I don't get it.
 

About a week and 1/2 ago I weighted myself. 249. About 4 days after that I weighed myself and I was 241. Today I weight myself and I am 253! How in the world can I gain 12 lbs. in like 4 days???

Do you deal with alot of stress? It is known that stress can cause weight gain in some people.

Or could your scale be needing a battery or is it time for a new one?

I got the scale 2 weeks ago..and I usually deal with a lot of stress, but not lately. What a bummer :(

Make sure the feet of the scale are all tightened well. Make sure you are positioning the scale in the same place every day of weighing.

Scale fluctuations are normal. Did you consume a lot of sodium recently? My scale jumped 19 lbs one time after I ate Chinese (fried wontons!) for dinner when I was at a much higher weight.

Well---hopefully tomorrow morning when I am 'suppose' to weigh in its not as high. I had a turkey club today, yogurt, egg whites with broccoli and ham, a coffee, and water.

Sodium can kill you- I'll eat out and then be three pounds higher the next day!

I just did not think I was eating a lot of sodium.

im with these gals, sodium, other water retention. obviously you did not gain 12 lbs of FAT in 4 days. im sure itll go back down. ;)

Thanks everyone :) I will have hope!

Just for the heck of it, about a year ago, I weighed myself at home and at work, with a medical scale, about 10 times a day, for a week. I did this just to see how much it would vary at any given time on any given day.

My weight varied up to 10 pounds a day. OMG!

Anywhere from first thing in the morning, pee'd and nekkid to dressed, and just ate lunch, weigh, drink 32 oz of water, on purpose and weigh again in an hour.

Weight loss, as many will tell you is not linear. Weight fluctuations are normal.

As long as you're trending down, don't worry about it.

Thank you :)

Do you log your foods anywhere that tracks sodium? When I started logging my foods it was a real eye opener for me. I never add salt to anything and yet I was usually over the reccomended 2,300 mg a day. I really started paying attention to the amount of sodium in things and I was shocked.

Anyway, you definately did not gain 12 lbs of fat in 4 days so it must be water retention. It sure is frustrating but hang in there, and I bet you see that number go down real soon.

Please remember that salt may make you retain water and thus raise the scale number, but in dieting it's fat weight that's important, not water weight. :yes: I see too many folks trying to restrict salt to weigh less, and unless someone has high blood pressure, there's no reason to do that.

Jay

Are you weighing yourself at the same time of day? Or was it one time in the morning, then in the afternoon and then in the evening? Under the same circumstances? That's very important. Our weight can go up easily over 5 lbs within the day just to come back down the next morning.

Choose ONE time of the day, for most folks that's early in the morning, upon waking, after using the bathroom, before eating, wearing the same clothing (or none), in the same exact spot.

I agree if you track your calories online track sodium- anytime you eat out your sodium shoots through the roof!

Also are you recording your weight somewhere ?I put mine on my calendar so I always know what I weighed on a certain day. You didn't sound too definite about when you weighed yourself,

My guess would be that the weigh in where you had lost 8lbs in 4 days was not probably reflective of actual loss. To lose 1lb of body fat requires a deficit of 3500 calories... for most people this is well over what can be created in one day. Let alone 7000 in one day, which is what you would need to actually burn 2lbs of fat in one day.

So, then, if you discard that weigh-in which was probably not accurate, the gain is not 12 but 4 lbs over a week and a half. Which is easily achievable by variation in water retention.

On the plus side, though it takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose a pound, it also takes consuming an extra 3500 calories above what your body needs to gain a pound. Which also can't happen in a really short time.

Hope that helps.