Why have I gained 4 lbs?

nomorepuke

CafeRacer808 wrote: »

nomorepuke wrote: »

What you eat matters a lot.

Nope. What you eat has no direct effect on how much fat you gain or lose. It's all about how much you eat.

I also used to think that way. That sounds very logical.

Imagine that the entrance hall of a movie theater is full of people. These people are all there because they’re going to watch a very popular movie that just came out.

If you would ask… “why is this entrance hall full of people?” and someone were to answer with “because more people are entering it than leaving it” – then you’d think it was a fairly ridiculous answer, right?

It tells you nothing about the cause of the entrance hall being full, it is simply stating the obvious.

Saying that weight gain is caused by excess calories is just as ridiculous as saying that the entrance hall is so crowded because more people are entering than leaving.

Excess eating causes weight gain which is absolutely true. However, what causes us eat more or want more? All the types foods we eat could be used as energy?

Let's put it this way, hypothetically one pound of meat equals a piece of candy in calories. Would you want to eat more after eating a pound of meat? Probably not.
Would you want to eat more in a little bit after eating a piece of candy? Probably yes.
Protein, carbohydrates, fiber, saturated fat..etc have their own jobs to do when they enter our intestines.
We often forget about our health when it comes to CICO as long as we lose weight. Well, it's easy to ignore when you're younger. The older we get it's harder to lose weight, even by consuming the lowest calories as possible. Foods affect our health. Eating junk food, donuts, drinking soda every day CAN make you lose weight as long as it fits in your daily deficit. But it will destroy your health on the long run. Without good health, your body won't burn fat as it used to when you were younger.
If you're trying to lose weight fast for an especial occasion like wedding, by all means lower your daily calories and burn it out. But it won't work for the long run. We will have to think about what we eat before our body gets worn out.
So yes, what you eat matters a lot!

CafeRacer808

nomorepuke wrote: »

CafeRacer808 wrote: »

nomorepuke wrote: »

What you eat matters a lot.

Nope. What you eat has no direct effect on how much fat you gain or lose. It's all about how much you eat.

I also used to think that way. That sounds very logical.

Imagine that the entrance hall of a movie theater is full of people. These people are all there because they’re going to watch a very popular movie that just came out.

If you would ask… “why is this entrance hall full of people?” and someone were to answer with “because more people are entering it than leaving it” – then you’d think it was a fairly ridiculous answer, right?

It tells you nothing about the cause of the entrance hall being full, it is simply stating the obvious.

Saying that weight gain is caused by excess calories is just as ridiculous as saying that the entrance hall is so crowded because more people are entering than leaving.

Excess eating causes weight gain which is absolutely true. However, what causes us eat more or want more? All types foods we eat could be used as energy?
Let's put it this way, hypothetically one pound of meat equals a piece of candy in calories. Would you want to eat more after eating a pound of meat? Probably not.
Would you want to eat more in a little bit after eating a piece of candy? Probably yes.
Protein, carbohydrates, fiber, saturated fat..etc have their own jobs to do when they enter our intestines.
We often forget about our health when it comes to CICO as long as we lose weight. Well, it's easy to ignore when you're younger. The older we get it's harder to lose weight, even by consuming the lowest calories as possible. Foods affect our health. Eating junk food, donuts, drinking soda every day CAN make you lose weight as long as it fits in your daily deficit. But it will destroy your health on the long run. Without good health, your body won't burn fat as it used to when you were younger.
If you're trying to lose weight fast for an especial occasion like wedding, by all means lower your daily calories and burn it out. But it won't work for the long run. We will have to think about what we eat before our body gets worn out.
So yes, what you eat matters a lot!

You're talking about two separate things: weight loss and nutrition. I'll obviously concede that the satiety of specific foods has an indirect effect on weight loss, which is why I worded my comment to read "What you eat has no direct effect on how much fat you gain or lose," which is absolutely true. A caloric deficit is what matters. Many find that eating more satiating foods helps them maintain a deficit, but it's the deficit that leads to a loss of fat, not the food itself.

Good nutrition is also obviously important. But at the end of the day, nutrition and weight loss - the biological process by which the body reduces its fat stores - are separate matters.

The reason why I corrected you is that countless people come to MFP with the idea that the only way to lose weight is to "eat clean" and to eliminate all of the foods that they perceive as bad, because they've conflated healthy eating with weight loss. Your vague comment above directly feeds into that notion and doing so can be very counter productive, particularly for those who don't like to eat clean but feel like they have to in order to lose weight.

One final point: individual foods are not inherently healthy or unhealthy. Overall diets are. As someone who's been on a mostly whole food diet for almost a decade (and who gained 15 lbs on that diet), I will happily eat an occasional donut, potato chips, some cookies, a piece of cake, a burger and fries from a fast food chain, etc. in moderation. Of course eating a diet composed of only those things would be horrible for your health. But neither I nor anyone here actually advises someone take that approach.

cerise_noir

nomorepuke wrote: »

What you eat matters a lot.

No, according to the actual science of weight loss, it does not. If it did, I wouldn't be 100lbs down. Please stop spreading misinformation.

Afura

cerise_noir wrote: »

nomorepuke wrote: »

What you eat matters a lot.

No, according to the actual science of weight loss, it does not. If it did, I wouldn't be 100lbs down. Please stop spreading misinformation.

This one is one of those that just won't die, like starvation mode. @CafeRacer808 said it very nicely.

ogtmama

I bet it's water retention for muscle repair after the sudden influx of gigantic workouts...it'll come down. (Although 2 weeks into your cycle you are actually ovulating which can also cause water retention)

rileysowner