Does anyone else find this?
Yup...I am one of those people who fluctuates 3 to 4 pounds daily and could easily pile on 15lbs ( or lose if I'm on the hyper mode) in a month. While my picture does not display a big girl...I assure you I am at 5'7" and 175lbs and couldn't get into a size 12 in my life depended on it. I am just fortunate to be extremely wide. It takes almost 25lbs for me to drop 1 size. My culprit is my thyroid, fluctuating estrogen levels and a propensity to build and lose muscle at a lightening speed due to other fun hormones. *In* a perfect world, you exercise real hard, watch what you eat and easily obtain (as well as maintain) a perfect figure. So the skinny gals and doctors tell us. LOL In the real world...your body must function properly for this to happen.

Building muscle will def add to the scales ( good ), becoming dehydrated will cause you to lose ( bad) but I don't think I need to tell you that. Ideally though... after intensive exercise you should lose weight and ( simultaneously) build muscle. However, if you don't eat and dehydrate yourself, the body can go into a preservation mode drawing more caloric intake from what you do eat and it may remain for awhile.

I am not a dietician nor a physican but any time there is a dramatic gain or loss of the type you mention in a very minimal amount of time, I would be concerned about a potential health issue. It's possible you may be fighting a losing battle and it is worth checking in to. And yes...I know how difficult it is to go to a doctor and broach the subject because of a perpetual bias and grand assumptions. Let them say what they will but they cannot deny you testing. And sigh...get those results in your hands. GPs are NOT Endocrinologists.

What works for me as far as weight loss (oddly enough) is intensive exercise over a period of a week or two along with increasing my caloric intake and making sure I stay hydrated. My body gets hungry from all that work and I listen to it. At least, that's what is working for me now. Sigh!

OMG weird you should mention this. Both a friend of mine & I have noticed that after Suhaila weekend workshops we weigh a few pounds more than before. It makes no sense... I mean I doubt I've built up THAT much muscle in a weekend doing the things we do in class every week anyway, and I don't usually feel like eating a ton after exerting myself that much and I am drinking a lot but I've got to be sweating out at least as much as I'm putting in.

Honestly, I would suggest that it's simply stress.

You may not feel stressed out, but if the weekend is as intense as you say, and your body isn't used to that intensity every weekend, it's probably producing additional cortisol, which helps the body keep weight on. (Packed away for storage until stressful times are over.)

That's my thought.

This is a good little article that I like to read when the scale moves up even though I'm being good.

primusweb.com/fitnesspart...ht/scale.htm

first off when you do not drink enough water and stay hydrated..your body will try to retain water....if you do not eat enough food, your metabolism slows down..its a double edged sword....

you need to eat enough to maintain your metabolism...but not too much. you need to find out your bmr (basic metabolic rate) and lets say it says you should eat 2000 calories a day to maintain your weight...drop that by 1-200 calories and eat at that calorie deficit for 2 weeks..if you still dont lose weight, drop it another 100. remember this, when you do a calorie deficit like this, it wont happen the next day..your body does not work in 24 hr periods, give it a week or two.

you also need to be eating the RIGHT foods. carbs are your friend, but healthy carbs.....sugar is great for you if your eating ehalthy non processed sugar like a banana, some raspberries.....not cookies.

a common myth is that cardio makes you lose weight..any exercise in general helps BUT...you will burn fat, boost your metabolism and drop lbs FASTER with weight /resistance training rather than cardio and dance is cardio so if you really want to drop lbs, add that in to your workout.

look up BMR calculator to find out what your daily calories should be to maintain...and drop it. and make a profile on fitday.com and log your food.....most ppl eat more calories than they realize.

now with the bmr and calorie deficit you do need to learn your own body...for me with my bmr it said if i ate 2300 calories a day i would lose weight...that didnt work fo rme...eventually i found out that right now for my size if i eat 1900 calories a day i am energized, healthy an dlosing 1-2lbs a week consistantly.

their are 3 basic body types...endo, ecto and mesomorph......over weight ppl are generally endo what this means is that for your body type, your body almost finds it easier to be overweight..thats my body type as well. ecto's cant get fat if they wanted too lol. lucky asses....meso's are lucky, they build muscle fast and stay lean.........so for women like us prone to being overweight, its a matter of eating healthy, steady exercise, staying hydrated and being consistent.

i am by no means saying dont eat cookies or cake......im saying if you wnt to eat a cookie, fine....but only eat one or two and dont do it every day. moderation is key to a healthier lifestyle.

whole grains instead of white over processed junk like white bread etc etc....

plenty of veggies especially ones with fiber like broccoli

healthy fats like almonds, peanut butter, olive oil instead of butter

balanced meals that have a good protein, good carbs, veggies., good fat....


ultimately DIET trumps exercise in weight loss...you can workout all you want, if you eat like crap you will be overweight.....if you never exercise but eat really healthy, you can be thin...your diet is the most important.

and never do crasah diets...they last for a few weeks. its about a healthy lifestyle change and learning to keep the bad foods in moderation and liberate the healthy ones.

One of the best things I did for myself was throw my scale away. Really, truly.

It may acutally be just muscle gain....Sometimes when you think muscle gain you think arms or stomach but in an intensive bellydance workout you are working your whole body and if your whole body is adding on muscle then it would sound about right and it would not be super noticeable either. I never check a scale for weight loss as it might be actual muscle as muscle weighs more than fat and not fat.I use a fashion design,measuring meter.

If the dance was that intensive then your body may have tried to hold on to weight but it would have been no way it would have been able to keep it as it would have had to been used just to keep you going.

You should try gatorade for dehydration in order to be hydrated you need a correct amount of sugar and salt integrated back into your body, water will not cut it.