I gained a pound this week.  This is the first time I have had an increase in weight since publishing my journey online, but it is not the first time that this has occurred on my journey.  I see a lot of people get discouraged when this happens and it can happen even during a juice fast (it happened to me).  At the time of this post, I am eating solid food, fruits, vegetables, nuts, salads and soup.  I have 40 pounds to go. So what is going on?

Although weight is the most readily available measure of your progress, it is only one metric of your progress while on your health journey.  However, for many, losing weight is the goal and it is easy to get obsessed with the scale.  This week, I noticed that I gained a pound but I definitely lost inches. So what happened?  Here are some reasons (from my experience) why this could happen.

1. You may have built some muscle.  Muscle is heavier and denser than fat.
2. You are retaining water.  If you don’t drink enough water, you will not lose weight.  Water is needed to help detox the body and to convert fat soluble toxins into water soluble substances that can be sweated out or voided in the urine.
3. You’re digestive tract has slowed down or you are constipated.  Excessive protein, lack of fiber or water all can contribute to this.
4. You ate more calories than you burned that week.

So which one is it?  For me, I believe that this week, it was a combination of issues 3 and 4. We’ll see.