Never lose holiday weight?!

izzienelsonn

this kind of sounds like a stupid thing to say but i’m usually pretty good at maintaining my weight (even though i’m trying to lose weight) but as soon as i go on holiday i gain 5-10lbs in a week and can never shift it when i come home and get back into my normal routine? I went to amsterdam in the 2nd week of august and gained 5lbs in a week, then maintained until the last week of august when i went to Spain and gained 10lbs in a week and then i went to amsterdam in the middle of november and gained 10lbs in 5 days. I enjoy myself on holiday but i didn’t think i was eating so much i was actually gaining this weight.

Usually if i gain weight from holiday, it goes as quickly as it came and the rest of the time i manage to maintain pretty easily. this summer i’ve gained weight each time i went away and not lost it after even when i’ve gone back to eating normally. Am i really eating soo much on holiday and eating the same amount after that its not waterweigjt/ from sodium and it is infact actual fat gain?? Hope this makes sense and somebody can help. thank you

Duck_Puddle

Are you logging your foods? My perception of how much I eat and my reality are almost never the same.

I typically gain a few (actual) pounds on vacation myself. I will lose it when I start eating fewer calories than I burn. I need to log my food to confirm how much I’m eating to make sure I’m eating fewer calories than I burn.

cwolfman13

Have you done the math? You'd have to consume 35,000 calories over maintenance to gain 10 actual pounds in a week. Are you actually tracking calories? If you're gaining all of that weight then I think you're eating more than you think you are in general, not just on holiday.

amy19355

OP: your post eliminates any details about how you have so far managed to keep your weight at target.

I'd suggest what others have said about logging your food so you can be sure you are looking at the reality of your way of eating.

For a month, weigh/measure all the things you eat /drink and log them in MFP or some other app that you might prefer.

Weigh yourself weekly, and at the end of the month have a fresh review of your situation. I'm pretty sure you'll have enough data in hand to help understand what you do that works and what you do that gets in the way of your goals.

good luck.

thisPGHlife

So, if I'm reading your post correctly, the first two were only about two weeks apart and the third holiday was two and a half months later.

How long have you been maintaining? Also, do you weigh yourself every day or week or so you only weigh once a month? If you are weighing more often you may want to look at your weight trend. There is a possibility that you have been slowly trending upwards due to small inaccuracies (100 calories per day is 700 calories per week. Not noticeable in weekly or daily weight fluctuations but it's a pound of gain every five weeks. 150 calories per day ends up being a pound of gain every 3 and a half weeks.). Just like many people who are on a small deficit who only see a weight drop once a month, you may be the reverse.

That being said, 25 pounds in two and a half months is high. That's averaging about two pounds per week. If you haven't been able to lose any of the weight despite being in a deficit, even if it's small, and you're sure that your logging is tight. then you may want to see your doctor. If it's that you are losing extremely slowly, slower than you expect (like 1/2 a pound every two weeks), you may have to tighten up your logging.

You don't say in your post of you ever decreased you calories after it was obvious that it wasn't holiday weight. It could be a combination of both situations. If you never decreased your calories to get back to your sweet spot maintenance weight, your maintenance calories may be supporting you at a slightly higher weight. Instead of slowly trending higher, you may have gained some fat on holiday that your "maintenance" calories supported. It just happened to come on in one feel sweep instead of slowly.

If none of this is your situation, then I'm not sure. Again, 25 pounds in two and a half months that is unexpected is concerning. If there isn't a clear answer to this, you may want to see your doctor. Also, and I thought of this after typing it this long response (sorry it's so long), if you are a sexually active female of child bearing age, who doesn't have a 100% garauntee that you can't get pregnant (lesbian, don't have a uterus, etc) you may want to take a pregnancy test.

Duck_Puddle

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Have you done the math? You'd have to consume 35,000 calories over maintenance to gain 10 actual pounds in a week. Are you actually tracking calories? If you're gaining all of that weight then I think you're eating more than you think you are in general, not just on holiday.

Depending on size and appetite/choices/booze it’s not THAT far fetched.

I most recently gained 7 actual lbs in 4.5 days in Vegas-even though I ran a 5k and a half marathon and walked a bazillion steps in those days. This was a PR for actual vacation weight gain for me (water weight PR holds at 18 lbs).

For reference: Idgaf about calories on vacations. I eat what I want and worry about the fallout later. It’s not like I’m on vacation all that often for it to really matter. I accept the consequences. I could easily have made other choices-but that’s not how I choose to vacation.

Half marathon day TDEE-3500
After the race, I ate a cheeseburger and bacon Mac & cheese (menu indicates these two items totaled just over 2k calories). Then stopped for Ben & Jerry’s on the way back to the hotel (menu put this at just under 1k).

Add in the calories consumed during and immediately after the race and I’m at my TDEE. If the restaurant menu calories are low compared to what I was served - and ate (which they likely are) - I’m already over.

And while I made considerably better choices in my meals that day prior to the race (it was an evening race), all of those calories are definitely over TDEE.

That was just food-not counting any beverages- in essentially one meal and not even at a buffet. The math isn’t THAT off if you’re free flowing with the intake just on vacations.

apullum

If I'm understanding correctly, it sounds like your usual calorie goal is set at maintenance rather than weight loss. If this is true, then if you gain fat from a few days (or weeks) of overindulgence, you should not expect to lose it just by going back to your usual routine.

The advice to just move on and get back on track without worrying about the few pounds you gained only applies to weight loss, not to maintenance. People who are in a deficit will eventually lose those extra pounds. People who are in maintenance will not, unless they go back into a deficit--assuming, of course, that you didn't gain enough to dramatically increase your maintenance calories.

So if you've gained fat, you're going to have to make sure you're in a calorie deficit if you want to lose it.

izzienelsonn

Thank you for all your responses. I forgot to mention i’m a bit rubbish at calorie counting/ logging and only start up again when i feel really awful - i think i’ll have to start making it part of a daily routine. i maintained weight for almost 2 years +/-5lbs, but always managed to lose weight pretty much as quickly as i gained it & without much thought. that’s why i was bothered this time. thank you again for your responses very much appreciated.