Gain 5 pounds in 1 weekend? I mean, I did have birthday cake and 2 sodas, but I EXERCISED!!! I walked 6 miles and did 30 mins of cardio each day. I'm by no means a scale slave. But I find it hard to believe that the average person would gain 5 whole pounds over what is an average weekend for most people. Is it that most people don't weigh regularly, so they don't see the spikes? I'm so disgusted.
Just venting. Just walked 4 miles!!!

They sure can! Your body probably isn't used to the extra soda/carbs and is holding on to water. Add exercising into the mix and your muscles will hold onto water. Eat a low sodium diet and drink lots of water and the weight should go back down.

Yup. I once gained THIRTEEN POUNDS in a weekend... during my "time of month" (& this was when I was in my early 20's and only weighed about 118 lb) so yeah, normal people do that. It's a PITA, but yeah, normal.

Yes, people do. WE ARE ALL NORMAL. let me say that again. WE ARE ALL NORMAL. Normal likes/dislikes, normal cravings, normal weight fluctuations, normal water retention, normal bloat from carb intake. It's all normal. The only difference may be the sense of frustration over our body weight.

There is no difference in an average weight person and one that is under or over weight. I know people seem to think there is some magical difference but the only difference is weight management over time. Overweight people have eaten at a caloric surplus too long and now must eat at a caloric deficit to get to an average healthy weight. Underweight people need to take in more to get to an average healty weight.

Don't ever let anyone sell you the idea you aren't normal or you have some special hurdle that will hender success. I know the dieting industry does this a lot but success is yours if you have determination. You might need to tweak or fine tune a few things but with determination you can figure out all of the tricks that make your engine run efficiently.

I agree with you to a point. However, here's what I see as a BIG difference between someone like me who has struggled most of her adult life to maintain a healthy weight and someone like my husband who seems to maintain his weight with no struggle: Mindset. My husband simply doesn't think about food or desire food as often or in quantities as large as I do. To me, that is a huge difference. I don't think that thinking about food as much as I do is normal. I think about food probably a good deal of the day. I think this is partly due to me having a larger appetite and partly due to a "career" of dieting that has left me with an unhealthy attitude toward eating.

But I digress . . . .(sorry to the OP; didn't want to highjack the thread).

To the OP, don't let it phase you. It's water weight. It would be very difficult (almost impossible) to gain 5 lbs of real fat in two days. Get right back on plan, and that weight will come off. I know that some would disagree with me, but if I sense that the scale is not going to be kind because I ate too much salt or just too much food (if that food is still in the system, its physical weight will show up on the scale), I just avoid the scale until I've been on plan for a while.

<<My husband simply doesn't think about food or desire food as often or in quantities as large as I do. To me, that is a huge difference. >>

To my mind this is by far the greatest difference between "normal" people and people like ourselves, who struggle with weight -- far greater than metabolism, sensitivity to this or that food, etc. It's all about appetite, satiety, and cravings, IMO.

Freelance

Sure they do. Then they go "oh no my pants are tight" and cut back a little until they're back to "business as usual."

Who are these "normal" people anyway?

There's a reason food commercials work. It's normal to like food. Overweight people aren't the only people who crave, fight satiety, fight cravings, etc. That is all normal. I would honestly say that the rare person would be the person who doesn't think about, crave, and want to eat delicious foods. I've only met a handful of people in my lifetime that could smell chocolate chip cookies and not think "Chocolate chips cookies, Yum! I want one!" I also think the average person would gladly accept one, if offered.

Anywho. OP sorry to interrupt your thread but you seem pretty normal to me.

True, but not to the extent that people like me do. My husband, for example, can "forget" to eat lunch. That would not happen to me. Even if my husband has a craving for ice-cream, he will not go out at night to get one. I will. There's a major difference between those types of people and those of us who struggle. If there were no difference, then the concept of "teaching" intuitive eating would not even exist; the fact that it does shows that there are actually people who CAN and DO eat intuitively as opposed to those who do not.

<<It's normal to like food. Overweight people aren't the only people who crave, fight satiety, fight cravings, etc. That is all normal. >>

I agree wiht Lin43 that it's a question of degree. Like her husband, mine won't make any special trips or otherwise go out of his way to get food. He enjoys eating, but only moderately. If he ever gains a few pounds, it happens through gradual creep, over several months. It's inconceivable that he would put on 10 pounds by overindulging during a two-week vacation -- not because of will-power, but because of lack of desire. He also has no compulsions around food: no need to "even out" the pie or finish the last cookie in the jar.

Freelance