Well ladies and gentlemen, it appears I have been a bit too hard on myself for the weekends' food and possible water retention issues. At this point, being perfectly on plan except for that one meal that was almost on plan, I have been bouncing between 187.0 and 188.8 for six days.

Yes indeed, I am in an honest to goodness stall, through no dietary fault of my own. My body is setting and resetting its' weight lower than the 190's and it is taking its sweet time in doing it! There is zero reason, in my activity, food adherence, or even basic hormone fluctuations, that I shouldn't be moving down the scale right now, so I'm quite comforted to know that this is just an adjustment phase and I haven't actually done anything wrong.

I wasn't sure if it was diet, hormones, or a factor beyond my control (like non-linear loss) for a few days, because any one or two days in isolation doesn't give the whole picture. But in observing my recorded weights for the past week it is clear now that I'm not going down the scale because my body is adjusting to the loss, not because of cheats or anything like that. I've been vigorous about staying on plan and that makes troubleshooting my scale progress much easier.

The good news in all this is twofold: First, I am losing inches like crazy even though the scale isn't budging. The same jeans that were tight at 188 a week ago now fit at the same weight. My bras are on the tightest hooks, I can count my top ribs through my skin and see collarbones. It is common on the "Pounds and Inches" protocol to yield many inches when the scale seems stick, and I'm experiencing the same thing, myself.

The second piece of good news is that the protocol includes a stall busting tip, called an Apple Day. Today I've decided to do one. Instead of my normal meals composition, I am to eat six apples and nothing else today, to clear out my digestive tract and cut through any retained water. Oftentimes this is all that is needed to break up normal stalls, so I'm giving it a shot. If that doesn't work, the only other solution is more time. I'm good with that!

This is where the weight loss estimates of a half pound a day for women on the protocol come from. I have been losing closer to a pound a day, but with TOM and two stalls, those great loss days average with the slower ones and I come up with good, but not quite as brisk, numbers.

I was at 188.2 this morning. We'll see what an apple day brings. 500 calories of apples and as much water and tea as I want actually sounds refreshing :)