Can someone help me with this quandary...

calliekitten9

So a friend of mine took me out last night for an early birthday dinner. We ended up going to Cheesecake Factory and although I "considered" their skinny menu...I instead ordered a center cut pork chop and swapped out the mashed potatoes for broccoli. I ate around 2/3rd and the rest I am having for lunch today. Then we split a piece of cheesecake. Now....with all my entries I was WAY over my daily calorie limit....by about 1,000 calories. I woke up expecting to see an increase..but the scale instead stated I had lost weight. How could this be? Before I start thinking I am immune to calories (which I know I am not)...can someone help me to figure this out? My diary "should" be open.

Ready2Rock206

I've had that happen. Bodies are weird. Sometimes shaking things up gets the scale moving down. Plus I don't think any actual gains from last night would show up that fast.

Brandolin11

So a friend of mine took me out last night for an early birthday dinner. We ended up going to Cheesecake Factory and although I "considered" their skinny menu...I instead ordered a center cut pork chop and swapped out the mashed potatoes for broccoli. I ate around 2/3rd and the rest I am having for lunch today. Then we split a piece of cheesecake. Now....with all my entries I was WAY over my daily calorie limit....by about 1,000 calories. I woke up expecting to see an increase..but the scale instead stated I had lost weight. How could this be? Before I start thinking I am immune to calories (which I know I am not)...can someone help me to figure this out? My diary "should" be open.

I'm not super great with explaining the science of it, but long-term weight loss doesn't happen in perfect daily increments. It takes place over a loooong period of time and can be averaged out over time to see the steady decline. In the meantime, that scale will fluctuate more wildly than a heart monitor.

For example, I lost 66 lbs over the course of about 49 weeks. The scale was ALL over the map as I lost it - some weeks I lost .3 lbs, some weeks I lost 2.4 lbs...but when I took my final number of 66 lbs and divided it by 49 weeks, I came up with 1.34 lbs/week. I had decided I wanted to lose between 1 and 1.5 lbs a week, and I ate/exercised accordingly, so....it worked perfectly.

(Thank goodness I did not focus on the weeks I only lost .3 lbs and let myself get discouraged, right? )

You must figure out your BMR and use this to figure out how many calories your body needs each day just to maintain your current weight. There are several free websites out there which have calculators to figure it out.

You must then create a calorie deficit of 3,500 each WEEK to lose one pound. That's 500 calories a day less than what your body needs just to maintain.

So if your body needed 2,000 calories each day to maintain your current weight, then you should eat 1,500 each day to lose 1 lb a week. And remember, thats 1-lb a week AVERAGE over the duration of your weight loss from beginning to end.

So if you ate 1,000 calories over last night, then you must balance that out for the rest of your week to create that 3,500 calorie deficit properly. In other words, you'll have to eat even less each day until the end of the week to make up for your overage last night.

The good news is that If you do this, it won't matter that you went over last night. It's nothing but a numbers game.

The important thing to remember is that little daily fluctations do NOT matter. What matters is that you eat the right amount of calories over the course of the week. Most of us find it easier to eat the same amount each day instead of doing more today and less tomorrow - but it's different for different folks.

Hopefully this helps. If you have questions let me know.

TR0berts

I've had that happen. Bodies are weird. Sometimes shaking things up gets the scale moving down. Plus I don't think any actual gains from last night would show up that fast.

This is basically it. Your body needs to digest, do whatever it does with the Calories to keep your body functioning, and then store the rest as fat. It doesn't happen (literally) overnight.

Mokey41

You must figure out your BMR and use this to figure out how many calories your body needs each day just to maintain your current weight. There are several free websites out there which have calculators to figure it out.

You must then create a calorie deficit of 3,500 each WEEK to lose one pound. That's 500 calories a day less than what your body needs just to maintain.

That's all great except your BMR is the number of calories your body needs to maintain your body functions in a coma and you DO NOT deduct your deficit from it. Unless you are morbidly obese you need to be eating over your BMR. The number you take your deficit from is your TDEE which includes that fact you don't just lay on a bed and breath all day plus your intentional exercise if you want to add that.

Now for the OP's question. You won't eat 1,000 calories extra and within hours it will land on your *kitten*. First off if you're eating at a deficit for a pound a week then you are 500 calories under that TDEE maintenance number to start with so you'd have only over eaten by 500 calories from staying the same weight. Second, weight just isn't that linear. If you over eat every day it starts to pile up but if you over eat once by 500 calories even if you did gain weight from it the gain would be .2 of a lb. Really negligible.

The weight gain comes from going over .2 of a lb or more every day. You body doesn't have use for those calories so it stores them as fat for another day when you eat less that it needs to maintain. Hence, you lose weight those days.

Brandolin11

That's all great except your BMR is the number of calories your body needs to maintain your body functions in a coma and you DO NOT deduct your deficit from it. Unless you are morbidly obese you need to be eating over your BMR. The number you take your deficit from is your TDEE which includes that fact you don't just lay on a bed and breath all day plus your intentional exercise if you want to add that.

Thanks. I was trying to over simplify it for this gal so as not to confuse her so I just gave her the basics, but in the process of doing so I now realize I did forget to mention that the calculators you find online will ask you to take into account your activity/output. Thus, when I said, "you must figure out your BMR and use this to figure out how many calories your body needs each day just to maintain your current weight", I meant, "including all the parameters the calculator will ask you".

Appreciate the clarification. It's important!

calliekitten9

Thanks everyone...that was really helpful and explains a lot about why I eat a big meal and lose weight the next day but pay for it the day after that. Since it is my birthday weekend....I'm just going to let the weight fall where it will knowing that I will have to work extra hard the next few weeks to get it back down....until Thanksgiving hits.

Brandolin11

Thanks everyone...that was really helpful and explains a lot about why I eat a big meal and lose weight the next day but pay for it the day after that. Since it is my birthday weekend....I'm just going to let the weight fall where it will knowing that I will have to work extra hard the next few weeks to get it back down....until Thanksgiving hits.

You are welcome. Except...now I'm sort of thinking you might still not "get it" based on you said what you said just now.

I'd like to be a voice of reason for you - and I really want you to read my next words in a kind, encouraging tone (i.e., ABSOLUTELY no judgment) but I will be honest and "realistic" with you, k?...

If you truly want to be successful in your weight loss journey and in your long-term maintenance of your goal, then you must stop "letting things fall where they will" then "working extra hard to get it back down". This is *classic* yo-yo diet mentality and behavior. And I'm going to tell you (or maybe remind you?) that this kind of thinking and behavior NEVER works.

One problem that we chronic overeaters have, is that we live in a sort of state of denial. We want our "comfort foods" so badly, we are so used to how good they make us feel, that we have an extremely hard time being honest with ourselves about those foods and how we interact with them. We tell ourselves things like:

"I'll have just a little"
"I'll have this now and start tomorrow"
"I'll overdo it now and then just run an extra mile on the treadmill"

The problem is...this is total denial of reality. The classic phrase, "The definition of Insanity is doing the same thing over and over" applies here.

Reality says:

"If I eat a little...I'll eat a lot and then I'll regret it"
"I will actually "start over" tomorrow, but then I will end up telling myself the exact same thing by Noon - that I'll start again tomorrow - and the next thing I know I'll be three months down the line and will have never actually started"
"After I overdo it I'll feel so guilty that I'll end up skipping the gym altogether"

Until we start facing reality - we will never, EVER change.

I just want to be the one to encourage you........stop telling yourself you'll party today and "fix everything" later.

Start NOW. Start thinking NOW about how you can still enjoy your birthday and yet stay within your weight loss program.

Make a decision. A plan. Figure out how much you can eat a day, then when you're at your birthday dinner, pick food that will fit within that goal. If you must go over a bit, go over a BIT - we're talking 100-200 cals max... Start teaching yourself how to live closer to what your body needs for success.

When you are truly ready to embark upon the long journey of getting healthy, you will be willing to ban yo-yo thinking from your life - completely. You will embrace total honesty and total willingness to do WHATEVER it takes to get healthy. That would include giving up those procrastinating yo-yo behaviors that you have used for so long to sabatoge youself.

Hope that was okay - again, no judgement, just want to be a friend.