Loosing then Gaining??
 

Hi all! I started this last Monday and right away lost like 8 pounds over 3 days. No over the last 4 I am gaining it back slowly and in total have regained about 3.5 of the pounds and I am not doing ANYTHING different. Does that just happen???? Yikes!!

Thanks!

Hi AmyLyn, there are some possibilities. Have you been eating something very salty? Are you pre-TOM? 8 lbs. over three days is quite a lot, so maybe you are fluctuating with fluids.
I wouldn't worry too much. Whatever fat you have lost will stay lost if you stay on plan. I don't weigh every day because things like this will drive me crazy. If you are on-plan, then in the long run you are going to lose. But daily variations are common and there can be lots of reasons. If you are very worried, why don't you post what you've been eating and we can take a closer look?

I have been eating some sunflower seeds. I am addicted to them. They could be causing me to retain water I guess but I have been having them since day 1. For example, on Saturday for breakfest I had some cottage cheese with cinnamon and sugar free vanilla syrup. For lunch a salad from Subway, with turkey and fat free ranch, lots of veggies. For dinner I had the chicken salsa bake recipe from here with some black beans and fresh zucchiini and squash. For dessert I had a sugar free creamsicle and for my snack I had 2 tablespoon of sunflower seeds. I drank 3 bottles of water and had 1 cup of sugar fee caffeine free soda. I think all of this stuff is "on plan" and my daily menu is very similar.. :(

Don't worry about it too much -- weight tends to fluctuate day by day, which is why it's better to weigh in only once a week or even less often if you can handle it (make sure to weight the same day, same time each time). You can't really measure progress on a day-to-day basis because there are a variety of factors that contribute to why your weight goes up and down. In fact, I have a friend who weighed herself throughout the day one day and noticed that her weight changed by 3 lbs from morning to night. That's obviously not 3lbs of fat!

And, losing 8 lbs in 3 days is really a lot. Like Schmoodle said, whatever fat you lost will stay off. And in the long run it is better to lose slow and steady. Just stick with it and you'll see results.

Your meal plan looks good, and I can't see 2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds having that impact. When you say 3 bottles of water do you mean nalgene-type bottles? If not, you should probably get in more water. Also, make sure you're getting enough calories each day, as your body will go into starvation mode and starting hoarding all the fat so that it can survive.

remeber you need to be eating 4.5 cups of veggies at day.

You could be retaining water from the salt in the sunflower seeds, AmyLyn. But your daily menu looks good, just remember to eat those veggies, as LC said. And drinking water will help flush that extra sodium from your body, too. Hang in there, you'll see some progress soon.

Thanks all. I am gonna just keep plowing ahead and add more water and cut out some of the seeds.. :)