So, I'm doing the 20-something's daily weigh in thing and from yesterday to today I gained 5lbs! I weighed on an empty stomach in the buff both times so it's not clothes or food.

I'm suspecting one of two things: either the massive 3 hour, 7.5 mile walk (with stairs and hills) that I took yesterday caused it somehow? I've heard of weight gain after large bouts of exercise.

OR I ate too much salt, which isossible since we ate out yesterday and I couldn't track my salt intake.

If you ate within your calories, it's likely water weight gain (totally possible after exercise or too much sodium) don't fret. It might take some time to go away, but just keep doing what you're doing.

This!

I went out to dinner last night, and although well planned and within my calories, I ate later than usual PLUS I know it's water weight.

It'll come off!

Well, it could be the weight of the food you ate yesterday in addition to some of the food you ate the day before and the day before that. It can take up to three days (even longer for some people) for food to completely pass through your system.

The human digestive tract can actually contain up to 25 lbs of undigested food (that's some major constipation, but it can happen - and even more in some freakish cases).

Then there's the weight of the water you've drank (and the sodium from restaurant food and exercise can both contribute to your body holding onto more of that water).

Then there's carb intake. Whether or not you're on a low-carb diet, if you eat fewer carbs than your normal intake you will lose some water (and therefore water weight), and if you eat more carbs than your normal, you will gain some water weight.

This is why fluctuations are so normal. Personally, my weight can fluctuate more than 10 lbs (and it used to fluctuate as much as 15). It's why you can't draw any conclusions about weight and weight loss from day to day, week to week, or sometimes (if you have a lot of weight to lose, or your weight fluctuates wildly) even month to month.

Daily weighing is often seen as "discouraging," but for me it was really helpful in seeing and understanding the fluctuations.

In the past when I would only weigh weekly, if I happened to be fluctuation "up" I would get EXTREMELY discouraged because the gain was even more demotivationg (and harder for me to see that the gain was normal fluctuation and not "real" weight gain).

Weighing daily (and for a period of time I weighed dozens of times a day to learn how and why my weight did fluctuate before and after eating, drinking, dressing, going to the potty, while exercising, illness/injury recovery, pms, tom..... It was amazing to me how much fluctuation was possible even when "doing eveything right.")

Sometimes weight makes no sense. I ate totally on plan Thursday and was up 2 lbs yesterday. Then I had a late dinner last night and was down 1.8 today...I feel your pain!

Even if you ate OUTSIDE your calories it is water weight. 5 lbs is 17,500 calories. Now did you eat 19000 calories yesterday? No. You would know if you did.

I know that when I eat a restaurant, even a healthy meal, I will be at least 2lbs up the next day. The other night we went to Outback and I Had a garden salad with no croutons, cheese and only with a couple of splashes of balsamic vinegar, and had grilled mahi mahi with a half cup of rice, and veggies. And I was still up 2lbs the next day. Sodium is a killer. Try to eat clean today and drink a good amount of water

We all know how you feel.. for the past month my weight has stayed the same.. within 4 oz. but with the fancy scales- I can see much of it is water. My nutritionist keeps telling me it will come down.. so I keep the faith and after much swearing - go make myself a salad and keep on going.
After reading these posts.. I am considering getting a home scale though. any suggestions?

This. Don't freak out. It's not 'fat' weight. A few days ago I weighed 212 in the morning. Drank aboiut 3 glasses of water, peed (quite often) and a couple hours later I was back down to 208. This weightloss thing can be really strange.

Mr. TOM came to visit at work today...it normally comes in the morning at like 3 or 4 am so I was surprised at its late afternoon visit. It explaines the 5 lbs though

yup, that TOM can do it, too.

I was UP by four pounds in the last two weeks, because I have started lifting weights MORE OFTEN and because of too much sodium & TOM.

Yesterday I was 159 ... this morning? 155. WOOSH! -that's water weight. I know it, I'm used to it... and yet somehow it STILL freaks me out a little bit when the scale suddenly GOES UP, and STILL gives me a MAJOR HAPPY when the scale suddenly GOES DOWN.

Heh, perception.

I understand your frustration. I weighed 185 three days ago. This morning, after eating 100 calories less than my limit yesterday, I weighed 189. But the silver lining was that when I measured my waist, I was down about 1/8 of an inch. I expect the weight to fall back in a couple of days. No way can I actually be losing off my waist (as evidenced by the tape measure) and gaining weight (i.e. fat).

For me, extreme exercise makes a HUGE weight gain. I've had it happen a couple of times, both when I hiked a mountain. I hiked most of the day each time, 3-4 hours up, 3 hours down.. and could hardly walk the next day I was so sore.

Both times I gained almost TEN pounds on the day my muscles were so sore. It's just water retention... it takes a few days and slowly dissipates as you get more hydrated again.