Ladies (and gentlemen), I am back after about a week-10 days of absence from the blogs cause my life temporarily went crazy. But I've been meaning to post and get back on here for the incredible support and to get back on track.
Things kind of exploded on me in the past week and a half - everything from complete craziness and stress at work to a dear friend being diagnosed with the dreaded cancer. I kind of quit my daily weigh-ins for a while, as well as my gym visits. But most importantly my religious water consumption kind of went out the window and I had some bad eating patterns. I didn't eat that much junk, I probably just ate a MUCH bigger amount of "healthy" food and at the wrong times in the day. I thought if I could just "maintain" my weight loss while things settled down a little bit in this explosive week, then I would just continue from there when things settle.
I was completely unprepared when I stepped on the scale yesterday. 131lbs. HOW COULD I GAIN 8LBS IN 10 days??!??!?!??!??!?! When I thought I was MAINTAINING?!??!?!
This morning, the scale said 130.5
I know somewhere in there, there's probably some water retention from a period and whatever else....
but still, I don't understand this... and feel depressed and frustrated and all my fears are erupting like volcanos everywhere - I keep thinking, this body of mine REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY wants to hold on to being fat at whatever cost. I thought I had done good by having an 11lb loss in a little over 3 weeks. But to GAIN this much in just over a week??!?!? I thought OK, I had a rough time, maybe a pound or two in this time. Maybe three. But EIGHT????!
Do I have a malfunctional body?

I am back on track with vengeance today. I am NOT going down like this. But I must admit....I feel a little defeated and deflated. And with a renewed sense that this monster I am battling is even bigger and scarier than I thought.
I almost cried this morning. Its sad to say this, but I was having these unrealistic wishes of magically starting over from a fresh, young untampered with body and PROMISING to never let it go like I did mine and take good care of it. I was seriously wondering if mine is now too damaged to ever be restored to functioning correctly, or looking good.
I know this is the body I've got and this is where I am with it. So day-dreaming aside, I'm gonna just pick up and keep going. There is no other option for me. But I am beyond bummed at how easily I can lose what I fight hard to gain. Or I guess, rather the opposite - how easily I can gain what I fight so hard to lose.

Any thoughts?

Take it as a learning experience... and really, 10 lbs is way easier to combat than from whenst you came! You have a great attitude. The biggest thing is to not let those ten pounds multiply. You tried something, get back on track, see how quickly your body responds, take note, move on. You got this! I've heard maintenance can be harder than the loss part of the journey. Best to you and hang tough! As you said, you're not going down like this and thus, you won't!

First? Calm down. Second? Here's my take on when-life-explodes-weight-loss: When I'm under any amount of stress, my body holds water. When I don't drink enough water, my body holds water. When I'm not eating right, my body holds water. When I'm on TOM, my body holds water. When I'm not sleeping right, my body holds water.

See my trend? Get back on plan, keep going on that plan, and take a breath. It will be okay. I HIGHLY doubt you consumed an extra 28,000 calories... did you?

You said yourself you won't go down like this, and you won't. But while you are trying to take care of everything else, remember to take care of you, because if you dont, you won't be there to help anyone.

I weigh daily so I'm used to seeing fluctuations on the scale. And I also count calories, so I have a food journal to see what causes the gains. Not uncommon for me to see a 4-5 pound gain overnight from eating too much sodium and carbs. And it usually takes 2-3 days for the water gain to leave my system. Do you feel bloaty? I understand your fears...I have them, too. Get back on track, drink your water, it'll come back off.

I gained 14 pounds in 7 days over the holidays from eating different. I lose 9 of those pounds over the course of a week as the water weight slowly left.

I have found by daily weighing that I can gain 3-4 overnight by high sodium, standing on my feet all day (like working on my feet - cleaning, cooking), hormones or eating high carb.

I'm up 2 pounds today from eating differently yesterday... I expect it to disappear in the next couple as I know I didn't eat 7000 extra calories yesterday - maybe 500 more, not 7000 more.

So, don't be discouraged. The scale doesn't tell the whole story.

thanks so much for these encouraging comments! I vow to get back on track and amend my ways. It felt so discouraging to feel like almost all my work is undone in just 10 measly days. But hopefully some of that is "fake" weight. Yes, no way I ate 280000 extra calories!!! :O At least I hope not!

Note to myself... I really HAVE to start looking more closely at what goes into my mouth. Simple portion control is probably not enough.
And also... no matter WHAT is happening in my life... I need to realize that I simply cannot AFFORD to let it affect my journey to health. I probably need to have some "emergency" plans in place for when life hits hard. I think part of this was poor planning. There is no plan B, no back up routine when life gets crazy, so things go out of wack. I need to follow some modified temporary "stressful life" plan so I don't create even MORE stress for myself by gaining weight!

Sad really. Many people LOSE tons of weight when under stress. I seem to only gain it in such times!