Easier to gain weight than lose weight.

swhiteism

I started this journey 4/7/18 and have lost 17-18 lbs. I don't do cheat meals because I've found it's generally easier for me to stay on track when I avoid stuff I shouldn't have daily. However, some things are unavoidable. Around the middle of April, I had to attend a child's birthday party at a pizza place. I kept it light and ate 1 slice of pizza and a small salad with mushrooms, a few other veggies, no cheese, and low fat dressing. I was 186 at the time and went back up to 188. It took me almost a week to get back down to 186.

This past Mother's Day, I had to go Texas Roadhouse with my family and then ended up going again within the same week to have dinner with my boyfriend's family. Both times, I ate the same thing. A 6 oz sirloin, fresh vegetables, and mashed potatoes, and 1 bread roll without the butter. I went from 174 to 177 the next day. All these times I was well within my calorie budget and even 200 calories or so below during the first dinner because I knew in advance. I told myself it was bloating and I suppose it is but I weighed myself today and I'm at 175, and that's after killing myself in the gym for 30 extra minutes than I'm used to. 2 whole days after I'd had time to de-bloat, drink water and sleep it off? Where did my other 1 pound go and why can't I get it back?

So you mean to tell me that I can stay under my calories, work out consistently, drink as much water as I'm supposed to and one bad meal (that's really not even that bad) can set me back 3 lbs? This is beyond annoying and has me thinking about long term when I am at my ideal weight and just want to enjoy dinner and normal activities with my friends and family. If I eat out several times in the same week, am I gonna gain 10 lbs?

I know the whole science of 3,000 calories to burn or gain a pound but if that's the case, I should still be losing, not backtracking, because again, I didn't even go over my calories. Grrr. Feel like saying *kitten* it.

vallary14

Restaurant food is typically higher in sodium and will cause bloating. My other advice would be to not weigh yourself after you have a dinner out, wait at least a few days.

vallary14

Also don’t give up! It sounds like overall you’re making progress.

apullum

It’s water weight, and possibly a greater amount of undigested food than usual if you ate a larger meal. This fluctuation is normal if you eat more carbs/sodium/etc. than you usually do. I’m in maintenance and my scale usually goes up 3 or 4 pounds after a few restaurant meals. It goes away a few days later. It’s not a setback, and honestly, you’re going to make yourself miserable if you think of it that way.

skelterhelter

You and I are making the same strides (started around the same time and lost the same amount of weight). It gets very hard at times, and sometimes I wanna throw in the towel too. But then I think about how much better I feel mentally and even physically (weight loss is slow, but my heart palpitations have nearly disappeared, and I no longer get blood sugar drops). Try to think of the good things you're getting out of your journey when you feel like giving up. And you will have bad days, even bad weeks. But if you keep at it, I think you will see progress. Good luck...it's not easy!

serindipte

You did not gain 3lbs of fat over night. Weight naturally fluctuates. You may not have yet passed all that you would from that meal. You may have been retaining water due to sodium content or it may have just been a natural fluctuation in weight.

seska422

apullum wrote: »

It’s water weight, and possibly a greater amount of undigested food than usual if you ate a larger meal. This fluctuation is normal if you eat more carbs/sodium/etc. than you usually do. I’m in maintenance and my scale usually goes up 3 or 4 pounds after a few restaurant meals. It goes away a few days later. It’s not a setback, and honestly, you’re going to make yourself miserable if you think of it that way.

This.

I'm at maintenance as well and this is what my current weight trend chart looks like with one or two restaurant meals per week:




It's the trend over time that matters, not day-to-day weight or even week-to-week. If you do what you need to do calorie-wise over the long term, the results will follow.

mikaila96

It sounds like you may be developing an unhealthy relationship with the scale. There’s no reason to weigh yourself so frequently (sounds like every day or at least every other day). Weigh yourself once a week under the same circumstances (morning before breakfast, before bed, whatever), maybe even every other week. Weighing yourself so frequently just amplifies the effect of the natural weight fluctuations we all experience throughout the day, week, etc. based on a LOT of non-diet (or at least non-calorie-dependent) factors.

Francl27

3500 calories for a pound. Restaurant food has a lot of sodium, which leads to water retention.

lorrpb

Daily weighing and logging in a trending app helps you learn about normal fluctuations like water, TOM, travel, etc. and still see your long term trend. It is not unhealthy as suggested above.