So for the last month I have been eating avg. 1500 cal/day and I have been losing 1 lb a week. Last week I gained a pound for some unknown reason, although the day after my weigh in day I had dropped 2 lbs. This past week I have done great, no cheating really and lots of crystal light. (Our water was treated with chlorine I think cause it tastes like pool water and makes me gag. The Crystal Light makes it easier to drink). My scale was going down every day, then WHAMMY!! Today, the day before my weigh in, I'm back up about 2 lbs. I'm really discouraged. I don't have a fitday, I just write down everything in a notebook. AF is nowhere in sight (I chart and I haven't even ovulated yet). What could be causing me to retain so much water? I have had quite a bit of diet soda for the past couple days, could that be it? Sorry for the ramble, but I need some help. Thanks!

The diet soda can do that sometimes. My major problems with water retention generally come from one of three things: too much sodium/not enough water, switching my exercise routine/upping my strength training, or hormones. I've found that the exercise routine related water retention takes the longest to get rid of (up to 2 or 3 weeks sometimes). If your sodium has been high lately, start pushing lots of water (I drink 6 L per day, but thats a lot for most people) for a few days and it should go down pretty quickly.

I'm going to just direct everybody with questions like this to Andoreth's great thread about A week in the life of a daily weigher.

There are 100 reasons why the scale might fluctuate. For me, it was important to look at trends over time and not get hung up on daily numbers. For awhile, the scale had a very unhealthy influence over me. If my weight was down, I was positive, motiviated, ecstatic and convinced I COULD DO IT. If the scale was up, I was depressed, de-moralized, felt like all my hard work was wasted and I would never lose weight. Because I could never get the hang of accepting daily (heck, HOURLY) fluctuations, I eventually had to force myself to only weigh weekly. Same time, same method every week. That really gave me the consistency I needed to stay motivated and on track.

Sometimes, no matter how "good" I was - how much I exercised, how cleanly I ate, the scale didn't move at all, sometimes for a few weeks at a time. This is really tough, how does someone stay motivated when they aren't getting that positive reinforcement from the scale? The closer I got to my goal weight, the more common the "plateaus" became, culminating in a 12 week plateau that was really really hard for me.

For that reason, I think it's very important to make reasonable goals that aren't related to the scale at all, but are more in tune with lifelong health. If you eat 5 different vegetables a day, workout 3 days a week and go to bed on time 4 nights a week, you may not lose weight THAT week, but ultimately you are making changes that will make you healthier. If the scale doesn't go down, at least you can say "I did something good for my body this week."

Make goals that aren't related to the scale (trying 1 new healthy recipe once a week or some exotic fruit you've only heard about) and then reward yourself for accomplishing your goal.

It could be the heat. It could be sodium. It could be diet soda. It could just be your body going on strike for a day or two. There really isn't any way to know 100% what the issue is.

I weigh once a day, log the weights and then average them for the week. I use that weekly average as my weight for that week. There are just too many factors that can affect daily weight loss.

A woman's weight will fluctuate up to 11 pounds during a month.

Hockeyfan, I'm with you on taking an average weight. The scale just jacks our emotions, anyway.

I like using the Pants-O-Meter for a truer measurement, LOL!

What they all said.

Don't worry about it. That's just what happens.

Thanks everyone! I averaged all my daily weights and I have a loss, allbeit a very tiny one (.3 lbs.) And I never thought about the heat. I always retain water when I'm hot, so that could be it. Anyway, I really appreciate all of your suggestions.