So after a week long vacation (full of good food and no calorie counting) , I came back home and stepped on the dreaded scale. Instead of finding out that I gained 5 pounds, I found that I weighed 124 lbs instead of the 126 lbs that I had been when I left.

I realize that this is probably water weight since I've been eating tons of carbs this entire week (i.e. pancakes, toast, chips + salsa) and sweets (ice cream, smores) and limited vegetables and fruits. But I'm still astounded by this since I was at a plateau for the last 2-3 weeks (and during those 2-3 weeks I was exercising a ton and watching everything I ate). You don't lose muscle after 1 week, do you...(if I'm wrong, please tell me)?

I did basically no exercise during vacation except hiking one day and walking a little bit, but this whole week I was very happy and enjoyed myself. So I was just thinking that maybe that is also a key to weight loss--not being so strict and taking a break once and a while when you need it.

Have you ever experienced this?

Yes, I have experienced this. I got back from a 2 week vacation on Monday and expected a gain of 8 or more pounds. I stepped on the scale and saw that I only gained 2 pounds and, less than a week later, I'm 3 pounds less than I was when I left for vacation. I was shocked by how little I gained since I ate a lot of fast food and exercised very little in those 2 weeks.

WooHoo!!

I was just in a a plateau and I read many places to eat extra calories. It scared me and I just kept going for a few days. Then I thought what the heck, worse case scenario I would gain some. The first day I exercised less than I usually do and ate a bit over 2000 calories. The next day I did one of my extra push days and ate about 1700 calories. The third day I exercised normal and ate over 2000 calories again. In the morning on the fourth day I finally saw a drop (that was yesterday and this morning I had another drop). Next plateau I will try the rise in calories right away. I think it threw my body off guard, maybe you did the same to yours.