Okay seriously...what?!?

BrandNewLaura

So, Friday I went over my calories by about 400...first time this week I went over...and the days that I didn't go over this week, I usually had a few calories left ofter that when added together would cover that 400...yesterday I spent most of my morning in the sun walking around...and I stayed within my calories...this morning I weighed in like I do every Sunday and the scale is showing a SIX POUND GAIN! Now I know the scale is not everything, and when I took my measurements some of them went down, so this week has not been a total loss...but it's frustrating.

My mom tried to make me feel better and said that since I was so sunburnt from being in the sun yesterday that maybe my body is retaining water hard core. Is there any truth to this?

She also thinks that I am overestimating my exercise calories, but since I have a Heart Rate Monitor, I think it's pretty accurate and my exercise calories are pretty true to life. For instance, yesterday I wore my HRM while I was walking around the Corn Festival in town. We of course were walking at a browsing pace and stopping to look at some things. My heart rate was not in the target zone for most of the day, but I spent almost 5 hours in non-stop motion. The HRM said that I had burnt 1267 calories but the time I got home. Not wanting to sabotage myself but eating all of those extra calories, I figured out how many calories I would have burnt at rest for those 5 hours and subtracted them to make sure I wasn't overestimating how many calories I actually burnt.

So is my tomato red skin causing water weight that is distorting the number on the scale...is my heart rate monitor defective? Or did I somehow really gain six pounds this week?

BrandNewLaura

So, Friday I went over my calories by about 400...first time this week I went over...and the days that I didn't go over this week, I usually had a few calories left ofter that when added together would cover that 400...yesterday I spent most of my morning in the sun walking around...and I stayed within my calories...this morning I weighed in like I do every Sunday and the scale is showing a SIX POUND GAIN! Now I know the scale is not everything, and when I took my measurements some of them went down, so this week has not been a total loss...but it's frustrating.

My mom tried to make me feel better and said that since I was so sunburnt from being in the sun yesterday that maybe my body is retaining water hard core. Is there any truth to this?

She also thinks that I am overestimating my exercise calories, but since I have a Heart Rate Monitor, I think it's pretty accurate and my exercise calories are pretty true to life. For instance, yesterday I wore my HRM while I was walking around the Corn Festival in town. We of course were walking at a browsing pace and stopping to look at some things. My heart rate was not in the target zone for most of the day, but I spent almost 5 hours in non-stop motion. The HRM said that I had burnt 1267 calories but the time I got home. Not wanting to sabotage myself but eating all of those extra calories, I figured out how many calories I would have burnt at rest for those 5 hours and subtracted them to make sure I wasn't overestimating how many calories I actually burnt.

So is my tomato red skin causing water weight that is distorting the number on the scale...is my heart rate monitor defective? Or did I somehow really gain six pounds this week?

lotusfromthemud

most likely this is mostly water weight. (fair food is packed with sodium, and your body would retain water and be puffy if you're sunburnt)

But, you may also be over-estimating your exercise calories.

Here's how:

You burn calories just doing nothing (your bmr calories). So, in an hour of sitting on the sofa, you'll burn calories. (let's pick a random number and say that that's 50 calories an hour). Those are the calories you'd burn just sitting there.

Now, let's say you walk for an hour and burn 200 calories. You have to deduct your "sitting on the sofa calories" from that 200, so you burned an additional 150 calories. You can eat 150 calories of that back, but if you eat all 200, you just overate by 50 calories. Not much, but that adds up, especially in a long work-out day.

I made this mistake for a while. It's tricky math-wise.

Best advice: wear your hrm while doing nothing (watching TV is perfect) and see how many calories you burn in an hour of inactivity. Then, whenever you log exercise, deduct that amount from your total.

Sorry if this is bad news, and drink lots of water for your poor sunburn. Ouch.:flowerforyou:

songbyrdsweet

Don't forget that food doesn't just have calories...it has *weight*. A 16 oz glass of water = 1 lb. An 8 oz steak = 1/2 lb. It's in there, so it's going to add weight. Unless you've totally eliminated everything from your digestive tract, there's going to be stuff in there, and if you've eaten a large amount of heavy food, it's going to have an impact.Burns can cause water retention as well, but unless you're blistering severely it's probably not going to account for a 6lb gain.

Rebecca1234

"Severe sunburn may lead to water retention and blistering."
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-causes-water-retention.htm

I have no idea how credible the site is, and I don't see it written anywhere else though.

I do know when you're about to have your monthly visitor, you retain water. Maybe that could have something to do with it?

ChubbyBunny

I would totally be looking at water weight.
Not just cause of the sunburn but if you had fair food there is lots of sodium there.

Song, is right. You gotta remember that after the nutrients come out of the food...there still is waste in your body. Which can take some time to come out.

Nana27

You could also be building muscle and as we all know muscle weighs more. When we weigh next week, you will likely find you have lost a bit. Chin up and remember, you don't lose anything worrying!! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Linda

PedalHound

I know that for ME, it takes very little extra sodium to get me holding water. I'm talking having over 1500mg a day and that's already way below the minimum. PLUS, even though what Viv said about exercise and resting calories is true, to gain 6 ACTUAL pounds you would have to have eaten 21000 EXTRA calories BEYOND your maintenance cals!!! That's a lot of over-estimating. Be aware also that if you're getting more regular exercise, walking around isn't the same as it once would have been. I began only counting really purposeful work outs. You'll get it figured out - just watch your sodium and drink a lot of water for the next couple of days!

iluvsparkles

i just wanted to reiterate what viv said, as i think it is an important point that took me a while to understand.

I also wear an hrm, and it takes a while to get into the habit of deducting your 'sitting there' calories from what your HRM reads.


i have to admit i was disappointed that after an hours of pilates, and deducting my BMR calories, that pilates doesn't burn as much as it feels like

zoepane

Sadly but true Laura, you most likely are retaining water, drink as much water as you can stand today and tomorrow, and you should be able to flush it out:happy:
And lots of Aloe on the sun burn :drinker: Zoe

shorerider

This is just me--but I would not count calories from "just walking" around or house cleaning or anything like that. I count only my exercise calories I burn from exercising--where I get my HR up and keep it there for a bit. I think it's just too confusing and risky to try to count calories burned doing semi-normal things.

Just me...

lotusfromthemud

This is just me--but I would not count calories from "just walking" around or house cleaning or anything like that. I count only my exercise calories I burn from exercising--where I get my HR up and keep it there for a bit. I think it's just too confusing and risky to try to count calories burned doing semi-normal things.

Just me...

my rule is if it's "normal" daily activity, it's activity, not exercise. Because I hate cleaning, and do it rarely and at top speed, I count it as exercise. But like washing dishes, etc. . I don't.

When I first started, I "bought" calories constantly, (5 minute walk to the store, etc. . .all logged as "exercise") and this is cheating the plan, not working it. And it still sucks to deduct those BMR calories from your workout. I really hate that.:sad: But, I'm re-pledging to do that. (I'm stuck on a dreaded plateau at the moment. . .what I hope to be the last one).

BrandNewLaura

I don't count my normal daily activities as exercise. I only log and count (and subsequently eat) those calories that come from deliberate exercise. That's why I am so baffled as to how I could have possibly gained 6 pounds this week. I only counted yesterday's walk as exercise because it's definitely not normal daily activity for me to be in near constant motion for 5 hours straight. And I did subtract the calories that I would have burnt just sitting around for those five hours...But yesterday was a one time thing anyway...I don't usually wear my heart rate monitor when I am doing cleaning or anything routine like that because I realize that my body is used to doing those every day things...I am hoping that I am just retaining water and hopefully next week's weigh in will be better...

lotusfromthemud

I find that when I eat junk food, it um. . .(how to put this politely) "stays with me". Remember, all the food you eat sticks there for a period of time.

I seem to remember there was fair food in one of your posts.

It's amazing how much our bodies fluctuate due to hormones, water, food, sodium, exercise, stress, etc. I can gain as much as 10 lbs in my TOM, if I'm coupling it with bad eating and not enough water.

It sounds like over all, you're doing great. Don't get discouraged!:flowerforyou:

BrandNewLaura

I went to the fair and ended up having the cheesesteak sub...I had some oatmeal for breakfast to keep me from bingeing at the fair...and then was going to have a chicken salad sandwich for lunch at the fair...couldn't find that booth though so I ended up having the heesesteak...without fries, ice cream, soda and smoothies that I was tempted by...overall I did pretty well even though what I chose was pretty high calorie...

Thanks for the encouragement though...I am just chalking last week up to water retention and maybe some other factors (I have started weight training on my arms so I'm sure I've gained some muscle, probably too much sodium, and the first part of last week was my TOM)...

I am definitely tempted to get on the scale every day until I see that those 6 pounds are gone...but I am going to challenge myself not to get on the scale until next Sunday which is the normal weigh in day...we'll see though lol...