Who Gained Weight During The Holidays? I Have A Solution!!!
WinoGelato
Posts: 13,454 Member
I sure have noticed a lot of threads the last week or so with people concerned about all the weight they gained over Christmas, and wanting to get back on track for the New Year. Never fear, I have a solution - it's called the PP Program.
What is the PP Program you ask? Well it's simple.
Perspective + Patience = PP
Let's start with Perspective. This has two critical components.
First, Perspective about the holidays themselves. In mid-December, there were so many threads about how people were dreading Christmas and what it was going to do to their diet and worrying they were going to undo all their progress. Christmas is supposed to be a joyful time! It comes once a year - and it is filled with so many wonderful things - and one of those wonderful things are food traditions. It is sad how many people are dreading something that should be so enjoyable! After Christmas, I've counted dozens of threads of people regretting their eating/drinking choices during the holidays, talking about throwing out food and never doing this again. Seriously - perspective people!
Now let's talk about the numbers Perspective. Does everyone remember that it takes 3,500 extra calories ABOVE Maintenance in order to gain 1 pound of fat? Did all of you who are lamenting your choices during the holidays log what you ate? Even guesstimating? I did. I ate and drank everything I wanted, and then some, for an entire week (we had a lot of celebrations and a lot of leftovers!). I was over my calorie target every single day - nothing but red for the entire week. OMG, can you imagine seeing all that red? EEEK! Guess what the weekly overage was? 3,657 calories. That's right. With indulging to my heart's content, by logging what I thought I was consuming, I realized that I really didn't go over that much. That's about 1 pound of true fat gain, even if my estimates were way off, I know they weren't off by a factor of 5. Perspective!
What's that you say? You've been weighing yourself and you gained 10 pounds? Who here ate a lot of sodium rich, carbohydrate heavy foods during the holidays. Oh yeah - everyone, right? That's what holiday meals are made of. Guess what - those things cause a big spike in water retention. You know what happens with weight gain from water retention? It goes away in time...
Which brings me to the second P. Patience. Everyone just needs to take a breath and be patient. You didn't put on all your initial weight over night, you didn't lose your weight over night, and you didn't put on 10 lbs in 3 days at Christmas. Things will normalize, you just need to be Patient.
But wait, I'm not done yet! You know how you get rid of water weight? You drink a lot of water (I know, sounds counter intuitive) and guess what you do? You go Pee Pee!!!! And the more you go Pee Pee, the faster you'll lose that water weight and the faster things will return to normal.
So just to recap:
Patience + Perspective = the PP Program. (And in the meantime, if you can go PP, it will help!)
Now, who's ready for New Years!?
What is the PP Program you ask? Well it's simple.
Perspective + Patience = PP
Let's start with Perspective. This has two critical components.
First, Perspective about the holidays themselves. In mid-December, there were so many threads about how people were dreading Christmas and what it was going to do to their diet and worrying they were going to undo all their progress. Christmas is supposed to be a joyful time! It comes once a year - and it is filled with so many wonderful things - and one of those wonderful things are food traditions. It is sad how many people are dreading something that should be so enjoyable! After Christmas, I've counted dozens of threads of people regretting their eating/drinking choices during the holidays, talking about throwing out food and never doing this again. Seriously - perspective people!
Now let's talk about the numbers Perspective. Does everyone remember that it takes 3,500 extra calories ABOVE Maintenance in order to gain 1 pound of fat? Did all of you who are lamenting your choices during the holidays log what you ate? Even guesstimating? I did. I ate and drank everything I wanted, and then some, for an entire week (we had a lot of celebrations and a lot of leftovers!). I was over my calorie target every single day - nothing but red for the entire week. OMG, can you imagine seeing all that red? EEEK! Guess what the weekly overage was? 3,657 calories. That's right. With indulging to my heart's content, by logging what I thought I was consuming, I realized that I really didn't go over that much. That's about 1 pound of true fat gain, even if my estimates were way off, I know they weren't off by a factor of 5. Perspective!
What's that you say? You've been weighing yourself and you gained 10 pounds? Who here ate a lot of sodium rich, carbohydrate heavy foods during the holidays. Oh yeah - everyone, right? That's what holiday meals are made of. Guess what - those things cause a big spike in water retention. You know what happens with weight gain from water retention? It goes away in time...
Which brings me to the second P. Patience. Everyone just needs to take a breath and be patient. You didn't put on all your initial weight over night, you didn't lose your weight over night, and you didn't put on 10 lbs in 3 days at Christmas. Things will normalize, you just need to be Patient.
But wait, I'm not done yet! You know how you get rid of water weight? You drink a lot of water (I know, sounds counter intuitive) and guess what you do? You go Pee Pee!!!! And the more you go Pee Pee, the faster you'll lose that water weight and the faster things will return to normal.
So just to recap:
Patience + Perspective = the PP Program. (And in the meantime, if you can go PP, it will help!)
Now, who's ready for New Years!?
388
Replies
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I love this. Thanks!!!4
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I was way more indulgent than usual last week yet saw a new low on the scale this morning
17 -
Love the explanation! Makes me feel a
Lot better. Thankyou
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Great post!3
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I ate all the things, logged nothing, and I'm still a metric f-ton lighter than I was 6 months ago. Life is good.
If one can overcome the results of years of overeating, then worrying about the effects of a single day or week seems ridiculous.30 -
I ate all the things, logged nothing, and I'm still a metric f-ton lighter than I was 6 months ago. Life is good.
If one can overcome the results of years of overeating, then worrying about the effects of a single day or week seems ridiculous.
Yup. It's not like I was going to gain back 70 pounds over three days of Christmas eating.17 -
Awesome post!! Thanks that was what I needed.
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29 -
Great post, thank you1
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Great post1
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Love it! I am waiting until Jan 1st to weigh myself so I can give the water weight a chance to go away, then it is onward and downward!12
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Excellent post, thank you!!0
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Great post...now if all the people would read it...3
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Yup. But then us regulars are the ones reading all the threads and not just posting our own panic stricken ones...........
In other news, taking a diet break and a few days logging break has me renewed and remotivated. Best thing I've done to remotivate myself in months!17 -
AND I'm all full of the starchy carbs I don't usually eat as much of so am able to work out like a beast. Yay!2
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You are a good egg, Kruggs1
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Woo! The Hubster and I completed our week of Christmas festivities with some serious exercise (a 50k), so I know where a good chunk of the 10lbs came from.
It is always nice, though, to be reminded of the two Ps! Thanks!0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Yup. But then us regulars are the ones reading all the threads and not just posting our own panic stricken ones...........
In other news, taking a diet break and a few days logging break has me renewed and remotivated. Best thing I've done to remotivate myself in months!
I was already in maintenance, so mine wasn't really a "diet break" but I definitely relaxed my attitude for the last week or so about what I was consuming. Going into it, I was actually below the bottom of my maintenance range, so I knew I had a buffer, and now I'm 2 lbs up from that lowest point, which is still at the bottom of my range. I'm actually kicking myself that I could have eaten more!!! Oh well, that's what New Year's is for.
7 -
Patience + Perspective = the PP Program. (And in the meantime, if you can go PP, it will help!)
Good post overall, and lol ^^ ((Yes, I did really laugh out loud at a potty pun...))2 -
the holidays were my last big hurrah before getting serious about watching it! I actually did better this time then I usually do, but a cookie, is a cookie and I had them here and there! A cookie doesn't hurt, but what is hard is to stop at just one. They tell me that is what slim people do....stop at one
Seriously?? 
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Thanks for the explanation. I enjoy reading articles like this. People get the facts, not just the numbers on the scale.0
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I love a good PP in the morning. Fun post. I will drink alot on NYE but not water. Wish me luck. 0
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best thing I've read all day, thanks!!!1
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Awesome post3
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Awesome post is awesome. My weight has been all over the map this last week, but when I jumped on this morning, I was at a new low. I am 1lb off of losing my first (official) 40lb. I didn't log Christmas day, but have logged all others. I enjoyed myself. Stuffed my face full of all the foods and enjoyed every bite of it. Back on track (mostly) the next day. Perspective and patience is something we all need! They can both be challenging at times. Despite knowing why my scale was being a jerk, as the week wore on, I was beginning to worry. Thank you for this reminder.
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Great post! In my head I know all of this, but seeing a bigger number on the scale is still painful, that's why I'm staying off of it for a few days!3
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Great advice!0
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Excellent.2
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