Hi everyone. It's been a while since I've been on the boards but I don't know where else to turn.

January 1 of this year I started my new plan to lose weight. I started walking every day - started out at 5 mins per day and over the last 2 months have worked my way up to 20 mins everyday. I've also increased my water intake and worked my way up to drinking 8 glasses a day. I've been doing 50 jumping jacks and 50 crunches everyday as well and everytime I go to the bathroom I do 40 knee lifts (and with all the water I've been drinking that adds up to a lot of knee lifts ) I've stopped drinking pop except on weekends and am being somewhat careful about what I eat...I'm not perfect about my food but I am eating a little less than I was before Jan. 1. I keep track of everything on my calendar and have been so proud of myself because I haven't missed a single day of sticking to the exercise and water intake. I even make sure to read something motivating every day.

I decided to only weigh myself once a month for a while and after the first month I lost 7 lbs. I was very happy with that and continued on with my plan. Well I weighed myself this morning after finishing the second month and I somehow managed to GAIN 5 lbs from my last weigh in!

I'm so confused and upset! I actually managed to stick with my plan this time - didn't miss a single day...even when I was sick! I just don't understand!? I could somewhat understand not losing any weight...but to gain?

I'm so discouraged!

Is it that pesky TOM? that can add quite a few pounds sometimes.. Could be deceiving since you're only weighing once a month so you don't know if you were down before this week..

Also, you're working on building muscle, so maybe that's the "gain?" Are your clothes feeling looser at all?

Don't get discouraged! Maybe try to cut a little back on your diet, or up your walk like 10 minutes

I finished TOM on Monday so I don't think it's that. It's hard to tell with my clothes because they're all stretchy materials...but I do have a pair a jeans I could try that I didn't fit into a few months ago.

As part of my plan I'll be upping my walk on Sunday...I do walk more in a day than 20 mins as I don't drive but I only write down the 20 mins.

I'm not giving up and will continue to stick to the plan because I know it's good for my health...I just wasn't expecting to see that number on the scale this morning.

relax and keep at it.

Remember all that water has to weigh something in you till you pee, right? So does poo. And if your food had lots of sodium, you could be having some water retention.

The scale is only a tool -- it is not your mood meter, your progress meter, your result meter any more than tools like your sneakers are!

Go another month and see what it is like then. You may want to track your food more closely to watch the sodium in take though.

GL!
A.

I do have a weakness for foods that tend to be high in sodium...and I suppose limiting my sodium intake is a good idea health wise anyway.

You know what they say about weight loss: 80% diet and 20% exercise. In your shoes I would start tracking my food intake more closely (i.e., calories). At your weight, you should be able to eat 1,500 calories per day and lose nicely. I suggest you try it for a month and see what the scale says.

Freelance (fellow Canadian)

Increasing exercise, not counting my food in some way, and not weighing at least weekly would spell disaster for me.

Increasing my exercise or activity level makes me hungrier, so if I'm not counting (in my case, I prefer counting calories indirectlly through an exchange plan) I can eat more, an yet feel like I'm eating less, because I'm much hungrier. The hunger convinces me that I must be eating less when I'm actually eating more. Studies have found this effect to be quite common.

The same is true of my eating habits. I can think I'm eating better or less than I actually am. Writing it down forces me to face the truth, and helps me realize that my perceptions are often wrong.

Weighing frequently helps keep me focused. I actually weigh daily, but I don't expect weight loss or even weight maintenance every day. Weight gains happen because of many variables (like the weight of the food I've eaten but not fully digested and water retention for dozens of reasons).

What I do to prevent discouragement is make my main weight goal to be "not gaining" and I don't consider anything less than 5 lbs as a true gain unless I have reason to suspect it is (such as eating off plan). Virtually every day I get to celebrate "not gaining." I focus on "not gaining and maybe losing just one more pound." I don't look any further than the next single pound. Because when I do, it feels like I'll never get there. Just celebratng "not gains" (even if I mean that literally and don't give myself that 5 lb leeway) has really helped me stay on track and feel good about it.

Maybe daily weighing isn't for you, but maybe monthly weighing isn't for you, either. You can only find out by experimenting.

Watch more carefully what you are eating. Stay away from the sodium. Keep drinking plenty of water. And weigh yourself weekly, or atleast twice a month, so you dont have to freak out over a gain, and the more you weigh yourself, the more you'll see what you are doing wrong, and what you are doing right.
Good luck! Just remember to keep going.

You must keep track of what you are eating. If you don't you will guess wrong, sometimes really wrong. Once you've done it for a little while you can do it without thinking about it, but you should go through the exercise of tracking every calorie that goes in you for at least 2 weeks.

I totally agree with some of the others. Even though it's annoying you have to keep a food journal. I've been on so many diets and they only worked when I kept a food journal. My downfall was that I always got lazy and talked myself into it being okay not to keep it anymore, thinking " I'm exercising and I'll make sure what I eat is pretty healthy and not go overboard." One problem I did have with a food journal is that I would feel SO guilty about things I had eaten, staring at me with the calorie count clearly written down. I'd be so down on myself I'd just binge because I thought I screwed up the day anyway. Obviously, doesn't take many days like that to mess a whole diet up and gain back all the weight already lost.

Ha, that's funny you do the knee lift when you go to the bathroom thing. I have done the same, but with squats. I found I was holding it in a lot more, lol. I'm about to try Dancing to the Oldies, so we'll see how that works out. I think it works better personally for me when I have a set thing I do instead of something so variable that counts on how many times I go potty.

I agree with everyone else - keep a food journal and pay more attention to what you're eating. If you're eating less that's great, but it still might be too much. It's amazing how little food it takes to become "too much"! I also agree that you should consider weighing yourself more often.
Doing exercise is great, but getting your eating in check is (generally speaking) the most important thing with weight loss.
I hope you get it all figured out!

I have to echo the others - you must track your food somehow, either by calories, exchange, whatever, until you have a firm handle on what you can and can't eat without gains, and how much of it. Increasing exercise without that factor would just make me eat more, to stay in energy balance, and I wouldn't lose anything. That's not to say exercise doesn't vastly improve many health markers, but it won't change your weight unless you're controlling your food, too.

There could be a million reasons for a gain, temporary or otherwise. I recommend more frequent weighing and journalling about your food, moods, and activity, to help you narrow it down and better understand what is going on with your body