Pain in the bum water weight!

[MelissaMaybe]

Hey guys so I started dieting properly the beginning of the month sticking to around the 1200 cal mark to try and get to 9 stone 5 by the end of the month for my birthday. I give myself a treat day a week which is basically my normal diet plus a dessert, a piece of bread(which I don't touch at all throughout the week) and something naughty like a slice or two of pizza for tea with salad. I don't go mental and rarely go over my 1800 maintenance calories according to my b m r.
I went out for a meal on Tuesday which was to an all you can eat buffet so perfect opportunity to use as a cheat day and to test my will power(probably not the wisest thing to do) and had a plate of salad, table spoon of the crunchy onion bits, tea spoon of colseslaw, a slice of vegetable pizza and carrot cake, which I thought I did pretty well considering. Thanks to my 1200 cal and carb limiting I felt so full and bloated I couldn't face supper nor breakfast in the morning. I jumped on the scale to see the damage(I know it's not wise) and to my surprise was 2 1/2 lighter than I was at the last weigh in which was on a Friday (CHUFFED). I wasn't hungry until tea but I did have about four black coffees through out the day so then I had quorn fillets rice and peas, carrots and sprouts for tea. So a massive cal deficit that day. Jumped on the scales today and I've gained 1 1/2 lb.
I'm praying this is just water weight maybe I over did it with the salt and carbs. I surely can't have indulged in 3500 cals above my 1800 on that day to even gain a pound and it's my weigh in tomorrow.
I find it odd to gain two days after a cheat day though and not the day after so just looking for reassurance that this is retained water. Hmm.

 

[iwillsoonbeslim]

This week I was 10 POUNDS heavier, the day before my WI....and 'lost' 8lbs overnight.

And I have a whole Tesco pizza (465) with a big dollop of ketchup (50) with a mahoosive salad (54), and honey & mustard dressing (60) - sometimes with a pack of Quorn slices (about 200) (cos some times I'm just in the mood to eat! lol) ....and I have this at least once a week, sometimes more, all within my 1200 net calories

 

[MelissaMaybe]

That sound like my sort of buffet right there!
As soon as I think treat i think CARBS which clearly retains the water.
8 lb of water is insane but glad to know that its a regular thing. I think I'm gunna keep my cheat days to just after my weigh in so that it's all leveled out afterwards.
I've been reading up about all this zig zagging and then about a blog which says eating clean for 6 days and then carbing it up on the 7th keeps your body from storing fat from "starvation mode" but I'm not sure whether to just eat what I want(within reason) as long as it's in my 1200 cals every day of the week.
Do you just keep to your 1200 each day and use them up how you want and if you want a treat make room for it in those calories and not have a cheat day?

 

[iwillsoonbeslim]

That sound like my sort of buffet right there!

Do you just keep to your 1200 each day and use them up how you want and if you want a treat make room for it in those calories and not have a cheat day?

Yup, that's exactly what I do. I have never understood the concept of 'cheating'....who are you cheating? Sure, there's the odd day I go over my calories, but generally I have a rough idea of what I want to eat, and make a point of getting those calories in the bank by doing extra exercise. I have denied myself NOTHING since starting this final part of my weight loss journey, and simply cannot believe how easily the weight is coming off.

The other thing it's worth keeping in mind is, you're already a lovely weight, and don't have much to lose - apparently that can make things slower (not that's I'd know! lol )

AND, so far, I've paid no attention to carbs/macros etc, I'm just making sure I net 1200. Trying to watch all the macros would just muddy the waters for me. I use My Fitness Pal, and just count 'em cals