i don't get it! i weighed in yesterday and today i am up 2.5 lbs.

i followed plan completely yesterday - and i certainly did not eat enough food to warrant gaining 2.5 lbs. that would be a LOT of calories.

why does this happen? does it happen to anyone else?

Salt. A backup of fibrous food in the digestive tract. An approaching menstrual period.

I don't completely understand my body, and can't always interpret the signs it offers me, but at least I am more attentive to it than I've been in the past.

I am beginning to think one's weight is a curvy or spiky line, sort of like brain waves, rather than a flat line stretching forever into infinity. It's always going to wiggle slightly. What you want is a general trend downward.

well, if you are certain that you didn't eat enough calories to gain 2.5 lbs....then you can be certain that you didn't actually "gain" 2.5 lbs. of fat.

It could be water retention from eating too much sodium, or from TOM approaching.

This kind of thing can drive a person crazy....you weigh daily, I assume. Why? Try only weighing once a week and you won't notice these little fluctuations.

It definitely happens to all of us. My weight can easily fluctuate up to 5 lbs throughout the course of the day. It's not weight gain, it's like the other chicks said. It's much better in the long run if you don't get fixated on the number on that scale. Just keep doing things right, take a deep breath, and believe that you will lose.

Like Schmoo, my weight fluctuates a lot during the day -- sometimes up to 7 pounds.

i made teriak (spell check) chicken about 10 years ago when i was dieting... woke up the next mornin and gained.... NINE pounds!!! i flipped out! threw the scale! then sat down and went over my journal.... hmmmmm i thought... went to look at ingredients on the teriak sauce... soy sauce was main ingredient.... looked up that... (i was new to this as you can see lol) and seen that is was all sodium... needless to say i never ate it again. through the bottle out and the weight was gone in 2 days. lol.. long story short.. watch the sodium!

stacy xxx

I have gotten much more calm about my weight since I started weighing in only twice a week. (My normal weigh-in day is Thursday, but I weigh in on Mondays to keep track of how I did over the weekend. We tend to eat out a lot with extended family on the weekends.)

thanks for the good ideas! yes, i am a daily weigher - i'm going to *try* to do it only once a week. i will also watch the sodium!

I weigh daily first thing - after potty, of course - and am sometimes amazed at a four pound gain after Chinese food. I never ever weigh during the day or at bedtime. It all averages out so don't fret it.

Lentilbean, it's things like that which remind me of Mandalinn82's sig quote:

The scale is quite often inaccurate as to what's actually happening in our bodies. I'm used to weighing daily, but I moved to not weighing for about 6 months and then to weighing weekly, which I've been doing for a couple months now. It helps a lot with the frustration. It all comes out in the wash at the end of the week.

Weighing more than once a day is totally counterproductive, IMHO. Your body fluctuates so much during the day that you don't learn anything, but you do end up panicking (or celebrating untimely).

Yea...mine went up 5 lbs in one day. Makes you nuts but you gotta understand its not fat if you're eating on plan. Water weight and other factors. I hate it though!

This is actually *why* I weigh daily....b/c then I don't freak out when I have an upswing like this. I only freak out mildly , then reweigh the next day. I'm not as obsessive as I used to be though .

Yeah, me too. It freaks me out a lot more to weigh a week later, and see a "gain," and not know the context.

Below is my weight loss chart. I stopped weighing myself because it is driving me crazy!

The "TOM" blip is 3 lb weight gain and went away after 1 week.

I can gain/lose up to 9lbs overnight! water water water!... just keep on going it will even out soon!