Well, so far on my journey I have lost 22 pounds, but I have a lot more to go. I am currently very close to onederland and maybe I have self-sabotaged or something. Anyway, the fates aligned (PMS, post-surgical pain, etc) and this week I had many slip-ups. Nothing like a binge, but more than one day I had a bagel and real cream cheese for my dinner. One night I had a bowl of cereal with sugar on it. The other night I even had hostess mini-donuts in a single serve pack. I am on a VLCD since I have had difficulty shedding the weight I gained from surgery and this past week, especially between the hours of 7 and 10pm, my carb cravings were out of control and I just wasn't satisfied with a diet shake or bar. Every signal in my body was screaming for carbs.

Tomorrow is my weigh in day (I weigh in at home). I am so stressed about it. It has taken me almost 3 weeks to lose 3 pounds. But I gain so quickly I just feel that I'll have blown all that hard work in one week. Any advice, words of wisdom, or even a pep talk would help me so much. Since I began my program end of January, I have never had a week without a loss

Wow, I have been there. Usually, it's not as bad as I am thinking. I know sometimes it's hard to face the scale but you can do this. You have lost 22 lbs already. Good for you. Focus on those 22 lbs tonight and how strong you are for doing that. Get back on plan tonight and be brave and just weigh yourself tomorrow.

In order to gain a pound of fat, you'd have to have eaten 3500 over what you needed. Since your slip ups were just small things like sugar and cereal or a bagel with cream cheese, I highly doubt you ate that many excess calories. You have come along way and you are doing great! The scale doesn't define success. Success is you realizing the mistakes, learning from them and moving forward with better eating habits. You might even see a loss tomorrow and realize you have been worrying for nothing!

Congratulations on losing your first 22!! Just keep in mind that your weight fluctuations aren't neccesarily related to fat, but often is water, so don't get too stressed about any changes. I doubt you had that many extra calories. You've done great so far and you will reach your goal with persistance. All of us have our weak moments so be patient with yourself and just stay focused on your goal. Soon you'll be celebrating onederland!

Thanks everyone for the kinds words and support. I am back on track today and feeling in control - it is bedtime and I have not gone off my program since breakfast. I am keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow and telling myself that if it is up very much it is most likely water weight from time of the month and the carbs I ate. I hope next week will be better.

Don't be afraid of the scale. If you slip up and the number goes up, you just try harder the next week to correct what you did wrong in this week. Anytime you start avoiding, it will cause you anxiety and stress. Remember, it's just a gauge of progress and sometimes that's positive and sometimes it's negative and sometimes it's neutral. Neither fear nor avoiding the scale will change the place your are in your journey, so you might as well just glance around you and see how you can shift course. Hang in there. You've done well so far and you will eventually meet your goal if you keep at it and stay aware!

you've lost 22lbs - that's fantastic!

but if you did gain a bit this week, does that immediately cancel out, nullify, and obliterate all your progress? i can promise you you didn't regain 22lbs no matter how much you ate.

i dont' stress (overly much) about my weigh-ins. i just consider them progress markers - road signs on the path to bikinidom.

well, okay, "tankinidom"

I recently went through this in a similar way -- and I got back on track for one day and the planned that the next day i would just get on the scale and face it. Also, as stated above -- a number on a scale is both irrelevant and in some way also relevant -- it's a starting point -- a place of measure, but what you want to do is to make your measure what you tell yourself inside which is "yes, I am on track and doing what I should," or "no, I am not on track, I'm messing up and this can lead to weight gain." that should be your "scale" that you know what you are doing.

Weight gain is a major oops, a place we do not want to go on our journey to being fit and smaller......but I see it like this -- once upon a time a holiday inn in our downtown area painted their multi-story building this on holy shade of green....was like a lime green....the most ugly creepy shade of green i ever saw....they obviously felt so also that they had made a major mistake.....soooooooo Holiday Inn owners REPAINTED the building,.....and with time most everyone in this city has forgotten (I just remember stuff like that)....so if I do an oopsie and get off track, yes I might gain weight, BUT then I "repaint my building"....I get back ON track, eat right, do some exercise, drink some water and turn it around and start losing it again....

so at the worse, part of your building my be painted a color you don't want....but you have the power to fix that too.....best of luck to you.

I'm right there with you--I hate getting on the scale after slipping up. I had a horrible week and ate everything in sight.

Elizabeth779--I love your analogy! Perfect!

O girl...quit beating yourself up!!

We have all been there and done that. The scale is just a machine, a tool, a measurement; it does not judge us. Get back on plan and use this as a learning experience. Examine what might have triggered the carb cravings; I'm guessing TOM hormones combined with stress.

Congratulations on the 22 pounds lost!! You can do this and you will succeed!!

You know, the scale isn't even the most accurate measurement! My nutritionist does bodyfat measurements every few weeks and she says I've lost probably another 5 lbs of fat since January that aren't showing up on the scale b/c I've replaced it with muscle. I was a scale obsessed maniac for a long time... loonnnnngggg time. But if you do the work, the weightloss will come. Sometimes it takes some experimenting to figure out what to do, but it does come. And it's a lifelong journey. So congrats for being back on the horse, now ride into the sunset

You know what - your body was asking you for some fuel. Sure, donuts and bagels and cream cheese aren't the best thing in the world, but sometimes even while dieting and changing our lifestyles, we gotta give in to some comfort.

You had surgery, you've got your cycle starting up, and you're taking it one day at a time. Easy does it wins the race! You make sure you keep in check with drinking enough water, getting in your vegetables and proteins so your body can repair itself after the disc work, and keep up with the low impact movement until you're feeling more up to snuff.

You may also wan to work with your physical therapist about resistance band work, electrostimulation therapy to strengthen leg muscles while resting, and other lower impact solutions to keep you moving with less pain that will also keep those muscles chugging on those fat cells.

Just keep moving forward. That weight will come off! It's stubborn and you'll have set backs and plateaus and annoying fluctuations but keep a record of measurements around your body - your PT could even help with this - and supplement with the scale readings to prove your progress. You've done such a good job so far!

Thanks for all the support. I weighed this morning and was down one pound. It is a reality check because that is what I have lost for the last two weeks when I have had no cheats at all. Not sure how to process that bit of information!

My injury and post-surgical problems prevent me from doing a lot of activity, but I have started aqua therapy and am hoping it will help -- not just with pain and rehabiliation, but with weight loss and fitness.

I am re-motivated to stick with my program this week. I only have to lose 3 pounds to be in onederland. I haven't been there since before the surgery, so even if I continue to only lose one pound per week, I guess I will get there eventually!

Congrats! Your commitment is paying off!

How you process it is this: what you ate wasn't that bad. It might have been off your low cal plan, but it wasn't terrible. Calories are calories for the most part. You really didn't eat that many. The lesson to be learned is to not be so emotionally hard on yourself. Don't let up on the long term plan and goal, but also don't go crazy if you eat off plan once in a while.

Fantastic job so far. Just keep it up and you'll be at goal before you know it.

Lin