Gaining a little. What’s going on?
 

I’ve been so good for 3 months. Lost about 14 pounds. Eating almost no carbs really. But the last couple of days I’ve gained 2 pounds. I know that doesn’t sound like much but For the week before I had been steadily losing a few ounces every day. Not under any stress. I did start a food diary a few days ago to track what I ate but also if I was hungry and when. Any suggestions?

Keep doing what you're doing. Wait, then wait some more. Maybe after some logging in your food diary something will pop out. I have observer that after the initial phases of water loss and high enthusiasm - the ones that submit to longer wait times get good results. Be patient. Be ok with yourself as you are now - that helps - dreaming on the thinner you runs out of gas after a while :)

You'll get there, good luck!

There are many things that determine whether our weight goes up or down, not just the food we consume. Weight loss is not necessarily linear on a day to day basis. What is important is the trend over time not the daily fluctuations. This is why some people don't weigh every day. The scale is just not a reliable daily indicator of progress. So keep doing what you are doing and don't pay so much attention to the scale. Maybe even skip weighing yourself for a couple days or weeks even. Just follow your plan.

This happens a lot! Here's thread about how the scale can lie:

https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=365499

and I just went by pants, never weighed myself at all.

6. Don’t Trust the Bathroom Scale With Your Mental Health

We humans are about 2/3 water. Each of us contains about 40 liters (or quarts) of the stuff, and each liter weighs a bit over 2 pounds. Our bodies effectively regulate fluid balance by adjusting urine output and sense of thirst, but this is done within a 2-liter range. Within this range, your body doesn’t really care if it is up to a liter above or below its ideal fluid level.

What this means is that we all live inside a 4-pound-wide grey zone, so that from day to day we fluctuate up or down (i.e., plus or minus) 2 pounds. This happens more or less at random, so with any one weight reading you don’t know where your body is within that fluid range. Your weight can be the same for 3 days in a row, and the next morning you wake up and the scale says you’ve ‘gained’ 3 pounds for no apparent reason. For people who weigh themselves frequently, this can be maddening.

There are two solutions to this problem. One, just don’t weigh yourself. Or two, defeat this variability by calculating average weights. You can weigh yourself every day, and then on one day per week, calculate your average for that week (i.e., the average or mean of 7 values). If you are really into math, you can weigh yourself every day and then each day calculate a new mean over the last 7 days. Each day you do this, you drop the oldest value and add the newest one to the calculation. And of course, there’s an iPhone ‘App’ that will do this for you.

From: Phinney, Stephen; Volek, Jeff (2011-07-08). The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living: An Expert Guide to Making the Life-Saving Benefits of Carbohydrate Restriction Sustainable and Enjoyable (pp. 241-242). Beyond Obesity LLC. Kindle Edition.

My scale was soooo naughty it changed from zero'd out to starting at 2 pounds... changed all by it self. Bugger!!! lol Yes, scales lie, lol Perhaps monitor using a tape measure. I used to measure my lower thigh, right at a mole, same place every time. Now it's how my pants fit when I FIRST put them on. :lol:

Keep going with that food journal.... our bodies adapt to ketosis over time and what started as an initial major shedding of pounds due to water loss, and some fat loss, and ketone loss, the ketones become part of our energy usage when the body is keto adapted.

Initially we pee out the ketones, then we are able to use them. Less fat is mobilized to need our energy needs. Perhaps this is part of the slow down.....

I know. I should be more patient. I was just being so good and even trying intermittent fasting. Not sure what happened except I have not had any "output" in several days. That could be part of the problem. Thanks.

I am one who obsesses over my weight. If I lose an ounce or two I am good. If I stay the same I am okay. But if I go up, boy that bugs me.

Thank you. I need to read that thread.

That makes a lot of sense. I am going to look for an app to give me this information. Maybe that will help. Thank you so much.

I'm hoping the journal will help me see a pattern. Thanks.

"Free" is the only kind of app I buy...I used Happy Scale (awful name) but there are others.

That's why it might be a good idea to just get rid of your scale even though I know you are unlikely to take my advice, but you can change the way you think about things. With no scale there is nothing to obsess about other than what food you are putting in your mouth. You can always track your measurements which can show progress even when a scale seems to indicate no progress. A number of years back I had gained some weight and it was depressing me and I found myself obsessing over the number on the scale. I decided to just toss my scale (it was an old one) and stick to the plan. Two years later I had a doctor's appointment. I stepped on her scale, my first weigh in since I had ditched my scale, and I was down 30 pounds. Trust the process not the scale.

Got the Happy Scale app loaded and put in my weights since 4/1. It helped a little to see a trend. I'm .4 from reaching my first goal. I like that it breaks down my "journey" into 10 goals. Thanks for the headsup.

You are right, lol. I probably won’t ditch the scale. But I’m gonna try to not obsess.