I fell off the rails and while I know some of the weight is water weight, it’s still discouraging. Tips to drop those pounds again? It’s only been a couple weeks but the increase is substantial. Anyone else see large fluctuations if they aren’t “perfect” with diet?

TIP OF THE DAY: Dumbbell side lateral raise- IMO one of the best things you can do to improve your fitness and look are doing dumbbell side laterals. If you have narrow shoulders and wide hips (pear shape), working on "capping" your deltoids will give you more of an hour glass shape. And having stronger shoulders takes a lot of load on your neck area. It's a tough exercise to do when done correctly, but the results are great. Personally, I teach my clients to do it with a slight bend in the elbow and what I call "the broken wrist" technique. This way more of the emphasis is put on the deltoid and not the forearm and elbow joint. Lots of people do it with their arms straight out, with wrists straight and as you go heavier in resistance, this puts a lot of strain on the elbow and then people get tendinitis from golfer's or tennis elbow. Here's an example of how to do it the way I describe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCMF8w7rs70

No you won't look like her doing this exercise. A common misconception is lifting weights can make a female look manly. Well it's the DEGREE of training that matters and women that look like athletes have been training for a long time and work specifically to get into that shape. Doing dumbbell side laterals correctly with moderate resistance WILL NOT increase deltoid size immensely unless you're doing a progressive overload program.
Do them. Your shoulders matter and one of the biggest issues most people deal with as they age are shoulder issues. And it usually stems from muscle weakness causing pain over time.

Missed my goal for round 2 and now I’m extra determined to get it for round 3... but it’ll be hard. Dusted off MyFitnessPal and started logging food. Anyone else have new or enhanced strategies for this round? If so, what are they?

I just got home from 10 day camping trip. I forgot I was even watching my weight so that is very sad!! I’m so nervous to weigh myself tomorrow.

TIP OF THE DAY: What's my target weight? - I get asked this all the time. The usual go-to for this is the BMI index for your gender and if you're of average build. But for some like me who carry more muscle, the BMI wouldn't work (it states I'm obese). So if people want to be much more specific and be closer in accuracy, here's the method I use on my clients.
Now first you have to know your lean body mass. With clients, I can figure that out cause I have the tools at work, but at home, the easiest way is to figure out your body fat percentage and then subtract that from your overall weight to find out what your lean body mass is. Here's a site to find out your body fat percentage although it could be 1%-2% off inaccuracy.

http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

Once you know your body fat percentage, multiply it with your total body weight to get how many pounds of body fat you carry.

IE: 200lbs total weight x 30% body fat (.30)= 60lbs fat weight

Now subtract your body fat pounds to get your lean body mass.

IE: 200lbs total weight - 60lbs fat weight = 140lbs lean mass

So now that you have all that, you just have to decide what body fat percentage you'd like to be at. Here's another link to help you decide.

https://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/

Once you decide on body fat percentage, you now use this formula to find the target weight: Lean mass weight divided by 1 minus body fat percentage desired.

IE: Lean mass-140lbs. Desired body fat %- 20% or .20
1 minus body fat desired (1 minus .20 = .80)

140lbs divided by .80= 175lbs target weight.

So your target 175lbs to be at a body fat percentage of 20%

This works for ANY BODY TYPE and isn't dependent on height, musculature, etc.

Some people get stuck on the math, but take your time an follow it step by step and you'll get the target weight you want.