Please don’t fear temporary weight gain

sijomial

Hope this helps people who feel anxious about relaxing their iron grip on their diet for special events and holidays (vacations).
There are so many threads where people have successfully lost weight but don’t feel able to enjoy their food and have what seems to me an unhealthy fear of natural and temporary fluctuations in weight. I’m all for vigilance but not to the point where people stop enjoying the highlights in life – special occasions like meals out, celebrations and holidays.

Hopefully people might takeaway that a rapid increase or decrease in weight is highly unlikely to be due to fat gain or loss. Just imagine how many thousands of calories are required to make significant differences to your fat reserves….
Below is charting my weight gain during my recent holiday and subsequent loss back down to my maintenance range.

My nominal maintenance weight is 164lbs but it of course it fluctuates daily – up to 3lbs in a day or 5lbs a weekend.

15th May – weight 164.9lbs
16th to 22nd May – all inclusive holiday with excellent food and drink, eating/drinking purely for enjoyment. Did three very light gym sessions plus hours of wandering on the beach. Not for weight control, just for fun.
23rd May – back from holiday, weight now 173.8lbs (up 8.9lbs in 8 days). Calorie deficit for the day - 1046.
24th May - 170.8lbs. Calorie deficit - 394.
25th May – 168lbs. Calorie deficit – 442.
26th May - 167.8lbs. Calorie deficit – 313.
27th May - 166.9lbs. Calorie deficit – 804.
28th May - 165.4lbs. Calorie deficit – 36.
29th May - 165.2. Calorie deficit – 712.
30th May – 165 and back to weight I was before the holiday, no extra fat – just a sun tan and memories of a great holiday.

Beckilovespizza

:flowerforyou: Thank you for posting this, proof that my anxieties are pretty much OTT. Hope you had a wonderful holiday!! Am off to Italy in a few weeks, i hope i have the same success as you!

SezxyStef

yup same thing happened to me on my 8 day holiday...totally enjoyed all the food and drinks and fun in the sun and sand...

Did a few light workouts...came home 5lbs heavier...it was gone in a week...

animalldy

Are you both saying that you do go back to a deficit for a while in order to return to your maintenance weight?

I have a hard time doing that... now that I am maintaining I have a really hard time keeping a deficit even for a day or two. I also started lifting about a month ago so maybe that's why..

perseverance14

I didn't gain weight when I ate more the weekend I went to visit family a couple of weeks ago, but I did feel like I lost more weight per week since then.

I must be getting brave because I am thinking of trying a re-feed (but only for 1 day) after I hit 50 lbs. down (1 more lb.). I keep craving pasta (I do eat it now just not a lot) and it has been going on for about a week now, I feel like my body is trying to tell me something since it is not a fleeting craving.

Thinking the re-feed will up the leptin and make that craving happy.

StacyRenee77

Thank you for this, very helpful!!

TXRanchGirl

Thank you..this is what I keep saying to myself when I see gain.."Did I REALLY overeat THAT much?" even in afew indulgences Ive partaken in the past week-week and a half..that is what keeps me sane,

Amy101975

Thank you so much for posting this! Great reminder ... With facts! Congrats on your success!

Melo813

I think it is important to remember that a lot of times with weight gain whether from a vacation or cheat meal a good chunk of it is water. You most likely upped your carbs and sodium intake from your normal eating habits and therefore your body will retain water. After my last cheat meal I was up 2.5 lbs which would mean I would have had to eater my maintenance calories for the days plus an additional 8750. I knew that wasn't possible for what I ate so it's important to rationalize that. I did look and feel more bloated after as well. After my cheat meals I like to drink a lot of water, green tea and some coffee plus get a great workout in. All these things will help contribute to flush all that excess water out from your body. You might want to consider cutting your carbs and sodium a bit till you level out your weight.

EvenThatNameIsTaken

Nice post and thank you for the hard data. Just went on a week long vacation and overate every single day (and every meal was delish!!) and was about 4 pounds up... 5 days after my return, back to where I was before I left. It's worth it to enjoy the foods! And doing active vacations (lots of walking, for enjoyment and exploring) definitely helps as well. Now that I am physically active I don't think I would enjoy a sitting vacation at all...

HersheLewis

Thank you for this post! I've been just down and depressed about the 3lbs gained on the holidays I mean I watched what I ate I didn't over do it too bad. But anyways thanks for this!

sijomial

Are you both saying that you do go back to a deficit for a while in order to return to your maintenance weight?

Yes - but if you look at my daily deficit numbers after the holiday they equate to what you would expect to be close to one pound of fat loss and nothing like the 8.9lbs of weight gained.

So really I was in surplus for a week, gained a whole load of temporary bloat (water retention from saltier foods, alcohol and just having a larger amount of food in my gut) plus a small amount of fat. Even without a deficit the temporary bloat would have gone just by getting back into my normal maintenance routine.

jhellwig828

This couldn't have come at a better time! We are leaving for Disney World in a few weeks and was just thinking about all the yummy food I'll be eating. I know that Disney involves a lot of walking in the heat too but I plan to enjoy every Mickey shaped treat they have! Thinking about this will help assuage my fears when I come home and (I'm sure) the scale is higher!!

AshwinA7

Aren't you mainly just losing water weight?

onedaybeforethenext

Great Post! nice work.

__freckles__

Aren't you mainly just losing water weight?

That's pretty much the point of his entire post.




Great job Simon!

thepetiterunner

Thanks for the reminder. Sometimes I think we lose the picture of the forest (our overall losses) by focusing on the weeds (the number on the scale that particular day).

einzweidrei

I wish people would be more accepting of this. I have some maintainers on my list that freak out about every little thing, even when they're constantly in the upper end of their range. Makes me sad to see them eat below maintenance calories regularly.

Going away next week---all-inclusive vacation. Will report back my initial "weight gain." :-)

JustSomeEm

THank you for this post! I did something similar over Memorial Day weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, over indulging on hotdogs and Smirnoff Ice. Gained 3 pounds of water, and LOST a pound (in addition to the water weight) at my weekly weigh-in this week. It's NORMAL to fluctuate. And NO WAY did I drink enough alcohol or eat enough hotdogs to gain 3 lbs of fat. LOL!
You're awesome.

Catlady87

Great post! I hope people realise that weight gain doesn't always equal fat gain! I go on holiday in 3 weeks - I'm eating at a deficit and doing Ripped in 30. I'm hoping to lose a pound or two more than my target weight so that when I come back I don't gave much to repair. But if I don't I'll just do what needs to be done. No biggy

pyrowill

Great post buddy! Hopefully people will take heed.

walleymama

Great topic and very well said.

I think one of the greatest things I have gained from doing MFP is a feeling of total control over my weight. I know that if I do gain a few extra pounds, I know EXACTLY how to lose them again. This is the main reason why I don't panic when my weight fluctuates. I say to myself "hey, if I am gaining weight I know I can lose it", but usually the scales go back down and I don't have to change a thing. It takes all the fear out of undoing the good I have done.

stuffinmuffin

Awesome post!

SLLRunner

It is so good to see such a positive posting to show that weight loss in not linear and food is not something to fear. Weight does naturally fluctuate and it really does take an awful lot of calories to gain actual fat. Thank you so much for this great post.

Tigg_er

Great advice ! Thanks for the positive post.

einzweidrei

Well I said I'd report back my gain from my vacation.

Arrived: Monday
Departed: Friday
(So not even five full days of eating.)

Gained? 6 pounds. Ouch.

Back on track to lose them. One down, more to go.

WAHMto5

I am right there with you! We go on a few vacations per year and I never limit myself and only enjoy the full vacation. Soon as I get back, I start logging again with a deficit and within 2-3 weeks I am back to my maintenance weight!

doubleduofa

I think it's great that your water weight came off quickly. Unfortunately, any water weight that I gain doesn't magically come off in a week. I'm still fighting with 3 pounds gained a week and a half ago. It sucks, but not all metabolisms are created equal.

dwh77tx

I totally see where you are coming from. Since I don't weigh myself, (going on 3 months) I don't look at the numbers anymore. However, for me, I still have to be careful on vacation. Example, last week we went to the beach and I didn't move enough, ate way too much ice cream, and couldn't fit into my clothes when I got back. BIG problem!

devriessue

thank you for this inspiration.. just a wee little addition, if you don't mind. I think when we are young, the weight comes off faster. The older you get, it seems harder to take weight off as easily but it does come back down eventually!! Thank you again!!

Kymmu

This should be recommended reading!
Thanks for sharing and well done too..do you think a fast day would be a good way of getting it over with?