Had one bad day and put on 2.5lb

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I am on a 1200-1400 calorie diet. I've been trying Dry January and found i was craving sugar so badly. I ended up eating 2450 calories yesterday... but now I've put on 2.5lb in a day. I finally lost 3 lb and feel its for nothing. May as well have had the wine I so wanted.

This is too hard
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Replies

  • kellycz
    kellycz Posts: 57 Member
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    ...but now I've put on 2.5lb in a day. I finally lost 3 lb and feel its for nothing.
    This is why I sometimes (often) hate the scale. You work so hard and the scale does not always reflect that. You have a high calorie day or two and anxiously weigh yourself hoping you haven’t done any “damage.” Or you have a low calorie day and weigh yourself hoping you have lost a pound. Personally, I just cannot handle looking at the daily fluctuations and trying to figure out what is causing them. So for my own mental health, I stick to weighing in once per week. That strategy might work for you as well.
  • rocketblaster
    rocketblaster Posts: 50 Member
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    Just get right back at it. I was on a cruise for 11 days ate what I wanted - « gained » six pounds and a week later it’s gone. Was likely mostly water weight from salty foods. A one day 2400 binge won’t last and wasn’t enough calories for s true 2.5 lb gain. Hang in there.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
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    I weigh myself every day - it accustoms me to the ups and downs that are normal for everyone, so that I'm less likely to panic if I see a temporary spike.

    If you are a pre-menstrual woman, weighing yourself weekly will most likely give you the same ups and downs as weighing daily, as mentioned above, compare yourself month to month.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    I am on a 1200-1400 calorie diet. I've been trying Dry January and found i was craving sugar so badly. I ended up eating 2450 calories yesterday... but now I've put on 2.5lb in a day. I finally lost 3 lb and feel its for nothing. May as well have had the wine I so wanted.

    This is too hard

    It's water weight and weight from more food/waist in your system.

    Do the math...You would have had to consume 7500 calories over your maintenance calories to gain 2.5 Lbs of actual fat.
  • chloecopey7
    chloecopey7 Posts: 21 Member
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    Impossible. Dont worry.
  • Teabythesea_
    Teabythesea_ Posts: 559 Member
    edited January 2019
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    2.5 pounds is 8,700 calories. 8,700 calories is way more than the 2,450 you ate. After subtracting your maintenance from 2,450, I’d guess without knowing your stats that you probably only ate no more than 1,000 over maintenance, which is less than 1/3 of a pound. Basically what I’m saying is what you’re describing is physically impossible in terms of fat gain. 2.5 is well within normal fluctuations.
  • PaigeAnderson1793
    PaigeAnderson1793 Posts: 21 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Where are you in your menstrual cycle? I gain at ovulation and right before my TOM. Because of this (and because Lyle McDonald said to) I compare myself to last month, not last week.

    This is what weight loss looks like:

    3pbbmob3zcuf.png



    I could not agree with this more! Thank you for sharing that. It is normal to experience peaks and valleys in your weight loss. Don't let one day wreck all your progress. I'd keep the momentum going for sure.
  • thelastnightingale
    thelastnightingale Posts: 725 Member
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    It doesn't matter how well I eat or how much I exercise, there are a few takeaways I can order that always result in an immediate 2 to 3lb gain overnight. The good news is that it's temporary - it can take up to 5 days for me to shake it off, but it does go away.

    I have similar issues around my period - whoosh, the weight goes on. But when my period ends, it goes away too.

    One bad day is unlikely to derail your diet as long as you don't use it as a trigger to justify falling off the wagon and staying on the ground stuffing your face full of fatty, greasy junk food. Fluctuations even out over time as long as you keep persevering with making more good days happen.

    If you weigh yourself daily (and don't panic about fluctuations), over time you'll learn what things cause false weight gain/false weight loss for you. I can't do anything about my period, but I do know which foods will cause a temporary spike, so if I don't feel like I can cope with my weight suddenly (but temporarily) shooting up, I avoid them. For me, it seems to be things that are hugely salty, so if I control my sodium levels (rather than just looking at calories), I can get happier results.

    Good luck with your journey.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,678 Member
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    You might find this thread amusing, perhaps even reassuring: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope

    Summary: Details (calories and scale weight) from about a week that included 3 days of over goal eating, summing up to around 6,000 or so calories in excess of estimated total maintenance calories for those days. NBD.