What on earth...9 pound weight gain after vacation???

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ajcmoran2005
ajcmoran2005 Posts: 173 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone,

I'm hoping that the weight loss experts can help me out here because I am lost and upset. We went on vacation on the 26th and came back today. I weighed 123 the morning I left and tonight I weighed 133.1! Normally I only weigh myself in the morning but I just wanted to see. It might go down to 132 in the morning but how is this possible? We went to several theme parks so we walked 5-6 miles a day and I worked out every night in the hotel gym. I made a conscientious effort to eat better on this vacation and not snack as much and I really did. When our kiddos were snacking on chocolate chip cookies I always declined. I cheated some but for the most part I was really proud of how I ate. Would I have rather had a Belgian waffle, danish and muffin for breakfast instead of a bagel with fat free cream cheese and a bowl of cereal every morning? Heck yes I would have but I didn't! I have worked so hard to reach my goal weight and now I feel so defeated. I hated working out on vacation but yet I did it every stinking night. There is no way I ate over 5000 calories a day, just no way at all, so what is going on? I was in maintenance mode but it looks like I'm going to have to go back to my weight loss mode :(. So, any words of advice? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm just feeling so beaten down right now.

Replies

  • hearthwood
    hearthwood Posts: 794 Member
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    Wait a few days, and then weigh yourself again. If you were good on vacation, a lot of it could be just water weight. I tend to swell up when I travel, but after a few days i go back to normal.
  • mickiebabs
    mickiebabs Posts: 183 Member
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    I'm sure you'll see a much bigger drop in the morning. Most people see an increase of at least a few pounds if they weigh later in the day. Eating away from home, especially in hotels can really affect your weight loss. You're not measuring. You're not weighing. And you might not be logging. Plus, you don't cook the food so you have no idea exactly what went in it or how much. Also, I know when I've done more exercise than normal, it affects my weight for a day or two afterwards. Don't beat yourself up. Get back up and back on track. Weigh yourself properly in the morning and go from there. Also, I don't know about you but when I hit maintenance, I plan on giving myself a few pounds to fluctuate so that I'm not so upset over a one or two pound temporary gain. I read a post earlier tonight from a guy that said he went below his goal weight by 10 pounds so that he would have that leeway without the guilt.

    Look on the bright side, it could be worse. A couple of years ago I had bust my butt to drop 80 pounds. My husband got laid off so we took the opportunity to travel and spent a month driving and living out of hotels while visiting family. We came back and I had gained 30 of that weight back. If I had gotten back on track right then, I wouldn't be where I'm at now with 110 pounds to go.

    Let the guilt and frustration go and enjoy the fact that you had a nice vacation with your family.
  • ajcmoran2005
    ajcmoran2005 Posts: 173 Member
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    Well, it ended up being an 8 1/2 pound gain, which is insane. We went on the exact same trip last year and I ate soooo much worse but only gained about four pounds. I just plan on drinking TONS of water, eating TDEE -20% and working out everyday. I'm really hoping that this is mostly water weight :(.
  • bzgl40
    bzgl40 Posts: 69 Member
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    You are not giving it enough time to come back down. Give it a few days. You would have had to eat an insane amount of food to gain 9 pounds. Water retention weight post vacation always takes me a few days to shed and then I am back to my regular weight
  • popsicklestar
    popsicklestar Posts: 166 Member
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    Weighing yourself at night or after you eat can make your weight 3 pounds higher. Vacation gain for me is about 3 pounds usually, and that includes some water weight. Just go back to your deficit, and your weight will be back to normal in a week or two or possibly faster than that. No need to panic.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    It's water weight. It will go back down!
  • hilaria81
    hilaria81 Posts: 84 Member
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    This happened to me in the middle of my week-long honeymoon in June, but within several days after getting back, I'd already lost almost 9 out of 10 pounds. It turned out to be no big deal at all.
  • Pohudet
    Pohudet Posts: 179 Member
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    That's what happens to me on vacations.
    :-(
    The only exception was Japan (enjoying sashimi and no wine).
  • flatlndr
    flatlndr Posts: 713 Member
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    I posted this in a similar thread (OP was upset about returning from hols 6 lbs heavier):

    I returned from holiday last Saturday afternoon (8 days ago)

    - On the Sunday after (return +1 day), I was 5+ lbs over my pre-departure weight
    - On the Monday after (return +2 days), I was only at 1.5 lbs over my pre-departure weight
    - A week later on the Saturday (return + 7 days), I was 2 lbs *below* my departure weight, after a week of eating normally again.

    I had kept very active on holiday. A lot of hiking and swimming, but I did eat more than I normally do.

    Give it time. If you ate a bit more, had a bit more salt, etc, I'm sure a lot of it is water retention.

    In which case, I expect you'll work yours off in less than two weeks as well. Good luck!
  • MarkFraser142
    MarkFraser142 Posts: 10 Member
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    Weight can fluctuate 5-10lbs during the day so don't stress out so much about being heavier later in the day.

    The rest of it is probably just water weight.

    Have you been keeping track of your measurements? If your waist line is the same, than you really have nothing to worry about. If it's significantly larger, well that obviously means you screwed up somewhere.

    But you know what? Who cares! You were on vacation and deserve to have fun. I'm sure you still look great so just get back to the fitness and logging and you'll be back where you were in no time. Don't beat yourself up.

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