Over the last month I've been traveling and surrounded by holiday food. I now weight TEN POUNDS more than I did three weeks ago!

Is that possible? I'm back on track now, but wondering, is it really possible to gain 10 pounds in three weeks? If it is, do you think I can loose it in three weeks, too?

yeah i guess it is if you were just eating all the time. it could be from traveling and drinking too much too though. it's not just food that has calories.

While it is possible, I'm willing to bet that part of the gain is water retention from salt and maybe, ahem, residue from the food fest that will work it's way out of your body. I know that the scale showed about a 4 pound gain after I ate a serving of Christmas ham....I pushed water, ate well, and it was gone very soon. Some of the gain may be fat depending on how many excess calories you consumed (1 pound of fat = 3500 calories), but a few days on plan should show a nice drop.

it's possible all right! unfortunately! But I agree a lot of it is probably water weight from excess salt/sodium. I say drink extra extra water to flush it out of your system. but in a way it's kinda like a fresh start- once I reach a Plateau that it how I intend to get over it eat like crap for 2 days it re sets the way your body burns cals and fats and then go back to eating healthy. So if your loss was starting to slow down before you went off your diet before the holidays It will definitely kick start it again and you'll be losing as fast as you did when you first started! So that's the positive side of it!

Once you're back on plan, you will probably drop 2 or 3 pounds in the first few days. That's the water weight. After that, it's not water, and unfortunately it will take longer to come off. The reason is that there is no upper end on calories a person can eat while traveling, having holiday fun, etc.--but there is a lower end for health. So, gaining is easy, losing not so easy.

Keep going, though! No way out but through!

Jay

Thanks for all the advice! I did drop three pounds already, and I'm committed to staying on plan. I was kind of stuck, so maybe once I drop these 7 pounds I'll keep going! I'll just keep eating right exercising, it's a life-long change, right?

I was so scared I'd gain that much over the holidays, too. It's hard for me to avoid over indulgence when I actually get my hands on something I like.

Cheers to lifelong changes, though they're extremely difficult to stick to at times.

Is there a rule of thumb for water weight? I ask because I went on plan on Sunday and have lost 6 pounds as of this morning. That's so fast that it has to be water, doesn't it?

Eiluj, yes, it is mostly water, but not all. Just keep on going, but don't expect to see another big drop like that every week.

Jay

I didn't expect it this week, but I'll take it.