a few days ago i weighed my self at 181 when i was at the gym and have been at the weight for a few days. Than a decided to cheat just a little and had some chinese take out and ate about a cup of rice and some chicken stuff. The next day when i weighed myself i was at 185 and figured it was just water weight but that was like 3 days ago and im still at 185. I drink a gallon of water a day and i've been eating clean since. I figure i would have lost the water wieght by now. What gives?

Big deal? Weight fluctuates bro, don't worry about 4 pounds. Could be the scale in the gym vs. the scale at home, could be time of day, could be you gained more muscle, could be a ton of things. Bottom line: the scale is often times not a very good way to judge progress and success.

I weigh myself every two weeks at most, just to avoid obsessing over these tiny fluctuations. Day-to-day and even week-to-week changes can be hard to interpret correctly, but twice a month lets me get a good feel on the direction I'm heading in. If you've done the math regarding your diet and calorie requirements and you stick to the plan, you *will* lose fat despite what the scale may tell you on any given day.

For reference, to gain four pounds of fat you would have to consume more than 14,000 extra calories that were not used by your body and turned directly into stored energy. This is the equivalent of drinking 100 cans of Coca-Cola and having them perfectly converted into flab. I'm certain that your scale gain isn't much fat if any at all :)