[starlight66]

Originally Posted by PhotoChick

It takes 3,500 calories OVER AND ABOVE YOUR MAINTENANCE CALORIES to gain ONE SINGLE POUND.

At 130 and 5'4 (my height and my goal weight, so I'm very familiar with this figure), you need 1,700 cals to maintain, if you do no exercise. That means to gain one pound in one day, you have to eat 5,200 calories a day (your maintenance 1,700, plus another 3,500 to gain the weight).

To gain 10 lbs in 7 days, you'd have to eat 46,900 calories over 7 days: 1,700 per day maintenance plus 5,000 per day to gain the weight.

That's 6,700 calories a day.

Again, that's 3.5 family size bags of Lay's potato chips PER DAY.
That's 6 containers of Ben & Jerry's ice cream PER DAY.
That's 13 McDonald's Quarter Pounders with cheese PER DAY.
That's 2 pints of olive oil PER DAY.
For 7 days.

I know you WANT to think that you gained all this weight because it will let you beat yourself up. You said it yourself: "I have been so negative, so depressed" ... and this is a very typical way to express depression .. the idea that you're a total failure ... a complete f'up and that you MUST have done this horrible, horrible thing.

But you know what ... what you did wasn't that horrible. You binged. But you certainly didn't binge 10 lbs worth in 7 days so you can't be the negative miserable failure you think you are.

The FACTS are that you would have to go on a CRAZY crazy crazy binge to be able to gain 10 lbs of pure fat in 7 days. I don't doubt there are people who have binged that way. But somehow I just can't believe that you really ate so much food that you gained 10 lbs. I just can't.

Really. Stop beating up on yourself and look at the numbers. Really look at them and accept that you are NOT the failure you think you are. You're just not.

.

lol WOW you are very informative! lol You know your stuff!! Thanks very much you made me feel a lot better

[onesullengurl]

Originally Posted by starlight66

Thanks for everyones support. In response to one person, people always say it i physically impossible but in reality it isn't..especially if you have a bad metabolism like me. Like I said, people would never believe you could gain 80 pounds in 4 months but I did. While I am sure some of this weight is in fact water weight I know a lot of it isn't.

I've had this same problem with the same responses from my mom and doctor I still cannot figure outmyself how it was even possible .. When I went into the hospital in labor with my son who is now 2! I was around 140lbs and I was wearing a size 8-10... I was in the hospital a total of 4 days in which time 3 of those days I did not keep ANY food in me my husband and I were Extremely sick .. so sick they kept us there with the baby we could not eat ANYThING could not drink anything not even water or it was coming out visciously from one end or the other ...the 4th day I get home I was sick for a total of about 2 more days and ontop of it was sore from birth so I was on my butt perma for another 2 days totalling 6 days in a hospital bed or on my couch the 6th day when for the first time I decided I could wear a REAL pad and REAL undies and clothes I decided to get dressed and none of my clothes would even go up past my thighs I weighed myself to find that I was 175lbs I mean I knew I felt bigger when leaving the hospital but I was shocked to find out just how much ! the following day my husband took me to walmart to buy a few pairs of pants and they were size 18!!!!!!!!!!! I was confused as to how I could possibly gain 35lbs in less than a week especially when in that time I didnt eat anything and keep it down other than maybe a few sips of water and a few crackers??? .... I am sure there was some water weight involved obviously but not THAT MUCH!..... and despite the water release the following week were I peed for 3 days straight and my ankles de-swelled I still continued to weigh 170 for months .... I personally am still stumped as to how you can walk into a hospital .. and walk out 4 days later 8 sizes bigger but it happened .. like I was just laying in the bed growing ..... it DID happen and I know it wasnt just Water .... maybe its hormones or maybe a imbalance somewhere of some sort ... but there has to be another explanation for it other than water weight ... I know where you are coming from !

[skinnybeach]

i once gained 11 lbs over a holiday just by eating foods that were not good for my body. I came home, got back on plan and lost it all in less than 2 weeks!! Just go back to your plan and it will regulate itself. I have a friend that went on vacation recently and had the same thing happen to her. She's been home for almost a week now and is 1.5 lbs below where she was before she left!! Don't worry and don't do it again...live and learn.

[horsey]

When I binge I bloat and swell up, it can be just a few days of pigging out but I'll look 10 lbs heavier and my clothes wont' fit. If you go back to clean eating and cut the sodium too you should see a huge difference.

I get depressed too when I quit making progress and especially if I gain by falling off the diet wagon. I've done this a few times. I think it's key to be realistic about this, set a "real" goal weight maybe not as ideal as you might like, then watch the scale and get back to work when you go 5 lbs over that weight.

A book I'm reading now says 60% of people in one study who dieted gained and lost several times before they lost for life. Perhaps by regaining some weight... that's how we REALLY learn and decide for ourselves how important this really is for us. is it important enough to REALLY stick with it for life? Sure we can make "mistakes" such as binging, going to a party, etc but the key is getting back on track. A week "off" isn't that bad really, you'll find you'll drop the gain in no time, it's when you take serious time off like I did, for months that you see the waste - it doesn't take long to lose the muscle one works so hard for.

Don't beat up on yourself, failure is the way to success, we all need a bit of short term failure to keep us moving forward it seems.