I wrote in 4 days ago looking for answers why I lost 22 lbs. to start my diet in the 1st 3 weeks but then gained 6 lbs. back in the last week? The only thing that changed in my diet was that sometimes, in the am, I am not hungry, so I skip breakfast...and I switched from Diet Sprite to Diet Rite.

I was told in this forum that maybe I wasn't eating enough, so I upped my calories and starting back strong on my excercise program to try and push through the stall.

Well, I got back on the scale this am, and I gained another 4 lbs.? Does anybody have any advice or potential answers for why I lost 22 in 3 weeks and have now gained 10 back in the last 10 days?

HELP??

How frustrating!!!

Loosing 22 pounds so quickly was great, but an imense shock to your body. What it is doing is taking time to recover from the shock and so it has decided to take back some of the water it lost first time round.

From reading this forum I have often seen people who have gained a few pounds on week 3/4 of this WOL, none though have lost as much as you.

You would think that doing exercises would speed up the weight loss. In theory I am sure it does, but I put on weight when I started going to the gym and it took 3 weeks to loose the 3 pounds I gained. Some of that was the water associated with the better muscle structure.

The body is a very delicate thing and I wish I understood it better.

Whatever you are tempted to do, don't stop drinking the water, you need it to keep flushing everything out.

Assumming that you are eating enough calories then I'd say keep the faith and stick with it and await the whoosh fairy. We all want instant results, me included, but as others have said on this site it took years to get to our current weight so what are an extra few weeks in loosing it.

Keep us posted on your progress. You will probably find it helpful to start a journal as you can then take your frustrations out on that and others can pop in to help. or just say hello.

thansk for your support. I apprecaite it. yes, I am getting discouraged, but I am going to keep trying...for now.

Don't give up. I really believe LCing is the way to go. I had problems after 3 months where I gained back 5 of the 9 lbs I had lost. I switched to Protein Power and have lost 1.5 lbs. You just may need to make some changes somewhere. I love Atkins and stuck with it as long as possible. I'm not saying I will never go back to it, but right now PP seems to be getting me headed back in the right direction.

So, stick with it and keep working to find what works for you.

cindi

I am curious.....

How much water are you drinking? You mentioned Diet Rite, but are you drinking 64 oz of water as well?

Your weight gain could be your body refilling itself of water that it purged during the first 3 weeks thinking it was going to get plenty of water only to find out, there is a drought.

I have had the same thing happen -- lost weight then gained some back. I believe that I was retaining water because of processed foods with a lot of salt. Have you added any bacon, sausage, lunch meats, pepperoni, cheese, canned tuna or veggies, etc. or any other food that has a lot of salt? Also, have your measurements changed? Could you be gaining muscle that weighs more than fat but takes up less space? For a long period of time I did not lose any weight, but I did lose a lot of inches because I was gaining muscle.

If none of the above applies, just stick with it -- count the carbs, eat healthy, exercise, and your body will come around.