Updates/Results
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I'm still here, at least. Lost 1 lb this week. started off strong (literally) with a good heavy back workout today. As soon as I get home to my tape, I'll post my Nov-Dec stats.0
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Lately the weight loss is not linear any more: a little gain one week and then a bigger drop the following week - eating at the same exact deficit and doing the exact amount of exercise. Luckily the average is decreasing.
This time was no exception: up 1 pound last week but down 5 lbs this week.0 -
Ate like crap over the holidays, now I feel like crap. Up another 10 lbs back to 325.0 Oh well, past is past. Good strong leg day today, followed by strict caloric intake monitoring. Thankfully, I went grocery shopping yesterday and was able to stock the fridge at home and at work with good healthy foods. Still ended the year 50 net pounds lighter than I started 2013, so I'll call it a win, but I need to hold myself responsible for my diet the whole year round. I definitely slipped in December, but even back up at 325, I didn't go up any clothing sizes, so Yay?0
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Still ended the year 50 net pounds lighter than I started 2013, so I'll call it a win
It's definitely a win! Just be proud of it, be consistent and do not let the ups and downs hinder your resolution.0 -
I've started a 14 days long diet break, following Lyle McDonald directions. Eating at maintenance is a big change, it almost translates to a 1000 calories increase per day: tonight for the first time in a long time I felt full and had to stop eating :-)
We'll see how it goes and if it helps with strenght training.0 -
Alright I am back. Took a holiday break and it cost me 20lbs. It was amazing how different I feel after taking a break and eating like crap. Felt HORRIBLE. But I am back at it and lost 6.3lbs my first week. Been doing a ton of cardio and even started a weight lifting routine with a buddy of mine. A week and a half back from my break and I already feel a lot better then when I wasn't eating well. Can't wait to get back to my pre break weight and hopefully push through the plateau I was on before it. I even set a new weekly goals chart that puts me at 250 by mid May0
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Welcome back Ryan!
It's possibile that those 20 lbs are not a true gain, but partly water and glycogen as probably, before the break, your glycogen stores were depleted. If that's the case you will loose weight quickly. Also this break probably regulated your hormones (leptin, ghrelin, ...), especially if you ate a lot of carbs, and it will be easier now to break through the plateau.
By the way, the new picture is good
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Im just a knuckle dragging corectional officer, not sure what all those big fancy words are but i sure hope it comes off quickly. I do know that after a week and a half of getting back to clean eating i feel a heck of a lot better and not so bloated. Maybe ill take your route and do a smaller break every couple months. Ill make sure to update again on Saturday when i do my official weight in. Oh and my wife made fun of me for taking a "selfie" but I needed an updated picture.0
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Good to see I wasn't alone in the holiday overindulgence. And I agree, eating clean has made a WORLD of difference in my mood, my sleep, everything. I'm back down 10 of those 20 lbs I gained, and even though I ate crappy over the break, it feels like I'm back on a good weight loss track, and hopefully, I'll finally bust through the 300 mark by my birthday in March. New exercise regimen, renewed diet with updated goals, and new, better fitting clothes. Off to a good start this year.
Let's keep it up!0 -
Im just a knuckle dragging corectional officer, not sure what all those big fancy words are but i sure hope it comes off quickly.
Sorry if I did not explain myself: fact is I have been reading a lot about nutrition since I joined MFP.
In a nutshell glycogen is where and how our body stores the energy that comes from food - sugars to be precise. Glycogen is stored in muscles and liver and is the source of energy most often used for exercise. The fact is that with glycogen water is stored, a lot of it.
When you go on a diet and, as a consequence, you lower your carb intake, your body is not able to replenish the glycogen that your body uses, so your glycogen stores gets depleted and your body starts burning your fat for energy. With your glycogen the water that is bound to it gets used too: that is the reason why during the first week of a low carb/low cal diet you loose A LOT of weight, more than what you loose in the following weeks. It's not just fat, it's "water weight". This glycogen + water adds up to 5 lbs but can be even more in big men like us.
Unfortunately the reverse is also true: when you fall off the diet wagon and overindulge (so you eat a lot of carbs), your glycogen stores are immediately replenished, together with the water. So you can gain 5 lbs (even more for us) in a single day, but it's not a real fat gain, is "water weight" and it will come off quickly once the glycogen stores gets depleted again.
Leptin is an hormone that plays a major role in regulating our metabolism: when we diet it decreases and a chain of events cause our metabolism to slow down. If we could keep high levels of leptin during a diet we could limit this ill effect, unfortunately there are no leptin pills (it has to be injected and it's way too expensive to be commercially available), but studies have shown that a 10 to 15 days diet break with reasonably high carb intake and caloric intake at maintenence raises leptin for a while, so when we start to cut again our metabolism is a bit better than before and we should get better results.0 -
Thanks for the info, great read!0
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Joined my company's Biggest Loser competition to keep myself honest and motivated during these last 3 months of winter, and I had my first weigh in today, Lost 11 lbs from last week's weigh in. Feels good. Ate clean, got to the gym every day, tracked everything I ate and drank. How's everyone else doing so far this year?0
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Way to go captain, congratulations for this great result!
Personally I don't have updates to report at the moment: I have a nasty stomach flu, can't eat properly and I am severely dehydrated so I skipped last week's weigh in because it wouldn't have been accurate. I'll check back on monday.0 -
I skipped last week weigh in too because I was still recovering. This morning I was down 3 and 1/2 pounds, so that's good.
On the other hand I'm struggling with my weight training sessions: I increased the weight of all the major lifts during my diet break and now it's really hard to keep up. I guess it's true that it's hard to gain strenght (or even maintain it) during a severe caloric deficit :-)0 -
Just remember to keep your protein high during heavy training sessions. You can still make progressive strength gains while eating at a deficit. Keep up the good work!0
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Yes, I am keeping high protein intake but strenght progress is really, really slow nonetheless... so I upped my daily caloric intake by 200 cals and still managed to loose 2,8 lbs this week.0
