Question for those who have lost a lot of weight......

tbullucks06

Honestly I have just come off a fun but not at all on program weekend. I decided to look at the scale this morning to see where I was knowing it was probably going to be up. Wow! I should not have done that. It was up WAY MORE than expected. At any rate - for those who have lost a lot of weight. Please tell me you weren't perfect and you had cheat days??? More than one in a row maybe? I have a goal to meet by the end of the month (5 lbs) and after seeing the scale this morning I am worried I am not going to meet it even though I have been on program most of the month. Any feedback is appreciated!

grimendale

If you had an off-plan weekend, I suspect you went out, meaning you went over your sodium goals (restaurants are notorious for having a lot of salt), so you have likely retained water and refreshed your glycogen stores. Most of it isn't a real gain (some of it is, but hard to know how much). Most of us have gone off plan at one point or another (I know that I went way over during this past July 4th and even more so last St. Patrick's Day), but it hasn't hindered my losses long term. So long as you get back to what you were doing, the weight will come back off. I suspect a lot of what you gained will drop of in fairly quick order as you shed water and glycogen again. Don't let it worry you.

EdTheGinge

Oh I hate that term 'cheat day'. I was very strict with myself and actually I didn't, however since entering maintenance I have lost a bit still and that has been with some prolonged more relaxed days. Chances are that it'll all of gone by next week once you get back into your usual routine. We're allowed to enjoy ourselves.

Don't let a couple of dodgy days get you down.

jennifer_417

I've lost almost 40 lbs, and I've had plenty of "cheat days," on top of my planned high-calorie days.


ETA: Yeah, a good part of what you put on is probably water retention fronm sodium. Unless you actually ate however many lbs of food you gained?

scottgobuck

I have lost over 115 pound and in the process yes there were cheat days, although I dont call them that. The thing to remember is it is a long term and life stlye changing process. The second thing to remember is we all have to live and have fun as well so as long as you dont go crazy too often you will be fine

queenmolly68

I lost 135 lbs (before getting pregnant) and I allowed myself some "cheat foods" along the way. I never gave up my one vice...chocolate donuts. Not everyday, but once or twice a week. It's good to let yourself have something bad once in awhile, otherwise, you would never stick with it. That's my two cents.

divinenanny

I have days where I am not as strict. I don't log those days, but neither do I go overboard. This weekend for example, I had two BBQ's. I ate whatever I wanted, but stayed away from the pork, the fatty bits of the other meats, and just had a bit of everything. And I said no quite a bit. I was probably over my cals on both Saturday and Sunday, but still came out minus 1 kilo this week.
And I did the same thing while on holiday for 18 days a couple of weeks ago, came in right on target (my weight before the holiday was the same as when we got home).

So yeah, it is possible. I just have my relaxed days in moderation. Not too often, and I still try to be mindful of what I eat.

vingogly

People tend to add a moral quality to their diet by using terms like cheat days. Food isn't evil, and not following your "commandments" 100% isn't a sin. The language we use does matter, and can feed into the negative self-talk we have regarding food, our bodies, and our behavior. Like others here, I think "cheat day" is a terrible phrase.

What matters is your intake over a period of time, not one particular meal or one particular day (how much did you take in over the past week, say). And just as there are no "white magic" foods that will make you lose weight, there are no "black magic" foods that will make you gain weight.

There's a graph someone posted recently of his weight loss/gain over time; the overall trend was steadily down, but there were days where the weight fluctuated as much as 4-5 pounds. There are a lot of reasons for this: cheap scales, water retention, differences in bowel content.

Deipneus

I never had "cheat day". I try to be perfect. Since I'm not, sometimes I have imperfect days.

mattschwartz01

You know that you aren't alone out there and many people have strayed and swerved. The key is to developing a skill set that will prevent or at least minimize this tendency. The best advice I ever received was to log before I eat anything because it forced me to stop, think, and choose. Do I really want this? So much of our eating patterns are mindless and a one key is to make eating mindful.

tbullucks06

Thank you everyone for your words of wisdom. I guess I am just paranoid that it's going to demotivate me if I get on the scale of the 31st and have not lost the 5lbs. Truth is that no matter what the scale says I still need to keep on this journey. I can't quit. Bottom line.

kazsjourney

I have lost 183 pounds and no definitely not perfect I had many times were for even weeks or months were I struggled...you just have to persist. A lot of your increase on the scales is prolly water weight and will go quite quickly

carrieanthony

I tell you what ..... after eating clean for a couple of months, I decided to splurge and have Papa Johns this weekend and some ice cream.

O - M - G

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK.

My tummy CLEARLY didn't like that at ALL!!!!! Granted, I KNOW I overindulged but it reminded me exactly WHY I don't eat like that anymore!!

Oh, and I've lost almost 30 lbs. It's sodium that most of that weight is showing. Drink lots of water and things will even out in a couple of days.

lbs32724

I have lost 74 pounds now, a little over halfway to goal. I don't have or believe in cheat days. I do, however, indulge in certain things that I like best. A local Mexican restaurant, an occasional treat, but 99% of the time, I am at or below my calorie goal. It is still too scary to me to go full on back to old eating habits.

torymichaels

I have to totally agree with the whole "it's sodium" crowd. I'm on-again, off-again on this weightloss thing. I'm just coming off a months-long stall (which turned out to be because of a cardiac issue), but I've mostly returned to healthier eating, and Saturday...let's just say on Saturday I was really good friends with McDonalds and their french fries. Followed by Thai for dinner.

Was I surprised Sunday when I weighed and saw I'd gained a bit? Nope. My ring was tighter and I felt puffy. I didn't flush as much out yesterday as I intended (didn't drink enough, though there was a lot of water), and I expect it'll be a day or two before I drop back to where I was.

A few months ago, that would have horrified/upset me a lot. Now, I can take it with (pardon me) a grain of salt. :bigsmile: It's a process, and we all have those days. Just keep going. :happy: :happy: :happy:

jennygeo1

Thank you everyone for your words of wisdom. I guess I am just paranoid that it's going to demotivate me if I get on the scale of the 31st and have not lost the 5lbs. Truth is that no matter what the scale says I still need to keep on this journey. I can't quit. Bottom line.

I think what is more important is how do you feel? You've changed your habits these past few weeks - concentrate on those positive changes (higher energy level, clearer skin, feeling stronger from exercise). Don't watch the scale so much - it's stupid and it will make you paranoid.

Drink a lot of water to flush the sodium out of your system - that should help you out.

vingogly

Just saw this article on why people regain weight ... See in particular the section on the Diet Mentality.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/07/22/why-people-regain-weight/?intcmp=features

chezjuan

In with the sodium crowd. I travel a fair bit with my job and, when I was losing, noticed either a stall or gain after returning from a trip as I had to live mostly on restaurant/hotel foods (even if I kept within my calorie goals). That gain would generally drop off in a few days after resuming my normal eating patterns.

CipherZero

I've had off WEEKS before. It happens. What you do with it is entirely up to you.

Tinytaru

I often have cheat days... or cheat weeks :blushing:

oldandhealthier

I agree with the sodium group. One thing I like to point out is do not stress out over the calories for a day. Think in terms of week and average out your days. You do not gain or drop weight in a days time but what you do in a week. Relax, do not beat yourself up and make it harder on yourself.:flowerforyou:

carolyn0613

I don't watch my salt intake at all and eat processed foods (as well as more natural foods and fruit and veg!). ALso I am female and have hormonal contraception. All these mean that I can stall, lose, gain at complete random. My weight loss is definitely not a straight line down, but it is definitely a downward trend. I recently gained 5lbs from hormones. Three weeks later I was back where I had calculated I'd be (2lb down). If you know that you are eating under your maintenance calories you will lose weight. It might be hidden for a while but will come out in the end!

palmerar

It is totally normal to have an off day or weekend. Making good choices can be taxing sometimes. Even if we lose a ton of weight, there will always be Holidays and vacations and weekends with friends, as there very well should be, and everyone should enjoy them. The true test of commitment is whether you can let the indulgences become a once in a while thing, and get right back to healthy habits, instead of letting them become a major incident that steers you off course.

JenX15

I never had "cheat day". I try to be perfect. Since I'm not, sometimes I have imperfect days.

QFT

tbullucks06

You all are soooo awesome! I feel so much better. Truthfully I knew it wasn't a true gain but I let that scale screw with my head. I usually only weigh once a month to see if I met my 5 lb goal but after the off weekend I had I "thought" it would motivate me to get in gear since I only have a week and a half left to meet my goal. It scared the hell out of me for a minute!!! Thanks again everyone and congrats on your fantastic losses!

mommarobb

I also ate the term "cheat". Using this word makes it seem like you are doing something wrong. In life, we will eat out, have junk food, go on vacation and eat at restaurants.
2 weeks ago, we had a great reason to celebrate our family. We let the kids make the decision as to where we would go for dinner...chinese. Can we say sodium, glazed sauces and deep fried heaven??? and buffet to boot. I went online before eating out and checked out some dishes for calories. I found out that one of my faves clocked in at 1400 cals. So I was very aware of what I was putting in my mouth that night, went over my cals by about 200. And that was ok as I could have easily done 3000 lol. But then I felt like crap. I started bloating, my feet even swelled. I said I felt like I had gained 5 lbs. Hubby suggested I should weigh myself in the morning. I did... +2lbs :noway: I didn't stress, ate very healthy that day and drank gallons of water. 2 days later the extra weight was gone.
I guess the moral is live life, fit the foods you love into your daily intake and don't be to hard on yourself for going outside of your lifestyle once in awhile. I always look at that before I started our healthier lifestyle I wouldn't have worried about eating out, not exercising and putting on a few pounds. being aware of the choices we make and how it effects us is an accomplishment itself.

Good luck on your journey

A_Fit_Mom

I am down 32 pounds and yes, I have days where I go over. I want this to be long term, so I knew I would not be able to stay under my calories every single day for the rest of my life. So I have at least one day a week, where I go over. Usually about 500 over or so.


Now I exercise a lot, so most of the time..I workout before I know I will be going out. So the 500 over is usually on a non exercise day.

PheonixRizing

Reality is that sometimes you have off days. Having "cheat days" in my opinion is creating an exception so I don't think of it like that. I don't give myself specific "cheat days". For example this past saturday I went over 200 calories. We were camping and I went over a bit, I knew I might and accepted it and tried to be reasonable. I also knew there were plenty of days in the previous week that I ate at a deficit so with that in mind when I realized I went over a bit on Saturday I didn't beat myself up, and you shouldn't either. You will meet your goals you just have to keep in mind that you also get only 1 life, so enjoy it, be reasonable, and have fun.

Cheers,

Tess

looking4au

Yes, I am also with the sodium crowd. there might be a pound or two of actual gain there, but don't stress to much over it. I know everyone is different when it comes to accountability and weighing. For me, I can only weigh myself once a week. The scale was determining how I was going to feel that day. If I saw an increase I would get discouraged and eat badly that day. Ya, I know it doesn't make since. but, it was the mindset of gosh, I worked this hard and I still gained. I might as well enjoy myself. My point being, do the right thing, exercise, eat right and trust it is going to come off and stay off the scale. It has worked for me. Good luck.

w2bab

I weigh every day, and chart my progress. Usually a spike in my weight is salt-related and it takes 2-3 days to drop back down, but all I have to do is look at the graph of my progress to remind myself that my weight always comes back down. Hang in there.

ProgressNotPerfection32

My cheat days are exactly why I've lost only 65 pounds in 2 years and 3 months. I do not regret those cheat days but the closer I get to my goal the more they hurt me. Maybe instead of a cheat day or weekend you could just have 1 day where you have something that's off the plan?