Are you losing and gaining the same 5-10 pounds of water weight…

As a nutrition coach, the first thing I am looking for is…

Consistency

Consistency

CONSISTENCY.

There are three pivotal reasons why I annoyingly wrote this word three times.

1. The mental drain of watching early stage weight loss and weight gain fluid shifts can drive people bonkers. We are leated when it comes off and demoralized when it puffs back on.

The thing is if you drop into a caloric deficit, you are very likely going to lose water weight and some people can lose more than 10 pounds of pure fluid when they were put in 50% deficit for two weeks. Some of those same people gained all that fluid back and maybe even more when they overate by 50% on the subsequent two weeks [1]. All the while actual fat loss and fat gain were fairly stable [1]. As scientists, we call this noise in the data. For real people, this is riding the psychological rollercoaster of inconsistency and fluid shifts.

1. You might not think this noise in the data is a big deal, but weight variability at the onset of weight loss is related to less weight loss success and has even been found to predict weight regain [2-4]!
2. Being inconsistent and watching the scale weight data flip around can also be exhausting for the coach-client relationship because as a team we literally have no idea if anything is working. That is why getting consistent with training, movement, eating, food volume, and sleeping is so important throughout your journey. Without consistency, we have no compass to move you towards your goal.

Thus, getting consistent allows you to truly zero in on your actual results and sets you up for success long-term. Building a routine also allows you to put tasks on auto-pilot and assess if the lifestyle and nutrition changes you are making are actually moving the needle.

Put First Things First.

Get Consistent.

And if you fall into a weekend bowl of queso and margaritas, it happens just know that you are going to have some fluid to lose before you can see your real results again.

*These early phase weight shifts can be especially extreme for people using a low carb approach and I have seen people get addicted to watching those first 5 to 10 pounds of water come off over and over again. It’s not real and losing the same 10 pounds of water isn’t heroic…it’s annoying.

#GIVEAFIT

REFERENCES:

1. Muller, M.J. and A. Bosy-Westphal, Effect of Over- and Underfeeding on Body Composition and Related Metabolic Functions in Humans. Curr Diab Rep, 2019. 19(11): p. 108.

2. Benson, L., et al., Weight variability during self-monitored weight loss predicts future weight loss outcome. Int J Obes (Lond), 2020. 44(6): p. 1360-1367.

3. Feig, E.H. and M.R. Lowe, Variability in Weight Change Early in Behavioral Weight Loss Treatment: Theoretical and Clinical Implications. Obesity (Silver Spring), 2017. 25(9): p. 1509-1515.

4. Lowe, M.R., et al., Short-term variability in body weight predicts long-term weight gain. Am J Clin Nutr, 2015. 102(5): p. 995-9.