Chook Me!

After losing 57 pounds, I gained 9 pounds over three days. How?!?

Three months ago, I weighed in at my highest weight ever -- 265 pounds. At 5 feet, 11 inches and 24 years old, I realized that this was not at all healthy. So, I put myself on a weight-loss program. This is not your typical diet and most people frown upon this, but I basically cut my intake my around 75% and drastically increased my workout regime. On average, I eat soup and fruits (apples, melon) every day drinking only water and diet pop. After approximately three months, I am now down to 208 pounds -- that's a loss of 57 pounds!!! Needless to say, I am very happy with myself. After weighing in this last Friday (Aug. 7) at 208 pounds, I thought that I would binge a little over the weekend. I'm not sure exactly how many calories I ate in total, but over three days (Fri., Sat., Sun.) I had some chicken wings, a steak, some chicken, bacon, shrimp, and some peanuts. Not all of that is necessarily "bad" food. When I weighed myself in this morning (Mon.) I weighed 217 pounds! As you can imagine, I was extremely upset. What could be the problem? I realize that my metabolism may be much slower since I don't eat nearly as much as I used to and the food that I eat now has MUCH less calories, but how can I gain 9 pounds in three days? I have heard about the metabolism thing, but is there anything I can take to speed up my metabolism that is proven to be safe? Also, I know about the measurement thing, and I don't really care what the scale says I just try to base it on how I look. For instance, in 2004 I weighed 189 lbs. Then, in 2005 I was at 201. In 2007 it was 221, and earlier this year I was at 265. Now, I am at 208 (217 this morning).

Public Comments

1. It really isn't possible. The only possibility is that you're carrying around a lot of water or undigested food when you weighed yourself this morning. You really need to worry less about the number on the scale - this is a common problem for people. Instead, take measurements of you hips, waist and chest and see how much you have lost in inches. That should matter more than the numbers on the scale.
2. When you go on a hardcore diet like that, your body goes into starvation mode. Obviously, if you're overweight, you aren't starving, but it's primal instinct. So, when you finally do eat, your body clings onto as much of it as you can. It's expected after a major diet and major weightloss to gain a little bit of it back. You have to slowly work your body back into regular eating, but try to stay on low fat, low cal foods. As your start eating regularly again, you may want to up your exercise to speed up your metabolism. Also, although it's not particularly healthy, if you DO cheat and binge a little bit, you could take a light laxative (only do this every once in a while) to go ahead and flush it out of your system. Congratulations on your weight loss, and good luck! :)