I have been dieting for 5 weeks now and the weight was coming off pretty steadily. The last 2 1/2 weeks the scale has stayed the exact same even though I was staying on plan and exercising 5-6 times a week. I know the stall is normal and I should have been patient.....but I wasn't. I decided to have a cheat day. I had 2 pieces of hamburger pizza for lunch and a big bad hamburger and fries for dinner. The crazy thing is when I weighed this a.m. (I was expecting the scale to go up) I was 4 lbs lighter! Finally!
So I am sharing this because in my case I believe I wasn't eating enough calories and this was making my metabolism slow way down. I think the sudden jolt of calories kick started my metabolism. I'm not saying do this all the time or that it will work for everyone...but if you are at a stand still on the scale....and you are not patient like me.....maybe eat badly for a day and see what happens.
But you know, that four pounds was ready to come off today. It wasn't your cheat meal that made it happen because the food you ate last night wasn't even metabolized by the time you weighed yourself this morning. Most of it isn't even digested yet. Nope, it was the result of all your hard work over the past two weeks when the scale didn't move. Good things were happening in your body even though they didn't show up on the scale.
It takes a few days, sometimes a week, sometimes even two weeks to see the results of what we're eating. Sometimes the effects of a cheat meal don't show up for a few days, so you might see the scale go up in a few days. Don't worry, it will go back down!
That never happened to me, I would gain right away. Now if I eat alot all day or binge I'll gain part of the weight the next day and gain the next half on the day after that. It's delayed for some reason even though I get right back to my normal calories the day after overeating. There are some things you can never understand. Dieting is one of them!
Well, what I've found is that when I hit a plateau, the only thing that seems to work is having a bunch of calories for one or even two days. Then, for the next week, I eat like an angel and exercise like there's no tomorrow. Then, I hop on the scale and not only do I get back to the weight I was stuck at, but I lose a few more lbs. I don't recommend this to anyone, but that's just how it works for me. In fact, I don't plan on doing the binge...I happen to have a major problem with binge eating and a plateau tends to set them off.
Howdy,
I promise last Ihop post for a while. Today, at the Embassay Suites, after exercising, I ordered a spinach, bell pepper, mushroom omelet, checked for pancake, batter none, 2 egg. Delish, Another lady (she was from FL) in line was shocked about the ihop additions and was glad to know.
Karen, *YOU* are helping folks far and wide. Good for you!
Many of us here have become walking encyclopedias of nutrition knowledge and it's easy to forgot that many people are unaware of the basics of healthy eating. Or even if they know what they should and shouldn't be eating, restaurants and food manufacturers make it very difficult to make good choices. When a salad or spinach omelet can have 1500+ calories or Froot Loops (41% sugar) can be labeled as a "Smart Choice", it's not an easy world to make healthy choices.
Hi Kelly! Karen was referring to a discussion that we had it a different thread about IHOP and their omelettes: Ihop? She was wondering about the high calorie counts for some of their omelettes and I suggested it might be because IHOP adds pancake batter to their omelettes.
I have been dieting for 5 weeks now and the weight was coming off pretty steadily. The last 2 1/2 weeks the scale has stayed the exact same even though I was staying on plan and exercising 5-6 times a week. I know the stall is normal and I should have been patient.....but I wasn't. I decided to have a cheat day. I had 2 pieces of hamburger pizza for lunch and a big bad hamburger and fries for dinner. The crazy thing is when I weighed this a.m. (I was expecting the scale to go up) I was 4 lbs lighter! Finally!
So I am sharing this because in my case I believe I wasn't eating enough calories and this was making my metabolism slow way down. I think the sudden jolt of calories kick started my metabolism. I'm not saying do this all the time or that it will work for everyone...but if you are at a stand still on the scale....and you are not patient like me.....maybe eat badly for a day and see what happens.
It was either Woman's World or Good Houskeeping - both have winners from the Biggest Loser on them, anyway, one of the winners ups her calories from 1200 to 2400 once a week. She said it keeps her from getting stuck on plateaus as it keeps your body guessing. Years ago I read that people on weight watchers do this by one day having the lowest points and the next the highest points allowed. It is called zigzagging. Thanks for sharing! The scale has been stuck for a while and am going to try this.
Last edited by Helen ready to lose; 02-28-2010 at 01:16 PM.
I have to say that something that I've found that always works when I'm dieting is having a few beers on Friday. I know it sounds crazy but I wake up every Saturday and, without fail, the scale is down 3-4 lbs. That is the only cheat I will have all week and it has worked thus far. I'm not saying it works for everyone but it's always nice for me to wake up on Saturday and see the scale down.
Craziest Thing
That would be my dream come true -- the pizza, burger and fries diet. 
