Friday morning I got up and weighed myself as always, and I was at 265 lbs. I think I'm making progress, maybe I can handle a trip to vegas. figured I'd gain what, a pound?

So Monday morning I hop on the scale and I was shocked to see 274 lbs!

This is what I ate over the weekend (tried very hard to remember everything) and this is my best guess:

Friday:
large mocha (232)
2 bags airplane pretzels (200)
2 beers (400)
buffet (probably a mistake!) where I ate:
- 2 bowls of caesar salad w/added parmesan (500?)
- 2 spring rolls w/hot mustard (160)
- szechuan beef (4 ounces?) (500)
- 1/2 corn on the cob w/butter (120)
- roast beef slice (4 oz?) (300)
- 3 potato wedges (200)
- chocolate mousse (1 cup?) (400)
- creme brulee, 1 ramekin (300?)
(I was totally full!)
Total Friday: 3312

Sat:
sausage biscuit (400)
20 oz coffee with 3 specialty creamers (120)
1 oz beef jerky (116)
12 oz steak (670)
1 large bowl salad (300)
french fries (400)
apple strudel (250)
6 beers (yes, it was vegas) (1200)
2 shots schnapps (120)
Sat total: 3576

Sun:
2 sausage biscuits (800)
20 oz coffee with 3 regular creamers (75)
in-and-out cheeseburger and fries (900)
1 beer (200)
small bag of doritos (150)
peanut butter sandwich (350)
1 bag airplane pretzels (100)
1 bag airplane peanuts (100)
Sun total: 2675

Weekend total 9563.

A pound is 3500 calories over budget, right? If I'm using about 2000 calories a day (which seems to be my norm) then 1 lb gain should be 9500 cal over the 3-day weekend... should be about one pound. Not nine! Does anyone have rational explanations for those other 8 lbs?

First, kudos for keeping track! Being mindful about it is a great habit - maybe the most important one of all. Looking over the list, I see salt, salt, salt, and more salt. Between that and the flying (guessing you went on a plane), you're just really bloated up. Chug the water over the next few days and see where you are by the end of the week. A few days of the SAD (Standard American Diet) will do that to ya!

Hmm, when you said you were "bad" I thought perhaps you had committed a crime, or stole something, or joined ISIS. That would be bad. But you went on a weekend getaway and you ate at food.... that's not something bad IMHO. You've done nothing bad and no need to repent.

My pet peeve about making lists of "bad" foods is that you automatically become "bad" for eating them. And when you're bad you feel bad and most likely stay bad. And all that just leads to self doubt, low self esteem, low motivation and in the end really does not do you any good. So lose the bad and lose all the guilt.

Reading over the list of foods you ate I'm wondering if you really enjoyed them. That's the most important thing to think about. Do you really regret all of them? Or just some of them? Because I believe there is a way to enjoy the food that we eat without crossing over to being overly stuffed and feeling guilty. I'm solid in the camp of eating foods that you enjoy because putting things on a restriction list pretty much ensures that when you break your oath you go overboard. It's totally possible to eat all these foods moderately and enjoy them. It's something to think about for sure.

I'd just like to say that I don't agree that you are being "mindful" here. You're being punitive and there's a big difference. Mindful means being aware of what you're doing while you're doing it. Tallying up a list of bad behaviors is punitive.

Okay, so you had a high calorie weekend in Vegas. Some of that will be water weight, maybe a gain of one true pound. Did you have fun?? You only live once. Just get back on track today.

We're going to an all inclusive resort in November and I'm sure I will do some damage too. It's once a year. Eff it.

I used to eat like that (probably much more than that) everyday! My guess is you are retaining water but have also gained 1 or 2 lbs. I know you've done your math, but it can be a bit more than that because you don't know how it was cooked, the amount of oil that was used, etc.

I don't feel what you've done is wrong or bad, but I get upset when i realize i've eaten to the point of feeling sleepy, tired or sick. Little by little i'm learning I can splurge once in a while as long as i don't eat too much past satiety.

As for the weight, you can give it 3 or 4 days and it will probably go down a few lbs. Drink lots of water so you can dilute the amount of salt you've ingested in order to eliminate the water your body is retaining is also a good idea. Just get back to eating healthy without obsessing over what's happened. That's usually what I do, and it woks.

Most of that will probably be shed over the next week or so. But ya know what? savor the fun time and eating binge. Don;t feel bad about. Enjoy it, and savor it. A little indulgence is part of a happy life. But just get back to your normal ways and move on.

It's the only thing that keeps me sane.

You weren't bad! You just wanted to let go. Isn't that what vacations are for? I just got back from a week in Europe, part business and part personal time. I probably averaged more than 3,000 calories per day and have no regrets. Why on earth would I go to Vienna and not eat schnitzel, sachertorte, and Mozartkugel? Not to mention palatschinken, fresh croissants, wine and more wine?

The key is to get back into your eating routine, whatever that is, as soon as your plane lands. Or if you don't quite manage that, do it the next day.

F.

I think there's a saying that applies here:

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

There is no way you managed to gain 8 pounds of real weight. Much of the weight is probably water weight (water retention from salt and/or glycogen replenishment, especially if you have been eating low carb). Some of the weight is extra food in the pipeline. You may have gained about a pound of real weight, as you estimated.

Another possibility is just random fluctuation, which doesn't always have an easily identified source. Even though I am at maintenance, I fluctuate up and down a few pounds for no particular reason. Wait and see what the scale reads in another few days.

Don't beat yourself up over enjoying yourself on a special weekend. It's the long run and what you do on normal days that matter.

I love this post. Every time I read something like "it's only water; after all, it takes 3500 calories to add a pound of fat" I cringe. I'm definitely capable of eating that much once in a while, not necessarily limited to a single day. Getting back on plan is key, with no regrets and no guilty resolution to be "perfect" going forward.

Yes, over the following week, some of the weight did disappear.

It was hard to get back on my routine. I spent a few days after that being extremely hungry. Not at all like the hunger before that came from a calorie deficit, this was extremely ravenous hunger. Only in the past few days have I been able to feel like I've curbed it and turned things back around. Overall I'm up about 3 lbs. At my current weight loss rate, it will basically take a month to recover from that weekend.

I think I just can't eat like that for a while. Maybe it will be different when I'm in maintenance mode. Good thing I don't have another vacation like that planned. Until then, maybe once a year I can do this?

I think it's great for you to be thinking about maintenance and how you are going to deal with situations like that in the future. I'm far from being in maintenance, but i do indulge much more than once a year! Lol! Maybe if you eat a bit less than you did you can indulge more often without feeling so hungry in the next few days?!? I believe in weight loss that allows me to eat what i like and sometimes eat a bit more than usual in certain situations. What I can't
do is have an 8 or 80 mentality (restric a lot and the binge eat - that was my old pattern when trying to lose weight). Being flexible works for me ( or is to "to me"?). You'll just need to figure what works best for you, but i strongly believe my maintenance eating habits will have to include a fair share of indulging in certain occasions.

Oh no! Not the Benders!

Few have returned after a visit with the Benders:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders

Took until last week to lose the weight, fortunately not as long as I thought. I'm on track again! I'm not taking another vacation like that until I'm in maintenance mode.

Congratulations! Thanks for the update. Times will always come up when we eat extra, planned or not, and that is part of life that we don't want to miss. As long as that doesn't happen too often and we get back to a normal that works for us, it's all good!