I know this has been mentioned before but I had to talk about it anyway, since I am experiencing it now I realized that the scale really does tend to go wonky (for lack of a better word LOL) when I exercise compared to when I don't. I used to get so frustrated because the scale would constantly fluctuate between 2-5 pounds above my actual weight almost every day. I would only see my true weight in the late morning if I hadn't worked out for three days and TOM wasn't near by. So basically, I only weighed less maybe 6 days out of the month. At the time, I was not sure why this was happening and it was discouraging at times.
This past month, I took a break from cardio with tension bands and opted to get out and walk or ride my bike every day since the nice weather is here. During that month, I rarely saw a bloated day and I lost a steady 2 pounds per week. I guess I have been losing like this all along but I never got a chance to see it consistently on the scale. It felt great I have started strength training again this week and I am back to the 2-4 pounds bloat on the scale again. It almost tempts me to not exercise but I am going to stick with it to tone up this muffin top. I guess it is just a little harder to stay motivated without the consistent number drop.
How does exercise effect the scale for you and does it ever get frustrating? Any advice other than measuring? I already measure but my stomach is a real problem area and I tend to lose inches off it VERY slowly so I don't tend to see results on a weekly basis. I probably already know the answers to my post but I had to vent anyway It's therapeutic LOL

Urgh, yes! Sometimes I think those who do NOT have this problem think that those of who DO are nuts or doing something wrong. The scale does NOT in any way correspond to what I do as far as exercise.

BUT...I can drop a dress size with a one pound loss!

How do I get through it? I weigh daily so I know exactly what to expect, for the most part. I have educated myself about the water we may retain with sore muscles. I stay away from salt. And I try on smaller sizes frequently!! LOL!

Mostly though, the one thing I find highly motivational is fitness goals. I DO have complete control over those. I love reaching new heights I never thought I could accomplish before. I love that what I do at the gym DOES have a direct and immediate correlation to my fitness level.

I do vaguely remember Jillian mentioning that the body does retain some water weight when you weight train. I don't remember why, but I suspect it has something to do with your body's recovery from the exercise. So, assuming that's true, I'm guessing that it probably takes some time for the scales to tip, so to speak, where you will start to see the weight loss over the muscle building and water retention weight gain, even though real weight loss is actually happening during that whole process.

When weight lifting, the soreness you feel is actually tiny little tears in the muscle. To repair itself, the muscle retains water. So yes, you can have up to 2 lbs of water weight on you if you're feeling at all sore.

I have that problem and I have noticed that I am the kind of person who must exercise every day because if I don't I fall backwards. One day of not exercising can cause .5 -2lbs difference in my scale and if I see +.5 or +2lbs I get really discouraged lol

This is precisely why, when I was in my main losing phase, I did not do anything other than light exercise and concentrated on diet. I know it goes against conventional wisdom but to me its like trying to solve an equation with two unknowns instead of one.

I'm currently trying to work off what was a 5lb vacation gain. I lost 2 of those within days without exercise. For the last two weeks I've got back into my normal 4-5 hours per week routine and what have I lost according to my scale - precisely 0. And yet today my pants feel much loser than they did two weeks ago.

Kitty

I feel compelled to add that it took me a while to come to the decision to exercise this time. I lost 30 lbs very quickly without exercise and on diet alone. But I have NO regrets that I am doing it with the exercise. We do not wear our weights on our foreheads, but we DO carry our fat...well, all over the place! Strength training especially tones as we lose fat and it is amazing, utterly amazing, to wrap my arms around myself and feel...WHAT...fat??...uh-uh, that's MUSCLE!!

My body has changed so, so much with the exercise. Without the exercise, I was losing weight, but my body was not changing. It was becoming a smaller version of my still-fat self. Now, my body is changing, shaping, hardening...I wouldn't change a thing.

Your muscles while you build them will retain water because they are slightly ripped and are repairing themselves.. In the end its better for you

One of the best things to do when you weight train is make sure to drink loooots of water throughout the day, before, after, all the time, etc. It helps with the water retention problem. ALSO make sure you are eating proteins with every meal if you are weight training. It all helps speed muscle recovery.

I weigh everyday, I workout almost everyday. It just becomes normal and you stop seeing weight as an absolute number. I weigh 144-147. Does 144 really make so much difference vs. 147?

But one of the reasons I weigh daily is because of that fluctuation. If i weighed once a week I might hit a low this week and a high next week and think I had gained. But I can look at hey, this week my weight is 144-147, last week it was 145.5-148.5. That's a 1.5 lbs no matter how you slice it.

And yes, if I take a few days off exercising I will drop a couple more pounds that will come right back when I start exercising. But trust me that 2 lbs of water is WELL worth it for the rest of the benefits exercise brings. I can always stop exercising for 2 days if I am going to win a big prize if I lose 2 lbs. (RIIIIIIGHT)

I spend more time on cardio than on strength training, but I love the results from strength training. I love the definition in my arms that I am starting to see. I don't think my arms would be shrinking as fast if I wasn't strenght training so I always try to add at least 2 days of a 15 min ab routine and 2 day of a 20 min arm routing per week. I also agree with ennay......i weigh at the same time almost every day but I have learned to not get so frustrated with the scale. I use my "weekly weigh in" as my true number and I don't stress over the numbers in between. What I do is I take a pair of pants that are snug and I try them on every 2 weeks or so until they fit....Seeing the difference with the way my clothes fit has helped me a lot. Just find something else you can use besides the scale to help you to keep feeling good about yourself and your efforts.

I am the same way. I do not lose during the week when I exercise the hardest. On the weekend, that is when I see the drop. This morning I was up a pound, but instead of pouting about it, I found a skirt in my closet that hasn't fit me in forever and tried it on. It fit. Something is working!

best way to measure anything is MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE!! keep track of your measurements in MANY spots on your body and you will be so surprised!!!

The scale always goes down for me when I do cardio and lift weights. Maybe it went up 20 years ago, when I started lifting—I didn't weigh myself at that age, so I couldn't say—but it hasn't for as long as I can remember. I am always lighter in the evening after a workout than I was in the morning, and by the next day I am another two to three pounds lighter than that. It goes up a little the morning after a day I don't work out, and then it goes back down and more the morning after I do work out. If I splurge, as I did for my birthday earlier this week, it is always difficult for me to keep myself from working out on my off days because I know it will help my weight go back down if I go to the gym. I have to force myself to respect the healing process and to keep a healthy attitude about food, because for so many years I used exercise to compensate for overeating. And that was totally because I knew that exercise always made my weight go down by a number of pounds—sometimes as much as five pounds. I would come home after eating too much and then work my way down to five pounds lighter before going to bed.

As far as the benefits of strength training go, though, I will sing its praises until the day I die. If your weight goes up, don't worry about it. The benefits to your overall physique and health are worth that temporary gain. And it's not fat after all that you are gaining—again, temporarily.

Then again, I'm biased: I love muscle. I love my abs. I love my arm muscles, leg muscles, back muscles.... I love all my muscles. And I love being strong, love being able to go indoor rock climbing as a novice and scale to the top with ease, love being able to help my friends move into their home without ever tiring, love being able to run for hours without needing a break, love being able to do 20 pull-ups in a set when most women can't do one.... Weight training is the best.