Two refeeds, two wooshes!

lightenup2016

Hi--I just wanted to share my recent fun experience with refeeds, one unintentional and one planned. First for background--I'm female, 5'6", aiming to lose 30 lbs total. I began about 10 weeks ago by reducing calories (I love using MFP!), and also increasing exercise in the form of running, walking, and some strength training at home. I've lost about 12 lbs so far.

So, several weeks ago I did an unintentional refeed over Labor Day weekend while at the beach. (Please note that while I'm calling this a "refeed", I'm not talking about the specific protocol that calls for particular macro ratios. For me, a refeed was just going from a calorie deficit to eating several hundred calories over maintenance calories). Over that weekend I ate about 200 calories over maintenance one day, and 1200 (!) calories over maintenance the next. I returned home fully prepared to work on getting rid of the excess food weight and sodium induced water retention. But I found that the next morning I was a full pound down, and the day after that another 1.5 pounds down! A whoosh instead of excess bloat! It was awesome! I can't say how long that lower weight would have lasted because the very next day PMS hit along with water retention and increased appetite--you know, gals!

Well, fast forward to a few weeks later, and I've been eating at a deficit again, increasing my workouts even more, but feeling lethargic, and worse, bloated and the scale not budging for a week or more. I decided to do an intentional refeed, and see what would happen. So for last Thursday and Friday I ate about 400 calories over maintenance. I didn't do an all out cheat or anything, I just ate an extra helping of our regular dinner, a little extra wine, etc. I have to say, I could definitely tell I had more energy over the weekend after eating more! And even better, here two days later, I've again wound up 2 lbs lower on the scale than I was on Thursday before the refeed.

Just as a side note--I fully believe this to be all water weight that I lost. I could tell I had to pee more the last two days, and now my face and feet are not puffy like before.

So, if you've been restricting calories for a while and are in a bit of a stall, you might try a refeed like this and see what happens!

dhimaan

Glad it worked for you.

lightenup2016

OP here, I just wanted to add, if you're wondering why there would be a loss of water, look up "dieter's edema" and the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. It seems that restricting calories increases water retention (perhaps due to increased cortisol), and going back to eating more lets you lose that water. So on the scale the increased water was masking the loss of actual fat, and you just don't see that lower number until you drop the water weight. I'm curious to see what my weight does the rest of the week.

Bxqtie116

That happens to me sometimes too. When I go over my calories, I'm down 1 lb the next day. It's weird, but it works for me.

lightenup2016

Bxqtie116 wrote: »

That happens to me sometimes too. When I go over my calories, I'm down 1 lb the next day. It's weird, but it works for me.

When that happens does the 1 pound usually stay off? Or does the water weight come back on?

folgers86

Same here. But if I keep going over then I gain weight. Hard not to get sucked into the trap! Sometimes I'll have a little rebound weight gain a day or two after (like .4 pounds).

CoffeeNCardio

lightenup2016 wrote: »

Bxqtie116 wrote: »

That happens to me sometimes too. When I go over my calories, I'm down 1 lb the next day. It's weird, but it works for me.

When that happens does the 1 pound usually stay off? Or does the water weight come back on?

Water weight is pretty common and caused by MULTIPLE things. You can hold water due to:

1. Heavy salt intake one day or often
2. Starting a new exercise routine or increasing the intensity of current exercise
3. Being female and having a monthly cycle
4. getting sick with something as small as a mild cold, if you're doing what the doc tells you to do and drinking plenty of fluids
5. Just existing really, you may not know the cause, but that's why it's important to look at general weight loss trends over a long period of time instead of stressing about the day-to-day. Weight loss isn't linear, and weight loss does NOT equal fat loss 100% of the time.

red99ryder

Watermellon does that to me ... I always eat a lot of it

canadianlbs

folgers86 wrote: »

Same here. But if I keep going over then I gain weight. Hard not to get sucked into the trap! Sometimes I'll have a little rebound weight gain a day or two after (like .4 pounds).

heh; this. i don't like to think about water shedding at all, because it's too much like lottery tickets. you can make yourself poor in pursuit of that one big payoff. it's pretty neat when it happens but i prefer to keep it out of my mind. it's just water anyway, so in terms of what i'm actually trying to lose, it isn't even a genuine win.

not to knock you, op. it's still really neat when you think you have x pounds more fat in your body than you really do, and then it turns out you were lowballing yourself. just remember: you lost that fat a long time ago. going over your calorie limit isn't some magic free thing that just happened without you doing all the boring self-discipline. it's a delayed reward, but it's still one you earned.

leanjogreen18

This happens to me every single time I go over maintenance calories by about 200-400. I'm also hoping it resets my leptin levels. I eat one day at maintenance as it is but I'm thinking once a month I may go over maintenance.

85Cardinals

Lyle MacDonald is a big advocate of this type of break, makes a lot of sense. Has worked wonders for me, getting thru stalls.

lightenup2016

Ha! OP here--Yes I know it's all the same, really, because it's just water. But it does wonders for my motivation and my confidence to see that what I'm doing and the calories I've calculated as my goal are still working for me. Who enjoys being in a stall or "plateau"? Also, I overall feel better energy wise after two days of higher calories, so for me it's not just about the number on the scale. But it is a little

lightenup2016

Also, I figure I could plan some of these refeeds every two weeks or so, but if I'm feeling fine, I might just wait for convenient times when I might want to relax and go over my calories anyway, such as vacations and when family is visiting.

Christine_72

I'm envisaging whole lot of people eating over their maintenance calories this week/end