I just really need some place to vent.. so bare with me! I have been working out 6 days a week, watching my calories and fat grams, water intake.. all of that stuff. My body feels stronger, which is all fine and dandy.. but the weight just REFUSES to come off! I lost 4 pounds last weeks weigh in, and then I get on the scale today and it says I'm UP 3 pounds, so I've lost 1 pound in 26 days?!?! Is this hard work really worth it? I easily maintain this weight eating REALLLLY bad, and I change everything and I lose 1 pound? I am SO frustrated, I'm doing everything "right" yet my weight won't budge. I don't know the answer, and feel like a fraud, this is a weight loss site.. not a place where I'm gaining weight.

-Aimee

I know how you feel. Don't let that scale drag you down though...those 3 lbs up could be anything. I don't count losses OR gains until I see them repeated DAILY (usu. weighing right after I wake up as it's the most consistent, though not necessarily the most accurate) for 1-2 weeks. Don't be so hard on yourself though it sounds like you are doing everything right, just the scale isn't behaving. Give it a few days and I'm sure you'll feel better. Don't let this trip you up, it's probably nothing.

Trying to see if my message will post as I just did and it didn't! Want to offer you some encouragement!

I want to offer you some encouragement and as you can see I don't log in often, been a member here since the beginning but lost my id name and have been lurking! I had the exact same thing happen to me in the last 5 weeks! I have lost a lot of weight over the last 3 years but didn't weigh myself until 5 weeks ago. That was the first time I weighed myself in about 4 years. I joined a health fitness gym and started to go to swim exercise 5 to 6 days a week. I have also been doing a SBeach type clean eating for a long time and really got more serious, food diary etc. It was time for a number to work off of.... I lost 2 lbs for 2 weeks, then week 3 I was up the 3 plus 2 more to make 5 lb gain. I told myself I am doing all that I can, that is all I can do, and called my therapist! Talk me off the ledge! I stayed with it, the food plan and kept going to swim exercise 3 days and did a 55 minute workout on my own in the pool the other 3 days. At the end of week 4 the 5 lbs were gone and at the end of week 5 ( this last monday) I am down 6 more to make a 11 lb weight loss!
I did log on here and find someone else who said that she had the same experience. It may be why she failed in the past as she would hang around a 3 lb loss for a while then go up 5 lbs above her "low" weight before it dropped to her new low. She would give up when the 5 lb gain happened. That helped me, and I hope this helps you! She found that if she weighed herself every day for a bit that then she saw the pattern. So I did that also and really saw the loss on the weekend before I weighed in on Monday of this week. I went from not wanted to work with the scale at all to weighing myself every day. Please stick with it, it is hard but it will pay off. I big time self talked myself even though I was really upset with that 5lbs. Reading the forums here really helped me, it is the support I need that I don't get in the "real chick world"! Hope this helps you!

Okay, for starters, can I assume you're eating enough? A very low-calorie diet will actually prevent you from losing weight. It tricks your fat cells into thinking, "Oh, no! There must be a famine in the land. We'd better hang on to all the fat we can, in case she's not able to get enough food."

Assuming you're getting adequate calories, remember that you can't always believe the scale. All kinds of things can throw the numbers off: water retention, hormones, the time of day you weigh yourself. And I think it's pretty common for the scale not to budge for the first few weeks of a new diet/exercise routine, for some reason. You probably just need to give it a little more time. The numbers will start to drop.

Meantime, how are your clothes fitting? If things are getting looser, you know you're on the right track. Just be patient with yourself, because your hard work will start to pay off soon.

Aimee Aimee, this is the Queen of the Plateau and weird bouncy weight loss here!!! I used to have this condition called SSS (sticky scale syndrome) where I would work really hard for weeks, with nothing, then relax for a week and lose a bit of weight, then get stuck again.

Now I have BSS (bouncy scale syndrome) where my weigh in changes every week. Sometimes up, sometimes down, and it doesn't correlate with what I am actually doing. For example I weighed in last thursday and then saturday )I don't normally do that but my personal trainer wanted to see my weight, nasty man) I lost two pounds in two days. Did I eck! Of course I didn't! BSS strikes again. Just like you didn't regain three pounds!

I think you know the answer, keep the routine and dump the scales. Weird stuff happens when you work out - just keep going kid, and don't let the scales get you down.

I have barely lost anything this year, yet I have lost body fat, inches and a dress size. Scales will never tell the full story.

OMG I got up this morning and was about to post about the same exact thing! I have been a "good girl". I do circiut training 3 days a week with 30 min of cardio and on 2 days a week I do 60 min of cardio with sit ups and push ups. I watch what I eat (calories fat etc..) and I weigh myself every morning naked at the same time and over the last week I have gained 3 lbs! WTF!! I have been so upset. THe last 2 days the scale has held steady at the same number but I have refused to change my tracker because of principle. I don't want to feel like I am failing when I am working my butt off! This is so frustrating!!! My trainer told me to stay off the scale and just keep doing my routine and we'll remeasure my body in about 4 weeks (will be 6 total on this plan) and then I'll see a difference, but I just can't stay off the scale. That's always how I've been able to gauge how I'm doing and from what it's saying I'm not doing well. I have realized that my stamina has increased alot cardio wise and I'm doing better on the circuit with my reps and weights so I know it's doing something but I'm gaining not losing! HELP!!!

I feel ya! I am the same way - I will try really hard and work out and then I will be up. And I am also like you where it is not unusual for me to go a long long time of eating perfectly and only lose a pound. But I keep telling myself that I feel better and my body is healthier and that is what it is really about. And maybe one day all of these 1 pound here and there will add up to my goal weight. BTW - the 69 pounds I have lost have been over a period of 4 years!! Granted I haven't been perfect for 4 years - but the majority of time I have been pretty good.

I feel your pain.

Sometimes it helps to reframe the issue. Are you eating well and exercising only to lose weight??? or is it also about being healthy? If so, then it matters less what the Evil Scale says.

Remember, some scales are inhabited by evil creatures whose sole purpose is to get you to quick your new lifestyle! Do NOT let them win!!!

I feel your pain too! Many many years ago I started swimming to lose weight. I also began eating much more fruit / veggies and not so many starches and watched what I ate. I swam faithfully 5 days a week for 6 years. Total weight loss? + 1 lb!

At least my weight was stable and I am definitely much more fit but I know how frustrating it is. Be glad you are more fit & healthy!

If you get into muscle physiology, working out actually tears down your muscles on a microscopic leval, that's why resting is so important when you train. It gives your body time to rebuild the muscles and makes them stronger. What happens is your muscles will retain water for awhile until they get the hang of what you are doing. I wouldn't really worry about it so much. Just weigh yourself occasionally, continue working out and go by how you feel, how your clothes fit.

It's also easy to say, "hey, I've been exercising so I can have a little treat occasionally" but ocassionally because more often and little becomes a little bigger then the last time.

Sarah

Thanks everyone SO much, I really needed a safe place to vent, and I got it It's also nice to hear I'm not alone in this!

I don't normally count the weight until my official weigh in day, which I need to change because it's the day I weigh the most.. I WISH my clothes were fitting bigger these days! I am away from home for a few more days, and only brought stretchy workout pants, and capri's which are also stretchy. I'll know more when I get home I think.

Thank you all again, I really appreciate all the replies

-Aimee

And don't forget- muscle weighs more than fat.

I had the bouncy scale syndrome for a while. I figured the sensors were wearing out or something, and bought a mechanical beam doctor's scale. It's perfect. No springs or anything to wear out, and it doesn't matter where you put your feet on the platform. It was worth the price for consistant answers.