Thus far, over the course of a year and a half, I've lost 120 lbs, the RIGHT way, through diet and exercise. I'm in the gym 5 days per week, watching what I eat, etc. I hit a BAD plateau a few months back, and didn't lose and ounce for months, despite continuing to eat right, etc.

I'm ready to scream right now. We got a scale last week, and now I'm obsessed with my weight. The first day I got on it, I discovered I weighed 6 lbs more than I thought I did. Then, I got on it 2 days later to discover I had lost 2 lbs.

Now, despite my burning no less than 1200 cals this weekend, and still managing to keep my caloric intake on sat and sun right at 2000 (not counting calories burned) per day, the scale now says I've GAINED 2 lbs in 2 days.

I've already stubbed my toe once from kicking the scale and cursing at it.

What I do is weigh myself right when I wake up. I fluctuate about 3 pounds during the day at any given time. So I would not feel to bad really.

I think it may be your scale. I bought a scale and I got on it, then I immediately got off and got back on, I did this about 4 or 5 times in a row and each time it had a difference of between 3 and 6 pounds! Plus, if I use it in the kitchen it will say one thing but if I use it in the living room I find that I weigh about 5 pounds more. The scale I bought wasn't very expensive and obviously not a very good model. Also, you can fluctuate day to day with water retention and alot of other things.

As I'm sure someone else will point out later (and to go off of what Nate just posted) your weight fluctuates all the time. It's best to weigh yourself at the same time every day and to watch what your weight does over a week to see the trend (up, down, same) and over the month.

When you gain/lose lots of weight over a period of a couple of days (or even a single day) it's water weight, not fat/muscle. If you have a high sodium diet one day, you'll retain a lot of water, which will cause your weight to appear higher.

Anyway, don't freak out and don't focus on the scales (which is advice I need to take and I'm learning too). It's a really good idea to take measurements (waist, hip, thigh, calf, arm, chest) every few weeks and note the changes. If you are gaining muscle while you are losing fat you may not see the scale budge but your clothes will probably feel loser and the measurements would show the changes.

Though it's not really a problem, weighing yourself in the morning won't show your true weight. Your weight does vary during the day yes, but when you wake up you're at your most dehydrated state. So you will always weight less. If your scale measures body fat, it'll measure a higher BF% as well (all to do with the % water in your body).

Best time to weigh yourself is before dinner, IMO

Really? Why? Wouldn't that be a false reading since you will weigh more based on the food you've eaten during the day?

As long as it's been round 2-3hrs since you last ate, your body has had the time to process all the food. Most people tend to do all their exercising at some point in the day before dinner, so you're measuing your body weight and any other stats at your body's healthiest state.

There's no one correct time to weigh yourself, the most important thing is consistency in measuring, but I find that before dinner is as good as it gets

Incorrect. The best time to weigh yourself is in the morning. By the time you wake up, your body has had ample time to digest all the liquids and foods you ingested the day before. Therefore, with nothing in your stomach you will get the best gauge of your body's actual, real weight.

If you weigh yourself later in the day, then your weight readings will undoubtedly be thrown off by whatever you've consumed or drank (unless of course you consume the same amount of the same types of foods at the same time every day).

Oh, and it usually takes your body a good deal longer than 2-3 hours to digest the food you've consumed. A couple pieces of toast or something on the lighter side could run its course within that time frame, but definitely not something heavier.

Go to PhysicsDiet.com and start recording your weight on a daily basis. Get on the scale at the same time every day, but just once) and record the weight. Then put the scale away till the next day. Because weight is inherently "noisy", what really matters is the trend line (are you losing or are you gaining?). By recording your weight on a daily basis and focusing on the trend line and not getting caught up in the normal fluctuations, you'll get a much more accurate idea of what your weight really is, and more importantly, if you're losing or gaining.

For more information about how this works, check this out.

Remember - it's just a data point! Get on, record, get off and GO AWAY. You have better things to do with your life than hop on and off a scale 10 times in the morning.

Hi Michelle,

Now that you've lost so much weight, perhaps weight isn't the ideal measure any more. Maybe now you're starting to go into a phase where you're putting on muscle, where weight gain is a good thing. You may well be right on track to your goal. There are alot of variables that you haven't told us about that would adequately explain the fluctuations.

If weight loss is your only goal, maybe it's now time to reassess those goals. If you don't mind me asking, what is your BMI? Do you have strength/ muscle that would have to be accomdated in this figure?

At this point, you may be thinking that now is the time to do something drastic to get your weight down. STOP! Be informed. BMI is good for alot of people (but does not take into account bone density or muscle mass - keep that in mind), but it is only a starting point. How do your clothes fit? Have you done a pich test? Have you increased the weights that you are lifting (more weight lifted, generally means more muscle, generally means more weight). There are so many variables that may well add up to you being right on track. Bottom line is, how do you look right now? If you know some people who you can trust to give you an honest opinion, put yourself out there and ask them. Don't ask people who are just going to be mean.

120 pounds is awesome! You rock! Go to the gym and stack up 120 pounds and see what that looks like. That's how far you have come. Be good to yourself and recognise this monumental achievement. There are countless numbers of people who need to lose that much weight and give up before they've begun. You didn't. You perservered when you felt like tossing it in. You followed your plan when others would have said "Too hard." Give yourself a moment to pat yourself on the back.

If you look at where you are now, you may well say that it's time to set new goals. Great! Whatever you do, don't be discouraged. You've come too far for that.

Mikey

It could also be the location of your scales. Are you weighing yourself on carpet/wood/tiled floor?

Make sure your scales are in the same position each time you step on them. Though the advice given above is all good, the key is consistency.

Weigh yourself the same time everytime and make sure the scales are in the same position. Then only use these scale readings to assess your weight.

Also DON'T OBSSESS ABOUT YOUR WEIGHT!! You have lost over 120lbs! that in itself is a feat to be proud of. Are you weight training? Remember muscle weighs more than fat.

If your clothes are fitting better, ignore the scales. How you feel should mean more to you than what the scales read, though of course that is always easier said than done.

I've focused on the scales in the past, but it was when i used my clothes as an indicator I felt better.

Hope this helps.

p.s don't weigh yourself more than once a week. Doing it every day is only going to add to the frustration!

Weighing yourself every day at the same time is not bad, unless you cannot deal with daily variances that are not the result of fat loss. Noise in weight readings is rather high on a daily and even weekly basis just due to fluctuations in water weight and remaining food mass. Taking lots of measurements will reduce the noise (through the application of statistical functions) by more than increasing the measurement time to a week. FWIW, I am losing between 2 and 2.5 pounds a week, but my daily weight (every morning) can fluctuate by as much as 4 pounds, so I would have to start weighing myself every 3 or 4 weeks to get the magnitude of the change to be large compared to the the potential magnitude of variation. More readings allow for the noise to cancel itself out, since noise is random fluctuations around the true value. The more measurements, the smaller effect noise has on calculating the true measurement.

Oh, did I mention I like statistics?

V

First, congratulations on your progress thus far: 120 lbs gone! Wow! That is something to be proud of.

When we start working out, our bodies respond relatively quickly. That is, exercise is a stress that we place on our bodies and if you're not typically used to that stress, your body needs to adapt to it. We adapt by usually decreasing body fat percentage and increasing lean mass percentage.

Based of the information you've given in this message board, it appears as though you've adapted, congratulations! Believe it or not, this is a good thing. Although I don't know your training history, and therefore am unsure if you've done this, I believe you could benefit from having a different exercise protocol. The human body is designed to move in varying degrees of motion with great range of motion, why work out the same way all the time when you're built to do more. What's really cool is that as you continue to exercise on a regular basis, the need for a different protocol occurs more frequently (you're adapting at a faster rate than before). Perhaps you've hit another plateau and didn't know you did?

Although this website has us monitoring our body weight for progress, I do not believe that this is an accurate way to assess training progress. BMI has also been brought up, but that's just a weight to height ratio, that's it. BMI doesn't doesn't take into account the difference between lean body mass (muscle, bones, blood, organs, etc) and body fat mass. This information could be very misleading for many people.

I know this may sound unorthodox, but I recommend putting your scale in the closet and giving BF% checks a try. Checking your body fat percentage monthly is a much more accurate way to assess your progress if your training goal is to lose body fat. Fluctuations on the scale could be from anything from slight dehydration to food digestion to bowel movements (i know it sounds gross).

Sorry this was long winded, my degree is in physiology/kinesiology and I was a PT...this is kind of my element.

there's a lot of good information here about weighing yourself, but if your weight hasn't changed for 3 months, then it's probably not a problem with your scale.

if you've lost 120lbs so far, then you know what it takes to get past a plateau. you may just need to take a good rest and let your body recuperate from the stress of your routine. you might want to take a week off every 8-10 weeks. you can focus on your nutrition during your week off from exercising.

burning a lot of calories isn't necessarily as important as improving your health and raising your metabolism. if you do primarily aerobics, now might be a good time to add some weight/strength training to your routines. these exercises raise your metabolism for hours after your workout. if you haven't already broken your diet into 5-6 small meals a day, that should also help. and increase your protein, that's always good.

sorry if any of this info is off base in relation to your situation. hopefully someone will come along and post exactly what you're looking for.

congratulations on your progress so far!!!

welcome! it'll be interesting to get your opinion on a lot of topics in this community.

These are all fantastic replies! Thank you all very much for your encouragement and much-needed advice!

My training regimen is pretty much this....40 minutes of cardio on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and 15-20 minute cardio warm-up, and circuit training on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I try to eat 1600 calories or less per day. I've also been swimming on weekends.

My clothes are definitely falling off, and I'm sure I'm building muscle. I can see it. At this point, I don't pay attention to my BMI, because it doesn't take into account muscle mass. I'm shrinking, it's just discouraging to not see that reflected in weight.

Hey Michelle,
WOW 120lbs...shake it girl! I know your frustrations with the scale--with anorexic tendencies throughout life I had to get rid of mine for a few years. I just wanted to tip you off to a program that I am usuing called Genetix Program. I posted an explanation of it under "Genetix Program Works!"...so check it out and write me with any questions. It might be that you just need some fine tuning on your existing program and Genetix may be just what you need. It is working for me and I love it!

Best Wishes,
Amber