Has anyone else had this problem?
I have been sticking to my goals and doing really well for about 2-3 wks now, I have been exercising 3x/wk and I think I had one or two bad days. I have GAINED 3 pounds!! I have to say this is very discouraging, I am not looking to lose 10lbs/wk, but I would have thought by now maybe a lb. or two. When I look at the scale I am getting back to my old thinking, what's the point if I'm just going to put on more weight. Any advice....
Jill

quote:

...Jill: I have a digital Tanita Body Fat Scale and it is very accurate from day to day...

Ditto. (I have a Tanita too.)

I always take my weight at the same time of day, at the same floor location, and follow the "body fat measurement rules" noted in the manual.

Well I haven't gained but I haven't really lost either. Of course I think I need to give it a little more time especially since I've hurt my back. However the scale at the gym, while I think it's pretty accurate, has been stuck at the same place for a while now. I think it doesn't like me this week. : )~

Heather

Speaking of scales, I use a doctor's scale. Dh had it before I met him and it has held up fine. This way I can't kid myself. It keeps me very honest.

Jill
My scale starts having big time fluctuations just before the battery needs to be replaced. If it's been accurate up until now, may that's the problem.

P.S. I can fluctuate up to 4 pounds in one day from morning to night.

quote:

Originally posted by jillybean:
I weighed myself this morning and somehow I am now down 7lbs since yesterday-which I know is impossible???!!!.

I usually fluctuate in the .5 - 2 lb range. Sometimes I’ll go up 3... But not often.

BUT… In December… I did have some wild 5-6 lb fluctuations. I ate out much more often. Had dessert more often (desserts always make me retain, too). I ate things like ham. My parents came to town and we had Japanese food for lunch and a ham dinner.

Also, are you weighing in at the same time everyday? I’m always up 3-4 lbs at night.

quote:

I have a digital scale that measures body fat as well, it does seem to fluctuate quite a bit, what kind of scales does everyone else have?.

I’ve got a Thinner Brand digital scale that weighs pounds and half pounds… no body fat measurement. I’ve read that the body fat measurement is partly dependent on water retention, so if you are seeing big fluctuations in water weight… it makes sense that you will see your body fat measurement go up and down some.

Take the number with a grain of salt… even if you have your body fat measured at a university with equipment that costs thousands and thousands of dollars, there is still a margin of error. That body fat number, don’t pay attention day to day (or hour to hour). Maybe write down the number on the first of every month or even the first day of every quarter and see how it changes.

I think I paid about $30 for my scale. It works fine, but isn’t 100% accurate. Like sometimes I’ll weigh myself and then go potty and think, “THAT was at least a pound!” and I’ll jump on the scale and the number will have gone up half a pound. But I didn’t exactly pay for NASA scientific accuracy… but it is accurate enough.

Do you have access to another scale to check yours against? My old scale started acting “funny” - and I just blew it off. Then we had a flood in the bathroom and accidentally killed the scale by drowning it. When I bought a new scale, I weighed 10 lbs more, because the old one was off by 10#’s in my favor, which is probably some of the reason that I was happy to ignore the fact that it didn’t act right.

My current scale is within 1# of the ww scale and the Dr. office… and that is good enough for me.

quote:

Someone mentioned stress and weight, I have been under a great deal of stress, ongoing for years although I am only now starting to admit it to myself that things in my life are not what they could be...perhaps this is causing my body to retain fat.

I don’t think that stress is great for weight loss. I think that I’ve read that stress is sort of like lack of sleep. Actually, stress can lead to lack of sleep.

Stress can’t pack on 3 lbs over night… but I’d be willing to believe that stress can slow your metabolism down some. If biology perceives that this is a stressful time… it may want to hold onto some fat, in case this stressful time leads to famine or war or some other event that is going to lead to a food shortage.

I really urge you to get the stress treated. Long term stress often leads to depression, and you definitely want to get that treated. Depression can make it hard to lose weight. We can only cope with so much stress and turmoil and it often doesn’t leave enough mental or physical energy left to cope with the effort that it takes to lose weight. (I know from personal experience…)

And eating healthy and exercise really do help with stress. I know that I’m less emotional and think better when I’m eating healthy and haven’t clogged my arteries with chocolate syrup.

Again, I urge you to cope effectively with the stress. See a counselor or therapist. If it has been years of stress, you may have lost perspective… and a trained professional will have solutions that you may not have thought of. Slow weight loss is a drag but being stressed out and sad all the time is worse.

Hang in there!!

quote:

Originally posted by jillybean:
I think I need a new scale, I weighed myself this morning and somehow I am now down 7lbs since yesterday-which I know is impossible???!!! I have a digital scale that measures body fat as well, it does seem to fluctuate quite a bit, what kind of scales does everyone else have?

Jill: I have a digital Tanita Body Fat Scale and it is very accurate from day to day. I never see huge variances like that. Are you using the scale in exactly the same place every day? Are you standing on it in the same way every day? I find that the scale can vary if you move it around, on carpet vs. bare floor, etc. I use it on a hardwood floor and in exactly the same place every morning and I rarely have much variance. Also, with the Tanita, I find the best results if I stand on it with my heels all the way to the back of the scale. I will get variances if I stand further forward on the scale. Just some ideas.

Thanks for all the great advice and moral support! I think I need a new scale, I weighed myself this morning and somehow I am now down 7lbs since yesterday-which I know is impossible???!!! I have a digital scale that measures body fat as well, it does seem to fluctuate quite a bit, what kind of scales does everyone else have? Someone mentioned stress and weight, I have been under a great deal of stress, ongoing for years although I am only now starting to admit it to myself that things in my life are not what they could be...perhaps this is causing my body to retain fat. When I went through my divorce in 1997 I lost 35 pounds in one month from not eating. Could it be possible that when my body is under a great deal of stress that it is working hard to prevent that drastic loss again?
jill

When I am following my plan faithfully, I will have a pattern like this: small loss, small loss, small gain, big loss -- it's predictable. That's with weighing weekly.

But like everyone else said, take a look at what you're doing and if everything is OK, just figure you had a weight fluctuation and stay on plan. The worst thing you can do is see a gain and say, "Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter," and stop following your plan. If the scale is going to demoralize you, try weighing only once a month for a while and REALLY sticking to your plan. Then you'll see a nice big loss.

I weigh more every single Monday. It is almost always water weight because we eat out at least one meal on the weekend and restaurants ALWAYS use more salt than I do.

Maybe a picture is worth a thousand words...

I didn't keep daily track of my weight until 7/06/04... but you can see a weightloss graph at: Weight Loss Graph

You will see LOTS of spikes or "gains" - every Monday, infact! But the general trend is downward... and that is what matters in the long run. (The flat line in May and June '04 was denial that I was gaining... and any flat lines after July... I was out of town... and I don't pack my scale .)

Scale fluctuations up and down bother a lot of people and many people only weigh in once a week for that reason. Personally, I always weigh the most on Monday and least on Thurs or Friday.

Hang in there!

And if you gain again next week... give a shout and we'll come up with more better weight loss help.

quote:

Originally posted by Bee:
Hang in there Jill. Even if the scale isn't moving in the right direction yet, you are doing your body a lot of good by exercising regularly and eating well. Don't lose sight of the health benefits to what you are doing.

I ditto what everyone said, especially the above. If I gave up because I wasn't losing or because I gained some weeks, I would have given up over a year ago. Trust me, you are still doing a LOT of good for yourself and your health by eating healthy and working out, regardless of whether it shows on the scale right away.

Keep in mind that some of the gain could be muscle, esp. if you've gone from not exercising your muscles at all to doing weight training. Try to find another focus besides the scale--health NSVs, strength NSVs, etc...trust me, the scale won't always do what you want and if you measure your success by what the scale says, you're going to be very unhappy and you'll miss celebrating a lot of victories that are not scale-related.

Ditto to everything Sandy said. I still weigh and measure high fat items too and journal my food most days. It's just way too easy to mindlessly get an additional couple of hundred calories in if I'm not careful and for me, that's all it takes between maintaining and gaining.

Hang in there Jill. Even if the scale isn't moving in the right direction yet, you are doing your body a lot of good by exercising regularly and eating well. Don't lose sight of the health benefits to what you are doing.

Jill, welcome to my world!! I have been very dilligent in my exercise and my eating well. I got on the scale Saturday and there were 3 extra pounds to my horror. I decided to drink extra water, maybe I was retaining some, wait till monday.......it's still there. I have been upset over this myself!!!!

Jill,
I just read your post in the Challenge thread. Sorry that you are having such a tough time now. I know how much of a bummer a gain is - especially coupled with other stress.
Do you log your food or somehow count/tally what you eat?
If not, this might be good start. If you do, I encourage you to get very honest about EVERYTHING you put into your mouth.
I have a brain that tells me I am on plan, or even eating less than plan, but the reality is that I am not.
I still weight and measure higher calorie foods most of the time. It keeps me honest.
Hang in. You probably need some tweeking and shifting. I think it is part of the process. Learning what is not working is important.

I know that Dr. Peeke has addressed the issue of stress and weight gain. I have not read about this, but I bet others can share more.

Also, might you be retaining water? This might be part of the problem. My weight fluxuates with eating out, my period, eat lots of carbs, having too many salted tomatos and more.

I have seen kd post about being a detective--- take the time and energy to find out what is keeping you from losing. You are worth the time and effort.