Hi there!
I have a question. I have been losing weight pretty well. I did very well last week. But I think I cheated. I did not eat as well as I would have liked. But I still lost 5 pounds. To compensate for that I ate a little less this week. Anyway, this week wasnt a good week on the scale. I had to weigh myself a day early because I cant do it tomorrow, on my regular weight day. Could this be that last week is catching up with me? Is that how it works? Does your previous week show up on the scale or the present week? If I do well next week, may my weight loss catch up? Sorry, for so many questions. I am so desperate to lose weight. Later I will post my story. I just HAVE to get this weight off! Thanks for any help you can offer. I will check in later. I really want to stick with this but I feel so let down. Whats the point? I should just eat what I want and stay fat. I could just cry.

Weight loss/gain is a constant thing. It doesn't just happen at certain points, or post date itself.

Just for example's sake, say you're running a mile, and you're body needs 250 calories to fuel itself to finish that mile. But, it's early in the morning and you've only eaten 100 calories. You're body will pull 150 calories from wherever it can.

Later, you aren't doing anything, and you're body burns, say, 50 calories while you sit and eat. But, you eat 300 calories. You put away those 250 calories as fat. So now you're up 50 calories for the day.

It's a constant thing, but 50, 100, even 1000 calories is hard to measure. It's something like 3500 calories to a pound. So, you're always gaining or losing fat, it's just in such small increments throughout the day that it's hard to track. Over the course of several days, it builds up enough for the scale to register, and that's why it seems that it all drops at once.

I go through that...thinking I did good this week; get on the scale and it shows I did "crappy." I am not an expert but can tell you from my experience that on those weeks when the scale says I didn't do well, I did. I lose inches during those times.
One time, I drank alot of water this particular week, I hardly did exercises and low and behold, I gained weight. The water swelled me up. I had to exercise the water out by sweating it out. Now that's just me. Everyone's body does their own thing.

Don't worry, everything will fall into place.

emerald dragonfly

Your weight will fluctuate day to day depending on your level of hydration and other factors. The heavier you are, the bigger the fluctuation. Drinking lots of water (and cutting back on salty foods) will help somewhat in minimizing water retention, but there will still be flucuation. Try not to panic if when your weight bumps up a little, it will most likely be down more next week.

Hi MissJo

Bottom line is you are down 13 pounds. That is great. You can do this. It's very tempting to look at a number on the scale and let that tell us if we are succeeding or not. I am guilty of it too. However, like others have mentioned, the scale will fluctuate. Whatever diet plan you are using, it is not just about how much weight you lose, but about learning and adopting healthy habits. It is these healthy habits that will help in the long run.

What I am trying to say is please don't let the scale keep you from continuing on your weightloss journey. Don't give up.

I know how you feel...the scale can be very discouraging....but maybe you should get a measuring tape and keep up with your measurements also....you will be suprised how much inches you can lose....congrats on the weight you have already lost!!

A simple answer is that your body needs fuel to run. It needs fuel for everything ... breathing, moving, making new cells .... That fuel can either be the food you eat, the fat you have or a combination of both.

We know that one pound equals about 3500 calories. Now it would be lovely if the minute you've used more than 3500 calories, one pound would disappear like magic ... but it just doesn't happen that nicely. Sometimes we bloat, retain water, have pms .....

The bottom line is ... if you use more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. Sometimes quickly, sometimes not so quick. The thing is that over time you will lose weight.

If I'm reading correctly ... you lost 5lbs one week and none the next. That still averages out to 2.5 lbs a week, which is pretty quick really.

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