I haven’t been very good about writing here every day. Things in my world have been harried lately, and I’m not feeling good about it. This week’s progress isn’t progress at all–it’s a big step back.
Stepping on the scale this morning, I wasn’t surprised to see that I was up. I was surprised by just how much the scale tipped upwards though: 5 pounds.
For the last few days, I have felt like eating every thing I have seen. If it wasn’t nailed down, I probably ate it. This happens every month, around the time that I’m ovulating. Any other time, my hunger is kept in check. But this time of the month, not so much.
I’m also retaining water like the Titanic. To wit:
I’m drinking water like it’s my job, but it isn’t helping the edema I’m having. Thankfully, this will go away. How quickly it will go is yet to be seen.
This past week, I ate more starchy carbs than I have been–beans, potatoes and a little rice. I’m also wondering if that might have contributed to the gain I had. I’m going to try and trim that back this week to see if it helps. Traveling out of town this past weekend didn’t help.
I just worry that after a great month on the scale, March is going to look like January, in which I only lost 3 pounds. I’m trying not to freak out about this week’s gain, but it’s hard not to. I have all these thoughts running through my head
What if I’m confined to eating just 1,000 calories per day for the rest of my life?
What if I never get out of this weight range?
What if, to lose the rest of this weight, I have to go on liquids for an extended period of time?
What if this is it, and I never get to my goal?
It’s so hard to keep going, but I have to.
This week’s challenge: birthday tomorrow. I’m going to try and conserve my calories during the day so I can enjoy my birthday dinner out. After that, I need to hit a reset button or something, because I need to get a handle on this before it gets worse.
La Guerra de La Gorda 
I hear you! This past week I had done so well and was right on track for 4 days… then I felt like I was off the rails on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I wish that I could keep things more consistent – rather than eating 1,100 calories 4 days per week and then lord knows how many the other 3! Ugh!
I hate going through this every month. I really, really do. It’s so discouraging and demoralizing, but what can you do about biology?
We can do this!
Exactly – that’s where I was for 2-3 months around Christmas, but am finally more in control (see below).
I couldn’t continue existing at those low calories – especially with all the working out. Currently I’m doing 5:2 fasting (tried other type of intermittent fasting but it didn’t end up working for me b/c it triggered cravings) and it’s working well. I do 1500 calories 4 days a week (I just allowed another 100 for protein too, but unsure if I’ll continue with that), and 600 2 days a week. For the past 3 weeks, I’ve tried a one day a week cheat day. Unfortunately, I really really cheat and it doesn’t feel great. It helps me stay in check during the week) I eat great!, but eating too much crappy food (as opposed to a healthier cheating). Next week I might just try to have my cheat day be a 2000 calorie day. Overall the scale is finally going down again, and it’s working much better than the low calorie, be strict, then get the munchies and eat everything crap I was doing before. I think a lot about what my body needs, and really worry that eating too low calories will have negative effects. If I do those calculators of what I need, it’s about 2500 calories. I’m hoping to get my metabolism tested someday (can’t find it available around here) to get more accurate numbers. Just some thoughts!
I’m going to give bumping my calories up a little bit a try. I’ve been aiming for 900-1000 each day, but perhaps I need to make 1000 my minimum? I am going to give that a try to see how it goes. I’m going to keep my water intake the same (nearly a gallon daily) and my vitamins/calcium/iron supplements the same too. Thanks for the insight!
We all have those thoughts! you are not alone at all! I get really hungry a week before my period and can easily put down a whole box of cookies in a day. One thing im learning is that, those behaviors feed on one another and its so easy to get stuck on that path. Try some kind of a one day detox to get back on track. Maybe a juice cleanse for 2 days or only protein shakes for a few days. Shock your body. Keep up the hard work though