cheat day discovery with sodium and carbs

donjtomasco

So I opened up my diary for anyone to look, to comment, to suggest anything or to butcher me. lol. So have at it.

I have an excel spreadsheet that I track everything on a daily basis, more then would be expected and probably on the obsessive combulsive level.

My first planned cheat day was last Saturday and it consisted of Mexican Food, esquisite tortilla chips, tortillas, and as a result lots of sodium. I have had other cheat days but not of the planned type, just days lacking in self control as I adapted to this new lifestyle since Feb 4th.

It took 3 days to recover from the cheat day to hit a new weight low.

Yesterday, one week later, was my next planned cheat day. It included mexican food with cheeze enchiladas, tortilla chips, then home popped pop corn in the afternoon, then fish tacos for dinner. However, I had played 3 hours of tournament tennis and burned (conservatively 2,100 calories) so if I calculated all correctly I had a big deficit for the day.

But yesterday was my all time highest sodium day.

So, my next analysis is to see how many days it takes to recover from yesterdays blowout.

I naively think that the cheat day (if otherwise following the "deal" tightly) is a great way to throw the body off. But it is too early to tell. I will know later. I weighted 2.6 pounds more this morning after a 3 day decline in weight at new lows. So, obviously I soaked up some water from my cheat day yesterday.

And I never close my diary. Why would I? It is just dietary information that may help others.

psuLemon

donjtomasco wrote: »

So I opened up my diary for anyone to look, to comment, to suggest anything or to butcher me. lol. So have at it.

I have an excel spreadsheet that I track everything on a daily basis, more then would be expected and probably on the obsessive combulsive level.

My first planned cheat day was last Saturday and it consisted of Mexican Food, esquisite tortilla chips, tortillas, and as a result lots of sodium. I have had other cheat days but not of the planned type, just days lacking in self control as I adapted to this new lifestyle since Feb 4th.

It took 3 days to recover from the cheat day to hit a new weight low.

Yesterday, one week later, was my next planned cheat day. It included mexican food with cheeze enchiladas, tortilla chips, then home popped pop corn in the afternoon, then fish tacos for dinner. However, I had played 3 hours of tournament tennis and burned (conservatively 2,100 calories) so if I calculated all correctly I had a big deficit for the day.

But yesterday was my all time highest sodium day.

So, my next analysis is to see how many days it takes to recover from yesterdays blowout.

I naively think that the cheat day (if otherwise following the "deal" tightly) is a great way to throw the body off. But it is too early to tell. I will know later. I weighted 2.6 pounds more this morning after a 3 day decline in weight at new lows. So, obviously I soaked up some water from my cheat day yesterday.

And I never close my diary. Why would I? It is just dietary information that may help others.

Ironically, your diary is closed

Ninkyou

Is there a question?

Sodium, plus extended exercise... of course you'd be up 3 lbs.

booksandchocolate12

psulemon wrote: »

Ironically, your diary is closed

*snort*

I do love irony....

donjtomasco

How does one open it?

donjtomasco

Such hostility. Or hanger, my new favorite word. I could not find a help item for opening it up. Is there a link?

donjtomasco

I love the iron too.

booksandchocolate12

Go into settings at the top of the screen. Click on diary settings. At the bottom, click on public.

And no one was hostile or "hangry". Lighten up. You started your post by saying that your diary was open and ended it by saying it would always be open. You've got to see the humor in the fact that, after all that, it wasn't open.

donjtomasco

Thanks. My responses were sarcastic humor, all in good fun. All helium over here

janejellyroll

Your body doesn't need to be "thrown off." If you want "cheat days" and can make them work for you, good.

areallycoolstory

Ninkyou wrote: »

Is there a question?

Sodium, plus extended exercise... of course you'd be up 3 lbs.

The OP might have meant this. Bit snarky...no judgement:-)

donjtomasco

I cautiously say my diary is open now.

donjtomasco

Well I have read that a weekly cheat day is good to have. But this may have been bad advice. And the trainer at Gold's (and I have read here) suggest upping and lowering carbs (I think that this is called "carb cycling") so isn't that a form of hrrowing the body off when it gets used to a constant pattern of behavior or consumption?

janejellyroll

donjtomasco wrote: »

Well I have read that a weekly cheat day is good to have. But this may have been bad advice. And the trainer at Gold's (and I have read here) suggest upping and lowering carbs (I think that this is called "carb cycling") so isn't that a form of hrrowing the body off when it gets used to a constant pattern of behavior or consumption?

You can read all kinds of things about weight loss. I would be cautious about what your trainer says. Some are great, some are full of bioscience.

Body builders use carb cycling, I believe. But it isn't necessary for weight loss. If you like your "cheat day" and it doesn't keep you from reaching your goals, then there is no need to stop ot. But it isn't necessary.

donjtomasco

Jane, great point, plus I could not really find a realistic way to change carbs like that. As long as I am in a healthy range I just try to maintain a daily calorie deficit. I am not a body builder. I am 52, finally over a few injuries and just want a long term healthy lifestyle now. No more yo-yo'ing again hopefully. And the cheat day was more mentally accepting it as a planned cheat day since my wife wanted to go out for lunch and I thought it would be fun to go to one of our favorite restaurants. She was a lot more disciplined then me though. So back at it today and reestablishing my routine.

_Terrapin_

donjtomasco wrote: »

I cautiously say my diary is open now.

OP- - -aren't you the same poster who a couple of days ago complained about 'a sodium question' and thought many people were just rude? Maybe there is more then one individual with your profile pic.

Mr_Knight

It's not about your body "getting used to", it's about the dose-response curve for most things we need to consume starting out convex, and non-stationary -- therefore the only way to make sure we hit optimum intake levels at least sometimes is to cycle through periods of over-shooting and under-shooting.

maxit

donjtomasco wrote: »

So I opened up my diary for anyone to look, to comment, to suggest anything or to butcher me. lol. So have at it.

I have an excel spreadsheet that I track everything on a daily basis, more then would be expected and probably on the obsessive combulsive level.

My first planned cheat day was last Saturday and it consisted of Mexican Food, esquisite tortilla chips, tortillas, and as a result lots of sodium. I have had other cheat days but not of the planned type, just days lacking in self control as I adapted to this new lifestyle since Feb 4th.

It took 3 days to recover from the cheat day to hit a new weight low.

Yesterday, one week later, was my next planned cheat day. It included mexican food with cheeze enchiladas, tortilla chips, then home popped pop corn in the afternoon, then fish tacos for dinner. However, I had played 3 hours of tournament tennis and burned (conservatively 2,100 calories) so if I calculated all correctly I had a big deficit for the day.

But yesterday was my all time highest sodium day.

So, my next analysis is to see how many days it takes to recover from yesterdays blowout.

I naively think that the cheat day (if otherwise following the "deal" tightly) is a great way to throw the body off. But it is too early to tell. I will know later. I weighted 2.6 pounds more this morning after a 3 day decline in weight at new lows. So, obviously I soaked up some water from my cheat day yesterday.

And I never close my diary. Why would I? It is just dietary information that may help others.

Keep up the data collection All of the recommendations and settings work for the aggregate of people and there are always outliers in terms of response. It seems like, though, that weight reduction is never linear even if intake is constant, so it is easy to draw conclusions about "this caused that" when they really only just occur in the same time frame. That being said, I just find it interesting to look at the numbers.

Ninkyou

areallycoolstory wrote: »

Ninkyou wrote: »

Is there a question?

Sodium, plus extended exercise... of course you'd be up 3 lbs.

The OP might have meant this. Bit snarky...no judgement:-)

No snark. I legitimately don't see a question except for him saying why would he not keep his diary open.

USMCMcG

My offline data collection is also borderline compulsive. Over the past couple of months I've seen that for a couple of days after a long and/or fast hike (my preferred exercise) I weigh more or stay static even though I've had a significant caloric deficit that day. I'm thinking that at as we age we have more inflammation that takes longer to subside.

Example: last weekend I hiked a half marathon decently fast at 15 mins/mile, but not setting the world on fire. Huge caloric deficit that day as there was no way for me to shove down 4000 calories. What I saw though was the scale didn't start to really drop until Wednesday. Could be/probably am wrong, but that's my two cents

psuLemon

USMC the reason you stay the same weight after long exercise is due to micro tears in your muscle which cause your body to retain water.

Op, there are some advantages to carb cycling from a lifting perspective but not weight loss. And realistically until you are a moderate to advanced lifter i would keep it simple. Hit a deficit first, then work on macros and then get into timing. I have been lifting for awhile and still don't cycle as my reps are still increasing. Once i plateau then i will move onto cycling.

booksandchocolate12

I, personally, cannot do a cheat day. For me, one cheat day turns into two, then three, etc. Instead, I try to incorporate a treat into each day so I don't feel deprived of my favorite foods. But I can't do a whole day where I don't pay attention to what/how much I'm eating. It just throws me off.

But if you can do it....more power to you!

donjtomasco

Terrapin, yes it was me. My skin has thickened since then. It is a Darwinian thing.

donjtomasco

And what does "OP" stand for?

donjtomasco

Thank you Mr. Knight.

donjtomasco

Thanks Maxit. Interesting and I concur but had not thought of it that way. I like how u think.

janejellyroll

donjtomasco wrote: »

And what does "OP" stand for?

"Original Post." It is a way to refer to the person who started the thread.

donjtomasco

What is your age USM? 52 here. In all of my data collection, charts and graph's since starting this, the most interesting, consistent and valid stat (for me) is comparing each morning weight to the prior 7th days weight. Even with days were certain parts of my diet are out of wack, and with some cheat days or days where I missed my calories in total, I have for some reason lowered my weight each day (compared to the prior 7th day) for 39 straight days.

donjtomasco

Psluemon, thanks. I think that in order to successfully do a carb cycle, that I really need a list of meals that has a carb total, and the healthy restaurant where I can get that meal. Otherwise it seems there would be a lot of trips to the grocery store till I could figure out how to prepare the meals.

psuLemon

My main point was there is no reason to do carb cycling at this point. Its not for weight loss, its to help with lifting. So unless you are advanced in lifting or not seeing any more progress in your lifts, its not worth the time or effort to carb cycle.

Btw, what is your lifting routine?

donjtomasco

No not advanced at all. I upper body one day, iron and machines, lower body the other day, mostly machines. Off and on treadmill after some workouts, usually 5 hours of intense tennis a week.