Lose 2, Gain 3—What's Going On Here?

I recently had a great week and here’s why: For seven days in a row, I avoided all alcoholic beverages, ate healthy without cheating, exercised, slept 8 hours per night, drank liters of water, and worked really hard at the office. Overall, I felt so productive and proud! But things got even better when I weighed myself and saw that I had lost two pounds from the prior week. I went to work with a pep in my step and felt amazing! Yet, when I weighed myself again the next day, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had gained 3 pounds over night! I was mortified! How could this be?!

To get to the bottom of this, I sent my nutritionist, Keri Gans, an email hoping she’d have some answers. Keri told me it’s completely normal for a person’s weight to fluctuate day to day, which is why she recommends getting on the scale no more than once a week. Her explanation gave me some reassurance and convinced me to stay focused on my diet and nutrition and ignore the numbers. After all, despite what the scale may reflect from day to day, the bottom line is this: My clothes fit well and I have more energy and confidence than I did before starting this journey. Most importantly, I can’t lose sight of the fact that I’m on my way to building my best body yet!

Do you have questions about diet and weight loss you wish you could talk to a nutritionist about? Now you can! Yasmin’s nutritionist Keri Gans will be answering your questions via twitter on Wednesday, February 1st at 12pm EST. We have lots of questions for her and we’re sure you do to! Follow us at @Shape_Magazine and Keri at @kerigans to get in the conversation. And if you don’t have twitter, head over to twitter.com and enter hashtag #powerofsnacking to follow along.

Our 2012 Weight Loss Diary writer, Yasmin, is a 32-year-old web content producer who is looking to get healthy and love her body! Follow along on her year-long weight loss journey!

Who’s helping Yasmin? Tiara Coaching Life coach Alison Miller, Ph.D, nutritionist Keri Gans, R.D, and Equinox personal trainer http://www.equinox.com/ " target="_blank"> Stephanie Pipia.