Do you switch between loss on the scale and smaller measurements?

I'm too lazy to search the forums to see if any one else has talked about this, but I'm wondering if anyone else finds themselves losing pounds on the scale for 1-3 weeks, then seeing no change on the scale but noticing slight changes in measurements (ie: -.5" cumulative for my entire body), and so on.  I think that my body is just catching up with itself after losing a few pounds, but it starts to get discouraging when I see the name number week after week.  Is my body freakish like that? Or does this happen to other people too?  How do you find yourself getting past those weeks of no scale change???

That was my experience...  I would lose a pound or two for a few weeks but the next I'd lose nothing but my trousers would suddenly go all loose on me.  The following week the weight would drop again.   I've heard since (don't know if it's true but let's give it a whirl) that fat cells temporarily fill with fluid once they are empty of fat.  So you weigh the same but you measure up differently.  And then the fluid goes so the weight catches up...  What do you think?  Credible?.. Hmm..

How do you stay motivated?  Look backwards.  Take your starting weight, your current weight and divide the difference by the number of weeks to get your average loss.  That's a true picture of your progress.  

Try not to tie your sense of achievement up too much in the week-to-week number on the scales.  When you get your target weight the scales will not be dropping any more.  More likely the number will go up and down within a set of parameters and if you get discouraged because they happen to be up rather than down, it's an easy way to a miserable existence.

Yep! This is exactly what has been happening to me since April 2008. The first couple of times I became really discouraged when the scale didn't budge (or worse yet, increased several pounds) for up to a month! And this despite the fact that I had increased my workouts and stayed on track with the food intake as well!

After the first time this happened I decided to measure myself to see if I had made any progress: I was down 14.5 inches! The second time this happened (about five months later) I measured again and had lost an additional 10.25 inches!

So try not to become too discouraged if the scale doesn't move every week (I still get upset, even if I have lost several more inches) and check your measurements, instead of the scale, to see what other progressions you may be making!

To get through the week/weeks that the scale doesn't budge I continually have to remind myself (as in remind myself with every meal) that I'm working toward a huge goal and will get there, regardless of whether or not I lose pounds every single week.

I see the same thing.  I find inch-loss even more motivating than pounds-loss, though, so it really doesn't bother me.  (I'd rather weigh more and fit into smaller clothes than weigh less and have to wear bigger clothes.)