Holiday weight spike!

lois1231

Up about 3 pounds between, my birthday, Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Years which isn’t bad considering I usually gain around 10 pounds. Starting back on track today

lois1231

Haven’t been able to exercise much because of tennis elbow, no weights and foot problems not much elliptical still walking, getting at least 10,000 steps a day in.

rcreynol3090

I'm on my 2nd year of maintenance, but I've been slacking since October 31, up 7 lbs since then as of December 30 (6 lbs over maintenance weight of 200), but 3 lbs of that is gone as of this morning. I want to get to 190 (I'm 6'6" at age 61) by springtime.

J72FIT

This year I threw some IF into the mix to help mitigate the holidays. Skipped breakfast 3 days per week, rest of the time at fairly normal. Weight has stayed stable...

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I was up 5 lbs on the morning of the 1st relative to two weeks earlier, but three have already come back off. Sweet!

I'm aiming to lose 8 from the peak, and I'm guessing about 4 of those will require some real work.

Ekaterinalle

I let myself eat whatever and I definitely gained 2-3lbs, but mostly I’m annoyed that it looks like I have to keep eating at 1200 to maintain my goal weight. Whenever I eat more (even if it’s like 1500) my weight goes back up.

I’m hoping maybe that’s because when I “reached” my goal weight (just before Christmas) it was more of a temporary dip and I should keep to 1200 for a couple more weeks for me to actually settle there, but it’s frustrating.

AnnPT77

Ekaterinalle wrote: »

I let myself eat whatever and I definitely gained 2-3lbs, but mostly I’m annoyed that it looks like I have to keep eating at 1200 to maintain my goal weight. Whenever I eat more (even if it’s like 1500) my weight goes back up.

I’m hoping maybe that’s because when I “reached” my goal weight (just before Christmas) it was more of a temporary dip and I should keep to 1200 for a couple more weeks for me to actually settle there, but it’s frustrating.

How fast are you losing on 1200? If faster than just a tad over half a pound a week, you shouldn't gain on 1500.

What can happen, though, is that a jump of several hundred calories will involve a little extra water retention (becuase there's usually a bit more carbs or sodium in the added food, and those involve holding a little water to metabolize) and a little extra average digestive system contents (because food in transit has physical weight). Neither of these things is fat, so not worth worrying about.

If this bugs you, when you get to what you think is goal weight (or overshoot it just a bit, if you feel like you must, for wiggle room), consider adding 50-100 calories per day, every week or two, and evaluating the results over a period of time. After the first couple of weeks, if it's going OK, you can even space it out a little more. If you get to 100 calories a day over maintenance, the worst that will happen is a gain of 1 pound of actual fat in a bit over a full month, and you know how to lose a pound, obviously.

A weight trending app (like Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight, etc.), plus patience, would be a help in this scenario. You may even find, as some people do, that your energy level subtly (maybe invisibly) increases over a period of time, and your maintenance calories become more than you would've expected.

Either way, give yourself a maintenance range of a few pounds, not a single goal number, because weight fluctuates daily for random reasons.

Best wishes!

corinasue1143

Gym classes were cancelled for the holidays. I worked out on my own. I was sore every day and gained 7 pounds. Classes back on schedule and I’m back to normal weight.

SueBarry1

stayed the same thru out the holidays

Katmary71

This thread has me feeling better! I was back on track after Christmas then relatives came to town (out to eat plus desserts) and we all went to a family Christmas party all day today. Brunch was like eating at a bakery plus my salad! I think 3 of us had salad, I definitely had my fair share of treats but didn't stuff myself like normal. I hope the scale is gentle, I'm waiting a few days!

AliceA2013

I had followed a friend's example and lost a kg in preparation for Xmas week. I promptly put it back on after delicious times of feasting but I am now ready to lose a kg again. I am actually looking forward to eating more fruit and veg plus continuing with regular fitness regime. Happy New Year to everyone as we return to our normal activities this coming week.

cupcakesandproteinshakes

I had some water fluctuations which seem to have settled now and the overall damage is 2 pounds. Nothing really in the grand scheme of things.

pkweier

I gained 5 pounds after Christmas was back down to the higher end of my range within a few days, New Years came and up 1 pound from the top of my range. I need to get at least 3 more pound off to get to my mid range. I keep telling myself 3 is better than 30. We can do this.

helen_goldthorpe

I only got home today so haven't weighed yet. Will do it first thing tomorrow. I had one week of no exercise and lots of food over Christmas itself and then went on holiday for a week - that week had lots of exercise and walking (2-3 hour bike rides and 15,000+ step days) but still lots of food and alcohol. I'm interested to see what effect it has had - I was happy for it to be a bit of a diet break anyway, but I suspect that the damage might not actually be too bad.

lightenup2016

Less than 3 lbs, almost all of which are gone now (4 days later). That’s much better than past years! While I did indulge and ate over maintenance several days, I finally felt in control of me appetite/calories for the whole month of December! And actually, some of the extra weight was DOMS from a really hard workout on New Year’s Eve 😄 I’m finally not sore anymore!

jlhalley7835

I went in to the holiday season (post-thanksgiving) at 265 and I weighed in at 257 this morning. I cycled off creatine, ran 2 a day workouts, and ate what I wanted to only on Christmas day and some dessert the day after. Luckily this app has helped me keep an eye out and kept me motivated to continue losing weight.

MikePTY

I put on 6.2 pounds between December 18th and New Years day, but I'm already down 4.2 pounds since then. I probably put on like a pound and a half of actual fat that I'll have to work off, but the water weight has been coming off nicely that now that I am not overdoing it.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

Ekaterinalle wrote: »

I let myself eat whatever and I definitely gained 2-3lbs, but mostly I’m annoyed that it looks like I have to keep eating at 1200 to maintain my goal weight. Whenever I eat more (even if it’s like 1500) my weight goes back up.

I’m hoping maybe that’s because when I “reached” my goal weight (just before Christmas) it was more of a temporary dip and I should keep to 1200 for a couple more weeks for me to actually settle there, but it’s frustrating.

There is an effect of depressing your TDEE below the average for your weight due to dieting. (Search "adaptive thermogenesis.") It is one of ways your body fights to maintain reserves in times of famine. Also, right after you have lost weight, your body wants to gain it back. You may feel colder and/or a bit sluggish for a while. You counteract this by staying active as much as possible.

I have found that the best way to maintain is to keep active (do something daily) and keep logging for a long time after a cut (months, years, forever). Tracking while on maintenance helps you to develop good eating habits so eventually you may not need to track so carefully. Depending on how much you lost, it takes some time for your body to adapt to your new weight.

Unfortunately, weight control is not a "one and done" affair. You need to make it a part of your life if you want succeed.

ElizabethKalmbach

I spent the week after Christmas traveling and expected to put on 3-5lbs of water weight... Then my parents brought on the holiday cookies, cakes, and chocolates I'd successfully avoided all month, and I struggled to keep my protein up and my calories down.

Plus, I managed to give myself a solid nerve pinch while wrapping Christmas presents, and could barely move for a few days until my brother finally managed to straighten me out with 2 adjustments/day. So, no weight lifting for me.

HOWEVER, my parents live in Appalachia, and the HILLS in my morning constitutional nearly killed me. My step count was about 8k lower per day than usual, but I still got 8-10k steps in per day.

I was AMAZED and somewhat annoyed to come home weighing 2.5 lbs LESS than when I left. (I'm normally set to lose about .5 lb per week, so 2.5 lbs is rather a lot... O_O )

I'm going to blame the hills and the unintentional carb cycle for the utter lack of predictable outcome on this one.

MichelleWithMoxie

Amazingly I actually lost .5 lb! I literally ate &drank all the things, was on vacay in Florida visiting fam - I guess I was more active than I realized. But I was shocked to see my scale report a loss post vacay! Lol!

ETA: I didn’t track anything either. Just ate everything 🤷🏼‍♀️

nxd10

I gained 5 pounds but recommitted to Whole 30 for this month. No grains makes it easy to hit calorie and macro goals. And I’m exercising again. So I have lost all 5 since January 2 and looking forward to getting back in my zone. It feels good.

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helen_goldthorpe

Weigh in done this morning, and the damage is less than 1kg. I'll take that given I've pretty much eaten and drunk what I wanted for 2 full weeks. Being active has probably helped mitigate the damage, and I feel refreshed and ready to get back on the wagon so the break probably did me good mentally anyway.

MichelleWithMoxie

MichSmish wrote: »

Amazingly I actually lost .5 lb! I literally ate &drank all the things, was on vacay in Florida visiting fam - I guess I was more active than I realized. But I was shocked to see my scale report a loss post vacay! Lol!

ETA: I didn’t track anything either. Just ate everything 🤷🏼‍♀️

Well this was quite the controversial response apparently. 1 dislike and someone flagged it :noway: :laugh:

netitheyeti

lol, someone flagged my photo (of me in jeans and a shirt)/me saying I wanted to maintain in the low 130s for a while as "abuse"
Either way, 2-3 days later and I'm less than 1lb away from my pre-holiday weight (dropped 2 of the 3lbs practically overnight). I'll count this as a win.

Biggiwig69

Gained 7 lbs over the holidays. Already lost 4. Just water weight mostly. I am working out extra hard and going back to 1200 cals a day for the next 2 weeks.

CJ_Holmes

Up about 5 lbs and now 3 lb above my target range. I'm tightening up tracking and I'll weigh in again in 3 weeks when I generally de-bloat after my menstrual cycle.

PAV8888

TL;dr: Nothing much to report here: damage minimal, January direction all good!

I generally go up starting about a week before Christmas, and continuing, usually, through the first week of January.

This year, my pre-Christmas week gift was... a shattered scale!

Bang went the Aria and glass was to be found all over the bathroom! And the new scale arrived, conveniently, more than a week later, on the 27th, so as not to interrupt any celebrations

While the quantities of ingested cookies argue that my graph based on the new scale's inputs may be a lb or so too optimistic, it doesn't look like there was much damage and the post January 1 direction seems to be OK!

I do have to watch it a bit as the graphs indicate that I tend to get lax about weighting-in for several days at a time.

Three Months, scale change December 27

One Year:

ahoy_m8

PAV, that’s amazing consistency. Good on you! Kids going back to school always brings on post holiday blues. (Maybe also the news, to be frank). Oldest returned Sunday, middle goes tomorrow and youngest hangs around another week. I tend towards emotional eating so I have to watch that.

mjglantz

I'm about the same. My weight fluctuates around 2 lbs around my goal and that's where I am. Did eat and drink more many days and was super cautious when I could. Exercise every day.
Bet you lose those 5 lbs pretty quickly.