It's just not worth it
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Not a healthy way of thinking. When food you actually enjoy becomes a bane because of 1.5lbs gain, then you're using the scale as your measurement of success/failure. Unless you exceeded your calories by 3500 calories and ALL of them reverted to fat storage, that 1.5lbs is basically a little water retention. And honestly, even the most trained eye wouldn't be able to tell you whether it made a difference on your body or not.
If you can't enjoy your friends and they can't enjoy you and you can't handle a slight gain, then is it really better to avoid them and any "off" eating the REST OF YOUR LIFE because of a little vanity?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
So much this. You still have to enjoy life and frankly your idea of eating on vacation is depressing. Allow yourself some leeway. Enjoy life and time with friends and, yes, coffee cake and pizza.
I'm going on vacation in June and have no intention of watching what I eat. I do this every vacation and the most I've ever gained is 2 pounds (and that was on a 7 day cruise where I basically ate 24/7). As soon as I got home and back to eating right it came off immediately.
Yep I went on vacay last month and ate whatever I felt like and only gained a pound. Enjoy yourself.2 -
Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Not sure why this didn't all post. I had said that I was down 2 lbs today. I drink lots of water with lemon and lime and refill all day long. I know about sodium retention and weight gain from that but I think just seeing my weekly weigh in and gaining 1.5 lbs was upsetting when I've for the most part worked so hard. Congrats to you on reaching maintenance! Not much longer for me now. About 7 lbs to go
You got this! That last 10-20 pounds is a pain! The last 5 for me was murder.. took 2 months I swear! Or it seemed like it. Do not give up, it'll happen. I think toward the end (last 90 days or so) I was so tired of being at a 2lb/wk loss that I dropped myself to maybe .5 lb a week loss for extra calories, upped my protein and started working out more. I figured I'd feel better and would enjoy the calories and maybe build more muscle. I was right. By the time I hit maintenance I was really feeling great, and still do. What blows my mind is I can do great all week at around 2200 cals a day, but some days go up to 2800-3k and still not gain. Probably because I'm still doing 30 min of hard cardio and 30 minutes of body weight training 6 days a week, but I still feel great. All of the hard work paid off, and is still paying off. You're next, keep up the good work!2 -
It's mostly been covered, but yeah, you need to revamp your mental approach here. Check out this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear
I can't even imagine pre-planning or logging during my vacation, as some have suggested. If you must log, set your goal at maintenance or 1/2 lb loss. But surely you've gained enough experience in losing the 25 lbs (congratulations, BTW!) to have gained a sense of how much you can eat. Be sensible. Try to get plenty of fresh fruits & veggies and don't splurge at every meal. Get plenty of activity in. I actually tend to lose weight on vacation due to increased activity (walking, swimming, etc).2 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »OP how much total weight are you trying to lose, what do you have your rate of loss set at, and what is your calorie goal?
As others have said, the intense focus on the scale weight is not always healthy. Weight fluctuates naturally, which is why many people weigh every day so you begin to see those patterns, it also prevents from having to wait a week to weigh after a spike.
It should be very possible to fit foods like coffee cake and pizza into your diet in moderation. Losing weight shouldn't come at the expense of all the foods you love. Nor should your vacation be something you dread because you are so concerned about what you are eating.
If you've lost 25 lbs, it may be time to increase your calorie goal by 250 cals and reduce your rate of loss, it depends how much weight you still have to lose.
*fool not full lol!
Also, when I first started with my weight loss I set my calories to 1200/day and that was easy. I definitely feel like it's not enough now which makes no sense since I wouldn't think I need as many calories being less weight.
I found 1250 really easy when I first started and had a lot to lose. It remained pretty easy until I was in the healthy weight zone. Then, I don't know if it was that I was burnt out on cutting calories some or (as I suspect) having less fat to lose, but it became much harder. I switched to a TDEE method, and let my loss rate slow some and lost about 15 more lbs.
Yes I had a similar experience. When I was losing I was on about 1400 a day. Now that I'm within 10-20ish pounds of my goal weight that amount just doesn't cut it for me. I'll be gnawing my arm off. I have found it strange, but I've also accepted it. My current happy weight loss calorie range is about 1600-1700 calories.3 -
Losewtforlife4him wrote: »
Great advice! Thanks so much. Would you mind giving me some ideas of what you ate all day on the beach and then for dinner at night that could help me? I'm just getting a little nervous because I love to eat on the beach and I get so hungry for some reason. I guess it's called being lazy laying on the beach doing nothing, lol. I'll get up and get moving though and walk/run and maybe even do some push-ups lol! Thanks for your tips
I had old fashioned oatmeal in the mornings with almond milk, a tsp of vanilla and tsp of agave nectar and also mixed in half of a sliced banana. For snacks I had boiled egg, nuts, yogurt. Lunch was an Asian chopped salad or boiled eggs, cheese stick, apple and PB. I didn't really eat anything while we were on the beach. I'm always afraid of getting it sand contaminated haha. But my friend had strawberries and grapes in zip baggies. For dinner I got grilled seafood and a side of veggies. Shrimp, grouper, mahi mahi. I did allow myself to have a margarita once and dessert once, but not in the same night.
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Spliner1969 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Not sure why this didn't all post. I had said that I was down 2 lbs today. I drink lots of water with lemon and lime and refill all day long. I know about sodium retention and weight gain from that but I think just seeing my weekly weigh in and gaining 1.5 lbs was upsetting when I've for the most part worked so hard. Congrats to you on reaching maintenance! Not much longer for me now. About 7 lbs to go
You got this! That last 10-20 pounds is a pain! The last 5 for me was murder.. took 2 months I swear! Or it seemed like it. Do not give up, it'll happen. I think toward the end (last 90 days or so) I was so tired of being at a 2lb/wk loss that I dropped myself to maybe .5 lb a week loss for extra calories, upped my protein and started working out more. I figured I'd feel better and would enjoy the calories and maybe build more muscle. I was right. By the time I hit maintenance I was really feeling great, and still do. What blows my mind is I can do great all week at around 2200 cals a day, but some days go up to 2800-3k and still not gain. Probably because I'm still doing 30 min of hard cardio and 30 minutes of body weight training 6 days a week, but I still feel great. All of the hard work paid off, and is still paying off. You're next, keep up the good work!
Thank you! Way to go on your weight loss! That's awesome and glad you're feeling so much better too!
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You're not seriously dumb (and have such an uneventful life) to the point where you measure your success/failure in Life by how much you weigh, right? Because if you do, being fat is the least of your problems.
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JoaoCCCTeixeira wrote: »You're not seriously dumb (and have such an uneventful life) to the point where you measure your success/failure in Life by how much you weigh, right? Because if you do, being fat is the least of your problems.
Bit harsh.
I'm pretty sure most of us have had thoughts of throwing in the towel during our calorie restriction phases. I know I had plenty, and even more so when I took a diet break and ate at maintenance.1 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »OP how much total weight are you trying to lose, what do you have your rate of loss set at, and what is your calorie goal?
As others have said, the intense focus on the scale weight is not always healthy. Weight fluctuates naturally, which is why many people weigh every day so you begin to see those patterns, it also prevents from having to wait a week to weigh after a spike.
It should be very possible to fit foods like coffee cake and pizza into your diet in moderation. Losing weight shouldn't come at the expense of all the foods you love. Nor should your vacation be something you dread because you are so concerned about what you are eating.
If you've lost 25 lbs, it may be time to increase your calorie goal by 250 cals and reduce your rate of loss, it depends how much weight you still have to lose.
*fool not full lol!
Also, when I first started with my weight loss I set my calories to 1200/day and that was easy. I definitely feel like it's not enough now which makes no sense since I wouldn't think I need as many calories being less weight.
I found 1250 really easy when I first started and had a lot to lose. It remained pretty easy until I was in the healthy weight zone. Then, I don't know if it was that I was burnt out on cutting calories some or (as I suspect) having less fat to lose, but it became much harder. I switched to a TDEE method, and let my loss rate slow some and lost about 15 more lbs.
Yes I had a similar experience. When I was losing I was on about 1400 a day. Now that I'm within 10-20ish pounds of my goal weight that amount just doesn't cut it for me. I'll be gnawing my arm off. I have found it strange, but I've also accepted it. My current happy weight loss calorie range is about 1600-1700 calories.
Is that with exercise or without those extra calories that you could also eat or at least 1/2 of them?
Great job!
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JoaoCCCTeixeira wrote: »You're not seriously dumb (and have such an uneventful life) to the point where you measure your success/failure in Life by how much you weigh, right? Because if you do, being fat is the least of your problems.
For some people weight loss and/or maintaining a healthy weight is not as easy. It takes perseverance and learning what causes overeating and when to let go and when not to. If counting calories during a vacation or during a holiday helps someone reach those goals for a lifetime then so be it. No reason to put them down because of it. I take holidays and vacations off from dieting, but I do log my meals as closely as I can when I have time, and once I go over what I think I should, I stop. I do this because I don't want to log my meals forever, I want to learn to be healthy, and for me that means un-learning my bad habits. It took a while for me to realize that a slight gain was nothing to feel bad about. My point is that being successful over a lifetime might be easy for you, but hard for someone else. No reason to judge them. Judge yourself instead. imho.2 -
Losewtforlife4him wrote: »
Great advice! Thanks so much. Would you mind giving me some ideas of what you ate all day on the beach and then for dinner at night that could help me? I'm just getting a little nervous because I love to eat on the beach and I get so hungry for some reason. I guess it's called being lazy laying on the beach doing nothing, lol. I'll get up and get moving though and walk/run and maybe even do some push-ups lol! Thanks for your tips
I had old fashioned oatmeal in the mornings with almond milk, a tsp of vanilla and tsp of agave nectar and also mixed in half of a sliced banana. For snacks I had boiled egg, nuts, yogurt. Lunch was an Asian chopped salad or boiled eggs, cheese stick, apple and PB. I didn't really eat anything while we were on the beach. I'm always afraid of getting it sand contaminated haha. But my friend had strawberries and grapes in zip baggies. For dinner I got grilled seafood and a side of veggies. Shrimp, grouper, mahi mahi. I did allow myself to have a margarita once and dessert once, but not in the same night.
Yay! Thanks for the tips! Sounds like you are healthy and yummy foods and made wise choices. Good for you!!
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »
Great advice! Thanks so much. Would you mind giving me some ideas of what you ate all day on the beach and then for dinner at night that could help me? I'm just getting a little nervous because I love to eat on the beach and I get so hungry for some reason. I guess it's called being lazy laying on the beach doing nothing, lol. I'll get up and get moving though and walk/run and maybe even do some push-ups lol! Thanks for your tips
I had old fashioned oatmeal in the mornings with almond milk, a tsp of vanilla and tsp of agave nectar and also mixed in half of a sliced banana. For snacks I had boiled egg, nuts, yogurt. Lunch was an Asian chopped salad or boiled eggs, cheese stick, apple and PB. I didn't really eat anything while we were on the beach. I'm always afraid of getting it sand contaminated haha. But my friend had strawberries and grapes in zip baggies. For dinner I got grilled seafood and a side of veggies. Shrimp, grouper, mahi mahi. I did allow myself to have a margarita once and dessert once, but not in the same night.
*ate healthy but are healthy too lol! Crazy auto correct!
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »OP how much total weight are you trying to lose, what do you have your rate of loss set at, and what is your calorie goal?
As others have said, the intense focus on the scale weight is not always healthy. Weight fluctuates naturally, which is why many people weigh every day so you begin to see those patterns, it also prevents from having to wait a week to weigh after a spike.
It should be very possible to fit foods like coffee cake and pizza into your diet in moderation. Losing weight shouldn't come at the expense of all the foods you love. Nor should your vacation be something you dread because you are so concerned about what you are eating.
If you've lost 25 lbs, it may be time to increase your calorie goal by 250 cals and reduce your rate of loss, it depends how much weight you still have to lose.
*fool not full lol!
Also, when I first started with my weight loss I set my calories to 1200/day and that was easy. I definitely feel like it's not enough now which makes no sense since I wouldn't think I need as many calories being less weight.
I found 1250 really easy when I first started and had a lot to lose. It remained pretty easy until I was in the healthy weight zone. Then, I don't know if it was that I was burnt out on cutting calories some or (as I suspect) having less fat to lose, but it became much harder. I switched to a TDEE method, and let my loss rate slow some and lost about 15 more lbs.
Yes I had a similar experience. When I was losing I was on about 1400 a day. Now that I'm within 10-20ish pounds of my goal weight that amount just doesn't cut it for me. I'll be gnawing my arm off. I have found it strange, but I've also accepted it. My current happy weight loss calorie range is about 1600-1700 calories.
Is that with exercise or without those extra calories that you could also eat or at least 1/2 of them?
Great job!
On a heavy exercise day I'll eat most of those calories. So it will be about 1600-1700 net calories. I'll actually eat around 2100-2200 some days. Like, on a day that I'm working (on my feet for more than 10 hours and I have a fitbit) plus strength training and light cardio.1 -
It's mostly been covered, but yeah, you need to revamp your mental approach here. Check out this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear
I can't even imagine pre-planning or logging during my vacation, as some have suggested. If you must log, set your goal at maintenance or 1/2 lb loss. But surely you've gained enough experience in losing the 25 lbs (congratulations, BTW!) to have gained a sense of how much you can eat. Be sensible. Try to get plenty of fresh fruits & veggies and don't splurge at every meal. Get plenty of activity in. I actually tend to lose weight on vacation due to increased activity (walking, swimming, etc).
Great advice and thanks for sharing the article too. Good stuff!
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »OP how much total weight are you trying to lose, what do you have your rate of loss set at, and what is your calorie goal?
As others have said, the intense focus on the scale weight is not always healthy. Weight fluctuates naturally, which is why many people weigh every day so you begin to see those patterns, it also prevents from having to wait a week to weigh after a spike.
It should be very possible to fit foods like coffee cake and pizza into your diet in moderation. Losing weight shouldn't come at the expense of all the foods you love. Nor should your vacation be something you dread because you are so concerned about what you are eating.
If you've lost 25 lbs, it may be time to increase your calorie goal by 250 cals and reduce your rate of loss, it depends how much weight you still have to lose.
I see what you're saying and definitely in moderation will eat these foods but was just frustrated at myself for over indulging on my homemade coffee cake which was full of butter and sugar and a brown sugar topping ...very rich. I need to find healthier alternative recipes so I don't have the sugar addiction that I seem to get after having just one piece. It's like it's was so good that I kept going back for more. I feel like I truly can't have these kinds of foods around or it's a major temptation. Like an alcoholic with alcohol in the house. It's no different. I see these tendencies in myself and just don't want to go there again. I'm down to 142.6 today and would love to get down to 135 lbs so I play around with my calories. Right now I have it set to 0.5 lb/week weight loss which has me at 1590 calories and then I exercise and eat 1/2 of those back. However, I think when my friend was here I had it set at 1200 to full myself but maybe that was the problem. I wasn't fueling myself properly.
0.5 lb/week and a calorie goal of 1500 with eating back half your exercise cals seems totally appropriate for your weight/height. It probably is true that when you lowered your cals to 1200 you felt hungry (300+ cals is a big difference) and that may have contributed to feeling like you failed. Many people do the opposite - when there is a special event or a vacation or something, instead of lowering cals, they increase their cals to maintenance for a short period of time to give themselves some additional wiggle room with calories. Others (myself included) bank calories during the days leading up to a special event so that you have more to work with for a nice night out or a weekend getaway, but stay within a weekly deficit.
There may be ways to tweak your favorite recipes to make them less calorie dense, but I think your coffee cake sounds delicious and see nothing wrong with the butter, sugar, and brown sugar topping - yum! It's not an every day food, but certainly for a special occasion like visiting with an old friend, it sounds perfect and not like something I would ever want to cut out of my diet.
Also to your point about being hungrier now that you are at a lower weight, it is possible that you are more active than before you started, and therefore need more food to fuel your body. I lost the 30 lbs I set out to lose and am now maintaining but I eat more now than I did before I lost the weight, because I am far more active. I'm 5'2 and maintain at around 2200 cals because of my activity.1 -
Remember to get enough protein. Eggs are super for this.2
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JoaoCCCTeixeira wrote: »You're not seriously dumb (and have such an uneventful life) to the point where you measure your success/failure in Life by how much you weigh, right? Because if you do, being fat is the least of your problems.
Nope I'm not. I actually prefer to be adult and not name call. 
I find that those who are the wisest in life, reach out for advice and listen to others who have some more experience than myself and I will help others as well. That's what life should be about and I feel very bad for you if you haven't learned this. Absolutely I don't measure my success or failure in life by what I weigh. My identity is not based on what the scale says. I just want to be careful for my own health to not get above a healthy range. I have a very eventful life with many blessings and hope you do as well! God bless you!
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I think you need to change how you use your scale. Either 1) weigh daily so you can see the fluctuations and understand what causes them, or 2) weigh monthly, in conjunction with diligent logging and body measurements so you don't focus so much on the scale. It is a tool. You control it and use it as needed, not the other way around.
Too much sodium will cause you to retain water, and this can last for days.
If you eat at or above maintenance after being in a prolonged deficit, your glycogen stores will build back up. This will also take a few days to bring back down.
TOM impacts most women.
Introducing new exercise can cause water retention.
Dehydration followed by rehydrating can cause big swings.
When you see the scale go up and down, those are more likely culprits than fat gain. Even if you go on vacation for a week and overeat every day, the actual fat gain will be small compared to these other factors. Give it a week or two in a deficit, and a good chunk of the weight will come back off.
Agree with what everyone else has said about not stressing so much. Life is going to happen. Enjoy it, and don't beat yourself up over the occasional splurge. I'm a pretty good baker too, and while I don't bake as much as I used to, I still let myself indulge when I have the occasion to make something awesome.3 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »OP how much total weight are you trying to lose, what do you have your rate of loss set at, and what is your calorie goal?
As others have said, the intense focus on the scale weight is not always healthy. Weight fluctuates naturally, which is why many people weigh every day so you begin to see those patterns, it also prevents from having to wait a week to weigh after a spike.
It should be very possible to fit foods like coffee cake and pizza into your diet in moderation. Losing weight shouldn't come at the expense of all the foods you love. Nor should your vacation be something you dread because you are so concerned about what you are eating.
If you've lost 25 lbs, it may be time to increase your calorie goal by 250 cals and reduce your rate of loss, it depends how much weight you still have to lose.
I see what you're saying and definitely in moderation will eat these foods but was just frustrated at myself for over indulging on my homemade coffee cake which was full of butter and sugar and a brown sugar topping ...very rich. I need to find healthier alternative recipes so I don't have the sugar addiction that I seem to get after having just one piece. It's like it's was so good that I kept going back for more. I feel like I truly can't have these kinds of foods around or it's a major temptation. Like an alcoholic with alcohol in the house. It's no different. I see these tendencies in myself and just don't want to go there again. I'm down to 142.6 today and would love to get down to 135 lbs so I play around with my calories. Right now I have it set to 0.5 lb/week weight loss which has me at 1590 calories and then I exercise and eat 1/2 of those back. However, I think when my friend was here I had it set at 1200 to full myself but maybe that was the problem. I wasn't fueling myself properly.
0.5 lb/week and a calorie goal of 1500 with eating back half your exercise cals seems totally appropriate for your weight/height. It probably is true that when you lowered your cals to 1200 you felt hungry (300+ cals is a big difference) and that may have contributed to feeling like you failed. Many people do the opposite - when there is a special event or a vacation or something, instead of lowering cals, they increase their cals to maintenance for a short period of time to give themselves some additional wiggle room with calories. Others (myself included) bank calories during the days leading up to a special event so that you have more to work with for a nice night out or a weekend getaway, but stay within a weekly deficit.
There may be ways to tweak your favorite recipes to make them less calorie dense, but I think your coffee cake sounds delicious and see nothing wrong with the butter, sugar, and brown sugar topping - yum! It's not an every day food, but certainly for a special occasion like visiting with an old friend, it sounds perfect and not like something I would ever want to cut out of my diet.
Also to your point about being hungrier now that you are at a lower weight, it is possible that you are more active than before you started, and therefore need more food to fuel your body. I lost the 30 lbs I set out to lose and am now maintaining but I eat more now than I did before I lost the weight, because I am far more active. I'm 5'2 and maintain at around 2200 cals because of my activity.
Perfect and thanks for your great advice! Congrats to you!!
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I always tell clients:
"If you look the way you want to look, wear the clothes you want to wear because they fit, and people compliment you on your figure............................does it really matter what the scale says?"
We don't go around in the day with our weight stamped on our foreheads. It's only an issue with what we see and not what others see.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition 2
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