Well I got down to 164 and decided to hold until April to lose the rest. During x-mas I gained to about 168. But that was acceptable because I had to make people around my happy with my eating (sarcasim). Also where I live is very cold and I have suspected for sometime that my body holds on to fat during the cold weather.

The problem is that in the weeks since x-mas my scale jumped up once to 171 and then recently it was like 170,170, 170, 170, 173, 176, 176, 176. And now I am 176. I really don't think I have been eating badly at all.

I have no clue what happened and I have no clue how my scale was so under sensitive.

12 lbs god.. well there is no doubt I have to really get back on right now, but lordy, how upsetting. This how I gained it in the first place. I gained 40 lbs in a matter of months. And I didn't think I was eating that badly. At least I caught it now.

Oh reality bites, doesn't it? But yes!!!! At least you caught it NOW. Right NOW. And NOT when it got to be 40 lbs. I think this is the key right there. For today and for the rest of our lives. Catching ourselves before we let 10 lbs turn into 15 and then into 20 and so on.

Glad you caught it. You know what needs to be done. And I've no doubt that you will do this. Because you CAN! Good luck.

Ann, have you been keeping a food log? That makes a huge difference in how much we eat and what food choices we make. If we write everything down, we are forced to review our choices and at the very least will try to compensate later for a bad choice we made (for example, writing down how many oreos we ate this morning, later in the evening we may skip our nightly popcorn!).

Anyway, sorry to hear about your setback but you sound like a determined person and I'm sure you'll be back on track in no time. Good luck!

No, even when I was dieting I didn't do that. But I have a semi regular things I eat when.

I think the problem might have had to do with my cafeteria being out of diet pepsi for a few weeks, so I would have a caloried drink. I didn't think it could be that bad.. but I think I was wrong.

Ugh it is just too depressing it can get so totally out of control but at least I am highly motivated.

Yup, soda could definitely do it. It's amazing how many times here on 3fc I've seen people say they lost weight just by cutting out the soda. Try to substitute water if at all possible, otherwise the clear sodas instead of the colas are way better for you.

You can do it!

I'm with you on cutting out soda ....even DIET Soda. I swear everytime I give it up I drop 3-4 ponds. That stuff is loaded with chemicals that cause you to crave things and then gain weight. Switch to water for a while and see if this doesn't jump start you!

Glad you caught yourself in time... I didn't and have gone all the way down to 128 and then over 5 years back uop to over 200!

AnnRue, I would really strongly recommend that you keep a food log for awhile and write down or (if on computer) enter everything you eat. It is really easy to be off on estimates, and you could be taking in more than you think you are. Could be time for a reality check.

I agree that sugary sodas are not a good idea--talk about empty calories!--but I'm thinking that there is more than that happening.

Jay

I was half distracted while reading, but did you mention exercise? How active have you been? Do you watch your sodium intake? TOM in there somewhere? Is there a chance you've been limiting your calories TOO much?

Either way, Robin's right, at least you're catching it NOW and not 40lbs later. Good luck to ya!

The same thing happened to me, I gained back what I'd worked hard to lost. Now I know "next time" I reach that desired weight or close to it I'll have to "maintain" it by watching my calories, exercising at least 30 min a day, and not going for the junk just because I'm not in diet mode. Likely it's not just the soda, it's the cafeteria food that's getting you. I travel a lot and eating out too much got me, it's hard to know what is in food at restaurants unless they are chains and you know exactly what to order. In the mode I'm in now I'd be terrified of cafeterias and of soda that's not diet, but even diet soda isn't that great for you. I'm learning a lot about sodium too, and those foods you grab when you are busy or out to eat are loaded with salt. I wish it would have worked that I could have lost the weight through hard work then kick back and enjoy it. Weight seems to come back quite quick when you quit your diet/exercise routine after pushing it for awhile. I gained 20 lbs fairly quickly, luckily I caught it at 20 lbs but still... I've read that it's harder to lose weight if you yo-yo. So I hope not to do it again.

I also have not been active. Although last year during the winter I wasn't active either and maintained. So I do think it is a perfect storm. It is possible I was eating more than I thought but I honestly tend to have about the same thing daily and do a rough calorie count at the end of the day. So I thought I was consuming 1200 to 1500 per day. Guess not.

Anyway hopefully some of the 12 is just water weight. I am taking no chances and I am firmly back on.

Yeah keep an eye on the scale. I use fitday.com to track my cals.

Jasime you look awesome. I love seeing success stories. It really keeps me motivated!!
debi

A 12oz can of Pepsi is 150 calories. If you drink one a day over an 8 week period:

8 wks x 7 days x 150 cals = 8400 cals
That's 2.5 lbs just in sodas.

That's assuming you drink a can instead of a 20 oz bottle, and assuming you only have one a day. If you drink a 20 oz bottle, you can nearly double that to 14,000 calories.

It's scary, isn't it, how many calories we consume unconsciously, w/out thinking about it.

.

Yes- I normally have one can of diet pepsi with my lunch. So the cafeteria decided to get rid of all the cans and also, at the same time, were out of all diet drinks. Water was available but I drink that the rest of the day. So I went with those Lemonade drinks that are caloried -- in the 20 oz bottle. Eventually I noticed that it was like 2 servings in each bottle and the diet pepsi eventually came back. Each day I *meant* to get the diet pepsi and came back to none available.

The good news... after one day of strict dieting I dropped 3 lbs. 173. So I am thinking at least some of it is water weight. I am totally motivated though now. Lesson learned.