scale and off the scale the number changes every time It's likely that your batteries need change It could be that your scale is malfunctioning But you definitely want to make sure that your scale is accurate before you hop on You also again want to weigh yourself at the same time and you want to use the same scale You can also weigh yourself with or without clothes Maybe try it both ways Put on some clothes and see the scale go up and know that you didn't gain weight Right, you didn't gain weight because you put on a shirt and pants It's a fluctuation based on your clothing So I would recommend playing around with the scale a little bit weigh yourself with or without clothing So you can get a better understanding again of weight fluctuation and even more important than the scale Incorporate other ways of measuring and I really want to focus on this in today's video We've talked a lot about the scale But it like I said in the beginning that is probably the least important measurement Of your overall success now the scale is going to show you weight fluctuation It's also going to show you weight gain But what you have to remember is the scale measures mass It doesn't know what that mass is made up of is it water? Is it food? Is it carbohydrates? Do you need to go to the bathroom? Is it soreness? What is the actual mass that the scale is measuring the scale has no idea? So that is why I say that you have to really focus on other types of measurements to see the big picture And these other measurements in my opinion are way more important than the scale Because they're not just going to measure mass They're going to really tell you what that mass is made up of one side note that I also want to talk about Because it's a huge huge huge misconception in diet culture and in dieting in general And that is that muscle weighs more than fat It does not a pound is a pound a pound of flour a pound of sugar a pound of fat a pound of muscle It is all the same the difference is muscle is this big and fat is this big So muscle is more dense so it takes up less space So for example, you and I can be the same age the same height and the same weight and look drastically different If one of us has more muscle and one of us has more fat The person over here that has more fat is going to look a lot larger than the person over here That has more muscle because muscle takes up less space than fat Truthfully your ultimate goal And I know this is going to sound crazy and probably going to scare a lot of you But your ultimate goal is to replace the fat in your body with muscle So this pound of fat now is a pound of muscle Which means guess what the scale doesn't move but your body changes and your measurements change and your clothes fit differently And you look different aesthetically and I know that that's scary because we always think that what actually measures our success Is the scale that measures the true success of a weight loss journey I'm here to tell you that that is absolutely Not the case and I am living proof of that if you don't follow me regularly. I do away in every single Friday I share my weight. I tell you exactly what I weigh and how much I have lost for reference I am 5 8 and my weight fluctuates between 185 and 190 pounds Now I will tell you that there is not a single person in my actual life Someone who sees me in person that ever thinks I weigh over about 150 or 160 pounds That is because lean muscle takes up less space than fat and my focus is lean muscle Regardless of what that number is on the scale and that's why I say that ultimately that should be your focus as well Some other measurements of success are things like how your clothes fit You may put on a pair of jeans that was too tight and now you put them on and they are loose And you haven't lost a single pound or maybe you've lost very little weight That is body recomposition and again, you're replacing that fat with muscle Another thing that you can do is actually take your measurements Now, of course, you can take all of your body's measurements everything from your neck down to your toes But my recommendation for women especially is to take three very basic measurements Take your chest measurement around the widest part of your chest Take your waist measurement around the smallest part of your waist And then take your hip measurement around the widest part of your hips For women, these are going to be the most indicative measurements of fat loss and weight loss Now for men, you want to also incorporate things like your neck and your biceps and your thighs Or if you're on a fitness journey, you want to take full body measurements But for weight loss alone, it's those three measurements for women I will also tell you from personal experience that I have been basically maintaining my weight now for almost an entire year I lost the majority of my weight last year finished my weight loss I finished my weight loss journey up at the beginning of this year and have essentially been maintaining ever since But I will tell you when my three measurements are taken once a month at boot camp I lose inches every single month, but my weight doesn't change and again ultimate goal Hashtag goals replace that pound of fat with a pound of muscle The scale doesn't move but the inches do another thing you can do is treat yourself to a dexa scan or a body scan Now I had a body scan Almost one year ago actually last november and I have an appointment coming up a little bit later this month for an actual dexa Scan dexa scans are kind of like a cat scan or an MRI that same kind of situation And they are much more accurate than a body scan I'm at the stage in my weight loss journey in my fitness journey that a dexa scan is the next step for me And I have a lot of changes coming up when it comes to my weight loss and fitness journey So again, you're going to want to subscribe because I've got a lot of things happening and a lot of changes going on And this dexa dexa scan that I have scheduled here in the next couple weeks is the start of those changes So you can have a body scan or a dexa scan to really learn your body And this may actually be beneficial for you if you struggle with the scale Because it's going to tell you how much muscle you have how much bone density you have how much water you're retaining And how much actual fat you have on your body. It's very accurate Much more accurate than the scale and really any other measurement of success All you have to do is search dexa scan dexa scan in your area Most areas or big cities will have the opportunity to have one sometimes your insurance covers it Sometimes it doesn't for me. I have to pay for mine out of pocket And they range anywhere from about a hundred dollars to about two hundred and fifty dollars And one more fun measurement that has nothing to do with the scale is how about how strong you are How your endurance is how you can lift heavier weights how you can walk further run further How you can talk while walking I used to never be able to carry on a conversation while walking And now I can carry on a conversation while running Physical activity and your strength and your endurance are another way to measure your success that have nothing To do with the scale. What's the bottom line of today's video? What do I really want you to take away from this? There is a huge difference between weight gain Fat gain and a weight fluctuation Again 90 of those changes on the scale that you're seeing are weight fluctuations not weight gain 90 Please keep that in mind and remember that weight fluctuations are normal and absolutely nothing that you should be concerned about If the scale negatively affects you stay off of it focus on getting on the scale once a week every two weeks Just again, don't go more than a month without weighing yourself You want to keep your thumb on your weight You don't want to be in a position where you've gained five pounds then 10 pounds and 15 pounds and 20 pounds You want to be able to rein it in if you need to for me? I give myself a five pound window once I get out of that five pound window I rein it in so that I can again stay in that healthy window You have to also remember that weight maintenance is not a number. It is arranged You're going to have weight fluctuations in weight loss and in weight maintenance And again, it's completely normal and it should not affect you in the slightest And of course have a conversation with your doctor if you think that you suffer from any illnesses Or maybe your medications are negatively affecting your health journey There's a lot pieces that play in to a weight loss and a health journey The scale is just one very small part of your health and wellness journey It's definitely not the biggest part your focus shouldn't be the scale It should be your health your wellness your physical activity How your clothes are fitting up what your measurements are showing those should all play a bigger factor than the scale Now the scale does matter. It just isn't the only thing that matters Let me know down in the comments if you have any other questions on weight fluctuations Or do you have any tips on how you deal with the weight fluctuation? And if you enjoyed today's video, don't forget to give it a big thumbs up Subscribe turn your bell on because I upload five videos every single week I really hope this helped you guys out again I get this question a lot and I really wanted to deep dive into it because I want you to know that you are doing everything Right, you are being successful and you will reach your goals Just don't let the scale control every piece of your life. It is not that important It's a box that measures mass. It is not an important piece of your overall health and wellness journey Thank you so much for watching friends and I'll see you next time. Bye