Good morning...
This is the end of my first week of trying to maintain, and I weigh 1.3 more than last Friday... 126.1 from 124.8...

Because I'm a little crazy, I weighed myself every morning this week, and I actually jumped to 126.6 on Mon, at the 126.1 Wed - today... I do notice that my percent water is lower than last week, at least according to my scale, but that could be because it shows as a percentage of the total...

I averaged 1251 calories per day for the week ending last Thursday, 1452 for this week. My protein, carbs and fat percentages were approximately the same between the two weeks. (30 prot, 20 fat, 50 carb) Some days the carbs might have been a little high though... fat went to 15-17, carbs went up to 53-55... I know I probably snacked too late a couple of times.

I added in weight training this week, well last week, really, but really got into the groove of it this week... still did cardio all but one day this week...

Do I need to cut calories back down? I know I probably need to slide the carbs back down a little, do I need less protein? I see that The Daily Plate put my protein number sin orange every day, I guess because they are over RDA...

I know I shouldn't be too worried, rationally I know I would have had to have eaten 4550 calories over what I burned to gain the weight I seem to have gained... If I had eaten 1500 calories per day, that would only have been 1750 over what I ate the week before, and the week before I lost 2 pounds... Hmm... maybe last week was wrong... grasping at straws with that...

Writing it all down made me a little less panicked. Now I'm going to go sit in a seminar all day!

Have a good day everyone!

Congrats, Shannon!

Daily weighing can be a useful tool for maintenance. Just remember that shifts in sodium/water, sore muscles, recent bathroom usage (or not), and just the randomness of life can affect a particular day's weight.

Congratulations on reaching your goal.You have done great, I wouldn't worry about such a slight increase, It is perfectly normal for weight to fluctuate. Since reaching goal my weight varies a pound or two.. If it never gets worse than that I will be happy.

Hi Shannon,

First of all, congratulations!!! I don't personally weigh myself daily, just weekly, b/c it just makes me too crazy to worry about so many small gains and losses every day. If you're also getting on the scale every day and freaking out over, say, gaining 1 lb. in a day (could easily be do to water weight) then I might suggest you stay off the scale a bit too. You don't want silly head games driving you to an unhealthy mental place. I also don't put much stock in at-home scales that give you your water % or body fat % - they're just not that accurate, especially when it comes down to a few %s.

There are many, many factors that can vary how much water weight you're carrying. The timing of your monthly cycle, sodium intake, fluid intake, the amount of stress your body is under, fiber intake, working out (particularly strength training), moon phase, doing the hokey pokey, and unknown cosmic events can all affect how much water your body is retaining. I "gain" 5 lbs. when I eat a bunch of sushi with soy sauce, Thai food, or Mexican, drink wine or beer, am stressed out... and once I flush it out of my system (with low-salt foods and tons of water) I'm back to normal.

You mentioned you just started weight training. What kind of weight training - how heavy and how often? Muscles will retain more water when they have been worked out, so this could certainly account for a small gain in weight. In the long run, I'm sure you know, having more muscle mass will increase your resting metabolic rate (i.e. having more muscle means you'll burn more calories, even sitting on your toosh in front of the TV), in addition to lots of other health benefits, so don't be afraid of a little blip on the scale when you work those muscles hard!

Once reaching maintenance, it's hard to say what your exact calorie intake will be and just requires experimentation. I would continue to eat at your current calorie level - doesn't sound to me like you need to cut anything, especially since you are so active. If your weight remains steady or drops, you could try adding 100 cal/day for the next two weeks, see what your weight does, etc. until you find your optimal calorie range.

Again, congratulations, and don't worry too much! Enjoy your new body.

Thanks Meghan! Getting on the scale every day did make me a little crazy, so I most definitely need to not do that...

Resistance training is probably a better phrase than weight training - DH and I got a Weider Max home gym two weeks ago, more for his use, but I'm using it now too. I've used it now six times, trying for three times per week. This week I did 50 minutes each time, did upper arms/shoulders/chest/light abs Tues, lower arms/back/more heavy duty abs/light shoulders (didn't do shoulder twice in a row by design, but because the exercises tend to overlap), legs/light abs Thurs. The first week I started out with pretty low resistance, moved it up to what it says is 80 pounds this week. Now, I know that the resistance setting says it is equal to that amount of weight, but I don't think it is completely accurate... . Even so, I have really been able to feel it in the areas I've worked this week.

On the positive side, this week I got five new pairs of pants that are all size 6 and my waist is 1/2 inch smaller than two weeks ago!

Shannon, I believe that measurements are a much better indicator of where your body is than the scale. From your 1/2 inch loss, I'm thinking you're headed even further in the right direction. Ignore that 1.3 lbs! Sounds like the resistance training is working your body well and keep it up!

I have actually moved the scale off the bathroom floor and into the back of the closet at times when I get too obsessed. It helped me resist the urge to hop on anytime I'm passing by.

I responded earlier from my Blackberry (cool that it let me log in on a handheld!) and I only saw Meghan's post - guess I just got the last one at the time...

Midwife - My muscles have been sore this week, I know I ate more sodium because we had Chinese food, and I've never been the most regular of women, so I'm figuring those things probably impacted this week a little. What I have to work on is remembering those things before I climb out on the little window ledge inside my head when the scale goes up! Thanks for reminding me! I do a great job reminding other people, not so great with myself...

Bargoo - It is good to know that other people have the same kind of fluctuations. I'm going to keep an eye on it this next week and see what happens. Thanks!