The food diary is important

scotthva5

Last week I had one of those weeks where just about everything that could go wrong....did. Repeatedly. In between minor disasters (and non-stop rain) I stopped documenting my calorie intake due to lack of time (see above disasters) and my word does it show. Mr Scale (he deserves the honorific) and I have a love/hate relationship at the best of times but this morning he most emphatically delivered the bad news...almost 2 kg. After raging at the Heineken Gods® for their interference and cursing the Lords of Gravity after a brief look/see in the floor mirror I realized just how important that diary really is. Anyone else draw the same conclusion?

AnnPT77

Maybe.

Sometimes the Evil Demon Water Retention makes the scale go up, just to mess with our poor feeble minds. If it's him, summoned up by extra carbs or extra salt or extra inflammation, he can't hang around forever, as long as we return to the Nobel Path of Generally Appropriate Eating. Patience defeats him.

Outside the realm of metaphor: Eat differently, tend to gain water weight. 2kg would require eating (cumulatively) about 15,400 calories above maintenance calories (not just above calorie goal). That would be eating maintenance calories, plus an average of 2200 calories above that, on average every day for a 7 day week. It's possible you did that. Since you didn't log, you can't be very sure. But you may have some intuition about it. If no 15,400 calories above maintenance, the 2kg isn't all fat.

(Yes, I know you said "almost 2kg". I'm good at story problems, but not good enough to math out that vague "almost". )

Just get back on track. If you understand why it happened, think about how to do something different next time similar circumstances arise. Don't spend more than about 10 minutes on that, but do it. Then just return to your normal healthy routine, don't catastrophize or self-shame. That feels icky, and doesn't burn extra calories. For sure, don't try to make up for it. Over-eating isn't a sin that needs to be expiated by suffering. Learn from it, and continue.

ehju0901

I've found that the food diary really helps keep me on track and how to better balance my calorie usage. Whenever I quit logging is usually when I start gaining weight back.

medinaromo16

I’m going through the same thing (kinda). In 22 days I gained 10 pounds…I’m shocked and honestly really upset about it. I didn’t log in that time because I used food to cope with the stress of my cat being sick and hospitalized. Is there any way to get rid of the water weight and bloating that you’ve found works for you?

AnnPT77

medinaromo16 wrote: »

I’m going through the same thing (kinda). In 22 days I gained 10 pounds…I’m shocked and honestly really upset about it. I didn’t log in that time because I used food to cope with the stress of my cat being sick and hospitalized. Is there any way to get rid of the water weight and bloating that you’ve found works for you?

Don't try to game water weight, that would be my advice. Unless there's a disease condition in the picture, water retention is part of how healthy bodies stay healthy. They know what they're doing. We shouldn't try to meddle with it.

It's fat loss we're going for anyway, isn't it?

Anything that's truly water weight will drop off fairly quickly, probably a week or two, if a person goes back to their regular healthy routine.

For sure, one thing not to do is cut back on fluid intake, water and other types. The body needs water to do things like metabolize carbs and balance electrolytes. Under-consuming fluids is more likely to make water retention worse rather than make it better.

For women who have monthly hormonal cycles, there are cases when it make take a little longer than a week or two to see the expected drop on the scale. That happens if the unusual-eating water weight starts to drop just as hormonal water retention increases, so the two causes conspire to make it last a little longer.

It's still true that if one hasn't eaten enough calories to add those pounds in fat (or moved that much less, or a combination), the stall or increase on the scale isn't fat. The right answer IMO is to wait it out.

Of course, if a person thinks they're retaining water because of a health condition, they should see a doctor. Otherwise, just eat in your normal healthy way, drink adequate amounts of fluids (to the point where urine color is pale yellow, not clear or dark), get your normal amount of exercise. It'll be fine.

girlwithcurls2

This is 100% me. I say the words "I probably need to log food my entire life" and then I stop logging. I'm a case study for the psychology of eating things that have little to no nutritional value when I can ignore the reality of what their nutritional profiles are. When I'm logging daily (not that much work), I rarely justify those foods. Or I weigh them out and eat way less. Get back up there and do what you need to do. The math works. I'm not sure why I keep thinking that my body can defy it