So, you've been good. Another week has passed and you've been on plan and done everything to the letter. Waiting for that number to pop up you hope for a lb lost...no...TWO lbs lost...and then it happens....you've gained .

I like to call these phantom pounds, so what do you do when you get on the scale and have gained or maintain after a perfect week?

From personal experience if in two-three weeks I'm still not losing I journal everything and figure out that maybe I'm not as on plan as I thought. On the other hand, if I am completely on plan, I lose more lbs then normal in the following weeks which more then makes up for one or even two weeks of stalling.

So, what do you do? Stay on plan? Change it up? How long do you wait?

I hate it when that happens! I just stay on plan, keep going and tell myself the fat will have to give in and go sooner or later and the scale will show it eventually.

I usually react pretty poorly when this happens, overeat, and blow my goal for the day. It sucks.

But, because I know what I've been doing worked in previous weeks, I just keep at it the next day and I usually lose enough weight to make up for those phantom pounds. It sounds like you're both doing the right thing.

Funny that you asked this because the exact thing happened to me earlier this week and I thought about posting the same question. When I feel like I've not lost the lb or two that I deserve after just a week, I usually get very discouraged and think that my plan wasn't good enough. I need to take the advice you have to just stick with it for 3 weeks or a full month and THEN see what the scale says.

Or is it possible for me to avoid the scale for a full month?? I've been thinking about getting some pants that are a little tight and trying those on every week to see if there is any change. Or just check inches? Meh I think I'm just tired of looking at numbers.

I don't know but I feel like my plan is a failure and that is just not a good way of thinking. I know my plan works because I has worked before.

I'm also very thankful for this post! Just this morning, I stepped on the scale and was shocked to see a 3 lb. GAIN when I've been working my butt off AND staying right on plan with my eating. There's no way those phantom pounds are real! (or at least that's what I keep telling myself).

We all have to just tough it out, not think about the numbers and concentrate on staying on plan (I'm talking to myself now, too!). The weight WILL come off eventually, as long as we don't give up. We need to congratulate ourselves for acting right, not beat ourselves up over what the stupid scale says! Stupid scale! LOL

I like that term for them!

I reduce my calories for a few days by a 100 or so and check again, they are usually gone by the next weigh in. I think it is sodium fluctuations.

I have had some real awful rollercoaster weigh in's between December and February that had no valid indicators, I did NOT indulge over the holidays, so why is a complete mystery to me. I just kept at it and have now broken through the stall.

I have this ridiculous method of keeping track of my weight...I weigh myself daily and keep track of the variance. Typically my numbers vary within about 3 pounds. As I continue to weigh daily, once I start seeing a lower 'low' number and the 'high' number stops appearing in my results I count that as a pound lost and adjust my range accordingly. So basically if my weight is in my current range I am ok with it. Our bodies are constantly in flux with food being digested, water intake/peeing, sweating, menstrual cycle stuff (I seem to gain 2 pounds during my period...it disappears a day or two afterward, I allow for this weight during that time)...I don't put too much stock in any one data point. It might be a little nuts, but it has kind of taken the stress out of seeing the scale tick up here and there.

I don't worry a bit!! I weigh daily and I know when I gain two pounds over night it is NOT two pounds of fat. Nope, never! I KNOW this because a pound a fat is equal to 3500 calories and to gain two pounds of FAT over night would mean I'd have had to consume an extra 7000 calories in one day. So then the rational part of my brain kicks in and realizes that it's water weight and if I've been working really hard that week it's water weight that is repairing my muscles.

I do get frustrated when the scale stays stuck though. It's frustrating. And if I truly do hit a plateau, then I reevaluate what I'm doing. This last plateau I restricted carbs which kicked up the loss again significantly.