I was up .4 this morning. I did not overeat yesterday and certainly not to the tune of .4 of a pound, you know?

I blame: the faux veggie "sausage" we had with dinner last night, something like 700mg of sodium. Also, AF is due in 4 days, I think that's within the "water retention due to PMS" parameters.

I keep telling myself these things but I can't help feeling mega bummed. *sigh*

It makes me feel paranoid I'm going to start losing ground now, you know?

HELP! Talk me down!

BREATHE. I would bet my big fat butt that all the things you named as possible reasons for the .4 fluctuation are exactly right. My advice to you is this: drink 2 extra glasses of water today (to help with the water retention) and don't weigh again for a week. Half a pound is NOTHING when it comes to water retention. I'm betting by the end of next week, you'll be down quite a bit.
You're doing FANTASTIC. Hang in there and know that there's NO WAY that little bit of extra on the scale today is actually fat.

Thank you! AF decided to show up today! How rude! It explains the "gain," though.

I used to let those little fluctuations drive me insane. I finally had enough of being a slave to the daily (or sometimes several times daily) weigh-ins and had my finace hide the scale from me. I will go one full month without weighing and see what the long-term progress is.

If you are going to be a daily weigher (which can be great for some people, but terrible for others) you have to accept that there WILL be daily fluctuations like that - even when its not around TTOM. Heck, sometimes my scale fluctuates even up to 2 lbs on a daily basis! Its better to look at the overall trend - I weigh everyday, but only record the weekly trend. Take a deep breath. This is natural!

Go drink half a glass of water. You just gained .4 lb. See? If you didn't overeat, it is NOT fat! The number isn't what we actually care about anyway - it's body fat %. And your BF% did not and could not have gone up; you would have had to have eaten more than 1400 calories *over* maintenance level for it to have, which you didn't!

My weight fluctuates 2-3 pounds over the course of a day. It's okay, because I'm not magically eating 7,000 calories over my maintenance level and gaining two pounds of fat anyway.

I feel you.

Even when I'm getting ready to ovulate my body retains water like mad. I only have one good weigh in day a cycle. Day 7. Before that I'm still bloated from AF and after I'm bloated gearing up for ovulation. I also get depressed when I ovulate and again a few days before AF starts. It really sux!

Yesterday morning I weighed 141, I worked my butt off all day, ate 1325 calories and this morning I weighed 144. No reason, except for maybe the 3 cups of fairly salty homemade chicken soup I ate...

No way in h£ll I gained 3 pounds of fat...and even though it stinks to see the scale up...tis life and I just deal!

Yep - up 2lbs today from Thursday - not from over eating, just seem to be retaining water as it is around TOM time and I have raging PMS symptoms. Lots of reasons for being up, not all are to do with over eating. Just keep at it and stay mentally strong

The sad thing about TOM is that not only does it push our weight up, but it does it at the time that we are least likely to take it in stride. I am *so* used to fluctuations and I know they are just part of the process. But sometimes when the scale was heading north due to TOM, I would have meltdowns. That said, even if the scale was behaving I could find something else to meltdown about.

What we do today does not show up on the scale tomorrow.

Whether we eat 1300 calories and are up by 5 lbs the next day, or eat 2700 calories and are down by .5 the next day.... you CANNOT expect what happened yesterday to show up tomorrow.

Our bodies do NOT work in 24-hour cycles.

I weigh myself daily but I don't take it seriously. Did I eat within calories and get exercise today? Good. Then that's all I need to know.

I only weigh once or twice a week, and the daily fluctuations are exactly why. I would rather weigh once a week and actually see a drop ( or a steady maintenance number) than see it up .2, down .4, up.1, down .5 all week long. If you get "bummed" over the small fluctuations, then don't weigh every day.

It is natural. I do that myself too.. I have weighed myself a couple times a day and went to bed upset because I had gained like two pounds.. only to wake up and weigh and I was back to my normal. I think its alot of fluids you drink or your body needs to break down what you have had that day. Certainly don't let that get you down, I think the more a person weighs themselves, the more they obsess over the little fluctuations. don't give up! it sounds as if you are doing awesome

Thanks guys.