Why weight loss happens in spurtsIt can be so confusing when weight loss happens in spurts instead of consistently over time. This is made even more baffling when it feels like you’re doing the exact same thing to reach your goal, day after day, week after week.  If you’re doing everything the same, why aren’t the results steady?

There Are Tons of Reasons Weight Loss Happens in Spurts

That’s probably not the answer you were looking for. Still, the fact is that the body is complex and what causes weight loss to happen in spurts depends on many different factors.

Still, it can be broken down to a very basic level to help understand just what is going on. To start, understand that this is perfectly normal, and it is rare for someone to be able to lose the exact same number of pounds steadily all the way through their entire effort to reach their goal.

Here’s what’s going on with why weight loss happens in spurts.  At its most foundational level, the majority of lost bodyfat is the result of a calorie deficit. This means that your body is receiving fewer calories from your food than it needs to function and move. Therefore, it is forced to turn to other sources of energy, such as the fat stored on your body. When it uses that instead, your bodyfat levels decrease and you can lose weight.

Other Factors that Impact the Number on Your Bathroom Scale

That explanation sounds straightforward, particularly if you’re eating nearly exactly the same number of calories each day and are completing the same exercises regularly. However, as much as that might look steady, there is a lot more going on and this can explain why weight loss happens in spurts.

For one thing, no calorie counting is 100% precise.  For another, you might put more into your workout – even the same movements – on one day than you do on another. Or you might simply be more or less active overall, outside of your designated workout times.  That time the elevator was broken and you had to take the stairs four times will naturally lead to more burned calories than the day you took off to stay on the couch and binge that show you love.

Weight Loss Happens in Spurts, but It Might Not be Fat

Another factor that is important to consider is that not all bodyweight is created equal. While it might look like you’re losing weight in spurts, it doesn’t mean that you’re losing fat. There are many things that your bathroom scale measures, and they are all treated the same way – as one number.

That said, fluid retention and muscle mass are also both also variable throughout a week.  This helps to explain why when bodyweight starts decreasing at the start of a diet, it can suddenly be lost quite fast for a week or two, before slowing down again. As you suddenly start eating healthfully, you could be hydrating better and getting more fiber, flushing your body of retained fluids and sending waste out more efficiently through bowel movements. Those two factors alone can lead to several pounds of reduction on a bathroom scale, even if no bodyfat has been burned off.

The same can be said as you become fitter and build lean muscle mass. As you burn fat and build a bit of muscle, the numbers can come close to cancelling themselves out on a scale, even if you’re making incredibly healthy progress. That said, the muscle growth will slow and as you continue burning body fat, another weight loss spurt will show up on the scale again.