Weigh-In Week 1

The Numbers

Starting Weight: 216.8
Weight Last Week: 216.8
Weight This Week: 215.8
Loss This Week: 1.0
Total Weight Loss: 1.0
Pounds Still to Go: 30.8
Trendline Estimate: 203.9

What happened?

Only 1 pound? Yeah I know, that's not 2.5. Now the question is, do I believe it. First let me start off by showing my daily weigh-ins:

Mon 29 216.8
Wed 30 215.6
Thu 1 214.8
Fri 2 215.6
Sat 3 214.4
Sun 4 214.4
Mon 5 215.8

I was weighing myself everyday why it isn't a good idea to weigh myself every day. The numbers can be fickle. But in the long run, the weight loss should add up. But thankfully I did take these numbers, because it useful in this interesting situation.

I obviously didn't lose 1.2 pounds on that first day. That just seems crazy. It's not something my body's ever done before. At the same time, it doesn't seem likely that I gained 1.4 pounds since yesterday. Not in fat at least.

This morning (really afternoon) I woke up, used the bathroom, and weighed myself. And actually, when I first stepped on the scale, it said 216.6! I know I lost more than .2 pounds this week, and I know I did not gain 2.2 pounds since yesterday. I stepped on the scale multiple times, and was getting 215.6, 216, 216.6, 216.2, 216, etc.


Dilemma. What numbers do I believe?

Just took a quick break and weighed myself a couple more times, and this time I got a consistent 215.6 pounds. I'm going to stop weighing myself today or I'm going to go crazy.

Over the course of the week, the numbers were almost showing a consistent decline, and with the past two days holding steady at 214.4, I thought it would be no problem to reach my 2.5 pound goal. I was only .1 pounds away! So it was certainly a surprise to see that number jump back up.

Now the question is... why are the numbers changing so much.

I weigh myself when I wake up, after using the bathroom, but before eating. But I'm not also checking the time of day. Although I do believe all the weigh-ins have been within an hour of each other.

I've been going to the gym every day, and for this first week, only sticking to 45 minutes on the elliptical machine, burning about 600 calories each day. However, I have not yet been keeping a good count of my calorie intake each day.

Another factor, I pretty much only ate chinese food yesterday, and when I woke up, my number 2 wasn't very impressive at all. Perhaps all the food from yesterday has yet to pass through my system.

If my brother had not borrowed the Wii yesterday, I'd be able to turn on Wii Fit and double check the results of the scale, but without that I only have the one source for the numbers.


So now what?

Without a second scale to double check the results, I just have to rely on what it told me. I will continue to weigh myself every day for this next coming week, just to see if I can get a better idea of what's going on. It's hard to know if I'm track or behind if I can't fully trust my scale. I'll also be keeping a better mental count of my calorie intake like I should be doing anyway. And of course, I'll keep on going to the gym.

What I do know is that I need to see better results. If I keep on getting similar results, I'll only be at 203.9 by the end of the year, rather than 185. Next Monday should be interesting.