Ok, so I went out of town on last Thursday to visit my parents. Before I left, I had been holding steady at the same weight for two weeks with no loss. During that time I had been averaging 1200 calories a day, and working out 5 days a week. I decided that while I was gone I would try upping my calories and see if that made a difference. Sure enough, I came home and on Tuesday morning I was down 2.5 pounds! I had been eating about 1500 while I was gone.

So my question is: Were my calories really too low, and should I stick with 1400-1500 now? Or was it probably just a delayed reaction?

Another possibility I just thought of was this: I had been doing weight training for about 20 minutes every day, 5 days a week. While I was out of town I did no weight training. Could my muscles have released 2.5 pounds worth of water while I took a break from weights?

Ugh, so confusing! Not sure what I should attribute this to but want to make sure it continues!!!

Hey! I'd say, keep everything the same, workout-wise, and increase your calories to between 1300 and 1400, and see what happens. It could be that you haven't been eating enough--sounds strange, but sometimes it happens. 1200 is pretty low, especially if you're working out that much.

And if you start gaining, you can always drop back on the cals. But give it some time--a couple weeks should tell you. If you weigh every day, only record once a week so the ups and downs don't throw you off.

Jay