OK, I am a 48 1/2 year old "chick". I have lost (and gained back) weight a million times. I am doing WW Points Plus and am really struggling. I am one month in right now. I have lost 8 pounds, but last week I was up a pound and this week (according to my scale) I am up at least another pound. I have been tracking pretty faithfully and honestly and am within my points (and I use most my weekly points). This week I am just starving. I do have some issues going on in my life right now. 1) we are very far in debt and not sure what to do about it yet 2) my husband and I live in separate states out of necessity for work. I do see him on most weekends, but as time goes on it is getting harder and harder to be away from him. My kids are grown and busy with their own lives. I do not "work out" per say but I do get my dogs out for a walk every day for about a 1/2 hour so that is better than nothing. I drink plenty of water (at least 64 oz and usually more like 100 oz). I do not eat out often at all. Once a week if even that. What am I doing wrong? I am making way better choices than I was, but why is the scale going in the wrong direction? I am not close to TOM. I eat a good breakfast every day. I don't know what else I can tell you. Does anyone have any insight or words of wisdom before I throw the towel in again?

Oh HadEnough, my heart cringes reading this. DON'T GIVE UP! It looks like you've made some progress in the past (used to be 283, now you're 255); just think of great it is to not be 283!!
I would suggest giving your scale to a coworker for a month and up that dog walking to an hour if you can, then weigh yourself when the coworker give the scale back. I too would go crazy over the scale and get discouraged, but just remember 1) our bodies are COMPLEX (maybe it's up because you've eaten more salty things like soup which makes you hold on to water), or 2) I've read from other people on here about how they used to have a scale that was all over the place and finally replaced it with a new one and the numbers started seeming more appropriate (so maybe your scale is crazy, or it's not calibrated right).
REGARDLESS, by eating better and exercising you WILL eventually (if not right now) have a weight loss, plus you are preventing diabetes, heart disease and many more things by making these life changes.
PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP HUN

Hang in there!

Relax!

WW does work. I'm proof! If I can do it, anyone can!

I know I don't post in this forum a lot, but give me a chance here.

Sometimes life and all of it's stresses can well, they just bite.

Take a breath, relax, have patience.

Quit worrying about what ever has happened recently.

This is what works for me.

Follow the plan, track, weigh in, but don't worry so much about daily or weekly weigh ins, but focus on monthly trends. Weight loss is not linear.

It takes a lot of time and a lot of diligent tracking of food/nutrition and moods and life to see trends and figure out how these things affect what is going on with your body.

When I made the choice to quit fussing over each little thing, and track the food the mood and so on and have patience with myself and WW, and take a good long look at how it worked long term, well, it's amazing what I learned about my body, my mind and I have WW to thank for that.

Be patient, be kind to yourself, you have a lot of stress. Take a breath. Focus on one thing at a time.

One positive thing, will lead to one more positive thing, that will lead to three, which leads to four and so on.

We don't have to it all at once.

On another note, I'm 53, still doing WW, and strength training and am in better shape than ever. However, I have made this a priority in my life!

*hugs* Don't quit!

I know it is discouraging, but you have had success before! I have quit WW twice after I hit weeks that I gained...I so regret quitting and letting myself down. Maybe look at what you are eating....maybe try to make sure you are filling your plate halfway with veggies, 1/4 with protein, and 1/4 with a starch or whole grain. I feel like how we are using our points may be as important as how many we use. And I know I need treats (that also have some nutritional benefit, like kashi cookies or my weekly Chipotle) in there so it does not feel like deprivation.

Unfortunately, there is so much related to weight that is out of our control. If only there was a perfect relationship between our choices and weight...

Are there any non-scale victories you can focus on when you are waiting for the weight to drop? Do you have more energy? Better tummy feelings/digestion? Looser fitting clothes?

some thoughts:

1. I have done WW 2 times before, this is my 3rd time. I never noticed this before, always joked about my "emotional eating" BUT, this time I truly understand what that means.

I've said this before in another post, but I will repeat it here again. One day I came home after work and started doing the dishes. I stopped to think about how STARVING I was, like I could eat the WHOLE WORLD. I thought - is it PMS or period time? No. Well what happened today? Then I remembered, I just had a BAD DAY. Just lots of stupid things and irritations and sadness.

As soon as I recognized what a crappy day I had, THE HUNGER FEELING WENT AWAY. Not even kidding.

I then truly recognized what emotional eating was - how there is this feeling of an empty hole that as soon as I get, my body physiologically responds with hunger.

You mention you are under lots of stress - this can make this whole losing weight thing so much harder. Just something to think about.

2. As women, our hormones fluctuate like CRAZY all month long. I have a "period app" on my iPhone and I've got it down to a science. On the 20 and 21 day of my cycle I am at my lightest weight. The rest of the month it fluctuates, daily even! Once I noticed that, it proved to me that going up 1 pound in 1 week and then losing 0.4 the next week, etc. etc., is completely normal. It doesn't mean I've done anything wrong, it's just my body acting normally.

We think it should be simple mathematics, but it's not. You would think if I'm cutting _________ calories from my diet then _________ pound weight loss should occur. I call this the "in your dreams" diet! It just doesn't work that way all the time.

However, after time those little increments up and down result in weight loss. A LOT of weight loss!

The very fact that you are posting here shows me you don't REALLY want to give up. You just need a little cyber love and encouragement!!!