I just got back from the weekly weigh-in, and, as expected, the downward spiral of my plan to lose this weight has begun. I gained 1.5 pounds this week. I knew I had done poorly this week because I had a houseguest, which means going out to eat all the time. I know it's all my fault that I gained. I should have been more careful selecting food at restaurants. But, whatever the reason for my increase in fatness, I sort of knew this was inevitable. I feel like such a failure. I want to quit and give up and just learn to live with being fat.
Look at your signature; you already met your first goal early. Is that failure? You know how to lose. OK, you had a bad week, made some wrong decisions. We all do it sometimes. Now you know the price you'll pay for those decisions. It sounds like you knew beforehand, though, and made those choices anyway.
This doesn't have to be the beginning of a failure spiral. Call it a bump in the road. Learn to live with the bumps and get back on the success path- if you think you are going to fail, you will fail. Up a pound or two is hardly a disaster. If you go read some of the threads in the Maintainers Forum, you'll see that these are the kinds of choices and issues that you'll need to learn to deal with for your lifetime, not just until you get to that magic goal weight number. We all have meals/days/weeks that we regret later, but it's how how deal with it after the fact that really matters.
You aren't a failure! Don't let one week destroy your confidence. You've done a great job so far
When I started this new diet, I had a feeling that I wouldn't in the long run make it. After all, I never had before, so why should this time be any different? But on the other hand, I took the view that this was going to be a long process, and that if I did have an occasional slip up, that was okay because I would just climb back on the horse and ride again.
If you assume that a bad week is the start of a long spiral downwards, you're going to make yourself right. At my diet site I have a tip page that contains the follow advice "Be flexible: Have a bad meal? Day? Week? Month? Life happens. Pick up where you left off, and soldier on." You have to decide for yourself which attitude makes the most sense for you.
Sometimes when I get discouraged, I remind myself of why I wanted to lose weight in the first place. Write down all the reasons you want to lose. Keep that list. Look at it from time to time. See how things have improved since you've lost weight. You don't have to do it publically like I do at my site, but I do believe that doing it somewhere is a very good idea.
Think about it. Is being fat *really* acceptable to you?
I apologize for sounding frustrated or rude but SUCK IT UP!!! You've lost 20 pounds and that is awesome. Why would you let go of the benefits of losing 20 pounds for one bad week? If this is going to be your attitude everytime you have a bad week then you will not maintain your weight. Losing weight is a challenge and a struggle everyday. Unfortunately some of those bad habits resurface and we fall off the wagon, but you are making it too easy to stay off.
Think about what you did wrong this week and correct those things for next week and move on .
It could have been worse - it could be 3 or 4 pounds. It is 1.5 pounds and you know exactly what to do to get it off and more.
I agree with Mel! And I love her quote in her signature. I think 20lbs is GREAT!
My first week of Weight Watchers, I GAINED 3lbs! The next three weeks afterwards, I flip-flopped between gaining half a pound and losing half a pound. And I did the program perfectly all four weeks. Who knows what caused the weight gain and weird fluctations. But then this past week, I lost 6lbs. Our bodies are real funny that way. And I say 1.5lbs is no big deal! It could be water (resturant food is LOADED with sodium!!) or maybe you weighed in when you had food in your stomach or were bloated. Being bloated can make me APPEAR to gain about 5lbs at the end of the day. It could be anything and you may surprise yourself at your next weigh-in.
If you're working out alot, especially with strength training, you're bound to gain some or stay level because you're gaining muscle. I certainly don't use the scale as my only predictor of my success. Those numbers are tricky little devils.
I also go by measurements, how I feel, how my clothes fit and oddly enough, how much farther away from my steering wheel I'm getting! Silly I know, but it helps when I get in and see my stomach is a few more inches away from it. It's a good feeling and reinforces my weight loss everytime I look down. You can come up with your own gauges too.
Everyday is new day. Heck, every hour is new hour. So you have a fattening lunch. You have half the day left. So you eat "badly" all day long. It's one day. If you eat bad all week, accept your choices and the outcome and begin a new week with a fresh slate. Forget the gain, it doesn't matter. Weight loss is NOT linear and we all gain when we don't understand how or why as well as situations like yours where we didn't make healthy choices.
It's not very motivating to see the scale say you gained, but look at the big picture of your successes in your journey to good health that have nothing to do with numbers. Have you weeded out junk food? Sugary drinks? Have you had better water intake? Do you make more good choices than bad? Etc, etc. Write them down and stick them on the fridge if you need to so you can look at how well you're doing everytime you reach for food or drinks. That, to me, is just as motivating as numbers when I see in black and white what kind of change I'm capable of and how far along the path I really am, despite what the scale says.
I've only lost 30lbs in 6 months, but I've made SO many great changes to my attitude and my lifestyle that I feel the slow (and sometimes unsteady) loss is worth it as no journey that ever reaches its destination starts out at full steam. You are bound to run out of fuel fast! I mean, 1lb per week is still 52lbs in a year and 104 in two years. That time will pass wether you lose weight or not, so you might as well make the best of it. That notion has helped me greatly. I'd rather spend three years losing weight than to lose 30 years off my life because my weight caused me to die young. And at my current weight, that is very possible.
Here is some to help you get back on track
Some of these to cheer you up
And a toast to your successes and victories and all that will most certainly come to you in the near future
Stop that! First of all, there's no way to tell if your gain is an actual "gain" or just some normal fluctuaction we all experience from time to time. As I said to another poster, weight loss is a lot like stocks...the numbers fluctuate up and down, give us a little scare once in a while when they go the wrong way, but as long as the overall trend is in the right direction, that's what counts in the end.
Weight loss, changin lifestyles, getting in shape etc, is not about perfection, it's about constistency. A bad meal, a bad day, a bad week even does not have to equal failure. So, it might take you an extra week or two to get to goal. Or it might take you an extra month or two or three. So what? The important thing is that you're on track 90% of the time. The important thing is to not let a few indulgences turn into daily indulgences and to get back on track. In the end, the weight will come off, even with a "bad" meal here and there.
Giving up now just because of one bad week would be silly. You've already proven you can do this. You don't have to resign yourself to being fat forever. Noone does. The road to goal can be a bumpy one for sure, but as long as you keep walking forwards, you will reach the end of it. So, dust yourself off, and keep walking lady!
Just start again. Everyone has a bad day/week, heck maybe even a month. I should know I have done it and I am soooooooooo mad at myself afterwards but then I just try to start it all over again the next morning.
YOU CAN DO IT! Look how far you have come already (your photos are great by the way don't get depressed, don't be upset - just say OK, I oopsied but I can and will do this!
I know you're all right. I know that one bad weekend doesn't have to mean that I will fail ultimately. Logically, I know this is true. I'm just disappointed with myself and am feeling really low, that's all. I wish my heart would catch up with my head.
And some of the things you've pointed out have made sense, too. It's close to TOM, so i'm a bit bloated (and emotional ) lately. I haven't been drinking enough water, and I had salt over the weekend, which I hadn't had in weeks.
And you're also right about the good stuff too. I have made more good choices than bad. I have lost 19 pounds. I have cleaned all the junk food out of my house. I can fit into smaller clothes. I have felt happier since I started eating better and working out. I have made a meal plan for this week.
These are successes, after all, regardless of the number on the scale. I guess it just scares me because, so far, this has been the only plan that has worked for me. I've tried loads (as probably most people here have done) of different plans, only to fail everytime. I just really want this to work this time. That being said, it's not the plan that failed me---I failed me by making the wrong decisions over the weekend. And I can't get back in time to make better decisions, so I guess my only option is to change my mindset and make better decisions in the upcoming days. The plan definitely won't work if I quit.
Thanks for being patient with me. Since I've begun, I've been losing consistently. This is my first setback, and I've overreacted. Thanks for helping me see the good things that I've done and remember that I still have control over what I eat from now on. I appreciate your help.
I also don't want to sound like I'm chastising you, but didn't you just yesterday post pictures and have 15 or more people tell you how good you look? Were they all wrong?
If you admittedly did poorly over the last week with food choices and exercise and you gained 1.5 pounds, how do you think I feel? I've gained 1.5 pounds since SUNDAY (I weigh daily). And I haven't had one "bad" or "off" day since I started my program in earnest in February. I've stayed true to my program.
It could be anything, as so many have said above. The body is a complex machine.
I'm not going to let it bother me unless I see a definite trend. A steady, undeniable climb upwards over a MUCH longer period of time. But you know what? I'm don't think that's going to happen. Because I'm going to remain as true to my program as I can and I'm going to acknowledge that weight loss/management/redistribution whatever does not necessarily happen in a neat straight line.
You have lost more than I have so far (and I believe in less time than I have). A 1.5 pound uptick? Pfffft. It'll take far more than that to derail me. How about you?
I'm glad that you are feeling a little better..anyways..do you really think that you would be happy "learning to live to be fat". No, I don't think so or you wouldn't be trying so hard now to lose the weight. You deserve to be happy...and if you were to give up now then a few months from now or so you would just come back and say that you needed to lose the weight that you gained back because you gave up and then you would be really depressed. ..so the scale is either going to go up or down or stay the same..it's your choice. ..but I'm glad to see that you are in a better mind frame. It happens to us all. You just have to work through it..and know that there are better days ahead..yayayay!
Hey, Selena, setbacks are just part of the process. They won't be so upsetting if you just think of them as planned detours. This way they are not a surprise ,nor a disappointment, just part of the process.
You've been doing so great, don't let guilt bring you down.
and the failure begins...
to help you get back on track
to cheer you up 
don't get depressed, don't be upset - just say OK, I oopsied but I can and will do this! 
) lately. I haven't been drinking enough water, and I had salt over the weekend, which I hadn't had in weeks. 
