For the last 3 weeks, I lost ~2lbs a week. I didn't exercise. This week, I exercised for 15 -18 minutes a day (elliptical) and lost .4 lbs. A loss is a loss and I will take it, but it was a little depressing This is going to be TMI but I wish I could have had a bigger BM before my weigh in this morning!! I feel like that could have made a difference. Maybe its that TOM and I am retaining water or something. I guess I gotta just watch what I am eating a little closer and hope that next week will be better!

We're human and we like to see patterns, but there's really nothing that says one actually caused the other. Now, it's true that you could be holding on to a bit more water weight because of the exercise, but it's just as likely it is coincidence.
Hang in there and keep exercising! It makes a world of difference.

It's normal to lose a considerable amount of weight at the beginning of your journey and then things will start to steady out. Aim for at least a half hour of cardio a day. Also, working out can sometimes make you more hungry... Just be sure you're eating less calories than you are burning with exercise to see a true loss. Don't give up. Be consistent and the weight will come off.

All of this. Plus - many other factors can make you retain a bit of water, which masks your genuine loss for the week. Where are you in your monthly cycle? Et cetera. I always gain a bit before my TOM and lose during. Other people gain during and lose after.

You 'sample' is too small and there are too many other variables at play to make the conclusions you've made. Exercise will help your losses in the long term, though that is mostly down to diet. Keep going, though and remember that there are fluctuations like these all the time.

^^^^^ What they all said!

Exercise isn't going to hurt your efforts, I promise you that! Our bodies fluctuate so much, esp. as women. But the weight will come off. This board (myself included) is just so obsessed with the scale number and nothing else, we have to remember our body is so much more than that!

You really don't want to lose weight without incorporating exercise, you want to be lean and mean (for the lack of a better term!).

Keep doing what you are doing and by this time next month, you'll be strutting your more improved body and telling us about your progress (not just the weightloss!).

It depends if your goal is weight loss or fat loss. If your goal is fat loss then keep exercising. The scale is an imperfect measurement of the amount of fat we have and have lost unfortunately, it is better to look at the overall trend rather than the day to day fluctuations.

Thanks everyone. I feel better I will keep working at it and not let this throw me off track!! You guys are all so awesome, so glad I am here.

OMGosh! Thanks for putting this perspective out there! I want "fat loss" and not just "weight loss." I don't want to be a "fat skinny person!" LOL!

I'm a scale obsesser and I will try to look at it differently now that I think "fat loss" and not just "weight loss."

To the OP, I know for two days in a row I had an slight increase (0.2 pounds each day) and got upset over it. But like other people have said, it could easily have been water weight and we have normal fluctuations. A loss is a loss though, so be proud even if it wasn't as high a number as you wanted/anticipated!!

Make sure you drink your water daily and keep working!

agree with everyone else - also, at least in my personal experience, as your body gets used to the regular exercise, you'll start to see the losses show more easily again, because the scale weight will already be adjusted to have that small amount of extra water weight that comes from exercise (sore muscles = swelling = water weight) as your baseline.

BMs are not big when you're eating at a long term deficit. It's the saddest and one of the least talked about aspects of weight loss - your poops are NEVER AS GOOD and it's really frustrating!

As for exercise - I find this mindset obnoxious but applicable - why bother being thin if you can't do anything and you get absolutely winded from taking a walk?

When I added exercise in, my weight loss stopped dead for like 3 weeks, but then when it started it again, I was dropping more steadily than I had before. Just hang in there.

Poop talk always makes me giggle, I am so immature!