Need a Little Encouragement and Guidance

As you said, weighing yourself in the evening isn't the wisest choice, particularly when trying to compare with weights taken in the morning. Water itself could account for several pounds of weight, not to mention the food and alcohol. Since the food you describe is fairly high in sodium, your body wouldn't have had time to do much flushing and you would probably be retaining a little more than normal.

Weigh yourself in the morning and compare apples to apples. And, if you gain a little weight just taken to heart and push on. Weight is an ongoing war, and just because you lost a battle doesn't mean you can't win one tomorrow!

Hi guys. So I've been doing really well for about a month. I weighed myself as soon as I got up on 1/7/12 and weighed 151.2. I was thrilled and was like "Woohoo! I lost 4 pounds!". Unfortunately, the Steelers played this weekend and I fell a little off the bandwagon with dinner Saturday and Sunday. Saturday included fries, hot fudge sundae and some liquor...Sunday I had shared an order of fried pickles, had around 6 boneless wings and 2 alcoholic drinks. I know it's really stupid to weigh yourself at the end of the day, but I couldn't resist. This evening, 1/8/12, it came up at 158!!! So, did I really not weigh 151? I feel so heavy and discouraged right now I can't stand it. Can someone please explain this to me??? Did I completely ruin everything???

Some of your weight loss was water, and some of your weight gain is water.

Chill out.
Just get on track and stay away from football with all it's bad foods and poor company - lol
Remember, we're not in a race.

This is not "Biggest Loser" - nobody gets tossed until they quit.
You're doing fine!

So I haven't actually lost 4 pounds? How should I view the numbers the scale is spitting out? That is disappointing

You might also want to track body fat.
Go Here: http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

The scale is but one tool to track progress.
Again, you're doing fine!

Cut yourself some slack and let the process happen.
All Is Possible!

Choose the one day a week that you are allowed to weigh yourself and stick to that day. If you weigh every day, you will get discouraged quickly. Don't give up and don't punish yourself too much. I allow myself to have cheat days; however, I still track my calories so that I don't go too overboard. Hang in there and DO NOT GIVE UP!!!

I never weigh myself at night! At night you carry with you all your weight of the day, I've heard the most accurate number is in the morning when you first wake up. I weight myself each morning, but this helps to push me each day to remember that I am dieting and trying to get the number down, this doesn't work for everyone though, some find it discouraging, its all a personal choice and you may find a different pattern, like every other day, or just once a week works better for you.... As for the weight gain, I agree with the prior posts, a lot of your weight gain could be related to water retention, the foods and drinks you listed all sounded as if though they could be loaded with salt. And we all know salt = water retention! Drink lots of water and flush your system out of this salt. I would also recommend getting some extra fiber into your diet, maybe have some hearty wheat bread today, the extra fiber will also help to get some of the fatty food impurities out of your system that may be clogging it up.

Good luck and stay on track! Its worth it!!!!!!

Feel free to add me if you are looking for some added motivation when eating on the weekend or working out..... When it comes to the weekends I am sure to always have my phone on me so that I log into my MFP app the calories I am eating AS I am eating them. My boyfriend is now used to me having the phone out when eating and is not insulted at all. Tracking as I go keeps me from going too much... prevents me from asking whats on the dessert menu every time!!!!