Bare with me it's a bit long. Recently I have been having a very hard time keeping my weight loss going and I have finally discovered that it is a mental block rather than a physical problem. I'll get to the mental block in minute.

I'm curious as to whether other people have experienced this. After one day of *really* bad eating, say I go over my normal calorie allotment by 1500 calories, I gain two lbs overnight. I know a lot of people have this happen and come here to post about it and everyone says "it's water weight" and "you couldn't have gained 2 lbs overnight without eating an extra 7000 calories" etc but this does not seem to be the case for me.

For example, yesterday I logged everything in Fitday even though I didn't want to and my total was 3200 . Normally I lose weight eating 1800 cals a day with exercise. Today I am up 2 lbs. Now I know from past experience that it is not water weight, it will not just go away by tomorrow, I will actually have to lose it all over again through diet and exercise. I will be lucky if it is gone in a week, putting me right back where I started. Now I don't know about anybody else but this makes me so mad! I am the type of person who likes the logical, mathematical aspect of weight loss and I get very frustrated when the numbers don't work out, or even come close to working out.

The only explanation I can come up with is that my body is trying to regain the fat and after reading posts and articles on the maintainers forum this does not surprise me. However, I am still 40-50 lbs overweight and I've only lost 20-25 lbs. If I can gain 2 lbs of fat from an extra 1500 calories a day what is going to happen when I'm at my goal weight? What if I want to have a piece of birthday cake for my birthday and poof! an extra 5lbs overnight. I know logically it doesn't make any sense but given what is happening now it seems it could only get worse as I lose weight.

I have been thinking about this for quite some time know and I really think this is what is keeping me from giving 100% to weight loss. Plus, I've never been thin, well I was when I was a kid (I've seen pictures) but I can't remember it, so I'm not quite sure it's going to be worth it. I'm just not sure if I'm willing to put in the effort only to have it get harder and harder and not knowing if it's worth it. It seems like an awfully big sacrifice for an unknown result.

What if I get to goal and can only eat 1200 calories for the rest of my life? I know right now that I would never be able to maintain that kind of lifestyle, plus it could possibly be for like 60 years since I'm only 24. What if my previous example comes true, piece of b-day cake=5 lbs? All these what-ifs are really putting a crimp in my weight loss plans. I just really really really don't want to get to goal and then realize I can't maintain it and gain the weight back, frankly, I'd rather just stay fat now than lose it and gain it back.

What do you guys think, will it be worth it? For those who have gotten to goal what is the best part?

Sorry for whining but this has been on my mind for a long time now.

I have a similar problem; however, I look at it like this--I am doing this for my health and so I will look better in the long run. I do not plan on not being able to eat that cake for my birthday when the time comes. I do know that when I reach my goal, I will still have to watch what I eat for the most part. But that does not mean I can't splurge on occasion. Even while dieting, I don't deprive myself (and I don't hit myself for going overboard). Just the other night, I went out for margaritas and quesadillas with my DH. I enjoyed myself even though I was eating and drinking a lot more calories than I wanted to. The next day, I jumped right back on the diet bandwagon and even though there was a 1 pound gain that day, it came off again the following day. So I'm right back where I was two or three days ago.
You need to stop beating yourself up and get back on the diet. I know it is hard. It actually took me 5 months to decide to lose weight. I started early January and lost 5 pounds right away. Now it seems I lose 1 pound every two weeks or so. But, when it does show on the scale or in the way my clothes feel, I am so motivated to keep at it!
Now, if I could only motivate myself to exercise when I get home from work......I just went back to work and can no longer do my 4 mile walk each morning (I have to get up at 4:45 to get ready for work).
Good luck.

When I was reading your post, I could almost swear that I was reading my own thoughts. I come from a very math and science orriented background. I spent a lot of time studying exaclty what process I would use to achive 2.5 lbs of weight loss every week (x-y=2.5). And, at first I was rewarded with a great amount of success and had become a true believer in the science of weight loss.

Then I began "cycle plateauing" the same 2 lbs for the entire month of March. I rechecked my math, and it was still right! The math wasn't making me lose weight any more! Math said that if I eating X and exercise Y the numbers on the scale go down... that was the deal. I eat right, I exercise, and the scale goes down. We had a bargain... YOU PROMISED.. but math, and the scale, had both abandoned me.

I realized that I had lost focus on what my real goal was, I was only working to see the numbers on the scale go down. There was another, better reason to eat right and exercise: it's healthy and it makes me feel like a healthier person. Now, I eat right and exercise so that I can say to myself "I live my life just like an athlete!". And while that may not be 100% true, I certainly feel athletic!

Of course, I still weigh myself (much too often ), and I still celebrate when the number goes down, but I don't get so frustrated when it goes up or when nothing happens for a few days, because I know I'm living right. No matter what weight I end up at, it will be the weight it will be. I cannot control that. But I will be so proud if I am running, playing racquet sports (maybe winning sometimes?) and eating healthy, well balanced meals.

The fact that I am one of the "regulars" at my gym gives me a warm, glowy feeling that's worth a scale loss any day!

Maybe it would help you to find a "non-scale" reason for losing weight? Something that you can achieve today and will only be enhanced by better health, but that isn't harmed because of the whims of that imp that lurks in the bathroom. (Though mine lurks in the kitchen as a reminder...)


Also, with the "ate extra 1000 cals, gained extra 2 lbs" phenomenon: remember about the weight of the food you eat. There is often bulk that is going to take some time to...umm...make its way out of the picture, if you get my drift. After a party, or other "over-indulging" moment, I don't count my weight as accurate for at least 3 days.

It can be very hard not to look to the scale for results. I've been going through a plateau for the last 9 weeks, so I know. My weight has been going down (or up) a little at a time, but basically staying the same. BUT I have been losing inches this whole time. So that part is great.

I have to remind myself that I want to finally be healthy above all else. I've been overweight since the 3rd grade (22 years ago). It's scary thinking about being thin. It's not something I've ever experienced. But that doesn't matter. What matters to me is being healthy and not letting food control my life anymore. I've got more important things to do and things to accomplish to let food stand in my way any longer. So whether that scale goes down anymore for me or not... I will stay with my new lifestyle because I am reaching my goal of being healthy. That is what drives me... not the scale.

Holly -- I think andoreth is right about a lot of things. First, if you really do go over your cals by 1500 you are not gaining fat. However, even if it is "just water" it can take days to leave sometimes. I am on a pretty even keel of eating well and exercising, but andoreth is right that on a day to day basis, the "math" is sometimes not there.

For example, for the past 3 weeks my weight has been: 214, 215, 214, even though I'm eating and exercising for a 1-2 pound loss a week. I think this week, though, I will see a 2-3 pound loss, as my body "catches up" to what I'm doing. On AVERAGE, I lose that 1-2 pounds, but it's not always in a linear fashion.

I know that for me to see regular success I have to be pretty vigilant about what I eat and keeping up with the exercise, but it IS paying off. You are right that so much of this is a mental game, and you may be sabotaging yourself in ways you don't realize.

I also like what andoreth and brandi said about finding other things to focus on, like "inches" and health. Isn't this about more than just what we weigh?

I've been trolling the maintainers board and trying to adopt the attitude that I shouldn't be focusing on the scale -- after all, maintainers need to find something else to focus on, as they are no longer trying to lose. Perhaps you could do the same!

Good luck!! You have had some success and I hope you have more!!

I used to play the game of 'What if?' every single day. What I learned is that I started stressing everything, and the what ifs only slowly drove me insane. I still catch myself doing it sometimes, but I focus on living for right now rather than what might or might not happen in the future.

What if you lost all the weight and died in a car accident shortly after? That's something you can't control, but you could still look at losing the weight as a waste of time. Except, what if, because you didn't lose the weight but maintained a healthy lifestyle, your body recovered and you lived to see another day? See, there are just too many what ifs and too many factors.

I'm starting to see that it's not the number on the scale that makes me feel better. It's being able to walk up that flight of stairs without having to stop three times to catch my breath, and fitting into the pants that I put in the 'No way - EVER!' category. It's being able to play with my nieces on the floor and not have to have help getting up.

Ultimately, even if the weight stopped coming off, I'd still feel better about myself than I did 30 pounds ago. I'd feel better in general, and that means my life is better. That's why I'm doing this. Because I choose to enjoy the life I have, as long as I have it.

Good luck.. I hope you find a reason to continue, despite what the scale says. Because, as most of us can tell you, it's worth it.