After an "excess" week

keekie01

Hi all,

I've been logging my food religiously for the past month or so (a bit more sporadically before that) and have been maintaining well. However, I recently had a birthday and have been eating in excess, well over maintenance, for a week with the "it's my birthday" justification.

I'm feeling fine about having had a week like this, but I'm not sure if I should be lowering my calories for the next little while, or if I should just go back to maintenance calories. The scales tell me I'm 3.5-4.5lb up, but I'm not sure if some of this is temporary.

I appreciate any advice - thanks in advance

Azuriaz

I did the same thing recently. It's called a birthday, but it was a whole birthday week of crap food choices and weight gain for me. I opted to drop my calories significantly because I have something planned the first weekend of October. But I am starting to feel like total crap, so I'll probably give up and be sensible and patient and go with a sane deficit. So yeah, if you don't want to feel lousy you're probably better off just getting back on track.

Stupid birthdays. I think next year I'll just ignore the whole thing!

keekie01

Happy birthday! For some reason, I view it as a bit of a birthday week too...gotta stretch these things out!
And yeah, you do feel a bit rubbish by the end of it hey. I've got heartburn atm actually which is driving me nuts.
What sort of deficit are you looking at?

TripZeros

I raise my calories to the ".5lbs loss per week" setting every so often. The last time was for my son's birthday over Labor Day weekend. I'll do again for Halloween. I have my week of fun, then set it back to "1.5 lbs loss per week." I also don't step on the scale for about a week, or so, especially if I've eaten a lot of high sodium foods. I usually gain around 5 lbs of water weight, but after lowering calories back to my normal dieting range, things balance out again. I wouldn't recommend eating less than usual, just get back on track . You'll be fine!

Azuriaz

keekie01 wrote: »

Happy birthday! For some reason, I view it as a bit of a birthday week too...gotta stretch these things out!
And yeah, you do feel a bit rubbish by the end of it hey. I've got heartburn atm actually which is driving me nuts.
What sort of deficit are you looking at?

Happy birthday to you as well. I won't even say how many calories I'm eating. It's stupidly severe. No harm for a short time period, but blech. I'd rather have more energy to be on my bike I guess. I shouldn't have gained this weight back if I didn't want to lose it slowly. Sad that I gain it literally four times faster than I can sensibly lose it!

PinkPixiexox

I'm not on maintenance yet (nearly!) but I've already planned for situations like this which is almost identical wto what TripZeros suggested.

If I do happen to have a bit of an 'over the top' week, I'd simply drop my calories to the range where I would lose around 0.5 per week and then weigh myself a week later to see how I'm getting on. Once I'm back in my 'happy range', I'd set myself back on maintenance. These things happen! Enjoy them and just adapt to what you do!

leahcollett1

can i just also input, i went on an all inclusive holiday a week ago i put on 8lbs in just that week.. i ate stupidly copious amounts of crap food and food loused in oil, but i loved every moment, this week, looking like a 5lbs loss. thats a little more than half gone. which im happy with - its just a temporary gain from the salt you consume and will shift.

MommyL2015

I recently went on vacation for a week and while I did try to log everything, I really didn't care what I ate and indulged for the week. Ate at touristy overpriced spots, lots of junk and alcohol in the evenings. Not to mention the extravagant sugary mixed drinks I had when out, most likely with enough calories for a medium-sized meal. When I got home, the scale was up 6 pounds. Once I let a week go by, it went back down and I was up maybe 1/2 pound, if that. Just give yourself a few days back on track and I'll bet the scale goes back down.

My birthday was two weeks ago and I went out to eat, but just that once. Birthdays for me are like a rash. Annoying and I can't wait until it's gone. LOL

keekie01

Thanks everyone for your help!! I will definitely wait a week until I weigh myself now, and I think I'll just stick with a little bit under maintenance (too low and I'm sure I'll just have a blowout anyway). Good to know it does tend to balance out