I'm now down to 3 pounds above my post-Christmas weight. I was another 4 pounds above that on Saturday when I weighed in for the first time since coming home. Most of the loss since then is water (flying causes me to gain weight, while simultaneously being dehydrated.)
The gain over the 3 weeks was upsetting because, for the most part, I ate well. I had french fries once or twice and onion rings (shared order, once.) I had, at most, 4 non-fruit desserts, two of those were ice cream (despite being in hot, hot, hot, weather all that time.) I had only about 10 Cokes or Dr. Peppers over the 25 days which was good given I was flying 8 days of that time. I drank water like there was no tomorrow. I had my breakfast of yogurt and fruit and a glass of milk the half of the holiday where I could control my breakfast. I did have potato chips but only 2 bags (not single serving but smaller than North American bags.)
I think the biggest issue was the grazing. Since meals were often not at a set time, I was grazing and it is easy to have 3 healthy snacks that combine to 400 calories instead of a 300 calorie breakfast. If cheese and crackers make up your calories for lunch, a snack of potato chips and a sparkling water and then a dinner, well, that puts my calorie count too high for the day despite 'not having' breakfast or lunch.
I had one day (Jan 1/2/3) where the only food offered on the trip was breakfast food. Then on the way home (Jan 25/25 again) I was offered dinner 3 times. With me criss-crossing time zones, I never knew what time it was to eat, or what was appropriate.
Dd's struggle with too little weight reminded me of what slavishly sticking to an eating plan can do (she's trying to not lose weight, her BMI is now 18, but she also won't eat more carbs and is maxed out on protein.) She's inspired me to do my best to stick this out to the end of February and see where that leaves me.
In the meantime, dh has been read the riot act. I'll cook my meals and he can either join me or not, or add sides if he wants it with fries or something else. If it is some he usually cooks, I'll get him to make it but to my standards (i.e. less oil, he cooks with too much oil.) I'll go out for dinner once a week. That's it for the first month, we can negotiate after that.
He loves eating out so this is a punishment for him. But, I'm at my wits end with this weight and it is giving in to him wanting to go out all the time that is part of the problem. I'm sure another part of it is giving up diet soft drinks (I'm up 5 pounds since I did that.)