Ate above calorie requirement and still lost weight?

I'm 20, 5'3, female,  and I went from 166 lbs. to 144 lbs. My goal weight is 124 lbs. and CC recommended that I eat 1400 calories a day to lose about a 1 lb a week. I went to Red Lobster Thursday and had the stuffed flounder with a baked potato and then I had a piece of cheesecake. My calorie intake for that day was about 1784 calories. I weight myself the next day and I went from 144.2 to 143.7. Then Friday I ate about 1286 calories. I weighed myself today and I went back up to 144.2. How could that happen?

Daily weight loss and weight gain do not directly correlate with how much you ate that day. Just because you at 4000 calories today doesn't mean you'll be 1.25 lbs heavier right away; you may weigh 5 lbs more or 2 lbs less it's not a direct correlation every time.

I only check my weight progress 1-2x a week; all of my weekly process usually adds up at the end of the week. There are many other variables to add in than just what you ate that day for a daily weight explanation.

I have the same problem everyday

Im the same stats as you 20, 5"3 just hit my goal a while ago at 120lbs and now I vary from 117-121 everyother day.

Salt intake makes a huge difference, also if you lift weights sometimes water retention could be a problem because the muscle holds onto the water to repair the muscle etc!!

I eat 2000-2200 calories a day now (trying to maintain) and I have an even bigger fluctuation.

I wouldnt stress it... start weighing your self once a week at the same on the same day... that way you actually see the progress your making

keep up the good work :)

Most likely water weight along with what has already been said.

Also just because CC says to eat 1400 calories doesnt mean you wont lose if you eat more. This site doesnt give you an exact number, its more of an estimate in my opinion.

I agree with the above posters, daily fluctuations are highly variable.  If you are keeping your weight log on here what matters is the trend, not the individual days.  My actual weight per day looks like an EKG.. up down, up down, but my *trend* is a steady downward line.  Also, I know a lot of peopel say weigh yourself once a week, but I really disagree with that.  It falls into the same trap.  If you are doing what you should be doing you should be down about 0.5 to 1.5 or so pounds a week, but what if your "weigh in" day was on an up-tick?  For me, the lowest weight I see for they week is my "mental" weight.  So for example my lowest weight this week was 201.4 and my lowest weight last week was 202.5, so mentally I consider the week a 1 pound loss.  if I had only looked at fridays then I would be thinking I didnt lose anything.

Thanks for the replies! What davidyazel said made sense about the "mental" weight. I guess I was more upset about the one day that I decide that I'm going to eat what I want, I lose weight. Then, any other day I watch what I eat I either gain or stay the same.

As a female, I have problems with the same thing sometimes. (Because unfortunately, having kids + surgery weight gain happens.) I remember I was on Weight Watchers about 2 years ago, running about 25 - 30 miles per week, doing weight training, yoga, and basically working out nonstop plus watching everything that went into my mouth for months.

In that time, I would go through crazy periods where:

a) I wouldn't lose any weight, and I wouldn't gain any weight.

b) I would gain a pound or more one week, and then lose that plus a quarter pound the next week.

c) I would go for weeks without any loss, and then miraculously I would lose 2 - 3 pounds.

It was pretty frustrating because I knew I was doing everything right. Or at least I thought I knew. ;) I started playing around with my diet a bit, though not eating any less or more calories than I had previously, with one exception. Here's what it looked like:

- I would eat 500 - 750 calories in the morning for breakfast and a mid-morning snack.

- I would have 500 calories for lunch.

- I would eat about 500 calories for dinner.

If I exercised, I would eat an additional 100 - 300 calories between lunch and dinner as a snack, depending on the workout I was doing and the length of that workout.

When I spread my calories out more evenly, I wasn't gaining anymore. I actually got down to my goal weight this way. What I had discovered by doing this is that my body was entering starvation mode at some point during the day (usually the morning because I would eat a very light breakfast - only 100 - 200 calories). By adding calories in the morning, I was doing myself a favor. It just meant that I had to eat a lot of filling, low-calorie items for dinner.

Anyway, I though I'd offer another opinion as to why you might be having a problem, in a really long-winded way. lol. Could you be not spreading your calories out enough during the day so that you're eating equal amounts throughout the day?