I just don't get it!

weaverc

I haven't been on MFP lately because my summer has been crazy. I know I have been slacking, but decided that I need to get back on track this week. I have still been eating pretty good even though I haven't been tracking my food and I did manage to lose a couple of pounds during the summer. I started back to biking and walking this week. This morning when I weighed myself I was disappointed to see that I had gained 3 lbs. I just can't believe it. I managed to lose a few lbs when I wasn't making hardly any effort and now that I am putting work into I gain!

sallyLunn

Its water weight from the exercise you just started doing. Don't despair. Drink your water and it will go away in a couple of days.

Mirabilis

You really need to track your food. It's too easy to lose focus if you don't have something to focus on.

It's also too easy to lose track of that cookie (was it 2 or 6?) and whether it was a healthy cookie or the super-duper deluxe cookie with all the trimmings. As people looking to lose weight, we are generally poor estimators of portions. That's why we weigh our food and record it.

Also, keeping your food journal teaches you proper composition of what you eat. Too much fat? Ups your calories too much and you're not as full as if you had eaten a field of lettuce. Not enough fiber? Trouble in the bathroom. Too much sodium? Water weight gain.

If you eat processed food, you are consuming huge amounts of sodium compared to what you should, even with small portions. I would never have known that had I not started recording in a food journal. Before I came here, I had 5 to 6 pound fluctuations overnight. I discovered that because I wasn't drinking enough water, I was dehydrated and retaining water (akin to starvation mode). Once I started drinking enough water, that went down to 2-3 lbs. I'm working on cutting out processed food and this has reduced my weight fluctuations to under 2 lbs. I'm not saying that I get these big swings every day, only that they happen often enough to drive me berserk. I'd rather not be berserk.

Mirii