Help me understand this, please! Vacation eating vs weight.

ghartleroad1

I've been about 6lbs away from my ultimate goal (BMI 18.5; weight 118) for four month, fluctuating on the same 2lbs (122-124lbs). I am militant about keeping to my 1250 cal/day as a 5'7" woman, but lightened up a bit on my workouts - shifting from all cardio (HIIT & running) to cardio & weights. This has been my strategy for the past 14 months.

Last week was vacation. I did one 5mi walk. That's it for the entire week. While I still tracked my food, I took a more "eat what you want" attitude. So some portions were larger, was likely dehydrated, and I indulged my sweet tooth with a lot of ice cream. I mean A LOT. I was over my weekly calorie goal by 2000 cal and averaged over 1500 (vs my usual 1250) for the week.

I prepped myself to get on the scale yesterday, hoping against all hope to have not gained more than 1 to 1.5lbs. To my utter shock, my weight stayed EXACTLY THE SAME. Can someone explain this to me?

Did my body just get too used to my eating/workout routine? Is it possible my body went back into starvation mode before vacation? (This was the problem I had when I was first working out with running - my nutritionist informed me I wasn't eating enough when I first started trying to lose weight.)

Any/all insights are appreciated!

ultrahoon

Well I can't comment on the specifics, but if you were only 2000 calories over for the whole week, that's only just over half a pound, so normal fluctations in weight could hide that easily.

Also, starvation mode as you described it does not exist.

DeguelloTex

Your body didn't go into starvation mode.

Weight loss is not linear.

EmmaFitzwilliam

Why are you worried about it? You ate and acted like you were on vacation; you are not on vacation every day. You know your actions were short term, not habits or patterns, and your relationship with gravity reflected a status quo, vacation behavior notwithstanding.

As noted, weight loss is not linear.

Seriously, if it were me, I would say, "Whoo-hoo!" and go back to my typical, non-vacation eating/activity habits without a second thought

(To be fair, this is pretty much what I do after any vacation, possibly absent the "whoo-hoo!" based on the actual scale data.)

Life, including deliberate choices about eating, is for living. Make the best "everyday" choices you can, enjoy the special occasion choices, and rock on.

ki4eld

Ditto all of the above, including that you didn't go into starvation mode. Be happy that you got a "free ride" on your vacation and get back to eating and exercising how you're supposed to.

jemhh

You are still eating at a deficit. There's no reason why you should have gained so I'm not sure why you're surprised you didn't.

lizzocat

you were probably just eating at maintenance or even still at a very slight deficit. you don't gain weight the minute you go over your calories (especially if the calories you are over are at a deficit) , weight loss and weight gain is not that black and white

Francl27

lizzocat wrote: »

you were probably just eating at maintenance or even still at a very slight deficit. you don't gain weight the minute you go over your calories (especially if the calories you are over are at a deficit) , weight loss and weight gain is not that black and white

This.

rosebette

At 5'7" and 122-124 lbs., you probably could get away with eating more than 1250 and not gaining. That's a pretty good height. Also, why do you need to get to such a low BMI? I'm much shorter and average around 120-122 myself and am considered normal weight.