Okay, first the bad news. I knew this would eventually have to happen. A large weight gain. I got on the scale this morning and was up 2.5 lbs. That’s a lot. And the thing is…I didn’t really eat any differently than usual this week. The only thing I did was start back with my exercise. I hadn’t exercised in about two weeks because of my work schedule, but I got in a couple of days this week. That can be kind of discouraging when you actually do something good and you end up getting not so great results. However, I do know that the weight gain COULD be water weight. Also, I can remember when I was working for Weight Watchers, many of the members had a weight gain the first week or two after starting exercise. Me, too. So I did a little research on this, and I found out that when you start exercising, your muscle cells will hold water. I won’t go into the specifics, but here’s one article on the Weight Watchers website concerning that. Weight Gain With Exercise? So it could be that or just plain old water retention. The main thing to remember is this is an ongoing lifestyle change, not something that can make or break me because of one week or even one month. It’s a lifetime commitment.
Now the fun stuff. When I got home yesterday evening, my husband was cleaning out closets. He had started with the closet in my son’s room, the one who just moved out recently. I had some old clothes in there and my husband wanted to know what to do with them. I told him they were clothes I still loved and just couldn’t wear yet. Then we started in our bedroom closet. I ended up finding about three pairs of jeans in there that I could wear, along with a couple pairs of capris. So we sorted them into clothes I could wear now, clothes that I could probably wear about five lbs. from now. And clothes that I’ll be able to wear sometime down the road. It was really fun because I used to have some really cute clothes. One type of clothing I’m going to be so glad to get rid of is going to be the long, full, “hide-the-fat” skirts. LOL. Some of them are pretty, but not really my style anymore. I used to never wear stuff like that, but as I gained weight, I found myself buying more and more of those big skirts. No more. 🙂
Anyway, that’s my story. I’m disappointed, but not discouraged. And going through the closets showed me I had really made progress. I don’t feel those 2.5 lbs. My clothes didn’t get tighter. So I’m not worried. But I’m not going to post stats this week, because I don’t want to actually SEE the gain and the change in total weight loss. I’ll get back to that next week when I lose weight again. Not if. When. 🙂
lauralynnelliott.com 
“One type of clothing I’m going to be so glad to get rid of is going to be the long, full, “hide-the-fat” skirts.”
Coming from a guy’s perspective, I’m wondering if you (or any of your friends) think that “hide-the-fat” skirts look good on anybody. I’m really curious — who do you think looks better — a larger sized woman in form fitting clothes that show her curves, or a woman the same size who looks as if she’s shaped like a tent?
Truly, I don’t mean to criticize your appearance. I don’t mean to criticize any woman’s appearance. Just the same, though, when you purchase skirts like that are you trying to look good or are you just trying to hide? If I think that a woman is hiding behind her clothes I can’t help but think she’s critical of her OWN appearance which is sad because the sexiest attribute any woman can have is confidence.
I’m actually glad to hear a guy’s perspective on that. I personally can’t stand to see a woman who has a large tummy wearing something so tight that it shows every bump and bulge. However, I do see why it might look better for something to FIT rather than be either too large OR too small. Yes, overweight women do sometimes hide behind the clothing. I’ve always had lots of confidence in my intelligence and my abilities. Not so much in my looks, at least when I’m overweight. But I’m glad to hear you say the sexiest attribute is confidence. That shows that you aren’t shallow. Many men are. And I really think a lot of women hide from other women, rather than men, behind big clothes. Other women are generally more critical of a woman’s looks than most men are. Except, again, the really shallow ones.
Thanks again for giving a male point of view on this.
That’s makes total sense about working out. If I don’t work out for a while and then work out before a weigh-in, I usually either gain or stay the same, too. You’re doing an amazing job!
I can totally relate with the closet, btw! About two or three weeks ago, I cleaned out my closet while my husband was out with the three year old for a daddy adventure day. I never thought cleaning out my closet would be so much fun!
Thanks, Erika. I’m not going to let the gain get me down. I’m sure it’s the exercise thing.
It really was fun trying on all those clothes in the closet. It was almost like shopping. Except without paying money! 🙂
2.5 is less than 3, but I’m glad to see that it didn’t greatly bother you. Just a small ‘trip’ down the runway, you’re getting there 🙂
If I was trying to lose a quick few lbs. in a short period of time, this might have been a real setback. But this is an ongoing, lifetime thing. So if you look at the big picture, it wasn’t a big deal.
I didn’t know about the water weight thing. I can see what it’s a bummer to see the numbers go up, even if there is a good reason.
Yay on the clothes! That’s exciting.
I found out about the water thing a long time ago because of what was happening to WW members. People kept saying, “Muscle weighs more than fat.” But, that’s not true. The same weight of muscle takes up less room than fat, though. LOL. And you can’t gain enough muscle in a week or two to make a difference. So I researched and found out about the muscle cells retaining water.
That was so much fun going through my closet. I’m wearing some of my “old” jeans today. 🙂