hopeful1953's Journal, 15 September 2016

Water adds weight. Did you drink a lot of water? If you followed your regimen, it could be muscle.  

No muscle yet; just started the walking today, and it could be the water. Had tons of it yesterday. It's still discourging. Tomorrow is another day......... 

Weighing daily will drive us crazy because water and sodium levels impact the result. GOOGLE an article titled "Why the Scale Lies" to learn more 

Expect to fluctuate like crazy! especially if you are in your first month of a weight loss journey. Fluctuating 1-2 lbs both ways, is normal. Eventually that will stop. Also, if you are putting in your work, dont look at the scale so often... Unless you use it as a way to stay on point.. If you could try to use it more as a goal that would help! Think, I am going to bust butt this week and ill weigh myself at the end of next week! Otherwise, day to day can become obsessive and depressing as it will make the journey seem longer! Thats my two cents =p  

I can "gain" 5 lbs in a day. I couldn't take it anymore so I stopped weighing every day b/c the water weight gain was killing me mentally. I agree with Mindy - get your measurements b/c if you are working out and gaining muscle you can go up on the scale but your body composition will change. Hang in there Hopeful! 

I know I am not in your group, but if I may jump in here...You may have heard of The Rice Diet from some years back, it was somewhat popular diet for a while espoused by Duke University for kidney patients, minimal salt sugar fat and protein. One day each week is a "cleanse" day where you eat 2 pieces of fruit with each meal, and for breakfast you have a little plain oatmeal, lunch is a little less than a cup of plain shredded wheat, and dinner is 3/4 of a cup of plain brown rice. Overall this diet is criticized for not having enough protein so you lose muscle while you are on it which is not great. BUT, I found that my scale weighs were always very consistent on the morning after the cleanse day. The cleanse was always good at cleaning out my digestive system, and getting rid of salt which can make you retain water which bumps up the number on the scale. Also I found I could sometimes get rid of up to 2 pounds if I did a 2 mile run before getting on the scale that morning, possibly due to getting rid of glycogen stored in my leg muscles. I also switched to a shipping scale vs. a bathroom scale. The shipping scale gives you "real-time" weight, the bathroom scale has a little bit of persistence in it, such that if you weigh yourself and then, say, "eliminate" some liquids, and you get back on the scale, the bathroom scale will show you the same weight as before the elimination, but the shipping scale is sensitive enough to show you the actual change, even if it was only 6 or 8 oz.  

Wow.....you guys are awesome! I will not get discouraged. A shipping scale huh? hhmmm going to look for one.  

You should weight yourself daily, and not pay attention to the daily numbers. They fluctuate What you should pay attention to is weekly or moving 7 day averages. Taking a long time in between measures can present an even more inaccurate picture. This puts even more emphasis on single measures, which is the exact opposite of what you should be doing. Weight daily, and watch the trend line, not the individual points.