Fell off the wagon - issues with general peer pressure

filmguyuk
filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
in Motivation and Support
This weekend was a significant one for English football getting to the semis in the World Cup.

It also coincided with my taking the family camping. Actually, my wife did pretty much all of the taking as I'd been working in London away from home. Anyway, despite trying to be careful, once I got to the campsite and beer + snack were flowing I just joined in. I started off trying to log everything but then eventually gave in.

Annoyingly, one returning home on Sunday, I jumped on the scales and was shocked to see a massive 6 pound gain. I just wondered how others felt when they had these swings back into gain, after 7 weeks of being super focused, I feel like I've disappointed myself. That said my resolve is still really strong and I've got up today with a food plan for the week.

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    its mainly water weight, i wouldn't worry about it. plus if you weighed yourself at a different time of day on the Sunday then you will weigh more than first thing in the morning.
  • tristramtrent
    tristramtrent Posts: 257 Member
    I did exactly the same as you, and it happens quite often. When surrounded by happily chomping family I tend to cave in, especially if there's a bit of alcohol involved. The Spartanness of not joining in just seems, in the moment, too harsh. I have been better in the past with this, for example packing things I know I can pick at without too much weight gain and using an iron will. This weekend at least I avoided buying my no 1 trigger food, which is trays of dates! And swapped out a couple of glasses of wine for diet cokes. I still put back everything I lost last week, sigh, and I feel your pain. Perhaps one could play a mind - game and see oneself as a kind of outsider to the group for a few months? Like someone doing Lent? The key seems to be endlessly choosing what is kind to the self in the long term, and philosophically return to the long term plan after every slip.
  • Anna022119
    Anna022119 Posts: 547 Member
    I sometimes visualize myself, when watching my friends chomp down lots of food, where all that weight goes to. Just playing this game (in my mind) keeps me entertained for a bit.
  • runforthefunofitUK
    runforthefunofitUK Posts: 40 Member
    It will swing back. Unless you ate 21000 calories extra that day (roughly 10 days worth of food), you will not have gained that much.
  • 6raham
    6raham Posts: 147 Member
    It does swing back, had my stag do a few weeks back so had no choice but to drink and eat whatever was available. tried to log as much as possible but no doubt missed a few of the drinks I had, went up by 6 pounds on the scales but within a week I was back to where I was before I went away and then lost the following week. I actually felt it kicked me back off again so dont be disheartened, enjoy the time you had off and get back to it again
  • filmguyuk
    filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
    Cheers for all the positive words. I do find it immensely difficult. I sometimes see my wife tutting about me logging all my food there and then. (I've got a terrible memory and I always like to scan as I go to avoid missing things). I think the trick seems to be that I stay focused on my overall goal and try not to overtly judgemental for a small blip.
  • 6raham
    6raham Posts: 147 Member
    filmguyuk wrote: »
    Cheers for all the positive words. I do find it immensely difficult. I sometimes see my wife tutting about me logging all my food there and then. (I've got a terrible memory and I always like to scan as I go to avoid missing things). I think the trick seems to be that I stay focused on my overall goal and try not to overtly judgemental for a small blip.

    My other half used to do the same until she started to see the improvement, not just in my health and fitness but also the satisfaction and confidence in myself, she will soon understand why you track your intake.
  • RustyNut1217
    RustyNut1217 Posts: 5 Member
    filmguyuk wrote: »
    I just wondered how others felt when they had these swings back into gain, after 7 weeks of being super focused, I feel like I've disappointed myself.

    THIS is what you are having trouble with, and I do as well. I'll have a great 2 or 3 or 4 weeks, lose about that much, then have a week where I don't care about anything and all the sudden its back.

    The best thing to do is to just move on. Don't dwell on it, its crap, but it has already happened, and now focus on trying to have another great few weeks. In the past I would beat myself up over gaining the weight back, then gain 5 or 10 pounds extra because I was depression eating or binge eating.

    It happens. Chalk it up to something that happens once every 4 years :)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    filmguyuk wrote: »
    Cheers for all the positive words. I do find it immensely difficult. I sometimes see my wife tutting about me logging all my food there and then. (I've got a terrible memory and I always like to scan as I go to avoid missing things). I think the trick seems to be that I stay focused on my overall goal and try not to overtly judgemental for a small blip.

    there are ways of dealing with weekends that might make life a bit more easy for you.

    save some calories from earlier in the week to use at the weekend - i generally save 100-200 per day Monday to Thursday.

    do additional exercise at the weekend to cover some of the beer

    eat at maintenance - it'll slow your loss very slightly, but if it makes it easier for you to stick to it in the long run then who cares?

    don't feel bad for occasionally over eating... you didn't kill someone, its not the end of the world. life happens.

    DON'T weigh yourself the next day!!!!
  • angeleyes010974
    angeleyes010974 Posts: 16 Member
    filmguyuk wrote: »
    This weekend was a significant one for English football getting to the semis in the World Cup.

    It also coincided with my taking the family camping. Actually, my wife did pretty much all of the taking as I'd been working in London away from home. Anyway, despite trying to be careful, once I got to the campsite and beer + snack were flowing I just joined in. I started off trying to log everything but then eventually gave in.

    Annoyingly, one returning home on Sunday, I jumped on the scales and was shocked to see a massive 6 pound gain. I just wondered how others felt when they had these swings back into gain, after 7 weeks of being super focused, I feel like I've disappointed myself. That said my resolve is still really strong and I've got up today with a food plan for the week.

    this just recently happened to me. Totally know what you are going through. I beat myself up pretty bad over it....I almost wanted to quit but then I thought about why I started. I looked back at all the progress pictures I took of myself and got my mind back right and pushed through and back to eating right again. Baby steps but I am getting there and so will you! B)
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
    filmguyuk wrote: »
    Cheers for all the positive words. I do find it immensely difficult. I sometimes see my wife tutting about me logging all my food there and then. (I've got a terrible memory and I always like to scan as I go to avoid missing things). I think the trick seems to be that I stay focused on my overall goal and try not to overtly judgemental for a small blip.

    Yup, overall goal is what matters. I also try to bank some calories over regular weekdays, and no two days are identical anyways. Saving a little bit and doing a full-on fast to save for splurges are different things, tho. I try to stay within 20% of my goal of 2000, so I try to not go under 1600 (I starve and get cranky) or above 2400, attempting to average just below the 2000.
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    Don't worry too much. That is most likely a lot of water retention from increased sodium and alcohol intake. Just get right back to your normal diet and liquid intake, along with maybe a little added cardio and you'll be fine!
  • filmguyuk
    filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
    Again, thanks for the positive advice. Nice to feel like I'm not the exception to the rule. I typically target somewhere in the region of 1350-1500 calories a day and without being specific about it, I was a couple of hundred under yesterday. The beer bloating has quickly gone down and I'll jump on the scales Friday, which is my usual weekly weigh in day.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    filmguyuk wrote: »
    Again, thanks for the positive advice. Nice to feel like I'm not the exception to the rule. I typically target somewhere in the region of 1350-1500 calories a day and without being specific about it, I was a couple of hundred under yesterday. The beer bloating has quickly gone down and I'll jump on the scales Friday, which is my usual weekly weigh in day.

    1500 is the minimum for a male, why are you eating so little?
  • filmguyuk
    filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
    I have used this as a general target for some time using MFP app. Over the past couple of weeks, I've found that I'm eating smaller meals during the day and then typically have something large for dinner. But in all truth, my appetite has reduced massively so I felt like it was counter-productive to eat when I wasn't hungry. Do you think it's criminally low or counter-intuitive?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    filmguyuk wrote: »
    I have used this as a general target for some time using MFP app. Over the past couple of weeks, I've found that I'm eating smaller meals during the day and then typically have something large for dinner. But in all truth, my appetite has reduced massively so I felt like it was counter-productive to eat when I wasn't hungry. Do you think it's criminally low or counter-intuitive?

    what are your stats?

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