Why did I lose weight on vacation?

ieroen

I went on a trip for a week, with no access to a scale. I didn't track anything I ate, because it was practically impossible to really guide my food choices, since the meals were taken care of by other people. So I decided to just have a week off. I continued working out, but a lighter version of my program (e.g. no squats). The biggest difference was what I ate: it was basically all carbs - pasta, rice and brown bread, combined with cheese and pastries. I even ate pizza twice that week. Also, I stopped intermittent fasting.

So needless to say, I expected to have gained at least 2 kilos. To my big surprise, it turned out that I had actually lost 1 kilo! The scale showed a number that was lower than anything I have seen in 3 months.

So out of curiosity : what do you think this could this have been? Water weight? Lost muscle?

TavistockToad

You ate in a slight deficit and a lighter workout programme for the week meant you dropped a bit of water.

pinuplove

Did you walk a lot? Take the loss and run with it, so to speak!

malibu927

Water and fat. You were probably more active on vacation and walked around a lot, so you ended up creating a deficit without counting calories. Good job!

heiliskrimsli

You may have eaten less than you think, and probably did a fair bit of walking, so it's possible that you could've lost a bit of weight and some water.

Libby283

I went on a two week cruise and lost weight. I had plenty of time to go to the gym, I still made healthy choices with eating for the most part, and I walked a heck of a lot more.

nevadavis1

You might have just been more active and not snacking? I know I work a desk job, but on vacation I'm up and doing stuff all day.

Azdak

Same thing happened to me in Italy 6 years ago. 13 days of an Italian food and gelato diet, no workouts, and I lost 2 lbs.

Still don't know exactly why.

I do know that when I tried to continue that plan back in the US, it did NOT work at all.

cerise_noir

TavistockToad wrote: »

You ate in a slight deficit and a lighter workout programme for the week meant you dropped a bit of water.

And decreased cortisol which will cause a water weight drop.

Gallowmere1984

cerise_noir wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

You ate in a slight deficit and a lighter workout programme for the week meant you dropped a bit of water.

And decreased cortisol which will cause a water weight drop.

This. The "vacation woosh" is pretty common, so long as people don't go completely stupid with their intake. Reducing chronic stress has pretty strong acute, as well as chronic positive feedback on hormones.

Example: my caloric intake is within 50 kcals per day, at the worst. My activity is extremely consistent as well. However, as soon as I switch from day work to night work and back, I gain 3-5 lbs. that falls right back off within a week of my schedule normalizing again.

fitoverfortymom

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you were eating at a calorie deficit (even if it didn't seem like it), and that's why you lost weight.