I am so beyond upset/depressed right now!!! I was doing good. So darn good. Then I fell one day. ONE FREAKIN DAY. For the last few weeks, Ive dont 3 miles in the morning, then 3 miles in the afternoon on my Gazelle. I only drink water, or green tea(no sugar) eating lighter and healthier, even avoided most of the dreaded Birthday Cake ( I had one sensible slice) then yesterday, i slipped. Only did 3 miles on the Gazelle, but was very active at work. Then, i got off work late, and gave in to the families pleas and got Arbys for dinner. I slipped on eating. I had an arbys beef and chedder sandwhich, 2 mozzarella sticks, and 1/2 of a cherry turnover. Got on the scale today, and I have gained back everything I lost. I am back at square one. Its not even that i have muscle, i tried putting on my jeans, and they fit exactly like they did 2weeks ago. I dont think i can do this. All my hard work for a few weeks, gained back and failed in ONE day.
help. please

Don't give up, dont give up!!! You probably haven't gained it ALL back, as I have read from others on this board, if you eat 5 lbs of food, you're going to weigh 5lbs more until you go to the bathroom. This is not an excuse for you to eat bad today or to stop using your Gazelle. We ALL slip up. We ALL have bad days but it does not mean our journey is over, it does not mean you have to give up and stay unhealthy.

Get back on plan RIGHT NOW. Eat well and use your Gazelle - push yourself like there is no tomorrow - turn this upset over eating bad into motivation to shed those calories and I bet in a day or two your weight will be back where you want to see it.

When bad days happen you have to come here to get support so you can get back up and keep going. You've come here, now take the advice that everyone will give you and KEEP GOING!! You can and will do this. This will not break you, this will make you stronger. Just keep going! You are stronger than 1 bad day and 1 bad meal. I KNOW you can do this!!!

Arbys = sodium out the wazoo = bloat = water weight and tight jeans

Get back on plan and over the next 2-3 days you'll pee it out

Ignore the scale. Ignore the scale.
You are not a lost cause. do your exercises. eat clean for the next three days and your body will forgive you.
Now you know how diabolical fast food is b/c the ingredients urge you to consume ever increasing amounts.
cast away that fast food devil. if your family craves Arby's you can resist eating it.
You can fight back.

Trust us when we say that it's mostly sodium/water weight! You're doing amazing work, with miles a day on the Gazelle. Weight loss can be slow at times but don't give up, the reward will be so worth it

Beef 'n' Cheddar = 450
Two Mozzarella Sticks (with marinara) = 240
Half Cherry Turnover = 220

Total Calories: 910

More than you want to eat in one meal? Probably so. The end of the world? Not by a long shot.

One pound = 3500 calories. The max you truly gained back from that meal is 1/4 pound. And likely less if you take in to consideration you would have had to eat "something" for dinner. Would 400 calories be your usual dinner? That means the meal was really 500 calories over: 1/7 of a pound.

Sodium can cause bloat. Give it time to come off, and most importantly get back on plan - it's not one meal that will derail you, it's the feeling of failure that makes you feel like giving up and continuing to choose unhealthy foods for an extended time period. Also be sure to weigh yourself in the morning before you eat and after you use the restroom.

Listen to everyone - you didn't undo all of your work! It was just one meal on one day and believe me, the pounds don't pack on that quickly. It's just all the sodium in their food and the fact that you may have had more sitting in your stomach than you normally do which made you weigh more. In a few days, I bet it'll all balance out once you get back on plan.

Just because you ate bad for one meal doesn't mean you've slipped up. Think about it!! You are moving more than you used to, and eating better than you used to. I'd say your body is saying thank you right now!! Hey, one bad meal out of all the healthy ones you've eaten is actually a great track record.

Listen to the others about the weight gain, you probably didn't gain it all back. And I agree with arrowspark. Ignore the scale, and go by how well your clothes fit, how much better your body feels. You're doing great, I'd hate to see you beat yourself up!!!!!!!!

It's just "ONE FREAKIN' DAY". You can move forward.

Instead of giving up, make a mental plan for how you'll deal with a situation like that in the future (work late, end up at a fast food restaurant). Know what you'll order before you even get there, don't look at the menu board, just get the healthy option. I've never been to an Arby's, but checking online, they have yummy chopped salads and sandwiches.

This is for the rest of your life - you're going to run into situations like this over and over. Sometimes, you'll eat something off plan. But it's better to HAVE A PLAN. I never thought, "damn, I wish I'd eaten that fast food burger and pie" but many times I've thought "so glad I stayed on plan and my jeans zip nicely."

Please read what my2cats said. You didn't gain 5 lbs from 910 calories. Eat sensibly, drink water, and you'll see that weight drop within a couple of days.

Ditto on the sodium and the water weight... Drink tons of water and some of it will magically float back off. Also, ditto on only weighing once a week. I know it's hard, cause I have the same prob. But especially at the beginning, I only weighed once a week. I was forbidden from touching the scale the other days. Now I can handle it (though it still gets into my head occasionally) and I use it to better track patterns. But I'd highly reccomend staying away from the daily weighing.

You're gotten great advice here. Please don't give up. It is hard, but it is so worth it.

I don't ever weigh after a day of indulging. I've learned from the past that it just sets me up to fully go off the wagon. It's only water weight any way and will come off in a few days of good eating.

I hope to hear back that you've stayed on plan today.

The scale is a tool, but it's not a body reader.

The scale knows weight, and weight alone. It does not know WHAT that weight is comprised of. If you stepped on the scale holding a five pound weight. The scale would read your weight + five pounds. Mentally, you'd be fine. You'd KNOW that the extra five pounds was the weight you were holding in your hands. You'd KNOW that it wasn't fat.

Unfortunately, what happens is our body holds onto extra weight, and we cannot SEE it, so we assume "Oh no! It's fat! I've failed!" And that's so beyond untrue.

The body can hold an enormous amount of water weight when we've had a salty meal, PLUS heavy meals often sit in our systems for a few days. That food you ate is LITERALLY traveling through your intestines right now. It's not fat.

The scale you're using DOESN'T TELL YOU THAT. It just says "Derp. Weight given." Even scales that do body fat percentages are known to be horribly inaccurate.

The whole goal of losing weight is to lose excess fat. You haven't gained back all the fat you've lost from one bad meal. It's. Not. Possible. At most you're holding onto some water and the food is traveling through your system.

Get back to your plan today. Immediately. In a week that weight will be gone.

And I agree with Glory, have a plan. Even if that plan is "I'm going to get fast food, but I'll be picking <healthiest option>." To use the cliche line "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

^^THIS^^

Plus... ask yourself... what good can come from "giving up"?? will giving up help you get to your goal?

Doubt it!

Continue doing what you're doing. You haven't made it "habit" just yet... you're almost there~ habit comes from doing something time & time again.

Don't let "giving up" be a habit.