Things That Can Cause Your Bodyweight to Fluctuate

It’s Totally Normal for Your Bodyweight to Fluctuate 

Repeat after me: it’s completely normal for the scale to fluctuate up and down a couple pounds each day.

We had a really great question pop up in the Paragon Training Methods Community Group regarding the scale, weight fluctuations, and what’s considered “normal” – so I pulled together this infographic using all the responses from the Paragon coaches and Paragon members (:

Things That Can Cause Your Weight to Fluctuate:

• Alcohol & Travel: may cause scale to swing around for 2-3 days
• High Sodium Meal: may cause you to retain water
• Dining Out: did you eat more salt than usual? Or foods you’re intolerant to?
• Sleep: not enough zzz’s can sometimes cause the scale to go up due to change in digestion
• Ate More Carbs: remember that for every 1g glycogen, we retain about 2-3 grams of water
• Ate More Calories: more food equals more stuff to digest 
• Heavy Sweating: did you spend a lot of time working out, doing a lot of cardio, or being outside?
• Menstrual Cycle: are you ovulating, about to start your period, or on your period?
• Stress: darn that cortisol. Stress can also make us extra snack-y 
• Meal Timing: did you eat at different times than usual or eat right before bed?
• Digestion: have the “kids” been dropped off at the “pool?”
• Time of Day: weighing at same time of day? New scale?
• Inflammation: hard workout? Did you go for a run? Were you on your feet all day?
• Medication: start any new prescriptions?
• Hydration: how hydrated (or dehydrated) are you?

Ultimately, the more consistent you are with your food, workout routine, and lifestyle — the more consistent the scale will likely be and you’re probably a lil less likely to see big massive scale fluctuations on the daily.

But keep in mind there’s so many variables at play at all times, every single day. And the more you weigh, the more there’s likely room for bigger fluctuations compared to someone of a smaller frame or lesser weight.

Same thing if you tend to do work, sports, or hobbies where you end up heavily sweating (running, trail running, crossfit, spin, conditioning, BJJ, etc) – you’ll likely see massive swings before and after that activity as you dehydrate and then rehydrate.

For all of these reasons, it’s probably more helpful to zoom out and pay attention more to trends over the course of time, such as looking at a weekly average, rather than getting super hung up on your weight from day-to-day.

This is also why we have to be mindful if we’re only weighing ourselves once or twice a week. We might be spiraling and stressing when our weight actually isn’t consistently trending up or changing.

Where To Go From Here

I’m always posting educational content regarding nutrition, fitness, and sharing what I’m up to on my Instagram.

You can also follow us on the Paragon Training Methods Instagram for tons of free workouts and more tips to help you look and feel your best!