What to do the day after a fast food binge? Plateauing for two months?

peachvine29

I am 26F, 5'7.5'', and 139 lbs. I have lost 61 lbs in the last two years at a rate of about 0.8 lbs. per week and still want to lose 10 more. For the last almost two months I have ranged from 135-140 lbs. and have basically maintained my weight, although I am still trying to lose but am having a hard time sticking to my calorie goals. Two weeks of that was a planned diet break that pretty much got extended...

I am trying to eat 1,500 calories per day at an estimated deficit of 250 calories per day to lose 0.5 lbs per week. I am very stressed lately working and going to school full time as my school semester draws to a close in two weeks. Yesterday I binged on an extra 2,200 calories of fast food after an extra long day at work. This is going to set me back 9 days (I will burn 250 calories daily of fat if I stick to my plan). I guess I'll just have to deal with the fact that my weight loss is further delayed? I really want to eat crap today as well, as I have a huge project coming up and am stressed... I am thinking of taking next quarter, 12 weeks, off of school so I can lose the rest of this weight and not be so stressed.

I am also wondering if I have a mental barrier to getting below 135 lbs. That was my lowest weight in high school and I still had love handles and back/belly fat, but it is a big milestone to surpass in my mind because it's the lowest I've ever been as an adult.

What would you do?

Panini911

you are already well within healthy weight so it's going to be a super slow process to get those last few off.

one bad day won't kill all progress. just stall.

water fluctuations will hide much week to week progress at this point. get a weight trending app, and remain patient. it's rough.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

you may also want to consider recomp VS weight loss at this point. but if you continue on the weight loss, accurate logging will be crucial. weight everything. double check entries used.

sammidelvecchio

It can be a really hard habit to break using food for stress relief. I have been in your shoes. Ultimately, I needed therapy and many, many lifestyle changes to begin to overcome it, but it can start with just replacing the stress eating with something else.

It will be hard at first, and you will probably fight with yourself in your head (or outloud LOL) but it will be worth it. Think of a few activities you could do instead of eating. A walk, adult coloring book, reading, these are all pretty generic but it can really be anything you enjoy. Another small step to start would be to replace the fast food with something that might not hit your calories so hard. Popcorn, strawberries, baby carrots. Then slowly work towards getting away from the habit altogether.

Time off might be just what you need, but remember that life doesn't get easier after school. Stress never stops. So learning to deal with it in non-destructive ways is really the only way to overcome this specific habit. Otherwise, even when you hit your goal weight, you might be stuck with gaining and losing every time a stressful period of life hits.

I wish you the best of luck in overcoming and meeting your goals!

peachvine29

Panini911 wrote: »

you are already well within healthy weight so it's going to be a super slow process to get those last few off.

one bad day won't kill all progress. just stall.

water fluctuations will hide much week to week progress at this point. get a weight trending app, and remain patient. it's rough.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

you may also want to consider recomp VS weight loss at this point. but if you continue on the weight loss, accurate logging will be crucial. weight everything. double check entries used.

Yeah, I think I do need to really understand that my weight loss will be slower now (it was already pretty slow due to too little calories at first resulting in weekly binges and bad adherence to my plan).

I just starting using Happy Scale and am figuring out how to interpret it lol. I think that will help!

Recomp has been suggested to me, however I am resistant because I know I have a good amount of fat to lose and want it gone, and don't want to wait forever. Whenever I've posted pictures most have said to lose a few more lbs. and then consider recomp.

Thank you!

peachvine29

sammidelvecchio wrote: »

It can be a really hard habit to break using food for stress relief. I have been in your shoes. Ultimately, I needed therapy and many, many lifestyle changes to begin to overcome it, but it can start with just replacing the stress eating with something else.

It will be hard at first, and you will probably fight with yourself in your head (or outloud LOL) but it will be worth it. Think of a few activities you could do instead of eating. A walk, adult coloring book, reading, these are all pretty generic but it can really be anything you enjoy. Another small step to start would be to replace the fast food with something that might not hit your calories so hard. Popcorn, strawberries, baby carrots. Then slowly work towards getting away from the habit altogether.

Time off might be just what you need, but remember that life doesn't get easier after school. Stress never stops. So learning to deal with it in non-destructive ways is really the only way to overcome this specific habit. Otherwise, even when you hit your goal weight, you might be stuck with gaining and losing every time a stressful period of life hits.

I wish you the best of luck in overcoming and meeting your goals!

Ahh you are right. I do need some lifestyle changes and really some effective personal coping mechanisms for my stress. The changes I have made to result in weight loss (cooking, meal prepping/planning, brining my lunch and breakfast, not eating out much, going to bed at a set time, working out on lunch break) have been great but I know there is a lot more I could do for my mental, emotional, and social health that I need to figure out in order to really progress and grow as a person. I don’t think I can drop this weight without getting mentally healthy. I have been off and on in therapy for years, just got discharged, so I don’t think I’m going to go back for a while, although my weight/body image/emotional eating has never been discussed in therapy, which could be beneficial…

That’s a very good tip to think of what I could do for my stress instead of eating. I don’t have many coping mechanisms in place. I think I need to start there. I’m not sure replacing fast food with healthy food would be very satisfying at all, but I could try in the meantime.

Great point that stress never stops. I don’t even have kids yet or anything, I know life will get tough then if I do!

I am going to brainstorm specific stress relief things that will work for me. I think that is really the key here.

Thank You!