I saw this post in an online forum a while back, about someone who gained an INSANE amount of weight over 9 days during the holidays.
Seriously, read what happened:
“So, this is more to talk myself off a ledge – but I did some insanely, major damage on a bit of a free-for-all diet break over the holidays. 9 days to be exact. Straight binge eating like a maniac. I logged mostly everything I ate (again, like an absolute maniac) and calculated I ate 83,796 calories over those 10 days. That’s a big yikes. HUGE.
“I weighed in Monday morning up 11.1kg (24.47 pounds) to 80.8kg (178 pounds), from Saturday 18th December morning before Christmas when I weighed 69.7kg. 31/F/5’8” here. Today I’m 78.5kg – but I’m so anxious to see what real damage I’ve done. This is just awful and I thought I’d just weigh-in to see where I’m at. Truth is hard. I also had been at an all time low before the holidays and doing so so well, so it’s all the more heartbreaking.
“Am I screwed? Is there a way to know how much fat I’ve gained?” “I feel absolutely and utterly terrible about it all. I know it’s not all fat gain of course (water and poop etc.) but I’m just really depressed about the potential extent of damage I’ve done. Time will tell. But I’m back on the bandwagon, and it’s all I can do right now.”
😬
This person ate an average of 9,311 calories PER DAY over those 9 days. (That’s even more than I ate when I regained 30 pounds in a month back in 2023! I know the “maniac binging” they talked about all too well.)
Since there’s 3,500 calories in one pound, and most people don’t even burn 2,000 calories per day (it depends on the person), then yeah, it’s no wonder this person gained 24.4 pounds in 9 days.
SOME of it is probably water and poop.
But there’s no way it’s 24.4 pounds’ worth of water and poop.
Let’s say that about 8 pounds of that is water/poop, and it’ll come off in about a week (which is probably a lot quicker than it’ll actually come off).
That still leaves 16.4 pounds of fat to drop.
At 1% of this person’s body weight per week, that’s 1.7 pounds per week…
Which means it’ll take freaking 2.5 months to lose that fat.
That’s almost a quarter of the year!
Most people aren’t gonna go as crazy through the holidays as the person above did.
But still, the average American gains 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
Do you REALLY wanna have to re-lose that weight yet again?
“No, Cristy, but I don’t know if I want to try and lose weight through the holidays, either.”
You can still lose some weight leading up to the holidays.
And during the holidays, you can hit pause. Meaning, eat in a way that keeps you the same weight.
Then, go back into weight loss mode, and keep going.
The problem isn’t that you don’t lose any weight over the holidays.
Heck, it’s not necessarily a problem to gain a little weight over the holidays.
It’s that most people do not get it back off.
They kick the can down the road, they eat for emotional reasons, and they fall into – and get stuck in – their old patterns.
Bottom line: If your weight goes up, get it RIGHT back down.
And use some common sense when eating during the holidays.
Make healthier versions of those foods with Code Red-approved ingredients.
Eat LESS. Listen to your body instead of your emotions.
And especially, remember that the holidays will come back around next year.
You ain’t gonna die from dialing things back for ONE holiday season. (Heck, doing that might actually save your life, especially if you’re really obese and sick.)