Update: I’ve gained weight
danielleg0094
Posts: 38 Member
So to all that replied to my previous postings, I’m sure you will comment on this one too. Turns out that eating late/cheat day did result in weight gain, I stepped on the scale today for the first time since earlier in the year and could not believe my eyes. I was last around 180 I think in Jan & was 198.5 today. I assumed my clothes were fitting (I work remote so I’m in pajamas all day) but I have not worn my work clothes in months. I went to an interview today and decided to try on a dress & it fit tighter than usual. When I went on the scale, turns out it wasn’t in my head. I’m so disgusted with myself, no more eating late and binging one day out of the week. I had a cheat day but was not active, I clearly lack common sense and overestimated my youth. I bought a tea to cleanse and see if that might help a bit, I plan to see a nutritionist too. I need to get into healthier sustainable habits. I will add that I did get a new IUD and have not had a period for the month. With my old IUD, I had spotting every month and used Skyla. Now, I have a new one called Kyleena and both have the same hormone. But I would have had a light period by now if I was on the old one. The doctor said that IUDs don’t contribute to weight gain but the fact that I have not had even close to one in a new month is off. I got my period twice in February, I still think the weight gain is due to my food choices.
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Replies
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Eating late has nothing to do with weight gain, but the cheat day can indeed have an impact. It's all about the balance between calories in and calories out. If you eat more calories than you burn, over a period of time you will gain weight. Regardless of the time you eat, or what you eat.
For the same reason, the 'cleanse' tea will do nothing.
Start by setting a reasonable calorie goal using the MFP guided set up, weigh and accurately count your intake and review progress after eating at a deficit for a period of 4-6 weeks.13 -
Yup--get that digital food scale and use it. Making a mistake is normal--we all do it. Time to correct and get on the right path. With the tea, sounds like you want to punish yourself for gaining. That doesn't work. You need a gradual loss for it to be sustainable. Otherwise you risk burnout and failure. Just find a reasonable deficit and be persistent. I know that seems hard, but it will get you farther. Good luck and thanks for the update--hoping the next one will be positive.5
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First of all {{HUGS}} It can feel very discouraging seeing a weight gain after not being on a scale in awhile. That's why most everybody recommends logging your calories into MFP and sticking to it most of the time as well as weighing foods. I'll admit to not weighing/measuring like I should but that's just me. Some things that I'm not sure of such as cheese, meats, etc. I will weigh. 2020 was challenging for me and I found myself on/off again more than I like to admit. I ended up gaining 30# and have lost 12 of them. To see that you've gained almost 20 since January tells me you're taking in a lot more calories than you thought. And do you have any idea how many calories you're getting, especially on the cheat days? I've had 2 cheat days in the past 6 weeks and I feel so ashamed that I don't count the calories.
They're not even days I plan to cheat, it starts out with something that looks good to me and my brain keeps ticking for the rest of the day. 
I can easily binge on ridiculous @rAp that I have around the house and take in 4K calories without batting an eye.
As far as eating later in the day, I've learned from here that it doesn't matter, as long as your calories still fit. In fact, it's been more beneficial to me, to save calories from my day so I can indulge at night. Sometimes my meals during the day are skimpy but still healthy. Lots of veggies/protein; I always start my day with oatmeal, almond milk and a couple squirts of SF syrup, plus couldn't live without my coffee.
My biggest obstacle to overcome is emotional eating and bingeing. If you can gain control of your mindset and follow sound advice from MFP, it will all work out. Be patient, be gentle with yourself and think healthy positive thoughts.
Good luck!!!4 -
one cheat day or eating late will not result in true weight gain. Water weight due to sodium or increased carbs for that day, perhaps, but not real weight.
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danielleg0094 wrote: »no more eating late and binging one day out of the week. I had a cheat day but was not active, I clearly lack common sense and overestimated my youth.
It seems like you really didn't listen to any of the advice we gave you last time. You don't gain weight because of the time of day you eat, you gain weight because you are eating at a surplus. I'm not sure what else there is for us to say at this point.
The process is simple. Weigh regularly and count everything you put in your mouth. Monitor your progress but ignore daily fluctuations and focus on week to week trends over time.13 -
Yeah, I think I remember your threads, OP. You had the weekly binge day, along with a weekly cheat day/meal, and eating large plates of pasta at night, right?
First, the time of day doesn't matter when you eat. It has negligible, if any effect at all, on your weight. The binge day, though, definitely. That's the one you should tackle first. You might be ok with the rest of your diet overall otherwise.
First step is get a food scale so you know your portions are correct. Then if you have another binge day, weigh and log EVERYTHING so you can see exactly what you're dealing with. No judging or being hard on yourself...its just for your information so you can work on it the next week. It also will be most helpful if you can get behind the root cause of the binging. Are you trying to restrict too hard the rest of the week? Maybe your calorie deficit was too aggressive to start with (I think I remember 1200 was your target, although I don't think you were weighing food so it's hard to say.)
One other thing to mention is the tea...if it's good and it helps you by replacing some snacks or you genuinely enjoy it, great, but a "cleanse" doesn't really clean out anything except your wallet.
As far as age...funny enough, I just turned 40 last month. I've weighed significantly less the last 8 years or so, than I did in my teens and twenties. Just like you can't outrun a bad diet, youth doesn't always help either, unfortunately (although, the great thing is that it flies in the face of "its hard to lose weight as you age!" myths)3 -
I’d suggest zig zagging in lieu of cheating. The only thing you can cheat in being healthy is yourself.1
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snowflake954 wrote: »
https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
Scroll down and it tells you what zig zagging is. I’d highly recommend just putting your measurements though and it will tell you exactly in the “example zig zag diet.”1 -
I’d suggest zig zagging in lieu of cheating. The only thing you can cheat in being healthy is yourself.
This.
I don't do 'cheat days', but I absolutely do zig-zag. I just set my calories to maintain and then eat between 1200 calories and maintenance, which gives me room to eat more when I'm hungry and less when I'm less hungry but I never go over what I need to maintain and my calories over a week stay at a deficit. I think that's probably playing too fast and loose for some people, but at the very least making those 'cheat' days days you do not go over what you need to stay the same, and so don't go backward on them - just pause for a day - is HUGELY useful on a practical level.2 -
You consumed calories in excess of what your body needs...it has nothing to do with "eating late" in and of itself. "Cheat days"...sure...I mean when people "cheat" they typically mean excessive calories...and since calories are what weight management is all about, consuming excessive calories "cheating" can easily put you over your total calorie needs. It's math...3
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How many of us can say we haven't had the same experience of gaining and being disgusted about it? I am certain most of us struggle.
Try not to be disgusted with yourself...just do better from here on out. And despite what your doctor said, I know tons of women who have gained from IUD's and almost every other type of birth control. But you're right; it's the eating, not the IUD.1 -
I’ve gained 10 pounds since January and 15 since November. I’ve erased half of last year’s weight loss so I know the feeling of disappointment. My gain was pure and simple laziness. I didn’t go for walks because of the weather, I ate too much because it tasted good and I was bored.
Pick yourself up, make a realistic goal and get back to it! I’m back down 2.5 pounds and trying to stay positive.1 -
I don't understand the "cheat" days. Who exactly is getting cheated? And why? I think the concept of setting yourself up to cheat or be the target of a cheat is not healthy, mentally or physically.
Log your calories in, eat late if you want just eat within your range which is likely 1500-2000 calories.
Get good sleep. It is very important to weight loss.
Try and move your body more, even if it's just tapping your feet while you do desk work. Circulation.
If you must, give yourself a "reward" meal at the end of the week just for staying on plan.
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wunderkindking wrote: »I’d suggest zig zagging in lieu of cheating. The only thing you can cheat in being healthy is yourself.
This.
I don't do 'cheat days', but I absolutely do zig-zag. I just set my calories to maintain and then eat between 1200 calories and maintenance, which gives me room to eat more when I'm hungry and less when I'm less hungry but I never go over what I need to maintain and my calories over a week stay at a deficit. I think that's probably playing too fast and loose for some people, but at the very least making those 'cheat' days days you do not go over what you need to stay the same, and so don't go backward on them - just pause for a day - is HUGELY useful on a practical level.
If people look up "zig-zag calorie control" or similar, what you describe is not (mostly) what they're going to find.
Usually zig-zagging is some kind of structured pattern where you're told to stick to very specific variations in calorie level, sometimes adding patterns in which macronutrients make up those calories. The link provided by PP says:Depending on a person's activity, it is generally recommended that the high-calorie and low-calorie days vary by approximately 200-300 calories, where the high-calorie day is often the number of calories a person needs to consume to maintain their current weight. For a person with a higher activity level, the calorie difference should be larger.
What you're saying you do, basically balancing by the week to achieve a deficit, using appetite as a guide, is a sensible and flexible thing that works great for many people.
IMO, the more formal kind of zig-zagging can fine work, too . . . but mostly for people who feel good about following very structured rules. There's no magic in a structured pattern.1 -
snowflake954 wrote: »
https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
Scroll down and it tells you what zig zagging is. I’d highly recommend just putting your measurements though and it will tell you exactly in the “example zig zag diet.”
FWIW, that's not a very good TDEE calculator - complete black box, too few different activity levels, and they're characterized almost entirely in terms of "exercise". Does a bricklayer who knits as a hobby do the same amount of "exercise" as a phone bank operator who trains for triathlons? Calorie needs are about more than what most people think of when someone mentions "exercise".
The page has a nice description of different research-based BMR formulas, but says it provides "an estimated average". Black box, more or less.
If someone wants to use a TDEE method to determine calorie needs, this is a better TDEE calculator:
https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
Transparent about formulas, shows results of multiple research-based formulas, shows the average, has more activity level descriptions (and they include both exercise and employment in the descriptions).
As a side note, BTW, the TDEE approach is not the method MFP is designed to utilize, though it can be done if one understands how one should modify their approach from what others will be discussing here, and why.3 -
wunderkindking wrote: »I’d suggest zig zagging in lieu of cheating. The only thing you can cheat in being healthy is yourself.
This.
I don't do 'cheat days', but I absolutely do zig-zag. I just set my calories to maintain and then eat between 1200 calories and maintenance, which gives me room to eat more when I'm hungry and less when I'm less hungry but I never go over what I need to maintain and my calories over a week stay at a deficit. I think that's probably playing too fast and loose for some people, but at the very least making those 'cheat' days days you do not go over what you need to stay the same, and so don't go backward on them - just pause for a day - is HUGELY useful on a practical level.
If people look up "zig-zag calorie control" or similar, what you describe is not (mostly) what they're going to find.
Usually zig-zagging is some kind of structured pattern where you're told to stick to very specific variations in calorie level, sometimes adding patterns in which macronutrients make up those calories. The link provided by PP says:Depending on a person's activity, it is generally recommended that the high-calorie and low-calorie days vary by approximately 200-300 calories, where the high-calorie day is often the number of calories a person needs to consume to maintain their current weight. For a person with a higher activity level, the calorie difference should be larger.
What you're saying you do, basically balancing by the week to achieve a deficit, using appetite as a guide, is a sensible and flexible thing that works great for many people.
IMO, the more formal kind of zig-zagging can fine work, too . . . but mostly for people who feel good about following very structured rules. There's no magic in a structured pattern.
Yeah, I know the rigidly structured thing is what most people suggest. It is, however, what the underlying idea of what I do is. The rigid pattern can be off putting or comforting, depending on brain (I'm a 'off-putting, just give me my range) but the basic principal is still thermodynamics - on average over some span of a time (day or a week) eat less than you burn.
But I think sometimes the idea that you can eat more and other days eat less is a pretty good concept for people to get into their heads. And the zig-zag thing achieves that, if too rigidly for my tastes. I was trying to take the general concept and run but didn't do a very good job of it.
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