I hate this

Dieting sucks. What a roller-coaster. I'm still down overall (3 pounds total lost since I started 12 days ago) but the scale shows I've gained weight both yesterday and today! I'm eating nothing but lean meat, vegetables, eggs and cheese - how is that possible? This is so frustrating. I gain weight just fine on my own - I don't need the South Beach Diet to help me do that.

Over the past 12 days, I have seen a pattern in the weight loss - I'll lose 2 or 3 days in a row and then have a no change day (or actually gain 1/2-1 pound one day). I've never seen 2 gain days in a row, though. I don't know what is going on. With just 4 days left in phase 1, I'm definitely not going to lose between 8-13 pounds during it like the diet promises, though.

I haven't cheated once (absoluntely no desire to) so I know it's not that. I've spent a few hundred dollars since I started on vegetables, lean meats, fish, safe snack foods, special oils to cook with, butter with no trans fat, water bottles... I'm feeling terribly discouraged.

I did a little research online and found a few things that might be causing this to happen. Not drinking enough water was mentioned most frequently. I'm drinking 60-80 ounces/day, though, and don't think that's the problem. An underactive thyroid could be the problem (no idea if that might be an issue for me). A few websites mentioned sodium intake (causing water retention) and not getting enough calories on a diet like this being the cause for weight gain or a stall in weight loss. I have not been keeping track of calories (one of the nice things, I thought, about the SBD) and can't imagine that that's the problem. Who knows, though. Maybe I'll try to find a caloric content chart online... Hate this!