Weight Gain and Getting Back On Track

The Dreaded Weight Gain

Weight loss can be a challenging journey. It's common to experience setbacks that can ambush you unexpectedly. Over the last few months, we've been dealing with a lot of stress, which is not an excuse for any weight gain. Nonetheless, we must not feel discouraged but rather take some measures to get back on track.

So, What Happened to cause a weight gain?

Over the past few months, both of us have slowly seen some weight gain due to different reasons. We have been traveling for long hours in the car and house hunting, which has been quite exhausting. And, to make things more complicated, we are not buying a house close to where we live, which means more traveling and stress. Finding healthy and satisfying options at fast food restaurants or gas stations is not always easy, and we have struggled with it. We have tried our best, but it seems that we have let our portion control slip a little bit, and that, combined with the food we have been eating, has resulted in some extra pounds.

Since we have been traveling with four huge dogs, one of which has separation anxiety and another one hates going to the kennel, we have been camping a lot. We have been grilling every night, which we thought would be healthy, but it seems that we have overindulged a bit. We have also been under a lot of stress, and emotional eating has been a big issue for both of us. All of these factors combined have resulted in about 30 extra pounds between the two of us over the past few months.

How To Get Back On Track After Weight Gain

When it comes to weight gain, it's easy to fall into the trap of self-blame and excuses. This can lead to gaining even more weight because you believe it's impossible to shed those extra pounds. However, Amy and I have recently faced our first setback since losing 100lbs together. Instead of feeling bad or angry at ourselves, we've decided to re-evaluate and get back on track. We're proud of the fact that we've still managed to lose 70 pounds, and we know we can achieve our weight loss goals. We sat down together this morning and put our plan back together. It's an exciting time, and I'm looking forward to feeling good again!

Here is what we decided to start doing today:

1. It's important to measure and weigh everything we eat. If we're craving steak, we should grill a steak, but we don't have to finish the entire thing in one sitting. Instead, we can use the leftovers to make other delicious leftover meals or share them with a friend. Sharing is caring, after all!
2. We also will add more veggies or low-fat "fillers" to our meals. We stopped eating fresh veggies when we went camping; oh, when we say camping, it's actually rented an RV and Cabins!! (check out our RV Adventure)  It's really hard to prepare a big fresh salad when you're in the great outdoors.  we need to get back to those low-fat options that keep us satisfied.
3. Writing EVERYTHING down is also crucial. We've been tracking our food, but we must be more accountable by writing down everything we eat and drink. So, if I really want that second glass of wine.....I have to write it down.  And make sure I've burned enough calories to make up for that wonderful glass of relaxing ice-cold wine. This way, we can keep track of our calorie intake and make healthier choices. Don't wait until the next day to track it.
4. And lastly, we shouldn't forget to enjoy every day just like Oliver does in the pool.

One of the best things about our weight loss journey is that we don't have to deprive ourselves of anything. We can eat whatever we want as long as we measure the amount of oil, butter, and other high-calorie ingredients, and we hold ourselves accountable for everything we eat. If we don't hold ourselves accountable, we will almost always see a weight gain. The key is to focus on the quality of the food we eat rather than the quantity and to ensure that we maintain a balance between the calories we consume and the calories we burn. For instance, a juicy turkey burger with real cheese is far superior to a fast food burger in terms of taste, satisfaction, and nutritional value. We insist that the food we eat must be both flavorful and delicious otherwise, it's just not worth the effort.

A few things we learned from the minor "slip-up" with our weight gain:

1. Stop and realize that you've gone off the rails.
2. Figure out what caused you to go "off the rails." This will help you understand the triggers that cause you to eat more.
3. Re-evaluate. Ask yourself what went wrong and what habits have come back or what new ones you have created.
4. Get back to basics. Don't put it off until the "right" time. If you're ready to start focusing on your life and habits, start immediately. Don't wait for Monday morning.
5. Forgive yourself! This is the most important step. We all veer off track and get mad at ourselves. But if you spend time getting mad at yourself, then you're not spending time doing something you love. And you risk slipping even further in your diet because of emotional eating.

What's Next

So, after we get back to the steps that we know work, we want to start adding in more exercise again.  First things first, weigh/measure, track, and ENJOY food again!

Additional Post you might be interested in:

• Managing Weight Gain - How we focus on our Diets during the Holidays.
• Owning Your Lifestyle - Our Lifestyle Journey (diet). Don't let Stress take control of your life! It has been so hard to keep up with anything and everything!!
• The Struggle of Beginning a Diet - Discover our journey towards a healthier lifestyle, including weight loss goal setting and delicious recipes, on our blog!
• Top 16 Tips from our Weight Loss Journey - Say goodbye to ineffective diets! Learn the tricks that helped us find success in weight loss while having fun and eating really good food.
• About Us - An overview of who we are and why we started this blog