Discouraged!

It's water.
Keep going. Keep exercising and eating well and you'll start to see results. Good luck
Amanda :-)

I find I weigh heavier the day or two after a hard workout. If your muscles are hurting they are probably carrying more water.

Six pounds in one week is HUGE for gain or loss. I'd feel bad, too if I were you but let yourself take it on paper and move on. Check your weight again in a couple of days and see what you read at. If you made good decision on Thanksgiving day and did great workouts it'll become apparent. I have been taught something new in this cycle: Don't consider the weekly change good or bad. Look back over time and average the weight over the number of weeks you've been doing. I've had two weeks that did not please me, but the average loss per week is still very encouraging and in the end that is what matters most.

I've been doing so well this past month..I weigh every Saturday..Today,That thing said I gained 6lbs in a week!! WHAT!! I made myself exercise,and was only naughty for two meals..Even on Thanksgiving,I didn't overload..I'm so bummed today! It amazes me how that scale can manage how you feel about yourself.
~Amanda

Hi Amanda,

There is nothing easy about this journey. It's hard, no way around it.

For me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.

When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.

Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy. You might have to say no to some social events sometimes.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

Anyone can do this at any age. There really is no mystery. I used to think my metabolism was broken, low thyroid, adrenal fatigue, menopause, stress (well stress is certainly a factor in managing hunger hormones). I did the frustrating diet yo-yo for 15 years and finally achieved my dream at age 50 and have been maintaining for over a hear now (I'm almost 52). I finally realize thyroid medicine and everything else to address my myriad of age related health issues was not a magic pill. It all comes down to calories for weight loss and exercise for building your lean body mass (especially weight lifting). You cannot out exercise too many calories.


Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

As far as calories…

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

If you plug in all your info (typically age, gender, height and weight) into one of those calculators what you get is the average metabolic rate of a group of people who share your age, sex, height and weight. What you DON’T get is YOUR EXACT calorie needs. It's a place to start.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.

All that matters is calories. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it complicated.

Wishing you the best! Bobbie

Same!! I was up 5 pounds yesterday. Rationally, I know it must be water weight. But 5 pounds?? Ughhh. I cant even blame that time of the month for it. You have my sympathy.