So I'm pretty sure I gained this week, for the first time since I started my journey. I have no one to blame but myself. I looked back at my food diary for the week and was startled to see that I had dinner out four times (it somehow didn't even register that I'd gone out THAT many times!), and though I only went over my allotted calories once, I've been making really poor nutritional choices all week. No one to blame but myself.

I'll be weighing in on Friday and I'm dreading it. I'm sure it won't be a large gain after only one week of bad choices, but I feel really guilty and disappointed in myself.

To make matters worse, my parents are coming into town tomorrow, and I know we'll be going out to dinner at least three times while they're here. I'm going to have to ensure that we wind up somewhere that serves good salads! AND I'm going to have to explain that I'm trying to lose weight and why it's important to me to do so, because we're a family of food lovers and they're going to think I'm depriving myself.

Even though I know I am responsible for what I put in my mouth, I feel somehow out of control.

you're not out of control, you temporarily let go of the reins you realise you've been going off track, and you know what to do to get back on track. You'll be fine

I know the feeling of dreading the weigh-in, since I've gone on my fair share of binges and weeks where I didn't eat right or work-out. You're not alone there!

I know it is really discouraging to see the numbers creep up after a bad week, but what helps me is to put it all into perspective: this is just ONE week (or one day). It's a drop in the bucket over the long haul. I know that as long as I continue to eat right and work-out most of the time, then I will continue to lose weight. I also know that most of the weight re-gain I see on the scale is just water weight and it will vanish pretty quickly once I've gotten myself back on track--usually within a week.

I've seen my weight bounce up and down all over the place because of bad choices. Once I re-gained 10 pounds in just under a week and a half! (It came back off the following week.)

So, my weight tracking chart looks like a sort of richter scale, with lots of ups and downs over the last few months. It does maintain a downward trend, even if there are a lot of spikes in there showing when I've had my binges.

Just hang in there! We all have our bad days, or weeks. The important thing is to dust yourself off after a slip-up and just keep going with your journey. You WILL take off whatever you re-gained (usually pretty quickly), and you WILL keep losing weight! Learn from your mistakes, and don't beat yourself up for being human.

Thanks ladies.

Maybe it would help to weigh yourself every day instead of every week. That's what I do and it helps because I lost my fear of the scale because obviously I can't gain a large amount over night. If I do gain a little, then I can quickly tighten the reigns again.
Good luck and don't be so hard on yourself!

I actually do weigh myself everyday - which is what leads me to believe that I'll be posting a gain this week. But Friday is my "official" weigh-in day.

Thanks for the support! I'm already yanking on those reigns!

sometimes i dread stepping on the scale after a bad day/week/you get it and avoiding the issue makes me slip further into binging or eating poorly and more likely to totally fall off the wagon. its best to take responsibility i have found and fix where you went wrong and not derail- also, now that i have tried just owning up to what i did to screw up my diet ive realized that often times nothing was even messed up in the first place and certainly by less than i had originally thought and i get right back on track. you can do the same, we are here for you!

I got lucky - the scale said I was down 1 lb. on Friday (after telling me I'd gained 2 lbs. the day before). But I did eat several off-plan meals this weekend while my parents were in town (though I was very careful about portion size), so I'm going to have to be very strict with myself this week. Jumping back on the wagon as we speak.

Thank you all so much for your advice and support! I don't think I would've been able to make the changes I've made so far without you gals.

Hi there,
I'm glad to hear you're down! My scale was rather unkind to me this morning, after being down one lbs yesterday, it reported that I was up six lbs today. Since that just seems too bizarre (yesterday's sodium + weight lifting = water retention) I'm going to disregard and see where it is tomorrow.

Just remember that you're making this decision to get healthy for YOU, and though your family may think you're depriving yourself...ultimately it's not their decision. If you don't want to explain it to them, you don't have to. Just get a salad and say "Ya know? I just really wanted a salad!" Though it's wonderful to have the support of your family, the journey is ultimately YOURS and if they have an issue, it's their problem.

I'm glad to hear that you were down this week! Remember, one week is not going to reverse all the progress you have been making. We all slip up sometimes. The important thing is, you're jumping right back into your healthy ways, and that's awesome!

That has to be a fluke. I think you're wise to ignore it! Damn scales and their damned lies!

You are absolutely right. It's just hard. So many of the habits I'm trying to break reflect the way I was taught to interact with food growing up. I didn't totally stay on-plan during my parents' visit, but I did eat small portions and say no to all desserts, which is something I wouldn't have been able to do in the past. I feel okay with that.

I just told someone else the exact same thing. Maybe I should walk the talk, eh?