Ok chicks, I am baffled today...

For the past few weeks I have been staying within my calorie range and slowly but surely losing weight... this week I have been making a conscious effort to really go the extra mile and my weight loss has slowed down to a crawl! Yesterday I maintained my weight of 250.6 and today I was hoping all my extra effort would catch up to me and I would see 249.9... but 252?!? What?! How did I gain 1.4 lbs?

I have been so good... drinking more water (and peeing constantly), eating around my 1600 calories -more whole grains, less starch -more colorful, balanced meals, exercising 30-50 mins daily (where before it was rare if I exercised once a week!)

I am always one of those people saying 'don't worry about the number, focus on how you feel,' but I was really not expecting to see a gain. My sister says it is probably muscle and that you probably can't workout for a week straight and not gain muscle... what do you guys think?

I'm not going to let this derail my efforts today but it was so not how I wanted to start my morning...

Actually, I think Bob on The Biggest Loser said one time that it takes quite a while for actual muscle mass to show up on the scales – it was only a tiny gain, I mean I weigh about the same as you and my weight can fluctuate 2 or 3 lbs. in a week (I’m a once a week weigher, but we got a cool new scale at work, very high tech! I can weigh 2 lbs. MORE in the afternoon!) so I wouldn’t let it worry you – our bodies are weird and fluctuations are normal. If you can put your head down and charge ahead as you’ve been doing, it’ll be reflected on that scale soon enough!

Yes, I would be surprised if it is muscle too. It might just be water retention. I believe I read somewhere that when you exercise more than usual, your muscle swell at first, so maybe since you upped your exercise, your feeling it.

Just keep at it and you'll see a whoosh on the scale soon!!!

Thanks ladies! I thought it seemed a bit quick to be seeing muscle weight gain myself... but I hadn't been doing anything that should have me gaining weight. It could very well be water weight like you said.. that would make sense. I won't let it get to me... thanks again!

Also if your TOM is around the corner- that helps you go up a pound or two- it's so annoying lol.

I have noticed the same thing happening to me when I boost my exercise. If I'm sore I will usually not show a loss or even have a gain. It does seem to be true that your muscles might hold water after more exercise. The weight will drop soon after though, so keep up the good work!

It is probably water weight. It messes me up everytime. Even if it isn't TOM, I have to rethink if I ate something with more sodium that day. Sodium in foods will mess me up everytime!

Pretty much any time you're on plan and see a large change between one day and the next it's not going to be muscle or fat it's going to be water and the weight of the contents of your digestive system. In my experience these two things can vary up to 5lbs in a 24 hour period.

If you chart your daily weight on a graph it's easier to see the blips and understand them. What matters is the trend line.

I'm in the same boat this week. Monday I weighed in at 301 and then next day it was 302.8 then 304 I'm back down to 302.4 but its still frustrating, especially when I'm so close to getting under 300 finally. I've been trying to analyze my food, and I've actually been keeping my sodium levels closer to 2000 a day, but I'm not sure if that's still too much? The only other thing it could be is my excercise, been pushing myself a bit harder the last week with weights and so my legs and body has been pretty sore lol. I'm a daily weigher and I know things fluctuate, I think I'm just impatient lol.

Yeah, it takes months and months and months of strength training to gain *some* muscle.

It's really hard for a body to stay the same weight day after day after day. We're made up of almost 60% water and that changes ALL the time. Don't let it get to you.

The only thing that rings out to be a little bit, is that you say you stay *around* 1600 calories. Just wondering how are you monitoring that? Are you sure you haven't gone waaay above that number? It's just sooo easy to overspend calories without even realizing it. Sounds like you have been pretty darn careful though.

STICK with you plan. Just stick with it, once that water moves on it, any fat that you lost will show up on that scale. STICK with your plan. There's no way you can't NOT lose.

It sounds like water weight to me. But DON'T STOP DRINKING! Water weight is good. Water helps the body burn (use) fat. As fat is burned water will take its place then the water will be used and bye bye fat cell. (or something like that) Keep up on the lots of water and exercise and you'll see the loss you want.

[QUOTE=rockinrobin;2621884]
The only thing that rings out to be a little bit, is that you say you stay *around* 1600 calories. Just wondering how are you monitoring that? QUOTE]

I say "around" because I range from 1550-1650... 1671 is the amount that my Fitday figured. I track everything in Fitday so I think it is fairly accurate.

Thanks everyone for the replies! I really appreciate it!
I think you are right about the water weight and I will continue to drink lots of water, exercise, and track my calories... It's just one day in my journey.

Lots of love all. Thanks again!

Happened to me this morning.

Yesterday I was 297.2. This morning 298.

Coincidence that I ate a Lean Cuisine panini and roasted red pepper dip with flatbread last night? I think not

It's USUALLY sodium and the weight of your bowels. No poop for me this morning therefore... no loss!

I really and truly push myself with weightlifting, hard and heavy 6x per week. My new training partner is a competitive bodybuilder, so everything has been upped a notch.

With that, it has never effected my weight loss in a bad way. I've never experienced muscle gains that overpowered the balance of fat loss on the scale. As I get closer to goal weight (YAY!!!) things have slowed down, but I don't experience gains of muscle weight - everything holds steady.

What does mess with the scale, surprisingly - is mid cycle... ovulation time. That's when I get the biggest fluctuations. Crazy.

Don't let the blips get to you, it's going to happen countless times in the long haul. I highly recommend charting your weight on a graph if you like to weigh in daily. There are a bizillion free graphs on the net that offer averages rather than the daily picture. It really helps.