Before anyone says it -I know weight loss is and never will be consistent. I've been dealing with it for years, and he pounds never 'melt' off as a person hopes.

I've been doing good since I re-started a couple months ago. Since Christmas I lost my trial gym membership, but I avoided all the bad holiday foods and didn't drink anything except one glass of wine. I've also kept counting my calories regardless and have not stopped.

The lowest I've been since is 210, but I shot up a few times to 215, 217, 212, etc. I've been bouncing more than a jackrabbit.

What disappoints me today is I decided to weigh myself, and was back at 217 and I gained an inch on my stomach and hips. This makes absolutely no sense as I've been eating between 1200-1800 since before Christmas and as usual I account for every little nibble and liquid that goes into my mouth.

Has anyone gained weight and inches before, even tho they were not deviating from their calorie restriction? I admit I have not been exercising apart from cleaning the house, but I cannot see how I gained fat.

Considering how hard it has been for me to lose weight these past few years, I am seriously considering getting my thyroid checked to be sure.

I can understand the frustration. Is it maybe close to your TOM? We ladies gain water wieght during this time and the inch you "gained" may be due to bloating?

Unfortunately I don't get a TOM. My birth control makes it so I don't have one. It can be really frustrating because I wonder if I still gain water weight at the same time each month, even if I don't bleed.

I drank more water yesterday than usual -can that cause you to bloat temporarily?

Are you measuring at the same time of day? I find that can make a difference...

I can hear your frustration. Don't let this derail you!

Same time of day, no clothes, after I go to the bathroom and before I do anything else.

I know I should'nt, I tell myself this so many times. I decided I'm going back to the gym next week and I don't care the cost. When I lost most of my weight it was because I went to the gym at least 3 times a week.

For me, if I'm not exercising, I'm not losing weight. It doesn't matter how careful my food choices are or how strong my intentions are... It's great that you are finding a way back to the gym. You've lost a lot of weight already; keep going!

Thanks Same here, I can feel my body change after just a week of going to the gym. I love the feeling and progress. It'll be 50 bucks a month (ouch) but I think it's worth it to try to lose the rest by the summer.

Are you able to exercise at home? I didn't want to spend the $$ on the gym (plus travel time and gas to get there) so I exercise at home. I use my Wii and do Leslie Sansone videos online via my tv (Walk Away the Pounds). At first I laughed that I was going to walk in place in my living room but it's so much more than that. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I found them so helpful and was glad to get referred to them.

I also do them on my laptop if I have to but obviously the screen isn't big enough. I know all the moves now so really I just follow her verbally vs. "watching" it. The 30 mins. is ok when I need something quick, the 45 mins. leaves me breathless by the time I get to the 3rd mile.

Good luck with your continued journey, you've done awesome so far!

I've had times where I convinced myself I was staying in my calorie range, gained a little plus inches. But when it came down to it I was in denial and not being 100% honest about my food. NOT saying that's the case with you, but that's the only time that type of thing has ever happened to me.

If you are concerned, you should get your thyroid checked. My dr. had mine checked back before I started losing because she was concerned about my rapid weight gain. I told her it was from overeating lol, but she checked it anyway and it was fine thank goodness. But it never hurts to cover all your bases.

When I have times that I don't understand why the scale isn't moving down, or IS moving up, I start from scratch, reevaluate, and go back to basics. It can be incredibly easy to accidentally eat too much! And it can be incredibly easy to fool yourself into thinking you're doing everything right when in fact you aren't! At least in my personal experience!

Hope you get it figured out!

I measure everything out and include every nibble. I'm definitely not underestimating, if anything I do over if I'm unsure. I check all my calories online if I am not at home.
I know this is the first thing people will say if someone is having trouble, honestly though, I am counting everything.

I will have to see what happens tomorrow!

I did videos at home for a while but didn't fully enjoy it and lacked the space. I find I stay the most consistent with the gym and don't get bored.

I personally have never done this, but have heard that really changing up your meals can help when you get "stuck". Eat dinner for breakfast, breakfast for lunch, and lunch for dinner or something like that.

That's a big fluctuation between 1200 and 1800 calories. My suggestion is to stay with a set number for a week and see what happens. If you don't see weight loss or a drop in the tape measure, reduce the calories by a hundred or two, then go another week, etc. With your up and down calorie amounts, you may just be very near maintenance or slightly above when it's all boiled down.

If a sizable percentage of your diet is carbs, you may be storing water. For example, I carb-binged on New Year's Eve, then immediately restarted my diet. I've lost exactly six pounds in the last four days. Too bad it's not all fat, but you get the idea. Cut your carbs down in the next week and see what happens. Ultimately, if you're not losing over a period of several weeks, the only conclusion is that you're not in a calorie deficit, whatever the reason.

Are you following any specific plan or are you just calorie counting? When I wasn't losing as fast or as consistently as I liked... I changed what I was eating and had to follow a pretty strict plan for a couple of weeks to get the jumpstart that I needed to get the scale moving in the right direction again... then once I was on the right track I was able to relax things a little and keep losing... But eventually I would stall again, so I repeated that same cycle to get things moving again...

My weight loss happened in steps... And every time a went down a few... My body fought me pretty hard to go back up a few... So I had to fight back pretty hard as well...

If your doing everything right and its bouncing around that much, have you considered it might be a combination of an innacurate scale, with some waterweight?.