My Weight Fluctuates: Can You Help?

Would you like to reach a healthier weight? You’re not alone: Three in four adults (73.6%) in the United States are overweight or obese, more than half of Americans (55%) say they’d like to slim down, and one in four people (26%) are actively trying to shed extra pounds. 

But weight loss isn’t always a straightforward process, and many people face unexpected pitfalls and roadblocks along the way. Common weight loss struggles include:

• Sustaining the effort long enough to reach the intended goal
• Progressing toward the goal in a steady, sustainable manner
• Staying motivated after reaching a “weight loss plateau”
• Preventing the pounds from coming back after losing weight

If you’re frustrated by chronic weight fluctuations, our expert team at Nova Physician Wellness Center can help. Here’s how healthy, sustainable weight loss can help you stabilize your weight long-term — and stop unhealthy weight cycling for good.

Some weight fluctuation is normal 

If you weigh yourself daily, you know the number on the scale can change quickly. Influenced by what you eat and drink, your activity levels, your bowel patterns, and even how much sleep you get, daily weight fluctuation of up to 5 pounds is normal. 

Daily weight fluctuation is largely an effect of water retention changes. For example, your body retains water and weighs slightly more after you eat sodium-rich foods. Exercise, on the other hand, sheds water weight through sweating. Hormonal changes, medication, and alcohol can also affect water weight changes.

The trouble with body weight cycling

Routine weight fluctuations can feel frustrating when you’re trying to drop a few sizes, but they’re not cause for concern, especially if your weight loss efforts keep trending in the right direction over time.  

The real weight fluctuation problem is body weight cycling, or losing weight only to regain all the pounds you lost — or more — not long afterward. 

What it is 

Weight cycling describes excessive weight fluctuations that occur when a period of dieting and weight loss is followed by a full or partial return to previous dietary and activity habits, leading to rapid weight gain. Yo-yo dieting is another term for excessive weight fluctuation.

Why it happens

Weight cycling is usually a result of “fad dieting.” Based on limited or faulty research (or no research at all) fad diets promote an initial period of rapid weight loss through restrictive, inflexible diets that can’t be sustained long-term. Examples include:

• Eliminating an entire nutrient group (i.e., carbs)
• Focusing on just one macronutrient (i.e., protein)
• Restricting your caloric intake to starvation levels
• Prescribing frequent intermittent fasting periods
• Emphasizing dietary supplements over real food 
• Having you skip meals or adhere to a liquid diet 

Drastic dieting is strongly associated with feelings of deprivation, uncontrolled cravings, rapid weight loss plateaus, and ultimately, “fad diet failure” and weight regain. 

Dangers

In addition to making long-term weight control more challenging, extreme weight cycling is linked to serious health risks like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cardiac events. 

Reaching a stable, healthy weight 

When you rapidly lose 5 or more pounds a week on a fad diet, most of what you’re losing is “water weight” and lean muscle mass. Why? Fad diets aren’t nutritionally balanced, and they don’t emphasize exercise as a key driver of weight control.

Our medical weight loss plans take the opposite approach, combining optimized nutrition and regular exercise with expert guidance and individualized support to help you achieve your goals in a safe (gradual) and sustainable (doable) way.

Successful weight maintenance has many facets, including:   

• Taking stock of past weight loss efforts and outcomes
• Identifying your weight loss intentions and motivators
• Healthy goal setting (weekly and target weight goals) 
• Wholesome, nutritionally balanced eating patterns 
• Progressive workout planning that advances with you
• Gradual weight loss (about 1-2 pounds a week)
• Adopting weight control lifestyle changes indefinitely

Above all, our approach recognizes that you’re an individual with unique support needs. 

Whether you’d benefit from a weight loss aid (i.e., GLP-1 medications), you need help breaking unhealthy food-related behavioral patterns, or you need some other form of support, we’re here to help you keep advancing toward your goal.

Break the weight fluctuation cycle 

Do you have a history of yo-yo dieting? We can give you the insight, tools, and support you need to break the weight fluctuation cycle for good. Our healthy, sustainable approach to weight loss sets you up for successful, long-term weight control and lifelong wellness. 

Call or use online booking to schedule a visit at your nearest Nova Physician Wellness Center location in Fairfax, Lansdowne, Vienna, Arlington, or Charlottesville, Virginia, today.