The only thing I can think of is that I missed my exersice 5 days in a row last week. I get bad migraines, and, because of a migraine, was very inactive (lots of laying in bed), and missed my exersice. I still don't see how that could cause me to gain weight, though. Argh! Why go through all this, just to gain weight! Okay, sorry for the rant...it is just frustrating. I have to remind myself that body weight fluctuates, and next week will be better.

Also, I was not drinking very much water this past week...I've read that that can slow down a person's metabolisim. And I know that weight fluctuates from day to day a bit, too. Still...I'm already afraid of next week's weigh-in; I'm scared it will be bad again.

Sounds like u are doing GREAT!! Dont worry about gaining weight!! Your weight does fluctuate so dont make too much fuss! Just focus on eating healthier & keep exercising! Too many times I have been disappointed & ended up giving up!! If u keep doing what u are doing, u will have 2 lose weight eventually! Your health should not be based on #s _ & atleast u are not binge ing! & that is something!! keep up the good work!!!

Thank you so much for the encouragement! I appreciate it so much! It's funny, but, I've told myself the same things you told me, yet, when I hear it from someone other then myself, well, it just makes more sense and makes me feel better! Weird, how telling yourself something is somehow so much less effective then hearing it from someone else.

Thank you! You really made my day and helped me to stay encouraged.

I don't weigh myself very often. I don't own a scale. I try to keep the focus on eating healthy. It is so easy to become obsesed with weight. If you are honest with yourself and eat healthy the weight will come off. Your body goes through adjustments.

Thanks for your response. I know where you're coming from, in the sense that I totally agree about focusing on healthy food.

But the part I disagree with is what you said about the weight coming off without effort. I disagree. If it were that easy, nobody would diet. Many healthy foods have a lot of calories; just because they are healthy doesn't mean they are low-cal. Peanut butter, avacadoes...lots of calories; even things like whole grain pasta and bread have a fair amount of calories.

I tried it that way, once - I focused only on eating healthy, without counting calories, a year or two ago, and I didn't lose a single pound. I tried this for, I don't know, 5 months or so, and it just did not work for me.

I think that looseing weight requires effort. It will not happen effortlessly.

But I also believe in healthy eating. So I am doing both - I am restricting my calories to 1,500 a day, but I am also really focusing on those 1,500 calories being from good food - fruits, veggies, whole grains, fish, etc. (I do allow some treats, of course).

I also think that having a scale is a good thing, for me. It is not good to get totally obsessed with numbers, but, I think that weighting myself once a week is fine.

And, actually, the thing is, I've lost the same 35 pounds over and over again - and I always gain it back. So I seem to be able to loose weight, but not keep it off. I always stop weighting myself when my diet is done, but, I've read several studies this last while that show that people who weigh themselves once a week maintain their current weight way, way better then people who don't weigh themselves...

...so, when I fianlly lose this weight AGAIN, I plan to keep it off by continuing to eat healthy/exersice, and also by weighing myself once a week - that way, if my weight starts to creep up, I can catch it when I only need to loose 5 pounds, not 35 or 40 pounds!

Anyway, I am not trying to be rude at all,and I appreciate your thoughts on this. They got me thinking, and that's good. :-) I just don't agree with everything you said, that's all.

You misunderstood me. What I meant was if your eating plan was working and was healthy for you, why do you weigh so often. For me that would create more stress something that triggers me to eat.

Sorry if I misunderstood you!

Why do I weigh myself so often? Well, first of all, I don't think once a week is so often. In fact, many studies/doctors/experts recommend that everyone weighs themselves once a week, so they can catch weight gain before it gets out of hand. Second, although it did create some stress last week, I can deal with stress - I'm capable of dealing with any stress it might throw my way.

Third, it gives me such encouragement to see my efforts with my diet paying off! I feel happy and motivated when I see how my efforts have paid off. Today was actually weigh day, and I've lost almost 10 pounds in 2 months! That was so encouraging, for me.

Fourth, it's important to know if my diet is working or not, and I can tell that if I weigh myself. If I don't weigh myself, it can be difficult to know if my diet is working. If my diet stops working, I know I need to make an adjustment. Many diets hit a plateau, and, when mine does, I want to know when it hits that plateau, so I can adjust accordingly.

Fifth, it is important to be a healthy weight, because it effects every aspect of my life - how I feel, how much energy I have, my health, my stamina, etc. How can I know I have hit a healthy weight, if I don't know how much I weigh? I used the Body Mass Index chart to choose a healthy weight goal, and it is exciting to be moving toward that goal.

Sixth is that I have around 30 or 35 pounds to loose, and I like to see how I'm progressing on that. If I loose weight at a reasonable pace (not too fast, cause that's unhealthy), I'll lose around 5 pounds a month...so it'll take me, what, 6-7 months to loose the weight. For me, I can't spend 6 or 7 months doing a diet, without knowing if it's successfull. For me, it is a waste of time to do a diet, and not know if it's working or not. Weighing myself lets me know if it's working.

PS - This is just what works for me. I'm totally not suggesting that everyone has to weigh themselves. For example, weighing yourself doesn't seem to work for you, so why do it? But, for me, I think it does work. Different strokes for different folks. :-)

It could be water??
This is why I have stopped weighing myself - as I know that if I eat well and exercise it will come off anyway - but weighing myself just fuels the binge diet cycle!!!

I may be worth weighing in once per month.

Throw out the scale. If I were you I wouldn't weigh yourself more than once a month. I find it to be more discouraging than encouraging

Thanks for the thoughts, you guys.

The thing is, this works for me. I appreciate the advice about throwing out the scale, but that doesn't work for me at all. I really need the encouragement of seeing the pounds come off. I can't imagine doing this without that encouragement!

Est3lle, you mentioned that if you eat right and exersice, the weight will come off anyway. True. But if you're sticking to your diet and exercise program, and know it's coming off, why fear the scale??
Just wondering.

One of the problems of weighing myself once a month is that our weight does fluctuate from day to day....water, fluid retention, stress, all kinds of things make our weight change. I think I once read it can change up or down by as much as 4 pounds a day! So, a healthy pace to lose weight is 1 pound or so a week...

...well, what if you weigh yourself one month, and, then, the next month, when you weigh yourself again, you just happen to weigh yourself on a heavier day, and the scale hasn't budged at all in an entire month (not because you gained weight, but because your weight flucuated 4 pounds up that day)?? Holy. Now, that would be discouraging. When I weigh myself once a week, I can guess that it's probably a weight fluctuation problem, and it's not a stressfull, because I can see, the very next week, that it was just a weight fluctuation issue.

In two months, I've lost just under 10 pounds! For me, I really need that weekly encouragment. But, I know it's not for everyone. For others, maybe they only need to weigh once a week, or for some maybe they're better off never weigh

Oh and also here's another good reason to weigh yourselves. What if you spend a month dieting, and don't lose weight, because you weren't checking in to see if your diet is working? Often, people's diets don't work for them, and they need to change something about it - less carbs, more carbs, more cardio, less carido, more strength training...it's endless.

The thing is, diets hit several plateau stages - your body adapts to whatever you're doing, and becomes more efficient. So, you're still dieting and exersicing but not loosing weight. If you weigh yourself once a week, you can catch onto plateaus and adjust. If you only weigh yourself once a month, or not at all, you can easily end up spending a lot of time dieting without realizing it's not working any more.

Persoanlly, if that happened to me, if I spent a lot of time dieting, with no results, I'd be totally discouraged. A weekly weigh in prevents that.

Sounds to me like you're doing great! I know the feeling of knowing you did your very best to do "everything right" and it doesn't show on the scale. It's very frustrating! Just don't let it bother you too much. You KNOW you did all you can do....and the results WILL reflect that in the long term. Just keep doing what you're doing :) The scale can be an important tool, yes, but the way weight can sometimes fluctuate for no apparent reason just sucks lol. Just don't let the numbers define who you are. Have a great weekend!

Awww! Thanks so much for the encouragement! Yes, I totally agree that the scale is a usefull tool...and I also agree about keeping in mind that I know I did my best and weight fluctuates and so I have to remember not to let the numbers get me down! Thanks so much for that reminder. :-)

I have learned to not trust the scale. I go to the gym and weigh before and after. I sometimes weigh less after working out, and sometimes weigh more. I learned to just judge by inches, and the way my clothes fit. Sounds like you are doing great with your diet! That would be a VERY challenging calorie count for me to keep..GREAT JOB!!!