How did this happen?

Hi Everyone

so I've been a member from the day I decided I want to loose weight and I have lost a lot. I've gone from a UK size 12 to size 6 by doing a combination of cardio and weights and of course changing my eating habits.

I love weights, I really enjoy it, but last week I just couldn't face going to the gym, I completely pigged out - chocolates, biscuits, a lot of food,  - and I didn't go to the gym, why did this happen? All of the sudden I didn't want to do it anymore, I just wanted to eat.

I'm feeling better now, I'm almost looking forward to going back to the gym tomorrow, but not as much as I use to. I am looking forward to eating healthy again - it didn't do me well , very sluggish and tired - but I'm just scared this happens again. What could have been the cause of this?

stats - I go to the gym 4 times a week for about 45 min, do weights 30min and 5-10 min interval training.

Hi,

Don't panic, we all go through this, sometimes we are burned out, or we go through an emotional issue, or simply let a holiday or a visit to family drag us to bad eating habits, and we feel guilty and fat again. I don't want to scare you, but will happen again, because we are human. What you can do is have an attitude of recovery. When this happens, take a long walk in a park of beautiful area and clear  your mind of negative thoughts, then write in your journal, or post something in your preferred website, and you will get back to normal again, sometimes, your body will react by even loosing more weight or maintaining the ideal weight, and you go: What???? Just relax, go back to your rutine, which looks great, and keep aiming to the future, not the past.

Your body needs something new to keep it "guessing" and it sounds like your mind might need a change too.  The same thing happened to me after going to the same gym for years and doing the same similar routine not much change took place and I gave up for several months. A CrossFit opened in our area so I decided that would really be different and challenging and it worked! After just 3 weeks I could feel my body changing and the inches were coming off fast. The secret to their success is a different workout everyday so your body never gets used to the same routine.  It definately works! I'm into my second month and so much stronger. If you have something like that near by try it - just make sure your instructor is as careful as ours is making sure we do everything correctly.

You're human! I wouldn't worry about it! Everyone gets off track sometimes. It's all about getting back on the wagon so to speak. One week is nothing in the grand scheme of things. It can even be a godo thing to remotivate us! And sometimes it gets your metabolism going faster. I agree with the above posters, sometimes after a slip up I find I start losing faster than before!

Are you on a maintenance diet (i.e. eating and exercising to maintain your current weight?)?

If you are, it could be your maintenance diet is too low. And that might very well be the real explanation of a week long session of eating.

If you supply your stats: weight/height and age then we could give you some tips on what might be required to maintain.

Thank you everyone for replying, I think I was not eating enough as Hedgren said.

I'm 25 - 163cm - 57kg and I was eating 1400 cals a day...(please don't shout I know this wasn't enough)

I just get so confused with how much I'm actually supposed to eat, there are too many different websites and formulas that keeps on giving me different stats. on website - CC - tells me to eat 1400 to maintain (maybe I'm doing something wrong) another one tells me to eat 1800 and another 2200, so where do I start... I do pick up weight quickly (I was trying to post some photos from 2007 and now but something kept going wrong to show how Ive made progress) and therefore I'm scared of picking weight up again if I eat more - yes it might be psychological I know, but please tell me how do you get over it - I don't want food to be my enemy I love it too much.

thanks and sorry for the whinging....

Close enough to what I am -- 163 cm and 56 kg. I eat 2200 to 2400 a day to maintain. I go to the gym about 4 days a week now. I'm 34.

The best way to avoid picking up weight is a regular exercise schedule -- which you do at about the same intensity as me.

With your stats you should never eat below 2000 to maintain your weight and your health. While women can maintain their weight on lower calorie intakes, they are blissfully unaware of the physical damage that it does to their bodies over the years -- until of course it comes home to roost and it's too late to turn it around. At anywhere from 1200-1600 daily calorie intake, you risk osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes and dementia (to name a few) by the time you are 50.

Dieting places serious stresses on the body. It is fine to diet when the potential health costs of remaining overweight outweigh the risks of dieting. But dieting involves risk that greatly increases with the amount of time you restrict the calories and that cannot ever be a way of life.

As long as you maintain your active lifestyle, then you need not be concerned about picking up the weight again.

If you find you cannot overcome the anxiety of weight gain to eat 2200 a day, then you will need counseling as soon as possible. And this too is one of the risks of dieting -- 30-40% of all women who go on a diet develop obsessive issues around food and weight control.

Some women have a neurological predisposition that is triggered with calorie restriction and that generates these food/control anxieties (and for a subsection, full blown eating disorders). We do not know how to determine the risk ahead of time.

As you say you love food (as do I), hopefully that drive will overcome any timidity you may have about eating a correct maintenance level and you get on with enjoying a healthy body and mind for life.

Hedgren, thank you.

I know this can become a bigger problem than it already is, and I'm not going to let that happen.

Right so plan of action - 1600 a day for two weeks (light training), then 1800 for two weeks, then 2000... just looking at this makes me scared but I'm going to try!!!

again thanks for the feedback, just what I needed!!

You can absolutely do it.

There's a few suggestions I can offer to get from point A to B. Develop meal plans that add to your target calorie amount. This takes the thinking (and any anxiety) out of the equation. Prepare the food, put it in front of you, eat it.

Another suggestion I'm stealing from chrissy1988 -- she was overcoming anorexia so she had to gain weight. She would only weigh herself once a week and she prepared herself mentally for what she would see on the scale ahead of time "I am gaining weight to get back my life. If it's 3 lbs I have succeeded. If it's 2 I will up my calories more."

So, to vary it for your situation, you need to have a plan to accept a possible temporary weight gain of probably 5-7 lbs for about a month until the metabolism smoothes it back down again. You could choose not to weigh yourself for a month, which another poster is doing while she gets her calorie intake back up to maintenance levels. Or you could go chrissy1988's approach and remind yourself that you will not veer from maintenance amounts if the scale shows an increase before you step on the scale.

The weight may not increase temporarily at all -- but if it does, the worst thing you could do is freak out and start restricting again -- so plan it in your mind ahead of time and you'll be prepared.

Best of luck and keep us posted!