Bad Bad week. How much damage?

goldyray1

Well, I have had a couple of rough weeks. First of all....Fitness pal went crazy and I couldn't get on. Never knew how much motivation and help My Pal was until I couldn't get on. Then my Garmin wasn't helping me out either. It works fine, but for some reason, it wouldn't calculate my heart rate. I go on two half mile walks on my breaks at work. I want to know what my heart rate was and when and where I need to work on to get the most benefit from my walks. Also, at the end of the day, it doesn't calculate correctly my totals for the day. Depressing. Also, my arthritis flared up and I was in lots of pain. I did not use any prednisone so for several days, no relief from the pain. All that is behind me now. I have over eaten today and most of the week. I am today, monitoring my food intake once again. I didn't think I did that bad today until the calories was added up and it was terrible. I am one that has to see everything in black and white. I have to see a picture I guess before I can function. Anyway, when you mess up one week, how badly does that hurt you or how much does that set you back. I did get down to 167 but now I am up 169. Also depressing. ONE WEEK??? UGh.

RunsWithBees

Go easy on yourself I was very imperfect in my weightloss journey but I was good about 80% of the time and not so good about 20% of the time and I still reached my goal and have maintained for 7+ years… still quite imperfect, but good most of the time Log truthfully about what you are eating and move on to the next day and try to do better. Baby steps are perfectly ok

Lietchi

You didn't tell us how much you ate, but if you're only up two lbs, the damage you did is limited.

First of all, how much were you losing per week before your setback? If you were losing 0.5lbs a week, it's only 4 weeks longer to reach your goal.
And probably less than that, since part of those 2 lbs will be extra food waste in your system and extra water weight from increased carbs (and perhaps increased salt depending on the foods you ate).
Heck, I get 2lb fluctuations even when I'm staying within my calorie goal, just from my period for example.

So relax, it's not 'terrible', just an experience you can learn from. Keep calm and carry on!

springlering62

If your joints are bothering you, it may even be water weight from that.

I twisted my back in yoga the other evening and have been up several pounds ever since. Had to calm myself down, sit back and mentally go down the list:

✖️Period? Not bloody (ha!) likely at this age
✖️Salty foods: not so much
✖️Stress: None (yay me!)
✖️Travel/Flights: none of that, sad to say 😢
✖️Overate: a couple days but more than made up for it on the rest. Remember, it takes 3500 extra calories to make an extra pound, although a calorie heavy day still has to move through your system.
✔️Sleep: mmmm, OK not great the past few nights.
✔️✔️✔️Pain: oh yeahhhhh. There was that deep squatting session with my trainer Monday that I felt for a few days, and then being over exuberant in a twist practice making it hard to move at all ever since.

Bingo. Source of extra weight explained.

Just get back to your plan and you’ll be just fine.

lmf1012

First, one bad week in the overall scheme is nothing at all. Second, since you like to see in black and white, you can reasonably estimate the so called damage by calculating your weekly maintenance calories and deducting your weekly calories eaten. If you ate more than maintenance, take that overage and divide by 3500 to see how many pounds you can expect to gain. Essentially you’d have to eat 3500 calories over maintenance to gain one pound. How likely is it that you overate by that much? And if you did, it’s one pound. Not a big deal at all.

Just brush yourself off and get back on the horse.

Beverly2Hansen

How much damage can 1 bad week do? If you get back to healthy living 1 bad week in a year is nothing let alone the rest of your life.

robertw486

Agreed with all of the above. Two pounds is less than I fluctuate in a day.

Surround the occasional week of struggle with many weeks of success, and you will still get where you are going.

chocolate_owl

I hit the weights today after having to take a full week off from lifting. I also ate a burger at a restaurant tonight - lots of salt, and more food than normal to process in my system. I will *definitely* be up 2-3 lbs tomorrow. But this is why I weigh every day - after 10 years, I’ve got a ton of data about why my weight might fluctuate unrelated to food. If you’re not currently weighing daily, you may want to start.

How bad are your numbers? Something like 1000 calories in the red? If you’re set up to lose 1 lb/week, you ate a surplus of 500 calories per day, which would be a 1 lb gain. If you’re set up to lose 2 lbs/week, you ate at maintenance. Oh, fun fact: when you eventually transition to maintenance, you’ll probably gain a couple of lbs from your glycogen stores building back up. My money is on water weight + waste being responsible for the change on your scale, and that the number will go back down quickly after you get back on track.

kyndread71

You might've had one bad week... but there's 4 weeks in a month. When you fall, the only thing you can do is pick yourself up, dust yourself off, get back up & ride.

That being said, when you work out, really REALLY pay attention to how you feel. What/How you eat makes a big difference on how you feel during a workout. Let that feeling motivate you to make better decisions in the moment.

metaphysicalstudio

I've had many weeks of imperfect eating and moving. Through the years, I've learned that the best thing that I can do for myself in terms of reaching my wellness goals, is to show radical compassion toward myself at all times, no matter what.

Cheesy567

It’s water under the bridge. It can only do as much damage as you let it from here on out. Only as much damage as you choose, if you choose not to learn from it.

You have arthritis. (I have an unpredictable autoimmune disease too). Bad days and weeks will come. The lesson is, you need a plan for those bad days. Don’t let them be an excuse. Have meals made ahead in the freezer for those bad days, or have a list of ready-made meals at the store that fit your dietary needs, or have a friend on-call who can make them for you at the drop of a hat (and have the cash, shopping list, recipes, etc ready to go for them). Whatever works for you.

Have a list of people to call on or helpers to hire for extra help during those bad weeks. Know where and what to cut back on. Plan this out ahead of time. Make the choice ahead of time, have a plan, don’t feel like a victim of circumstances afterwards.

Know what your maintenance plan is. Go into maintenance during hard times. Don’t focus on weight loss, focus on weight maintenance. And, know your body’s response to stress, medications, sleep loss or sleep changes, etc. Those all affect weight. It might take a week or two or four to settle out. It’s just the way your body adjusts.

Your weight loss journey will be your own. No fair comparing to someone not dealing with your stressors. Own it. Take your time. Figure out your solutions. They’re going to be what work for you in the long run, anyways, to keep the weight off, to keep you healthy as possible, and to keep you from needing to diet again. It’s not a race, it’s about figuring out what works best for you in your life.

You can do this. You’ve done hard things before. You’ve got this too.

springlering62

^^^ I’m torn between insightful and inspired and like and hug by @Cheesy567 ’s post.

nappingcatpress

Now, I don't know you, but to gain 2 pounds in one week -- assuming activity level are unchanged -- you'd have to consume 1000 calories MORE a day than you were -- actually, more than that if you were on a downward trajectory. Not saying that can't be done, but it's unlikely. My advice is, either keep to the diary OR use the scale, not both. Actually, throw out the scale. Nobody wants to hear this, but your best bet is to go slow -- 1/4#/week. That's a pound a month. You can't see it or feel it, and it's un-instagrammable, but it will be permanent.