Hello all!
I am feeling pretty depressed tonight. I began exercising about a week and a half ago, and am doing SO well at sticking with it. I lost 6 lbs the first week of working out! The problem? I went out of town to visit a friend, and for that day I threw my diet out the window. I came home the next morning, and my weight was up....FOUR POUNDS! So I was sad, but I did soooo good yesterday, and even today up until dinner. Ate too much for dinner, and now I dread the weigh in, because I feel sooo bad. I just don't know why and how I can gain 4 lbs from one "bad day", and if it's that easy to put weight back on, how am I ever going to be able to keep the weight off? Ugh!
Mostly, I think you need to keep a sceptical persective when it comes to weigh ins... only PARTIALLY believe them.
I will bet anything you didn't really gain 4 pounds in one day. Some of that could be for different and much more temporary reasons. And scales are strange creatures... honestly, I have weighed myself four times in a matter of a couple of hours and have gotten 3 or four different things. I'm pretty convinced I didn't lose or gain 2 pounds in an hour.
Don't base your plans or strength on one or two weigh ins. Keep doing what you're doing and keep the faith. It will keep going down. Even if it's 3 steps down, 1 step up, 4 steps down, 2 steps up.... it's still down overall! Hang in there!
To gain four pounds in a day you'd have to eat 14,000 calories... Did you by chance eat a lot of sodium? You could just be retaining water... I would chug down the water for a couple of days and you should be back on track. Cheer up!
Cassie - One pounds of fat is equal to 3500 calories. Unless you ate 14,000 calories I don't think you could have possibly gained four pounds in one day. If you went out to eat, the most likely cause is salt. Most restaurant food has TONS of sodium in it, which makes you retain water, which equals pounds on the scale. Give yourself a few days, drink plenty of water, and you will probably see those extra pounds come right back off. Don’t give up, and don’t let one meal or one weekend ruin all you have worked for so far. You have already lost 16 pounds – that is fantastic.
It was Chinese food.
Thanks girls, I KNOW that I didn't eat 14,000 calories... I just worry that I am not going to make it. I hope I can get back on track!
chinese food is probably the worst of all the high sodium foods... that and deli pickles (learned that one the hard way). I spoke to a nutritionist last week who told me water weight can fluctuate by as much as ten lbs in a given day, and to wiegh in at one set time, one day per week for the most consistent information.
hey girlie. i just started too. what i would say is that you are having more good days than bad so you don't want to give up. if you do, you'll have to start all over again. and do you really want to do that? 6 pounds is a lot and maybe your scale was off bc there is no way you can gain 4 pounds in a day. just stick with it. know that we are here for you. good luck.
Hold on Cassie, you can do it....we all have our good and bad days, the strength is in not dwelling on them or letting them steal our spirit. You are more than + or - 4 pounds...I know its so disheartening but this is an uphill battle and you cant let your emotiions get the better of you. Thats how most of us gained the weight in the first place right? You show that scale who is the boss!! You go GIrl! you can do it! We all can! Give that treadmill a run for its money!
Thank you so much, everyone! I have been working out and eating right these past few days, but that evil scale is still giving me trouble...I'll beat it though, I just know it!
You have gotten some really good advice, and it is probably just water weight or the scales were not right. Mine too show a big difference at times. I only weigh once a week now, too many fluctuations to weigh daily. keep your head up and stay focused and you will see that the weight will come off. Believe me, I didn't think I could do it either, but I have learned that I am much stronger than I originally thought. Good luck.
I eat low carb. It is a fantastic way to lose weight, but a lot of what you lose initially is water weight. So if you go off the diet for even one day you can gain back a tremendous amount of weight very quickly. I took the weekend off and my weight is up about 8 pounds from my lowest.
Discouraging, nerve wracking, but carbs, like dough or flour or salty foods tend to hold more water in your system than do things that are high protein, and low carb. The water weight leaves as easily as it comes. It isn't worth stressing about. One thing you can do is to take some Vitamin B6. That acts as a natural duretic, and it will help you drop the water weight quickly. That or eat low carb for a few days.
The B Vitamins should be eaten together since they assist each other, so make sure you take the B complex, not just B6 by itself.
One trick I read one time about weighing? It was to weigh every day, but not to accept any of the weights as the "real" one. What your "real" weight is, is the weekly average. Take all the weights, record them, add them together and then divide by the number of times you weighed. That way you can see a continuously downward trend, from week to week, and not have to get discouraged by temporary weight.
Feeling bad, needing support
So I was sad, but I did soooo good yesterday, and even today up until dinner. Ate too much for dinner, and now I dread the weigh in, because I feel sooo bad. I just don't know why and how I can gain 4 lbs from one "bad day", and if it's that easy to put weight back on, how am I ever going to be able to keep the weight off? Ugh!
I just worry that I am not going to make it. I hope I can get back on track!
