9lbs in 2.5 months..What did I do so bad..???!

karissastephens

soooo......this summer I got into extremely great shape! I loved my body! However.....every since I moved back to college I started gaining...
I had less time to prepare food, more junk food in front of me that was too hard to resist, and LATE nights studying or with friends.
From September to the end of October I gained 2lbs. :indifferent:

Then November hit. Thanksgiving...holiday food...stuffing myself sick (but still exercising daily) and gained 3lbs MORE. :embarassed:

Now I'm home for Christmas break and have gained 4lbs in a week and a half!!!!! AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! 9 FREAKING POUNDS OF STUPID WASTE. :sad:

WHAT AM I DOING THAT SOOOOO BAD?!?!?!?! I have been eating bad. I realize that...but I workout EVERYDAY and hard workouts too annnnd stay within my calories somewhat.

I guess I am just in shock how FAST it can be to gain weight...I thought it took longer to gain a pound??

joligher

Girl dont be so hard on yourself! I understand the frustration...believe me! It says I gained 3 lbs since yesterday and says i've gained 15 in 2 months and I too have been working out and not eating great but not going on bender after bender. It is the holidays which suck because the good food is plentiful. Just hang in there and things will turn around!

NightOwl1

There are a handful of things I think it could be, but since I don't know your exact situation, they're just going to be a bunch of guesses. If you see one that sounds like it could fit you, then maybe it's the right answer.

1. Have you been drinking a lot of alcohol? Alcohol can be a killer when it comes to weight gain.

2. Maybe your new diet has done something to slow down your metabolism.

3. What kind of exercise are you doing? If it's the same thing over and over, it will become less effective over time. Try interval training (2 minutes of low intensity, 1 minute of high intensity) to raise your metabolism.

4. The 4 pound gain in a week in a half sounds like a little much. Have you been weighing yourself in the mornings, or later in the day? If it's later in the day, it's probably just additional weight from water and undigested food.

The good news is because you have an active lifestyle, and it's only nine pounds, is if you change your eating habits, you should be able to burn the weight pretty easily. And looking at your picture, it's clear that you still look great, so I wouldn't worry too much

clothes_of_sand

haha, it can be fast. I stopped tracking for a couple of weeks around exams, started eating bad stuff again and exercising less, and gained 2 pounds, which is like a pound a week. But at least you know what you're doing, and you haven't stopped exercising. Just get your eating under control and you can lose the weight again. You did it the first time, you can do it again

karissastephens

okay as for my picture...that's my GOAL haha that was my senior year in high school and now I'm a Junior in college...

And also, I switch up my exercises a lot it seems to me..interval, circuits, yoga, strength...etc

uhhgg.

Bexaa

I know how you feel. I gained 10lbs since September and stopped tracking for a month. Because of school, I had little little time to eat properly and healthily now I could see the effects. Within those months, I still had a regular exercise schedule.

I just recently changed my eating and exercise habits and it makes me feel a lot better.

Just as longy49 said, there are a lot of factors that could have caused this. To add to his list:

Stress could also affect this. When we're stressed, we tend to sometimes eat it off especially when we're studying. We don't even notice what we are eating because we're too focused on our studies that we don't watch what goes into our mouth.

Be careful on what you eat. I suggest when you are studying with your peers, buy fruit cups instead of bread or other carbs. I know to some it may sound silly, but having an apple or some fruit in your bag helps, too. You'll have the choice of that or buying something that will cost you. The drinks that you have are also calorie filled. Those lattes or fraps that are full of caffeine AND sugar. Those calories could add up too. If you do drink these, I suggest trying black coffee. 0 calories yet still caffeinated to give you enough energy to study. Another better alternative is tea. Green tea, preferably. Make sure, though that it is black. I know this may be an acquired taste but once you get used to it, you're saving yourselves quite a bit of calories.

I have the same dilemma this Christmas. Try to stay away from those sugary and fat-filled foods. You'll feel way better at the end of the day when you do so. This would also mean that when you do your workouts, your burning calories that came from the right food instead of wasting it on those empty calories.

Hope you achieve your goal! Happy Holidays, as well!

SHBoss1673

Karissa,

It's all about diet, diet is 80% of weight, exercise is great, but it won't fend off weight gain if you're eating badly. Now that you KNOW that the school situation is a bad place for your eating habits, do some preemptive work to fix that. Do some research, find some things you can do to mitigate the bad food. I don't know your situation at college, but most schools do have somewhat healthy options, you may just have to do a little extra work finding them. Maybe ask the people in the cafeteria where you eat what they make healthy, try to keep a stock of healthy snacks in your room, use baggies with healthy stuff in them. And by all means (and I know this is the hardest part for some college students), limit the alcohol consumption as much as possible.

MyViolet

Karissa,

You have gotten a lot of great suggestions. I have found a busy and non-consistent schedule are a killer for me. I am learning how to plan my food intake a day ahead and bring plenty of water when the unhealthy is available. I also make sure I am not hungry when I head into the unhealthy area. Apples and nuts travel well!

karissastephens

Thank you everyone! I love the suggestions and will try my hardest. The only part of these I am struggling with am KEEP struggling with is temptation...

At home (when I go there for holidays) my family ALWAYS..I mean sickly ALWAYS cooks really fatty bad foods and always has breads, chips, candy, and sugar around.. we barely have healthy food. I ask to grocery shop and get healthy stuff but no one except me likes the healthy options.

So its EXTREMELY hard to avoid those foods and avoid temptation which really blows my weight loss to the other end of the scale..

uhhhhhgggg....:explode: :sad:

Thank you everyone for the support I needed advice!

NightOwl1

That sucks that your family isn't supportive. Try to stand firm with them, and let them know how important living a healthy lifestyle is to them. See if you can get them to make some compromises, substituting a few healthy options for a few fatty options. This way even if you can't be as healthy as you want to be, it can be an improvement.

If you absolutely can't get them to budge, try to eat some meals at a friends house who eat healthier than they do. Also try buying as much of your own food that you can make on your own as your budget will allow.

cutmd

omg, that's how I feel! 5 lbs since Thanksgiving, that's one month! This is with exercising but allowing some treats to sneak in. I'm hoping some is water gain so I will eat like a good little girl until Xmas before I log it. It seems like it's so hard to lose and so easy to gain - not fair!:grumble:

jr1985

What is your sodium intake looking like? Even if you drastically cut calories, it is REALLY hard to stay within the daily recomendation for sodium... Most people are double what they should be getting, and that can be adding on a lot of water weight.

karissastephens

What is your sodium intake looking like? Even if you drastically cut calories, it is REALLY hard to stay within the daily recomendation for sodium... Most people are double what they should be getting, and that can be adding on a lot of water weight.

My sodium is usually normal! surprisingly. I know I really need to cut back on carbs and sugars holidays with the rolls, cookies and candy,....so HARD!

wtbyerdocmd

ITS 80% DIET - JUNK AND HOLIDAY FOOD ARE SO HIGH IN CALORIES YOU'D HAVE TO WORK OUT FOR HOURS TO WEAR OFF JUST ONE INDULGENCE.

lulabellewoowoo

Isn't this why humans created New Year's? And placed the big holidays right before? Take all these suggestions and reevaluate what you are doing. But also enjoy your time with your family. Make a new year/new week resolve (Sunday is a good day this coming week) and cut out one junk that has become a staple in your life in the past couple of months. Do that week by week, and you will definitely be back on track in no time.