Jakz, it happens. The only reason I know how much I bounce around is that I weigh daily. Interestingly, the fact that you are now bouncing, when before, maybe you didn't, just means that you are getting closer to your goal.

Sounds nuts, right? But it's true. As I got about 15 lbs from goal, the bounces got narrower: up to 3 lbs. But so did the whooshes: They're never more than .8 lbs, anymore. Today, I'm 2.8 above my current low. Three days ago, I was 1.4, and then 2. 6, 2.6. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? I can stay close to that 3 lbs above mark for three weeks, and then start slowly dropping again, and finally get a whoosh.

Look at it this way, though: your gain put you at a total loss of 92.4 lbs, right? That's still something to celebrate!! The scale just measures mass, not how well you are eating. If your body is doing what bodies will do, which is to fill the empty fat cells with water, you can easily gain, because water is denser than fat.

I am a slow loser so am a huge fan of weighing daily and then doing a 7 day average. It has allowed me to see those weeks where I have lost only 1/4 to 1/2 pound - which made me a lot happier than thinking I was losing nothing, let me say!

Sigh, today I am at 207.4. That is a 5.6 gain since my lowest. Sigh.

Have you been measuring? That's a much better indicator of true loss than the scale. If you are staying on plan, that's all you can do. The scale is gonna do what the scale is gonna do.

When this happens I take a look at what I have eaten in the past 48 hours...did I have a "gotcha" where I missed something I would not have deliberately chosen (sugars or carbs missed in ingredients list), did I eat out - I get a "restaurant sodium" bump up usually. Etc.

push your fluids, stay on your plan, and you will see it come down.

Not sure why I chose 185. Graduated high school at 175 & most of college stayed in that 175-185 range. Was at 185 last about 17 years ago & it felt real good. So seemed like a nice goal to write down. I may pass it or hang around it. Just see what happens & how I feel when I get to that destination.

I put my goal weight as 199 lbs. just because I can't remember the last time I was under 200 lbs! It seems like a goal I can reach and even though it's not my "ideal" weight, that number makes me happy!

How did I know my final goal weight? For a long time I didn't. When you've been big your entire life as I had been, it was impossible to know what I was capable of achieving anyway.

My first attempt at a goal weight was just to get below 100kg. Smashed that one easy. Then I aimed for 87kg/191lb by October 2016, which would mean losing 45kg/100lb inside 12 months of lowcarbing. In the end I lost 46kg/102lb in that timeframe. My final goal was to reach 82kg/180lb, which would mean 50kg lost on LCHF, and 180 is also a nice round number in pounds as well.

Those last 4kg took me another 3 months to drop, so at that rate I figure there's not much more to come off at this point. Here is where I plan to stay.

There was a formula in the back of Dr Herring's free Fast-5 book as ONE of the ways of choosing a goal weight. For a 5' woman of average frame 100lbs, then add 5 lbs for ever additional inch. Hence my 120 lbs. I got there over 3 years ago, I even undershot for a few months, but I bounced back a little.

I now have a mental maintenance weight which I define in terms of my behaviour not a particular number on the scale. It goes something like: If you stick to the WOE that enabled you to lose weight,and your waist does not expand, and it's a bit of effort and a bit of hunger sometimes, then you're at the right weight, but if you're mostly hungry and hangry, then what you are aiming for is unsustainable. Plus bearing in mind that if you vary how much you exercise you will increase or decrease your muscle mass.

I just want to get under 200 pounds and when I do I will then re-evaluate my goal weight and go from there.

Picked my goal weight based on the weight I was when I got married (1998). At that time I could run and skate, wore readily available clothes sizes and generally felt great health wise. It's been 20 years so when I reach my goal I can reevaluate then if necessary.

Same here! I want to get to 199 and maintain there for a while, and then I hope to drop another 15 lbs. over time. I take into consideration age, height, and activity level.

For a long time I didn't know. Then, just to have something attainable and sort-of appropriate, I chose half of my starting weight. I'm not sure whether I'll attain even that, but it's a nice reasonable goal for me in my seventies.

Meg