Explain this sudden weight drop?

[darkxshade]

So I've been hovering at around 160-165lbs for the last month. I practically run 4-5times a week and lift weights 3x/week. And my weight loss has always been gradual and I was pegged at 162 last wed... rarely or rather never has my weight jumped in any direction by more than several lbs overnight. I check my weight around the same time every morning during the workdays. My diet is also fairly balanced and healthy.

So I got last Thurs & Fri off free because had to come in on a weekend for work a month back and I decided that I would take a weekend break[no exercise whatsoever]. Coincidentally last week was the launch of Starcraft 2. So over my 4 day-5night weekend, I practically sat on a chair most of the time in front of a computer. What's worse was that I practically threw caution to the wind and ate whatever the hell I wanted. I basically didn't want to think about anything health & fitness related. I bought and ate waffles for breakfast, I went through like 3 packages of ice cream, a bag of tortillas & salsa, whatever I felt like eating, I ate. I still drank only water though and I drank a lot because of all the carbs I was cramming into my body... it made me thirsty.

So fast forward to Monday morning as I got up for work anticipating a rather slight weight increase or just flat change and to my surpise the scale showed 160. Chalk it up to fluctuation, 2lb loss over an over-indulged weekend can be accounted for by margin of error I thought and just figured I still get back on my usual workout routine and diet. So now it's Wed, this morning, I got on the scale, 157.4lbs... I'm posting this now because I went home for lunch just to check for any changes and it still showed 157.x

Explain this?


edit: I figure my best explaination might be that I loss some muscle mass due to inactivity for 4 days but 4 days isn't a lot of time and 5 lbs over 4 days is just too ridiculous to believe. Anyway, my scale has a bf reader as well which isn't entirely accurate but it helps to compare day to day and my bf percent dropped as well.

 

[Kipper]

1.) You weigh yourself at a different point in the day with clothes, without clothes, or before/after a BM.
2.) Fluid shift, 3-4 lbs is not an uncommon variation, particularly during the summer. Also not surprising given you were eating high sodium foods (chips, ice cream, salsa) and guzzling water. The large sodium intake triggers a thirst reflex, the subsequent influx of water disrupts your fluid balance and your body excretes excessive quantities of water to compensate and also to flush excess sodium out. Fluid balance can take longer than you think to restore.

 

[Kipper]

Double post

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Unless your weight swings 10-15+ pounds in a rapid time frame, you are probably just dropping water weight and emptying your bowels. Dropping more weight could be indicative of diabetes (typically type I), gastrointestinal disease, or hypothalamus problems. If you continue to drop 10 more pounds in the next week or two (without trying to), then you need to go to the doctor. If not, you should be fine.

 

[darkxshade]

1.) You weigh yourself at a different point in the day with clothes, without clothes, or before/after a BM.
2.) Fluid shift, 3-4 lbs is not an uncommon variation, particularly during the summer. Also not surprising given you were eating high sodium foods (chips, ice cream, salsa) and guzzling water. The large sodium intake triggers a thirst reflex, the subsequent influx of water disrupts your fluid balance and your body excretes excessive quantities of water to compensate and also to flush excess sodium out. Fluid balance can take longer than you think to restore.

I weigh my self right after my morning shower after drying myself so I'm pretty much naked(I stripped to just my boxers for lunch today and still weighed roughly the same). BM comes after a cup of coffee during work.

The fluid thing could be possible... so basically my weight should go back up soon? I mean I will still continue to weigh myself daily as per my routine and we may have to revisit this if my weight doesn't go back up?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I lost 10 lbs last week. No idea how, but I think it's because I stopped taking my creatine regularly and lost a lot of water weight.

 

[brownstone]

Tapeworm...?

 

[Kipper]

I weigh my self right after my morning shower after drying myself so I'm pretty much naked(I stripped to just my boxers for lunch today and still weighed roughly the same). BM comes after a cup of coffee during work.

The fluid thing could be possible... so basically my weight should go back up soon? I mean I will still continue to weigh myself daily as per my routine and we may have to revisit this if my weight doesn't go back up?

This is why I don't think it is a good idea to weigh yourself every single day. Once a week is probably best. It is simply not conceivable that you would lose 5 lbs of lean body mass OR fat mass in 3 days. Especially not if you are eating. People with metastatic cancer (read: hypermetabolic) barely eating anything don't lose weight that quickly. Fluid is the name of the game, and it is perfectly normal for your weight to shift by a few pounds each way - which is why when a 300 pound person says they've lost "5 pounds" it is probably mostly fluid.