Delayed Results

kmt412

Do other folks feel like they sometimes see delayed results?

I've been lifting pretty regularly for over a year, and in Nov I added a 250k step challenge. I made it to 256k steps for the month of Nov (yay!) and then when I returned from Thanksgiving I got sick and have taken two weeks off from any exercise.

Thing is, the scale stayed more or less the same the whole month of Nov, but NOW, halfway through Dec, it's down 5 lbs!

It's HARD to stay motivated when you don't know which things you're doing are leading to the results you want to see!

The 256k steps are a major positive change for me, and I would be happy to keep doing that if that's what's getting the results.

Caveat - couple of other factors that I suppose could also have contributed to the weight loss: (a) not working out for two weeks (muscle loss?); (b) change in diet while I was sick (I guess I've eaten less? Hard to say since I wasn't counting calories, but there were certainly days when I only had one meal - except it was a whole Ben & Jerry's bc that's all I wanted was something sweet and cold); (c) the antibiotic/steroid combo I've been on for my respiratory infection (change in gut bacteria? going #2 more? steroid getting rid of a lot of inflammation?).

Would love to hear when other folks see results and if it tends to be on a lag, like "I worked out and ate right all *last* month and even if I stop that *this* month I'll see results *next* month."

HoneyBadger302

I've tracked my weight for years, and have definitely noticed that I am a "woosh-er." Scientifically what happens in layman's terms is as you burn fat, the cells at first replace the fat with water, so they stay the same size, and on the scale, you weigh about the same. Then, approximately every 3-4 weeks (assuming I am sticking to plan), I will "woosh" down a significant amount (~3-5 pounds). After a couple days, 1-1.5 pounds of that will come back on, and that's the new stable place for the next few weeks.

I'll still AVERAGE about what I would expect, but the scale is all over the place! This is why the trend app (Libra on android for me) is HUGE - the frustration otherwise would be insane.

In the past I did have better luck on a lower carb diet - some of it being that I find calorie adherence a lot easier with lower carb (in fact, some days I struggle to eat enough, which is NEVER a problem on a more balanced macro split), and some of it seems like the wooshes aren't as extreme (perhaps due to carb related water retention?).

I do notice that my fat deposits do tend to change "texture" though as I'm losing just before a woosh - and subsequent shrinkage. They go from somewhat firm to really squishy soft. It's weird, probably something personal, but just an odd thing I've noticed

kmt412

Thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it. It's nice to hear that I'm not alone I definitely know what you mean about fat texture too - especially in the bust. Sometimes I'm like, am I getting flabby or am I actually losing lol!

cwolfman13

It could be any number of things, but also what you're describing is pretty normal as far as weight loss goes. People's expectations of losing weight is that it will be a linear thing because they've cut XXX calories and that's what the math says should happen...but we're not machines and this is all an inexact science and losing weight isn't a linear process in the least.

In the nine or so months it took me to lose 40 Lbs I had weeks with smaller losses, no losses, bigger losses, and gains. Sometimes my weight would seem to stagnate for weeks, but the reality is that at 1 Lb per week loss, that fat loss can very easily be masked by water weight and fluctuations...I've had as much as 3-5 Lbs gain in just water alone which can easily mask a months worth of fat loss.

All in all, my loss averaged out to just a bit over 1 Lb per week...but that didn't happen even close to every single week.

AnnPT77

kmt412 wrote: »

Do other folks feel like they sometimes see delayed results?

I've been lifting pretty regularly for over a year, and in Nov I added a 250k step challenge. I made it to 256k steps for the month of Nov (yay!) and then when I returned from Thanksgiving I got sick and have taken two weeks off from any exercise.

Thing is, the scale stayed more or less the same the whole month of Nov, but NOW, halfway through Dec, it's down 5 lbs!

It's HARD to stay motivated when you don't know which things you're doing are leading to the results you want to see!

The 256k steps are a major positive change for me, and I would be happy to keep doing that if that's what's getting the results.

Caveat - couple of other factors that I suppose could also have contributed to the weight loss: (a) not working out for two weeks (muscle loss?);

In 2 weeks, not much meaningful muscle mass loss. Maybe a little strength decline that would bounce back fairly quickly.

Possible: Water weight part of the picture. When I start progressive lifting (kind of seasonal for me), I gain a couple of pounds of water weight (for muscle repair), and hang onto it as long as I keep up progression and a regular lifting schedule. When I stop for an extended time, a drop that couple of pounds.

(b) change in diet while I was sick (I guess I've eaten less? Hard to say since I wasn't counting calories, but there were certainly days when I only had one meal - except it was a whole Ben & Jerry's bc that's all I wanted was something sweet and cold);

If the B&J was all you ate, that's probably only 1000ish calories: Not a big calorie day, really.

(c) the antibiotic/steroid combo I've been on for my respiratory infection (change in gut bacteria? going #2 more? steroid getting rid of a lot of inflammation?).

Steroids can also increase water retention, so who knows?

Would love to hear when other folks see results and if it tends to be on a lag, like "I worked out and ate right all *last* month and even if I stop that *this* month I'll see results *next* month."

I can't say that precisely. I'm not a whoosh-er by pattern. But what I do observe in myself is that the only meaningful trend information is from longer term (multi weeks), not immediate or necessarily even short time periods.

Eating unusual extra food volume (not necessarily calories) increases body weight for a couple of days or so (because an apple or glass of water weighs just as much in my stomach as it did in my hand, until it's digested and the waste exits the pipeline); full digestive transit can take 50+ hours, per research. That can be a small number of pounds.

If I eat extra sodium or carbs - even perfectly reasonable amounts, within calorie goal, but more than my usual of either/both - there's extra water retention that will hang around for up to a week, occasionally more. That can be some small number of pounds.

Adult women not in menopause can see multi-pound hormonal water weight shifts over the month. This next is rare, but a few women only see a new low weight once a month, per reports here on MFP.

Bodies are weird.

Even fast fat loss is a tiny number of ounces (or grams, whatever) per day. Routine water weight fluctuations of a small number of pounds can mask that fat loss rate for days up to a couple of weeks or more, because the water retention triggers can be multiple, or overlap. The water plays peek-a-boo on the scale with fat changes.

Your greatly added walking is likely to have increased water weight until your body adapted to that new stress (positive stress, but still stress). Then you had a bunch of other stuff that could cause fluctuations in water retention, fat loss, average amount of food residue in your system on its way to becoming waste - being sick, eating differently, break in strength exercise, medications . . . .

You say "It's HARD to stay motivated when you don't know which things you're doing are leading to the results you want to see!". I'd encourage you to try to move away from a short-run mindset, in that respect. Changes take time to register. We see people here get discouraged and give up because they feel they were perfect for a week or two, and didn't see results. Results come from patterns (habits) over time, and the short-term effects overlap and confuse things in the shorter term.

Think in terms of testing patterns (new habits over 4-6 weeks), not short-term acts. And when you have a weird time period where there are lots of changes, like November was for you . . . expect things to be weird for a while. The exact "why" may not be obvious.

That would be my advice, from the perspective of calorie counting (successfully, IMO) for 7 years now. Others' mileage may vary.

kmt412

Thank you Ann!!! I really appreciate your taking the time to respond. And you're right - bodies are definitely weird

vbachtold

I may be wrong but I always thought that when the body is not getting the calories it will try to take any excess muscle first for an energy source before the fat on your body. I worked out at a Golds Gym in Fort Smith, AR for a few years and a competition bodybuilder occasioned the gym. We were talking after he had come down with a bad flu of some kind. He had it for 2 weeks and it looked like his size was half of what it was. May have been a steroid issue or possibly drop in protein/calories but he was very discouraged. Told me he felt like he had to start over. On another note, Don Youngblood used to work out there too. He was an pro competitor at the time. 2001 1st place Masters Olympia but he passed away back in 2005. Those were the good ole days.

zebasschick

vbachtold wrote: »

I may be wrong but I always thought that when the body is not getting the calories it will try to take any excess muscle first for an energy source before the fat on your body. I worked out at a Golds Gym in Fort Smith, AR for a few years and a competition bodybuilder occasioned the gym. We were talking after he had come down with a bad flu of some kind. He had it for 2 weeks and it looked like his size was half of what it was. May have been a steroid issue or possibly drop in protein/calories but he was very discouraged. Told me he felt like he had to start over. On another note, Don Youngblood used to work out there too. He was an pro competitor at the time. 2001 1st place Masters Olympia but he passed away back in 2005. Those were the good ole days.

could he have become dehydrated? that can make muscle look smaller fast, but large amounts of muscle take a long time to go away. in 2 weeks, no one that muscled has to start over; they may have lost strength due to illness that isn't about muscle loss. check out the buff dudes on youtube. three-ish years ago, one of the brothers broke his ankle severely, and was mostly unable to work out for over six months. did his physique get smaller? yes, but they were still bigger than most people's legs, and the same applied to the rest of him.

here he is a year after his break and still recovering:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aMUWZRhFDA

and here he is a few months earlier
https://youtu.be/OnDI-A-CADg?t=143

AnnPT77

vbachtold wrote: »

I may be wrong but I always thought that when the body is not getting the calories it will try to take any excess muscle first for an energy source before the fat on your body. I worked out at a Golds Gym in Fort Smith, AR for a few years and a competition bodybuilder occasioned the gym. We were talking after he had come down with a bad flu of some kind. He had it for 2 weeks and it looked like his size was half of what it was. May have been a steroid issue or possibly drop in protein/calories but he was very discouraged. Told me he felt like he had to start over. On another note, Don Youngblood used to work out there too. He was an pro competitor at the time. 2001 1st place Masters Olympia but he passed away back in 2005. Those were the good ole days.

Think about this in natural selection terms: Humans evolved under great pressure from food scarcity and predators. Muscles are needful in that context, for getting the food (hunting, gathering, preserving, etc.) and escaping the predators. If someone managed to store up a little fat during a lush summer of abundance, but lost muscle first when food got scarce again, they'd be at a survival disadvantage. Their genes would be less likely to be common in the population today.

In my understanding, there are some biochemical or physiological limits on how much body fat a person can burn in a short time period, in terms of something like X calories per day per pound of fat on their body. In reality, X would likely be a range. Researcher estimates I've seen are in the 20s/30s of calories per pound of fat per day.

Stored body fat is going to be the preferred source for making up an energy (calorie deficit). Someone going to extremes (too big calorie deficit) is likely to trigger more than the minimum of muscle (or other lean tissue) loss alongside fat loss. Someone not reminding those muscles that they're useful/needed - by using them, whether job or exercise - is likely to increase the chances of losing more than minimal lean tissue alongside fat loss.

Muscle is not going to be first choice of the body to burn in a calorie deficit, in a healthy person. (There are diseases that can involve significant muscle wasting, but a couple weeks of common cold/flu isn't one of them.)

That's just my amateur understanding and opinion, though: I'm not credentialed in physiology, biochemistry, evolutionary biology, or any relevant field.

kshama2001

cwolfman13 wrote: »

It could be any number of things, but also what you're describing is pretty normal as far as weight loss goes. People's expectations of losing weight is that it will be a linear thing because they've cut XXX calories and that's what the math says should happen...but we're not machines and this is all an inexact science and losing weight isn't a linear process in the least.

In the nine or so months it took me to lose 40 Lbs I had weeks with smaller losses, no losses, bigger losses, and gains. Sometimes my weight would seem to stagnate for weeks, but the reality is that at 1 Lb per week loss, that fat loss can very easily be masked by water weight and fluctuations...I've had as much as 3-5 Lbs gain in just water alone which can easily mask a months worth of fat loss.

All in all, my loss averaged out to just a bit over 1 Lb per week...but that didn't happen even close to every single week.

I lost close to 40 pounds last year with a very similar experience of my weight loss not being at all linear, unless I was looking at it over a long stretch of time.