What Now?

The weirdest thing happened.  I worked out and gained a pound.  I was 113 on Saturday.  My low carb experiment was over.  Hubby ordered pizza for dinner and I ate 3 slices paying close attention to my fullness level.  I was content and not full AND although my calories were going to be way up my carbs for the day were 130 which is lower then my typical count from before.  Under 150 which is good.  I maintained the next morning and woke up at 113.   I went to the gym early in the morning on an empty stomach and burned over 500 calories and when I weighed myself immediately after I got home I was 114.  I did drink a good 16oz of water while working out so that could be part of it but it was so ridiculous that I actually gained weight at the gym. Who does that?

Anyhow, I'm okay with it because I don't really feel I did anything wrong.  I kept my carbs for the rest of the day at 111.  There simply isn't much more that I could have done.  I've become a lot more cautious about carbs since my 3 day low carb experiment.  On Saturday the fact that my cals were going to be a whopping 1415 because of the pizza didn't bother me nearly as much as it would have before because I knew that my carb count was relatively low.  It was such a nice feeling to think that it was okay to eat that many calories.  Normally, I beat myself up so badly over it.  I indulged in pizza but I stopped before I got too full and I didn't even gain.  That was pretty cool.  On Sunday I didn't feel anger or resentment towards hubby for wanting us to have a nice dinner of grilled chicken and brussel sprouts.  That meal is healthy, high protein, low carb AND  low calorie.  It's not as evil as I'm always making it out to be in my mind.  To have a zero gain the morning after Pizza then go the the gym and gain was off the wall but I didn't let it upset me too much.  I'm going to the gym again today and tomorrow for heavy cardio.  I still feel in control and starting the week out at 114 lbs is amazing considering that just last week I was up to 117.5.     

I don't want to ever count on something that I don't think I can truly maintain to lose weight and keep it off.  Eating 500 calories a day, burning 500 calories in the gym every day and cutting my carbs to 50 all might work but it's not realistic for me to maintain so I don't even want to really go there-and if I do it's temporary.  Granted, 800 calories is rough and lately (even before the low carb experiment) I've had a hard time hitting that and mostly been in the 900's but it's something I know that I can generally do to get on track.  Then, I shoot for about 1,000 for maintaining and as long as my indulge days are kept to a minimum and I stay active I should be okay.  Maintenance is hard and tricky as I have discovered many times.  I got weak, I relaxed, I got to thinking I actually could eat whatever the hell I wanted just because it was a restaurant or social event and the next thing I new I was no longer maintaining and had gained real weight.  I'm okay that I gained 1 lb because if it was all due to the low carb thing then I was meant to gain it back anyways and now I can continue on my way to get rid of it for real in a more realistic way.   Thank you Tempest for your insightful comment about the possibility of gaining after low carbs due to glycogen...or something like that!

So Fat Piggy asks what's next?  Well, the low carb thing was a great eye opener for me to see that calories are not always the end all be all, that I am not powerless when it comes to carbs and that I do need to keep an eye on that number as well.  It was nice to feel in control of my eating again and stick to a plan.  If nothing else it got my mind right.  The plan is to just continue on with my low cal diet AND keep an eye on day to day carbs.  When I'm above my target weight range I normally shoot for 800 cals per day.  When I'm maintaining I've always shot for about 1,050 but I'm thinking of upping that to about 900-1,100 max and generally I like to push for lower but this way it takes into account variables.  Also, if I'm watching carbs more I might end up with higher calories so I might need that cushion.  We'll see how it goes.  I was toying with upping the high end of my target weight range and decided that 112-115 feels okay instead of to 114.  A three pound range might be more reasonable.  It sure would be nice to see that low end again.  112.5 lbs is the closest I've been in a long time and that was weeks ago.  As always, I'm still working on it.

Thanks so much to Skinny Bitch, Shebeelu, ednos Linny,  Sofie, Isobel and everyone else who had such encouraging comments. Kitty, thanks for all of your awesome low carb tips.