Gained 10 real pounds over holidays and lost my mojo :(

Jeanette212

Hello ,

Whoops, I typed a long thing and lost it. Take two!

This is my first time posting, but I've been lurking for a while, and have been consistently logging for the last 10 months. I am 29 years old, 5'2", and up to 134 pounds. I am breastfeeding an 11 month old, and my starting weight was 155 pounds.

I lost all my weight eating 2250 calories. I average 10,000 steps a day, and recently graduated a couch to 5k, and now am running 5k 3 times a week. I recently dropped my calories to 2100 since the baby is getting older, but I've been so hungry it is physically painful .

My weight was down to 124 before thanksgiving. I went a little wild over the last 6 weeks, and gained 10 back. I was hoping it was water weight, but I was on track all last week and it all stayed, so I think it's legit. I'm beyond discouraged, my weight is back to what it was in September and I feel like I lost 4 months of progress. Any advice or words of encouragement would be wonderful!

dws00

I hear ya, 15 for me. Tough getting back into it.

CattOfTheGarage

You didn't gain 10lb. You lost 21lb. Start from where you are, not where you think you "ought" to be.

kristikitter

OK, it's better to think about what you've achieved and what you're working with. Your activity level is amazing, your previous weight loss is fantastic, and you are bf a l/o - which is no mean feat in itself. Probably also why you're hungry!

I wonder if it will be more helpful to you to focus on inches/measurements, rather than scale weight?

jenilla1

Maybe think of it this way - you simply took a short break for the holidays, and now you're gonna get back on track! Most of your progress is still intact. There may be some bumps along the way, but as long as the overall trend keeps heading downward in the long-run, you'll get to goal. You got this!

Titoki1

Wow, sounds like you're doing amazingly well, congratulations! I guess it's just a long process of learning these lessons. We've all been learning them over and over - that's why we're here. And one day they'll stick! I reckon those pounds are going to come off much quicker than they did the first time - you have some fantastic habits in place!

PAV8888

I am confused! You've done everything right. Posted amazing progress. Took some time off for six weeks. And are now disappointed?

I would be elated that at the cost of only 10lbs you are WAY further ahead than where you were six weeks ago.

Why are you further ahead?

Because you discovered a problem while still planning to lose weight, and so caught it earlier than you woud otherwise.

And the problem was, drumroll, that you still have to seriously work on your maintenance!

A few things.

Guessing and wondering about waterweight: Why are you not using a trending weight app or website?

Hungry. Have you reevaluated your desired rate of loss? What is your tdee? At your weight a 20% deficit off of tdee would probably be the suggested max. This probably means 0.5 to 1lb a week, not more.

Satiation. Time to play with what you eat. And do so while keeping in mind what you chose to eat when not restricting. Cause you have to figure out how you're going to keep this up long term... and a 1.5lb a week overage (about 750 Cal a day) these past six weeks argues that you have some work to do to figure out long term sustainable food choices within your caloric budget!

So don't be disappointed.

Be happy at the low cost of the warning lesson and bask in the knowledge that you have both done good so far and are, in reality, much further ahead than you were six weeks and 10lbs ago.

LivingtheLeanDream

I think you are being too hard on yourself. Once you get back to eating at deficit again that gain will be history.

trigden1991

It is likely that a good proportion of that weight is water. Get back into a deficit and you'll see it gone in no time.

Jeanette212

Thank you all for your positive responses, it was just what I needed to hear!

checkmatekingtwo

I'm in the same situation. THANK YOU everyone who gave the original poster encouragement, it gave me encouragement as well.

I didn't just fall off the wagon for the holidays, I made a giant leap off. I didn't weigh myself for a month or do any logging and I stopped much of my walking program. I had lost 44 pounds prior to the holidays. When I finally had the nerve to get back on the scale, I had gained EIGHTEEN POUNDS!!!!! Yikes.

But in just one week of getting back on track, I've already shed ten of those pounds. So, much of that weight gain was just water/glycogen/whatever gain. I'm trying to focus on the overall progress... YES, I have lost 36 pounds since last summer. And I will lose more before next summer ... no more major wagon falls!

red99ryder

I went up over holidays as well .. took a little longer to come off that I thought it would .. your doing great

Good luck

SisterSueGetsFit

Just keep up the hard work, you've done great so far so don't let a little slip derail you! (giving myself the same advice...)

Francl27

You're not alone! Just focus on making tasty, satisfying meals within your calories.