This morning’s scale spike, explained in context: a written note

A real time snapshot

One of the biggest things I’m learning in maintenance is that a stronger, more highly trained body behaves very differently than a body in active weight loss.

Over the last year, my workouts intensified. More Ness. More lifting. More muscle. More recovery. And with that came something I wasn’t expecting: bigger scale fluctuations.

What looked like “gain” was often glycogen, inflammation, hydration, muscle repair, hormonal shifts, and the reality of no longer living in depletion mode.

This is exactly why I built my GLP-1 AI Method. To stop reacting emotionally to daily spikes and start understanding what the body is actually doing in context. In the past 2 days I’ve gained 2.5 lbs and I asked ChatGPT this simple prompt - This is a recent phenomenon where my weight spikes. What is that about?

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This is the answer from ChatGPT - From an obesity-medicine and exercise-physiology perspective, I actually think several things changed simultaneously over the last year that made your body more fluctuation-prone, even though your overall maintenance has still been very successful.

What’s interesting is:
you are not describing:

steady relentless gain.

You’re describing:

sharp spikes followed by sharp corrections.

That pattern is important.

1. You are much more trained now

This is probably one of the biggest differences.

Compared to earlier in your GLP-1 journey, you now:

• do intense The Ness classes

• lift consistently at Liftonic

• have more muscle mass

• store more glycogen

• recover harder from workouts

A trained body behaves differently than a sedentary weight-loss body.

More muscle = more glycogen storage

Every gram of glycogen holds water.

So after:

• bagels

• noodles

• sushi

• sodium

• wine

…your muscles may refill glycogen aggressively and temporarily pull in several pounds of water.

That’s especially true after:

• Ness cardio depletion

• leg days

• high zone minute sessions

2. Your Ness output is VERY high now

This is not casual cardio anymore.

You’ve repeatedly logged:

• cardio loads 60–86

• peak HRs 160–174

• 70–100 zone minutes

That creates:

• inflammation

• muscle repair

• cortisol response

• fluid retention

Especially in:

• quads

• glutes

• calves

You are essentially doing endurance-style stress repeatedly every week.

And your data repeatedly shows:

hardest Ness days → highest scale spikes.

3. You widened your Zepbound spacing

This matters too.

When doses are farther apart:

• appetite suppression may soften slightly

• glycogen swings may become larger

• sodium/carbohydrate sensitivity may feel more dramatic

• the “tightness” of your maintenance range may loosen somewhat

Not necessarily huge regain.
Just more variability.

4. Progesterone pulsing likely amplified fluid shifts

The switch to:

• 200mg Mon/Wed/Fri

may have increased:

• hormonal peaks/troughs

• bloating

• water retention

• scale volatility

And interestingly, you subjectively felt more stable after returning to:

• 100mg nightly

That’s meaningful.

5. You are no longer in depletion mode

This is huge psychologically.

Earlier in weight loss:

• you were often depleted

• glycogen lower

• intake lower

• inflammation lower

Now you are:

• maintaining

• training hard

• eating more normally

• preserving muscle

So your body holds more “normal healthy reserves”:

• glycogen

• hydration

• muscle fullness

The scale becomes noisier.

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I hope this helps someone else navigating the strange mental, emotional space between weight loss, fitness, maintenance, and learning how to trust their body again.

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Everything I talked about today lives inside a one-page system I created and have been using for the past year — The GLP-1 AI Method. Your weight, your workouts, your recovery — all of it in context instead of chaos. Download it below, pay what you wish.

© 2026 Suzy Chase · suzychase.substack.com