Also when you eat a lot of excess carbs, your body stores it as glycogen in your liver and muscles. This causes an increase in weight due to water retention associated with it. One reason we lose so much weight in Phase I is due to using up that stored glycogen and the associated water with it.

This explains it:

Firstly, glycogen storage is associated with a concomitant storage of water. It is estimated that every gram of glycogen stored is associated with about 2.7g of water.

and this:

Carbohydrate (stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen) is accompanied by a good bit of water. For every gram of glycogen stored, you store anywhere from 3-4 grams of water with it.

So if you weigh yourself after a splurge or binge, the resulting weight is not accurate. Also there's the weight of the extra food in your gut before it's eliminated. I never weigh myself after an off plan day, or if you do, don't sweat it so much.

That makes sense!!! I found I was retaining a lot of water after going up to 2-3 wheats a day and when I stopped doing that, suddenly several pounds came off this week. Clearly the water retention and poundage issues were due to the reasons listed above. Great info, Murphmitch.

Femmecreole, I love your "food snob" approach. We all block out certain foods that contain something our taste buds don't like, and it's certainly possible to block out foods our brains don't like. I cringe every time I see a report on tv about obesity -- and they are incessant. I do NOT want to be one of Them. Food snobbism sounds like a great way to get there. (And I am with you about the fast food industry. That isn't my demon, but the packaged food industry sure is!)

I'm not going anywhere! I will admit though, I am struggling with just giving up, but I don't want to do that to myself. I want this time to be different and push through this mess up.
I was sure it was water retention, I don't feel as bloated today. I'm still having strong cravings for French Fries though, and I'm trying to fight through it.
Glad I have somewhere to check in!

All 10 of Katt345's posts say the same thing. UGH.

I used to eat out pretty frequently. I work for my local 911 center and my schedule is a little hectic...it was often much easier to just eat out than to try and cook to take something w/ me. Once I started on SB I decided to cut out fast food. Now I cook a meal at home on my off days and make sure that I have plenty of left-overs to take w/ me to work. It has helped A LOT. I think I have ordered out *maybe* 3 times since I started SB. One night I had brunswick stew from a local BBQ joint and another night I had fajitas (no rice, no tortillas, extra beans, and extra lettuce). So if you DO chose to eat out, perhaps you could make healthier choices. Go w/ salads or grilled options...something like that. If you don't already have it, put up the SB Guide to Dining Out...it has lots of popular restaurants in there.