But why do i feel like one?

Im calorie counting at 1800 a day, and have been doing well with the 'clean eating'. Yesterday we went out for a meal for the first time in a while. Luckily they (Harvester) have the calorific content on the menu, so i was able to fit in what i wanted with my remainig daily calories.

I had a burger, was delicious. Had it with new potatoes and really enjoyed the whole thing.

Woke up today with a 5lb gain!!. This has taken me back into the 230s.

Now, while i KNOW its water weight, and i cants have gained from yesterday, i still feel soooo guilty that i went off plan/gained/made a bad choice.

Im upset that my little treat (although i stayed within my allowance) has effected me so badly.

No sure what advice im after, maybe just experience others have had.

I think im just thinking that the 'lifelong plan' i had in my head of being able to eat the nice things i like (OCCASIONALLY)will not work for me. I will have to be strict FOREVER :-(

It sounds like you think that you don't deserve to have food you enjoy. You stayed within your calorie allowance, and unless you stole the food from a starving person there is no reason to feel guilty for eating it.

sodium, lots of sodium is found in the typical restaurant meal. Drink lots of water for the next couple of days. It will pass.

If you've been clean eating, nothing processed...eating "regular" might do that to you now that your body is used to whole foods.

I eat clean/whole...I don't like to label it, but its just all whole foods, fruit, veggies, meats, eggs, plain yogurt. I rarely eat grains, but they are whole if I do. And I've been avoiding cheese because it makes me feel bloated, which I don't think makes sense because I think lactose intolerant people find that they can sometimes eat cheeses...???

Anyway if I have a cheat or splurge MEAL I will gain a lot for a few days, Its just all that water weight, and bloating. My abdomen will be rounder and I just feel yucky. If its a small cheat snack, I still feel yucky, but not as much, and the bloating isn't as bad.

It weird because you think I used to eat this stuff all the time, what gives? But for some reason once you are off it, you can really feel the effect of the food. It makes me want to cheat a lot less, especially full meals because I don't want to feel awful for hours and hours (and even into the next day) just for one meal.

Hi, like you if I go to a restaurant I will retain water the following 2 days. The salt content is way out there, dont forget salt makes things taste better and they know it.

That being said "eating clean" is great, counting calories religiously is great, but it is not all about that. Loosing and maintaining is about finding the right balance of being strict and letting go sometime.

I will tell you what happened to me and why I had to restart my diet. Three years ago I had lost 60 pounds, I felt great, exercised, ate within my calories the whole work. Then I maintained for two years, I would weight myself and see a 2 pounds gain, I would sit and say: ok those two pounds have to go and I would quite simply drink more water, move a little more, eat one fruit instead of two, one slice of bread instead if two and within a few days I would be back to normal. No major restriction just little things. For two years I was able to take the decision without any guilt when I was eating because I felt that I was in control.

But one day gained two pounds and I told myself it is ok it is only two pounds and the week after it was another two and said no big deal and so on, until it got to be ten pounds of guilt, twenty pounds of guilt and thirthy pounds of guilt and hatred toward myself.

So you ate last night something you like and it is fine, drjnk a little water, adjust your food without going crazy about it and it will go away simple as that but if you let those 5 pounds take control that guilty feeling will take over and you will start the cycle again. The meal you ate was not 17,500 calories that is the reality keep that in mind. The meal you ate was not something bad it was proteins and carbs and a lot of salt, remove that cheat word and replace it by I ate last night food and today I must adjust, cannot undo last night but certainly can do something about it today.

Keep going and allow yourself some pleasures but keep in mind that whatever happens you retake control now.

Of course it can work for you. You just have to ditch the mindset that gains are punishments or proof that you've "been bad."

No matter how strict you are, the scale will fluctuate. You could have had the same reaction from twisting your ankle (injuries can cause temporary water retention) or from constipation - or even from a good workout.

You don't get "extra points" for avoiding normal weight fluctuations. In fact it's a bad idea to try, because you'd have to avoid a lot of healthy and/or enjoyable experiences.

You did not gain 5 lbs from a burger (unless it was an 18,000 calorie burger, the equivalent of 35-50 burgers).

If you let a 5 lb gain (especially one that isn't calorie-related, but even those that are from overeating) you're going to make yourself so miserable that giving up (and eating whatever you want) is going to seem like a reasonable choice.


You're going to see weight fluctuations, whether or not you're strict, so you're going to have to accept that they're perfectly normal.

Even if you gain from actual overeating, it doesn't mean that you can never splurge again, anymore than a mild sunburn on your vacation means you must never leave your house ever again.

@#$%& happens. It doesn't mean you can't have a burger ever again (even if you're somehow managing to eat the hypothetical 18,000 calorie monster mega burger and gain 5 lbs each and every time. You just have to compensate and move on).

Obviously how often you're willing to splurge will depend on how hard you have to work to recover, but with water retention (which this obviously is - unless you ate a 10 lb burger), you only have to drink water and wait a few days.

I hope you will post back in a couple of days and let us know what happens. Because I think you'll see that weight go back down fairly quickly. It's a artificial rise because you ate restaurant food, and your body reacted.

Personally - at least for me - I'm going to need to be able to do things like that on an occasional basis, and I'm learning how that works for me.

I think you'll see that your lifelong plan idea is just fine, and within a day or so you'll be back to where you were and on track again. (And in my opinion, that's worth getting to eat out and enjoy certain foods from time to time.)

Sooooooo true!!! The scale will fluctuate. Period. It is what it is.

Life happens and you will have to get over things like this.

And you did it the right way. You stayed within calories. You were eating out. And in company.

I've said it before and I will say it again. You don't get fat eating out at restaurants with loved ones and friends. It's what you stuff in your mouth the other 350 days of the year in the office, at home, in the car on the way back from work and in front of the TV.

Weight loss is a game of averages. You just have to get most choices right. And that means not falling into bad habits. An odd off-plan meal here and there is not a habit unless you allow it to affect you mentally to become one.

Thanks all for your replies. In hindsight i probably overeacted! I did do the right thing keeping within calories, ill blame the salt. Still 5lbs overnight, thats a lot of water!

My weigh day is a sunday, so stayed off the scale until then, and had lost 1.4lbs this week. Panic over. Thanks again Everyone.

Wonderful!

Glad to hear it!!