Getting back on track!

merph518
merph518 Posts: 702 Member
Hi all, I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.

I've been eating at maintenance for about 2 weeks now and as of yesterday I'm back to my plan. I've been a bit quiet on the forums here lately -- the holiday season, both in prep then celebrating Christmas with various family groups kept me pretty busy.

I stepped on the scale this morning expecting to see another gain... but I wound up losing 2 lbs since the last time I weighed in a week ago. I'm still up 4 lbs from my previous low, but that is likely mostly water weight so it shouldn't be too hard to shake off.

Hopefully everyone else out there who, like me, let themselves slide a little is ready to get back on track!
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Replies

  • ConfidentRaven
    ConfidentRaven Posts: 1,428 Member
    I am so ready to get back on track. I bounced up a total of ten pounds, and three has already dropped back off. I'm fairly certain most of that ten will be gone within the next few days, but I'm betting I put on an honest 1-3 pounds over my break. I was horrible with logging and gave in to a few more treats than I should have.

    I have to say though that I don't regret the break at all, even if I do end up with an honest gain. It was a really nice mental break and I wasn't stressed out all the time trying to figure out how I was going to enjoy the many treats that were in the house. My sister in law sends homemade candies that are just fabulous. I know that it's only once a year that we have this level of treats in the house, thank goodness. I was also surprised by what I didn't want and I now know which foods are still troublesome to have in the house.
  • maiomaio71
    maiomaio71 Posts: 231 Member
    Yep. Definitely. I stopped logging for a week (deliberately) but was careful with what I ate. Found myself mentally logging anyway! Looking forward to starting again at a deficit. Not weighing for a few weeks though...my relationship with my scale is not a good one. If I see any "damage" I'll be disheartened. I'll weigh on Feb 1st and hopefully see a small loss.
  • maiomaio71
    maiomaio71 Posts: 231 Member

    I have to say though that I don't regret the break at all, even if I do end up with an honest gain. It was a really nice mental break and I wasn't stressed out all the time trying to figure out how I was going to enjoy the many treats that were in the house. I was also surprised by what I didn't want and I now know which foods are still troublesome to have in the house.

    Ditto. This was certainly a learning experience. I've learned heaps about my triggers, and what I need to keep out of my pantry!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Definitely looking forward to an uninterrupted period of being in my system. I plan to get my water weight back down and then start version 6 of my spreadsheet so I can nail down my TDEE. Until I do that I will not feel comfortable doing my recomp plan.

    In the past I would feel bloated but at my lower weight and without much of the extra skin to mask it I can actually see it now. I am trying to keep that as an interesting observation and not allow it to place any additional stress on my mental state.

    Since I have only been guessing at my calorie goal I am uncertain if I have gained anything over the holidays. If I did it wouldn't be much I think unless I am not as active as I think I am. I have learned in all of this that when my numbers are uncertain I have a harder time with believing how my logged calories compare to my TDEE which creates holes in my accountability.

    The fog is being created by my activity which is higher so I know I can eat more but I do not know how high so I do not know exactly how much more I can eat. Since the inflammation of the surgery rolled right into holiday bloat I have not had clean numbers in months. There is also a bit of a internal battle about it. It is not easy for a person who started sub-sedentary to allow himself to believe that much has changed. Good ole fat brain!

    My goal right now is to get a calculated TDEE by my second weight loss anniversary which is 6 weeks away. This means I will be tightening my logging and minimizing restaurant food. That won't be much of a challenge because I am kind of sick of holiday eating anyway.
  • jlucas210
    jlucas210 Posts: 43 Member
    I relate so much to what's been said above.

    I also took a "break" 12/21 - 1/1. It was intentional and planned and my first extended time at maintenance since I started back in June. I did much better mentally than I anticipated. I expected to be anxious about the fact that I wouldn't be able to weigh daily and having to be very loose in logging since there was no real way to get the info with all of the homemade foods my family made and local restaurants we went to over the holidays. However, I didn't weigh & just did the best I could logging & didn't stress over it. I weighed this morning for the first time since 12/21& saw a 6 lb uptick from my lowest weight & I know most of it is likely water. I may also have a small honest gain, but I'm not discouraged as I thought I'd be. I'm mostly just happy to be back to my normal routine today. I'd consider it a success & I did enjoy the break.

    Now, I'm entering tax season, so I'll have to figure out a routine that'll work for me for the next few months when time away from the office will be in short supply & the food available/provided will be plentiful. Not particularly difficult, I just need to determine what normal will look like this time of year.
  • Jackie9003
    Jackie9003 Posts: 1,105 Member
    I dont do well when I break routine so been on a break for 2 weeks now.
    I'm away for weekend so I'm "restarting " on monday, I'm not going to weigh myself for as long as I can resist as I'll just get mad and disappointed. I'll be logging, exercising and having lots of early nights.
    I have a holiday booked for July and a target dress for my goal, having something to aim for really helps me.
  • michne16
    michne16 Posts: 538 Member
    It has been hard getting back into a routine. I am super tired today after staying up late watching the Sugar Bowl and all I want to do is curl up on a couch and sleep. Unfortunately, I am work and don't think that would go over well. I'm definitely going to hit my beverage goals today in that I have been drinking vats of unsweetened tea to try to wake up and not faceplant into my keyboard. Sleep is so very important in weight loss and maintenance. If I can just make it through the next 3 hours then make it through my Zumba class (of course today is the hard one), I plan on going to bed as early as possible.
  • amkita
    amkita Posts: 183 Member
    definitely feeling good about getting back into a regular pattern. I've got a few weeks until the spring semester starts, so work isn't so stressful at the moment. I'm going to take this opportunity to try some weekend meal prepping. I think it'll make life easier, and better to start the habit now.

    it's been unusually warm here, which is not great. but... I'll be getting in rides whenever the roads are clear. 🚲
  • astidog99
    astidog99 Posts: 20 Member
    I Surprised myself over Christmas and New Year. I didn't really have the urge to dive into the choccies and biccies. The tin of favourite only Quality Street is still... unopened!!! Yes I know!!! Once the Christmas clutter is out of the way I can have the tin prominant and I will factor in 2 a day as a choccy treat (yes that will work as I never want them to run out!)My biggest "loss" was the lack of a spectacular pavlova. I had one planned - the meringue was made cooked but... I has only base lined the tins and all 3 layers refused to come out in one piece. So we had a really nice homemade Eton mess instead. But it wasn't a pavlova...
    The scales amazingly showed a small loss- cant be bad. So now to get back on track. Not helped by every shop I went into at lunchtime not having anything semi healthy for lunch... ah well! I will take something with me tomorrow.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    If my estimated TDEE is in the ballpark of correct I have eaten enough calories to gain 1.65 pounds. That is chief benefit of the spreadsheet for me. Things often feel worse than they are and the numbers pretty much always prove that if you only color outside the lines for short periods of time it will only end in a minor bump.

  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    So far I am killing it... although today my right leg is killing me...

    Since I am heavily motivated to get the bloat off which is almost done (at least I hope the last few pounds are still mostly bloat) I am limiting salty snacks right now too.

    Normally I eat maintenance on Sunday but I skipped it last week because I had not banked any calories and I had no desire for additional treat food.

    It is such a relief to be back firmly in the driver's seat for the last 5 days. I am not mad about the holidays though. I learned a few new lessons that did not come up during my first holiday season. I see no harm in putting a positive spin on something that led to some uncharacteristic behavior on my part. Besides weight loss cannot be my only objective I need to learn how to navigate food for the rest of my life in various situations.

    Anyway I am feeling good right now... except for the leg.

  • jlucas210
    jlucas210 Posts: 43 Member
    Half of my 6 lb uptick has come off so far, but I've eaten a lot of sodium this week (salsa chicken has a ton!), so I think at least some of the rest is due to the increased sodium & some from increased activity as well & maybe a very small portion actual gain.

    I did enjoy the holidays and am proud of myself for relaxing and not obsessing about the fact that I couldn't accurately log everything I ate while out of town visiting family. I also did enjoy having some of the foods I typically don't eat because the calories would be a such big potion of my daily allowance & not very filling. It does feel very nice to be back home in my routine and in control again, though!
  • ConfidentRaven
    ConfidentRaven Posts: 1,428 Member
    @NovusDies I hope your leg feels better soon.

    I'm doing pretty good so far, I'm still up about a pound and a half from my pre break low. However, I figured that I had put on at least that much in honest weight gain. For this break I did the don't weigh, don't log, approach to a break and while in some ways I liked it because I didn't have to face what I was doing, it put me up a few honest pounds. The previous break had been a weigh and log all the food and stay around maintanence calories and with that I lost all the weight within a week. But now I know that logging and weighing will probably always be something I need.
  • jlucas210
    jlucas210 Posts: 43 Member
    I agree. I'll probably need to always log. I think my lesson from the break was that next time I plan to have a period of time at maintenance, I'd like to do it when I can (at least mostly) accurately log instead of when I know I'll be guestimating a lot. We went to several local restaurants & had many home cooked meals & treats (by my extended family), so I did a lot of guessing. I think the combination of guessing and maintenance calories probably resulted in a couple of pounds actually gained. I still enjoyed the break and am glad I took it. :)
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Thanks @ConfidentRaven

    I always log something. During holidays I do not attempt to log as accurately as I do normally. I pretty much refuse to try and log each line item of a holiday feast. It is one of the rare times I use a generic MFP entry. I believe the one I use is Wegmans Thanksgiving Dinner. I think it is normally 750ish calories so I change the quantity to match what I feel like I have eaten. I think I logged it as 2.75 or close to 2100 calories for my Christmas meal and I probably did something similar for Thanksgiving.

    I try to only do things while losing that I believe I will do in maintenance. I know from experience that you need to log accurately most of the time and if you do the few days you ballpark it is fine... at least for me. My spreadsheet agrees.

    I am 1.6 pounds away from my lowest recent weight and 2.6 pounds from the lowest weight I recorded post-surgery. I am not sure if I have any bloat left. If there is any and it is not gone by Fri morning it should not be enough to throw off my numbers. I should have a preliminary TDEE in 3 weeks. I know people chuckle over my spreadsheet and I am not happy about how reliant I am on it but it is what it is and getting this done is crucial to my mental state right now. I am not comfortable with ambiguity.

  • jjlewey
    jjlewey Posts: 248 Member
    @NovusDies I do not chuckle at your spreadsheet. I completely agree that keeping a spreadsheet helps me stay on track. It helps me convert emotions into logic is the best way to describe it.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    jjlewey wrote: »
    @NovusDies I do not chuckle at your spreadsheet. I completely agree that keeping a spreadsheet helps me stay on track. It helps me convert emotions into logic is the best way to describe it.

    @jjlewey And the logic paves way for better emotions. My spreadsheet comforts me because I can see that everything is going along as it should. When they happen (which is frequently) I can go back and look at previous "stalls" and see that the deficit always pays off eventually.

    It doesn't work as well when one of the major components (my tdee) is a guess. I do not trust myself to properly evaluate my activity level and I do not trust my aw enough to let it do it either. I am assuming for the moment that I am moderately active. I will know more in 3 weeks and then in 6 weeks I should have a number I can feel pretty good about.
  • jlucas210
    jlucas210 Posts: 43 Member
    @NovusDies or anyone else... would you share some of the columns you have in your spreadsheet. I'm not too happy with the one I created & have been using for the last 6 months, but can't for the life of me come up with what all info/calculations I want in it! I love numbers and I usually will edit/adjust templates to make them like I want them, but have a hard time starting from a blank page.