Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Scale weight swings 8 pounds
Fluid swings
Short-term changes are fluid. Weighing at random times on a day when the body is holding extra fluid can make a diet look like it is failing when the average is actually dropping. Weight fluctuations are identified as a major reason people get discouraged about weight loss, since an upward blip stops their buy-in.
Weekly averages
Averaging daily morning weigh-ins, taken after using the bathroom, smooths out the noise. Comparing one week's average against the next shows the trend, even when the readings in between jump around by 5 or 6 pounds.
Low-carb water loss
The same effect helps explain why low-carb diets often work well early. People lose a lot of water weight quickly, and the visible drop builds buy-in.
Why does body weight swing so much day to day?
The body stores carbohydrate as glycogen, and each gram of glycogen holds roughly three grams of water. A day of lower carbohydrate or higher carbohydrate intake can shift pounds of water in either direction. Food and drink in transit through the gut also add weight. Salt intake matters because the kidneys retain water to keep sodium concentration steady.
How much glycogen does the body hold?
An adult stores roughly 400 to 500 grams of glycogen in muscle and about 100 grams in the liver. With the water attached, that is a few kilograms of body weight. When glycogen is depleted by low carbohydrate intake, much of the water goes with it. The process is reversible within days.
More from Andrew Huberman
