Gained a pound?!?

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harriss10
harriss10 Posts: 4 Member
in Motivation and Support
How do you keep yourself motivated when you are doing everything right, and you gain? I weigh myself once a week, and I was surprised to see an increase. Would love to hear your thoughts and tips.

Thanks in advance,
S.

Replies

  • xLittleMissVixenx
    xLittleMissVixenx Posts: 62
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    This happens to me a lot. The problem with weighing once a week is that it doesn't account for daily fluctuations, which can alter my weight +/- 2lbs from one day to the next. If you've been eating at a deficit for the past week then it's likely that you're just retaining water or something like that. If you were to weigh yourself again tomorrow or the next day you might find that the result is different. Even if it's not, don't let it demotivate you too much and try to focus on how your body actually looks rather than what the scale says.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
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    Seeing a gain can be frustrating, especially if you think you're doing everything right :flowerforyou:

    Remember that weight loss isn't linear. There will be weeks when you lose nothing, or even gain, and weeks when you lose quickly. A pound is easily within normal body fluctuations. It could be water retention from a new exercise or increased intensity of exercise. It could be from your cycle (many women show a gain near ovulation or TOM). There are a lot of things that could cause the scale to go up a pound when you haven't really gained fat.

    Focus on the work, which you can directly control, rather than the scale, which is more fickle. Make it a game to hit your calorie goal every day, to exercise a certain number of days or a certain number of minutes each week, and to fill that water glass icon. :laugh: And remind yourself that, while the scale may be mean this week, the habits you're building make a healthier you anyway.

    Don't forget you can also track measurements. They tell the story better than the scale, anyway.

    If you really end up stuck (several weeks or more without a loss) and you're hitting all those goals, it will be time to reassess your calories in (especially how you measure everything) and calories out. But if it's just a week here and there, I wouldn't worry yet.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Probably not a gain, just a normal weight fluctuation based on fluid, glycogen, swelling, food still in your system, etc. This is why I weigh most day, plot them in excel, then pay attention to the trend, not the individual weights.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1196878-weight-is-not-consistant-loss-is-not-linear
  • shazbox1
    shazbox1 Posts: 175 Member
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    I use my body fat scale (which I know is not accurate) and found on weeks I gain or break even, I tend to lose body fat percentage. So while I didn't lose weight, I lost fat pounds, which is a win.

    And if both go up, I just blame it on random fluctuation ;)

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