Minor blip and weight gain. Just me?

[averywittyusername]

I'm somewhat overweight and just want to lose 5 kilos.. this won't put me quite into normal territory but it's a start. I've been consistent around 85k all through lockdown despite trying about 600 different versions of diets, eating plans, etc, also I exercise loads and feel fairly fit but I need to get some weight off.

Anyway, something clicked a week+ ago and I realised I need to have a serious look at what I was doing. So I've buckled down and cut out the wine and gluten, and ate small, healthy meals. Voila! The scales moved and I saw a 1.5k loss. But on Sunday, a friend invited me for dinner and we shared a bottle of wine, I broke down when I got home & ate several handfuls of granola. Yesterday morning I had a huge bowl of granola (hangover food) but pulled myself together by lunchtime and got right back on plan. So, overeating but not by more than, say, 500 calories! Today my lovely loss is totally wiped out. 82.5 on Sunday morning, 84 today. I'm not giving up.. but the unfairness!

I know that the scale isn't everything, but I can confirm that my clothes fit better when I'm lighter so I will remain scale obsessed for now. I'm not giving up, annoyed with myself but looking at the big picture.

I've thrown away the (small amount of) remaining granola. No more!

This is why people recommend throwing away the scales. That weight could be just water and yet the disappointment can lead many people to fall off the wagon completely and undo all their hard work.

That is what I'm thinking, @FreeBritnee and I'll be interested to see what the number is tomorrow!

I'm loosely following the Louise Parker Method (I know this doesn't allow for 'blips'!) and am going to re read the book and think about my mindset.

Also, I have a low performing thyroid.. on medication, but I know it makes it harder to lose weight. However, no excuses! I know I can do this even though it will be a truly hard slog

Sorry, meant to say, I won't be throwing scale away but will be watching the number with interest, and consider it a fact and taking the emotional response out if it.

I put on 3 kilo easy after drinking and it takes week for it to fuck iff. It's just water

Yep I went for a Chinese last night and this morning I was 3.5lbs heavier than yesterday morning. It’s water retention and food/pop volume. Absolutely none of it is fat and will be gone in a couple of days

I weigh every day for this very reason. It’s fascinating to see the effect of different things on the scale but ultimately you need to track trends over time. Take only your lowest weight as your true weight. So as long as that number is going down it’s all good.

That should be poo not pop!

Feel your pain completely
I was weighing myself daily when I was 'dieting' - albeit failing miserably and got fed up when the scales confirmed what I already knew. Then the scales ran out of batteries and I haven't bothered to replace them!! I still haven't lost weight but at least I don't have that daily emotional kicking from being weighed! It's not a solution to a problem that I should be dealing with but right at this moment I am not in the right mindset to lose weight.

I mean you know that weight fluctuation is due to water. A pound of fat is 3500 excess calories, so that's something that takes time to amass.

Everyone is different in terms of how they feel about scales. I weigh daily because then I can see that it goes up and down wildly without logic - if I eg only did a weekly weigh in I'd be devastated instead that the scales weren't performing to my standards.

So what I do is I use an app like Libra (I believe for ios Happy scales might do it too?) that takes those daily rollercoasters and shows you the overall trend. That's the number I focus on then, the overall trend.

What also helps is taking measurements and regular "before" photos for when the scales stand still.

I weigh everyday and after a few months I've learned what over eating or a binge means for me. The last time I did it I weighed 2lb more the next morning, 3lb more the day after but o the third day I was 1lb less than the day before I over ate. It probably isn't that many calories but the water you need to digest it means that until it gets through your system you will show a weight increase. I find the danger of not weighing in every day is that it is harder to stop any over eating or mini binges in their tracks.

Also carbs/salt make you hold water, so if you eat a load of old rubbish, you get water weight the next day.

Thanks all! @ExConstance that's really interesting, I have noticed a similar trend over three days and I agree, the more knowledge the better. To be honest, ranting a little bit helped me get back on track and I have not been harsh with myself at all and the scales have adjusted slightly downwards. I spent years having a love/hate relationship with scales and am now pursuing health and wellness over simple weight loss.

I've just been looking at My Fitness Pal and am definitely a few kilos down from this time last year. And the trend is downwards since Monday so I'm sticking with what works.. mainly calorie counting and healthy foods, and a daily weigh in. My big loss last week was the day after a big race as well so I was no doubt a bit hydrated and so a little bounce up after a normal day is actually a good thing.

I do the same, weigh in daily. As @ExConstance says, if the weight increases due to binge eating, or eating the wrong things however innocent they seem, you can stop it in it's tracks. For me, there is nothing worse than waiting a whole week before weighing in only to find I have gained 3-4lbs and perhaps could have stopped it days before when it was a 1lb gain. It's times like that which I feel like giving up.

I have been weighing daily for 10 weeks and lost a total of 34lbs (15.5kg). Only twice have I put on 1lb, first time was due to eating a Chinese takeaway the night before, second time was eating a slice of birthday cake.

When I get to my target weight, I will diet and exercise Mon-Fri and eat a few treats over the weekend. That way, any gains should be wiped out during the week ready for another weekend of indulgence.