Question for those who have lost a lot of weight......

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  • carolyn0613
    carolyn0613 Posts: 162 Member
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    I don't watch my salt intake at all and eat processed foods (as well as more natural foods and fruit and veg!). ALso I am female and have hormonal contraception. All these mean that I can stall, lose, gain at complete random. My weight loss is definitely not a straight line down, but it is definitely a downward trend. I recently gained 5lbs from hormones. Three weeks later I was back where I had calculated I'd be (2lb down). If you know that you are eating under your maintenance calories you will lose weight. It might be hidden for a while but will come out in the end!
  • palmerar
    palmerar Posts: 489 Member
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    It is totally normal to have an off day or weekend. Making good choices can be taxing sometimes. Even if we lose a ton of weight, there will always be Holidays and vacations and weekends with friends, as there very well should be, and everyone should enjoy them. The true test of commitment is whether you can let the indulgences become a once in a while thing, and get right back to healthy habits, instead of letting them become a major incident that steers you off course.
  • JenX15
    JenX15 Posts: 103 Member
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    I never had "cheat day". I try to be perfect. Since I'm not, sometimes I have imperfect days.

    QFT
  • tbullucks06
    tbullucks06 Posts: 128
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    You all are soooo awesome! I feel so much better. Truthfully I knew it wasn't a true gain but I let that scale screw with my head. I usually only weigh once a month to see if I met my 5 lb goal but after the off weekend I had I "thought" it would motivate me to get in gear since I only have a week and a half left to meet my goal. It scared the hell out of me for a minute!!! Thanks again everyone and congrats on your fantastic losses!
  • mommarobb
    mommarobb Posts: 80 Member
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    I also ate the term "cheat". Using this word makes it seem like you are doing something wrong. In life, we will eat out, have junk food, go on vacation and eat at restaurants.
    2 weeks ago, we had a great reason to celebrate our family. We let the kids make the decision as to where we would go for dinner...chinese. Can we say sodium, glazed sauces and deep fried heaven??? and buffet to boot. I went online before eating out and checked out some dishes for calories. I found out that one of my faves clocked in at 1400 cals. So I was very aware of what I was putting in my mouth that night, went over my cals by about 200. And that was ok as I could have easily done 3000 lol. But then I felt like crap. I started bloating, my feet even swelled. I said I felt like I had gained 5 lbs. Hubby suggested I should weigh myself in the morning. I did... +2lbs :noway: I didn't stress, ate very healthy that day and drank gallons of water. 2 days later the extra weight was gone.
    I guess the moral is live life, fit the foods you love into your daily intake and don't be to hard on yourself for going outside of your lifestyle once in awhile. I always look at that before I started our healthier lifestyle I wouldn't have worried about eating out, not exercising and putting on a few pounds. being aware of the choices we make and how it effects us is an accomplishment itself.

    Good luck on your journey
  • A_Fit_Mom
    A_Fit_Mom Posts: 602 Member
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    I am down 32 pounds and yes, I have days where I go over. I want this to be long term, so I knew I would not be able to stay under my calories every single day for the rest of my life. So I have at least one day a week, where I go over. Usually about 500 over or so.


    Now I exercise a lot, so most of the time..I workout before I know I will be going out. So the 500 over is usually on a non exercise day.
  • PheonixRizing
    PheonixRizing Posts: 131 Member
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    Reality is that sometimes you have off days. Having "cheat days" in my opinion is creating an exception so I don't think of it like that. I don't give myself specific "cheat days". For example this past saturday I went over 200 calories. We were camping and I went over a bit, I knew I might and accepted it and tried to be reasonable. I also knew there were plenty of days in the previous week that I ate at a deficit so with that in mind when I realized I went over a bit on Saturday I didn't beat myself up, and you shouldn't either. You will meet your goals you just have to keep in mind that you also get only 1 life, so enjoy it, be reasonable, and have fun.

    Cheers,

    Tess
  • looking4au
    looking4au Posts: 85 Member
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    Yes, I am also with the sodium crowd. there might be a pound or two of actual gain there, but don't stress to much over it. I know everyone is different when it comes to accountability and weighing. For me, I can only weigh myself once a week. The scale was determining how I was going to feel that day. If I saw an increase I would get discouraged and eat badly that day. Ya, I know it doesn't make since. but, it was the mindset of gosh, I worked this hard and I still gained. I might as well enjoy myself. My point being, do the right thing, exercise, eat right and trust it is going to come off and stay off the scale. It has worked for me. Good luck.
  • w2bab
    w2bab Posts: 353 Member
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    I weigh every day, and chart my progress. Usually a spike in my weight is salt-related and it takes 2-3 days to drop back down, but all I have to do is look at the graph of my progress to remind myself that my weight always comes back down. Hang in there.
  • ProgressNotPerfection32
    ProgressNotPerfection32 Posts: 1,155 Member
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    My cheat days are exactly why I've lost only 65 pounds in 2 years and 3 months. I do not regret those cheat days but the closer I get to my goal the more they hurt me. Maybe instead of a cheat day or weekend you could just have 1 day where you have something that's off the plan?
  • Hitem20
    Hitem20 Posts: 121
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    I have had 3 or 4 mini vacations so far this summer and I put on anywhere from 3-7 lbs each time. Takes about a week or two but the weight always comes off when I get back on the eating proper horse.
  • belleparis
    belleparis Posts: 111
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    Ohh the scale...it really messes with your head. I've lost some weight and I've had plenty of days where I ate hamburgers and snickers bars (though, not together..lol).

    It's part of life. I don't have "cheat days" but if one day I am not as careful..it's ok, as long as I go right back to the plan. Don't be disappointed in yourself. It's normal to have days where you ate more than normal...don't deprive yourself and don't go overboard either. Keep going! :-)

    :flowerforyou:
  • Inshape13
    Inshape13 Posts: 680 Member
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    In the beginning I did not have cheat days at all because I have always been a binge eater and I easily could have gone overboard. Over about 6 months I did gradually add in treats and then I came to a point where I would have a "cheat" meal on Sunday afternoons because my family always goes out for Mexican food. Now that I am maintaining I do go over at times and then under others and work it out over the week to hit my calorie goals with both food and I exercise ALOT. Best of luck to you!
  • bystander1943
    bystander1943 Posts: 31 Member
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    I've had my 'cheat days' as well. However, looking under the 'Reports' tab I've worked out that I'm approx. 4% under my target over the last 6 months as an average. So it does not matter in the long run if there are a few days when all does not go to plan. The result of that is that I'm still losing weight but not at the rate of earlier times. I've only lost 100gm (3½ oz) in the last 8 days.
  • rassha01
    rassha01 Posts: 534 Member
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    I have lost 50 pounds since new years and still have my fun weekends! This passed weekend I didn't log everything and I gained 3 pounds. If you plan around it and come to expect it you can desensitize yourself from the little gains that result from enjoying yourself from time to time. Just have to come back after and continue to hit it!
  • mpettey86
    mpettey86 Posts: 12
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    new at this....see next post:smile:
  • mpettey86
    mpettey86 Posts: 12
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    Very good point vingogly!...I never thought I was assigning moral qualities to my eating....obviously one major change I need to make is in my thinking. Thanks for posting that!
  • Love_Is_My_Fuel
    Love_Is_My_Fuel Posts: 211 Member
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    I've lost a bit and along the way I did have "treat meals" I call them :) I wanted this to be a lifestyle change for me so drastically changed my eating habits and started working out. For me to have a whole day or multiple days of "cheating" would be counterproductive to what my life plan is and letting in those bad habits again that got me morbidly obese in the first place. I am addicted to the amazing feeling I get after I eat healthy and have a good work out. To eat a lot of fatty, greasy food with high calorie/high carb/high sugar just makes me feel HORRIBLE. I treat myself to a nice meal out at least twice a month but it's all about moderation. Restaurant serving sizes are soooooooo big...now my husband and I share out meals out. Last night we had chicken parm with fettucine alfredo and a deep fried mars dessert...shared it all for around 1400 calories instead of 2800 alone. Then we went for a nice walk to burn some calories and prevent water weight this morning. You have to commit yourself to changing your life and once you body gets used to this lifestyle you crave exercise and healthy food. You get addicted to the energy and seeing those numbers go down on the scale. So my best advice would be to plan ahead your treat day...eat healthy and drink loads of water in anticipation of that treat and earn it. Good luck on your journey :flowerforyou:
  • Freedomgurl585
    Freedomgurl585 Posts: 196 Member
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    Honey I said SCREW THIS and did what I wanted for the entire month of May...thankfully the lifestyle changes since January were already in place and I felt stuffed after eating a fraction of what I used to, and I craved water and veggies/protien. I detested my scales, and I kicked them under my bed. Went from hating them, to feeling afraid of the scale, to yes I know I must weigh myself. When I did I had gained 3 pounds, I could've gained over 10 but I didn't. Know that the mental, emotional and physical mechanisms you've put in place to jumpstart your lifestyle transformation will hold you and support you when you are at your weakest! Thankfully I made up for those gained pounds by kicking fat's BEHIND!
  • jojo86xdd
    jojo86xdd Posts: 202 Member
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    last weekend i went out of town for two days, when i came back and weighed myself i had gained 6 lbs. over the course of the week it dropped back down again and then some. a lot of cheat foods are full of sodium, and eating so much of them makes you retain water like crazy. just get back to business, the scale will drop eventually as long as you keep up the good habits

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