Start 118lbs. Two weeks of diet and exercise 119.2

Hi there,

I've only just started on my weight-loss journey too, but my advice would be to not weigh yourself everyday. Just pick one day a week and make that your official weigh-in day. From all that I've read, your weight can fluctuate up and down day by day, but overall you should have a downward trend. You may not see it so much if you weigh-in too often!

Don't let yourself get disheartened. We are all entitled to treat ourselves once in a while, so don't feel like you have to stop going out for meals because of one little blip, which will be smoothed out in the long run

For starters, pick ONE day a week to weigh yourself, otherwise your only going to get disappointed with what you see if you do daily weigh-ins.

Secondly, what your seeing MAY only be water weight, so just eat right for the next few days and drink lots of water to see the water weight go down.

And I haven't gave up restaurants, I just get something healthier then what I'd normally get or, go to a restaurant on a free day.

Chinese takeout=sodium=water retention.

Water retention. Don't fret.

Chinese takeout=sodium=water retention.

Absolutely. I'm betting it will be gone in three days or less.

Chinese takeout=sodium=water retention.

My thoughts exactly. Lower your sodium intake for a few days, make sure you're getting your potassium, and drink lots of water. You'll be fine.

Chinese is high in sodium. When you eat an excess of sodium, you bloat/hold water. You didn't gain 2 lbs of fat. You gained 2 lbs of water. Drink a ton of water and try to stay below 2400mg of sodium (daily!) or less.

Chinese takeout=sodium=water retention.

Happens to me everyyy time. I retain water like a freakin camel. Right now my fingers are so swollen due to water retention, that it's uncomfortable to bend my fingers :grumble:

Exercise causes water retention due to muscle recovery. Sodium-rich foods cause it as well (notoriously high in most restaurant food). You can easily gain/lose 5 lbs of water in 24 hrs.

Drink plenty of water to flush out the excess sodium and help speed muscle recovery. Weigh only once per week or less, same time of day (early morning is best for most). Ignore the scale when you are pre-menstrual!

If you are logging your food accurately and consistently, and are meeting your calorie goal, you will lose weight. "Free" days are okay for some, but I can easily eat right through a week worth of deficit in a single meal, so I don't do it often.

Be patient and persistent! IT WILL HAPPEN!

I got this off a tumblr blog and saved it on my computer when I feel like this way.......






"One of the most frustrating things I see when perusing the ‘fitspiration’ and ‘fitspo’ tags is when I read posts where girls are freaking out because they’ve gained weight and they’ve been working out so hard and they might as well give up. Trust me, I know what that’s like. My mood for the entire day was once defined by whether or not I had lost weight from the day before. It’s a tired adage - that muscle weighs more than fat, but it’s true.

Ladies - take pictures & take your measurements. The photos above were from the first day that I went to the gym and then 30 days later. I gained weight.. while it’s only 5 lbs, keep in mind that is over 5% of my starting body weight. However, you will notice that I look slightly thinner in the picture on the right. I also made measurable strength & endurance gains in the gym. There is nothing inherently evil about gaining weight, and nothing inherently good about losing weight. Listen to your body - how much energy do you have? are things that were once difficult now getting easier for you? do your clothes fit differently than they used to? Don’t let an arbitrary number on a scale define your worth. It only has that power if you let it. "

this is exatly what it is!

PLEASE READ THIS!!!! I know it's long, but take the time to read it..it's great! (This is being specific with Chalean Extreme and p90x, but it is a fact for ALL WORKOUTS PERIOD.)

Why the Scale Goes Up When You Start a New Workout Plan


By Chalene Johnson

Probably the most common question I get when I release a new exercise program is, "Help! I'm gaining weight! Am I doing something wrong?" This is a common phenomenon with any new exercise program, such as Turbo Kick, Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Hustle, or others! It's especially common (and temporary) with intense strength training programs like ChaLEAN Extreme or Tony Horton's P90X.

The motivation to start a new exercise program is almost always to lose weight. However, what most personal trainers know--and most at-home exercisers do not--is that a new exercise program often can cause an immediate (and temporary) increase on the scale. (Notice I didn't say weight gain! I'll explain.) This common increase in the scale is also the reason why perhaps millions of people start and then quickly quit their resolution to get fit.

The temporary weight gain explained:
When someone starts a new exercise program, they often experience muscle soreness. The more intense and "unfamiliar" the program, the more intense the muscle soreness. This soreness is most prevalent 24 to 48 hours after each workout. In the first few weeks of a new program, soreness is the body trying to "protect and defend" the effected or targeted tissue. Exercise physiologists refer to this as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.

This type of soreness is thought to be caused by tissue breakdown or microscopic tears in muscle tissue. When this happens, the body protects the tissue. The muscle becomes inflamed and slightly swollen due to fluid retention. This temporary retention of fluid can result in a 3- to 4-pound weight gain within a few weeks of a new program. Keep in mind that muscle soreness is not necessarily a reflection of how hard you worked. In fact, some people feel no signs of muscle soreness, yet will experience the muscle protection mechanisms of water retention and slight swelling.

Most people are motivated enough to put up with this temporary muscle soreness. Yet, many, especially those who really need immediate weight loss to keep them motivated, become discouraged and quit!

When I worked with a group of 70 test participants during the development stages of ChaLEAN Extreme, this happened. Who was the most upset and discouraged? You guessed it... the women! I'm happy to report absolutely for every single woman (and man) in our group, the weight increase was temporary and never lasted more than two weeks before they started to see a major drop in the scale. However, these people had the advantage of working with someone who was able to explain to them why this was happening and assure them the weight would come off if they stuck to the nutrition plan and stayed true to the program.

If you follow a multi-phase exercise plan, such as ChaLEAN Extreme, keep in mind that when you start each phase, your body will be "in shock" again. Don't be surprised or discouraged if you experience a temporary gain on the scale the first week of each phase.

My own personal example of this is running 10Ks. I don't do it very often, maybe once or twice a year. Even though I run on a regular basis, when you run a race, you push much harder. It's natural for me to be insanely sore the next day. It’s also very common for me to see the scale jump 4 pounds the next day from forcing fluids post race and the resulting DOMS. Even though I know the cause of it, it's still a bummer. We're all human and hard work should mean results. Hard work equals results, but our bodies are amazing machines and they know how to protect us from hurting ourselves. Soreness forces you to give those muscles a break. Ultimately you will lose the weight and you will change your metabolism in the process.

The key is understanding that this is a normal and temporary and stick with the program!