The Scale is Deceiving You

Well...your scale isn't intentionally deceiving you.  You might just be looking for information it can't give you.  Allow me to provide an example. 

One of my clients lost five pounds in the last two months.  Actually, he lost about eight pounds after the first five weeks, and then he gained three pounds in the last three weeks.  However, he was extremely happy with his progress both at five and eight weeks.  Considering that the client's main goal is to lose fat, how could he be happy with me and his progress after seeing the scale's number go up?

Answer: he is still losing fat.  His body composition test showed this to be so.  The test at five weeks showed five pounds of fat loss and three pounds of water loss.  His test at eight weeks showed another pound and a half of fat loss, four pounds of added water, and a half pound of other additional lean tissue (muscle, bone, etc.).  Overall, this man, who wasn't noticeably overfat to start with, has lost six and a half pounds of fat in eight weeks.

If my client only had a scale, he might have gotten down on himself when witnessing the weight increase, but fortunately, he was able to see the whole picture with a body composition exam.  If available to you, I highly suggest going for a test periodically.  Not only will you see where you currently stand, but you can more effectively assess how your nutrition and exercise programs are working by looking at the changes in body fat and lean tissue.