Overate on vacation - hate myself today

jollygoodgal

Went on vacation - had lost 18 pounds before, and only needed to lose 5 more - but vacation did me in - I guess I thought I had cut back so could eat now - Wrong - today I am back at it....My fitness pal is a big help so I will stay focused again and get with it. I kept wishing I had scales at the hotel - I don't think I would have put on five pounds if I had them....any ideas how to manage weight loss while traveling and how to weight yourself - I weight every day at home and without that I messed up - Jollygoodgal

cmeiron

My guess is that the 5 lbs you see on the scale is mostly water weight. To have gained 5 lbs of fat, you would have had to eating ABOVE your maintenance level by 17500 calories, which I doubt you did. Most of that is probably water weight. Go back to your normal intake (don't try to compensate by restricting your intake or torturing yourself with extra exercise), stay off the scale for a week, and I bet you'll find you're pretty much back to where you were before the trip. Example: last summer I went camping for a week and ate ALL the bread, beer, chips, etc. I wanted. Totally stuffed my face. Came home THIRTEEN pounds heavier. 7 of those lbs were gone within 4-5 days, and the rest within a week and a half, give or take a lb or two. So my advice: if you don't get opportunities to travel/vacation much, and it really is just a treat for you to do so, then forget about the scale and just enjoy yourself. Life is too short.

sun_fish

My guess is that the 5 lbs you see on the scale is mostly water weight. To have gained 5 lbs of fat, you would have had to eating ABOVE your maintenance level by 17500 calories, which I doubt you did. Most of that is probably water weight. Go back to your normal intake (don't try to compensate by restricting your intake or torturing yourself with extra exercise), stay off the scale for a week, and I bet you'll find you're pretty much back to where you were before the trip. Example: last summer I went camping for a week and ate ALL the bread, beer, chips, etc. I wanted. Totally stuffed my face. Came home THIRTEEN pounds heavier. 7 of those lbs were gone within 4-5 days, and the rest within a week and a half, give or take a lb or two. So my advice: if you don't get opportunities to travel/vacation much, and it really is just a treat for you to do so, then forget about the scale and just enjoy yourself. Life is too short.

What she said ^^^

Mischievous_Rascal

My guess is that the 5 lbs you see on the scale is mostly water weight. To have gained 5 lbs of fat, you would have had to eating ABOVE your maintenance level by 17500 calories, which I doubt you did. Most of that is probably water weight. Go back to your normal intake (don't try to compensate by restricting your intake or torturing yourself with extra exercise), stay off the scale for a week, and I bet you'll find you're pretty much back to where you were before the trip. Example: last summer I went camping for a week and ate ALL the bread, beer, chips, etc. I wanted. Totally stuffed my face. Came home THIRTEEN pounds heavier. 7 of those lbs were gone within 4-5 days, and the rest within a week and a half, give or take a lb or two. So my advice: if you don't get opportunities to travel/vacation much, and it really is just a treat for you to do so, then forget about the scale and just enjoy yourself. Life is too short.

What she said ^^^

Exactly. The same thing happens to almost everyone at Christmas, too, right? You deplete your glycogen stores constantly when you're in a deficit state all the time. Once you eat more for a while you replenish that and the water it's stored in...about 5-8 pounds. Get back to your regularly scheduled program and let your body thank you for the rest you gave it.

Athena53

It's not the vacations that do people in. It's the daily excess of calories in/calories out year-round. I'm pretty good at staying active on vacation (walking, hotel gym, pool, etc.) but when we come back from our annual Christmas road trip to visit family my clothes are always a bit tighter. (I don't weigh myself- that would be depressing!) Don't hate yourself- no reason for that. Just get back to your normal healthy habits.

As for eating on vacation- I try to balance eating things that are high-calorie that I thoroughly enjoy or that are from a special place, with more sensible meals. On road trips, lunch is from Subway- no cheese, lots of veggies, no sugared drinks. When we check into a hotel for the evening, I hit the gym and DH (who does all the driving because he likes it) puts his feet up and then I go out and find dinner. Sometimes mine is just a large, prepared salad from the local grocery, easy on the dressing. When I'm with family I drink more wine and eat more Christmas cookies than usual, but I've balanced it out (mostly!) with lean meals when we're no place special. You don't want to go to Maine and order lettuce when everyone else is ordering lobster. Portion control, balance with other meals during the day, and keeping active all help.

ebayaddict0127

You're back on track and that's all that matters. I'm heading to Germany in 6 weeks and I have already planned to indulge a little (I gotta have some pastry and chocolate and beer!). It's done and you're ready to move on. You'll bounce back in no time.

F1953

In January of 2013 when I went back for my physical, I had gained back 11 pounds of the weight I had lost. I went back this January, and had lost back the 11 pounds I had gained. The doc was ecstatic. It did not take me the entire year to lose back most of that weight. However, I had food poisoning in December, so the rest came off, even though the soups and other pre-prepared foods had lots of sodium in it. I have re-set my goal to lose another 20, per discussion with my doctor. That still puts me over what the weight charts say I should weigh. My sleep apnea has resolved itself. Currently, I weigh 21 pounds less than when I started using MFP. However, I've lost 68 pounds since May 2005.

DON'T BEAT YOURSELF UP!! Just get back on your version of the program. On occasion, there have been days when I have eaten 3 times the calories I should have. I try to curb myself as quickly as possible afterwards, but sometimes, it has taken a few weeks. Then I am a bit more stringent for a while.

All the best to anyone who is working on weight loss, maintenance, or just trying to eat healthier to feel better!

RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle

I've gained five or eight pounds here and there, and will continue to. If you're patient you'll learn to be ok with this. You know how to do this and you've got this.

carlaunderconstruction

I totally hear you, this is my first year living abroad. I live in China, and I feel like the party started around mid-December, Christmas parties, New Year's parties, and the lead up to the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). I began my holiday's on January 18 eating my way through Hong Kong with friends followed by travelling to Thailand. Whether or not my jeans button up are one of my only measures at the moment of potential weight gain (they are pretty tight right now). I will be on holidays until February 13! I'm starting to gain more control, the thought of not being able to zip up my jeans does scare me. I've never had problems in the past with weight gain on vacation, because I'm normally very active while travelling. This time around I've only been moderativly active, because I've really needed to rest.

SunofaBeach14

My guess is that the 5 lbs you see on the scale is mostly water weight. To have gained 5 lbs of fat, you would have had to eating ABOVE your maintenance level by 17500 calories, which I doubt you did. Most of that is probably water weight. Go back to your normal intake (don't try to compensate by restricting your intake or torturing yourself with extra exercise), stay off the scale for a week, and I bet you'll find you're pretty much back to where you were before the trip. Example: last summer I went camping for a week and ate ALL the bread, beer, chips, etc. I wanted. Totally stuffed my face. Came home THIRTEEN pounds heavier. 7 of those lbs were gone within 4-5 days, and the rest within a week and a half, give or take a lb or two. So my advice: if you don't get opportunities to travel/vacation much, and it really is just a treat for you to do so, then forget about the scale and just enjoy yourself. Life is too short.

+ 2

And OP, stop hating yourself. You may be joking but the negative self talk isn't going to help. Life is way too damn short for that.

amfmmama

when you are in a groove on here, your days and your eating become second nature. You divert from what you are doing and it is HARD!! Don't let this be the reason you quit! Get back in the groove. 2 days of being on track and you are going to feel great. For me, not using a setback as an excuse to cheat was something I had to learn to do.

Rocki_

My guess is that the 5 lbs you see on the scale is mostly water weight. To have gained 5 lbs of fat, you would have had to eating ABOVE your maintenance level by 17500 calories, which I doubt you did. Most of that is probably water weight. Go back to your normal intake (don't try to compensate by restricting your intake or torturing yourself with extra exercise), stay off the scale for a week, and I bet you'll find you're pretty much back to where you were before the trip. Example: last summer I went camping for a week and ate ALL the bread, beer, chips, etc. I wanted. Totally stuffed my face. Came home THIRTEEN pounds heavier. 7 of those lbs were gone within 4-5 days, and the rest within a week and a half, give or take a lb or two. So my advice: if you don't get opportunities to travel/vacation much, and it really is just a treat for you to do so, then forget about the scale and just enjoy yourself. Life is too short.

+ 2

And OP, stop hating yourself. You may be joking but the negative self talk isn't going to help. Life is way too damn short for that.

THIS!

Rocki_

Another thing to take into account is flying. When you fly, the change in pressure can lead to a false gain. On average, men gain 1-2 lbs and women 2-5 lbs when they fly. HYDRATE and watch the scale over the next couple of days. You MAY see a change. When I fly or go scuba diving I generally gain 4 lbs, and they are gone in a matter of days. It is not a true gain. Also, take your measurements on a regular basis (every 6-8 weeks). That will tell the story more than the scale will sometimes. Keep up the great work!
Rocki

jollygoodgal

Thanks to all who replied to my post and gave me all the encouragement....I am back on track now, back to losing the five pounds yet that I had to go before vacation. Love this site because I can do it slow and it works. Again thanks to everyone - love this site and the people on it...Jollygoodgal