I lost weight after eating out? WTH?

M12e31g

I need some advice. I went out last night with a friend and went over my daily calorie goals, along with sodium. I stepped on the scale this morning to see the damage, and sure enough, I had lost .8 lbs! A similar thing happened a few weekends ago when I ate pizza two nights in a row and then had dessert, I lost weight! And my weight has been stubborn, I haven't lost anything the past 2 weeks, in fact I have gained, which I thought was water weight due to sodium, but it seems last night proves me wrong.

So what is it? Have I been in starvation mode and now getting enough calories is making the lbs drop ( I didn't think one day would do that), or is this sort of zig-zag just the boost my body needs?

Lyadeia

Nah, no starvation at mode. That takes months of undereating to notice.

It sounds like you inadvertently did what I do on purpose. If you look at my diary, you see that I eat 3 days around 1500 calories and then every 4th day I eat around 1800 calories with higher carbs than the other 3 days. It has greatly helped me lose weight!

I can't explain it quite as well as others can, but I learned this method from Tom Venuto who wrote the e-book "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle." He really knows his stuff and I attribute a lot of my fat loss and lean muscle gains to him.

LessMe2B

Weight from eating poorly takes 3 days to show up, so don't be shocked when (after a couple good days) the weight flucuates up a little. It will go away though, so don't fret too much.

bella8282

weight gain from a meal does not happen overnight! Your body has not processed the food yet.....
this is why professionals ( dr. and dieticians) reccomend weighing once a week.

In saying this, it does not mean you will have gained in 3 days time, and you will not have been in starvation mode as they call it unless you have been restricting to a very low calorie ( like 500cal or less) over a long period of time!
I have anorexia... i know what starvation is.

mizjohnston

That may be possible. I do the same thing as you. Last Friday I went to Islands and Saturday morning went to see the damage. Same thing, lost weight. I know if during that week if I didn't eat all me exercise calories and then eat out maybe a day no more than two, then I will lose weight. Last night I didn't eat any exercise calories back at all and gained a pound. Make sure you eat your exercise calories back, it helps just try to make it mostly healthy. You're not alone.

SenorToenails

Weight from eating poorly takes 3 days to show up,

3 days? That's the first I've heard of that...

bella8282

Weight from eating poorly takes 3 days to show up,

3 days? That's the first I've heard of that...

It's true! its only an approximate. as different foods take longer to process. food does not just instantly turn to fat!! It's common sense when you really think about it.

Seajolly

Are you sure you are getting enough calories daily? You might not be. I wasn't. I only started to really lose weight once I upped my calories. Are you losing steadily? If not, it's possible your body is starving and is holding onto every calorie it can get and is not dropping any weight.

Cytherea

It might be that you aren't eating enough on a daily basis.

What I find sometimes is that when I eat over my calories, it changes things up and your body starts to lose weight again. If you are eating the same exact amount of calories every day (or close to it!), your body can get used to that and stall out. When you do something unexpected, like eat more, it shakes things up a little bit and can result in a weight loss.

TK421NotAtPost

Definitely not starvation mode, but whenever you are in a sustained caloric deficit, your metabolism will naturally slow down. As Lyadeia mentioned, cycling your calories is an effective way to induce a rebound in your metabolism. Tom V calls these days 'refeed' days. Lyle McDonald calls them planned diet breaks. They're very effective.....especially when done via planned, clean foods.

SenorToenails

Weight from eating poorly takes 3 days to show up,

3 days? That's the first I've heard of that...

It's true! its only an approximate. as different foods take longer to process. food does not just instantly turn to fat!! It's common sense when you really think about it.

It's obvious that food needs time to digest, but seriously, the food mass will be processed and expelled about 24 hours later.

My point is, the food mass is in your system the next morning--so it'll count into your weight. Then whatever is stored as fat comes from the food itself...so there is a 'gain' that is immediate (as the food mass is in you), but not permanent (since you'll 'eject' some of it), and then if you ate too much, some will be converted to fat over that time. I hope that makes sense to some degree...

The fat production is not immediate (this is obvious, biochemistry takes time), but you WILL weigh more after eating. So basically, I'd say this is a nitpick since I'd bet we are talking about two somewhat different things.