Wrong Foods For my Body

stresco
stresco Posts: 354 Member
edited October 1 in Food and Nutrition
I learned a very valuable lesson this weekend about not only paying attention to my calories, but of what kinds of food my body likes to hold onto and not burn. I dropped 10lbs in a week eating chicken, veggies, brown rice, Chobani Yogurt, etc. keeping my calories under 1500 per day. Saturday I made some home-made chili with beef for my kids and had a 10oz serving with 3/4 cup brown rice and 1/4 cup shredded Kraft Mexican Blend cheese (Still staying under my 1500 calorie goal for the day). Sunday morning I weighed in 2.2 pounds heavier. WOW! guess I need to keep red meat and cheese completely out of my diet until after I hit my goal.

:/

Replies

  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
    That was just water weight. I wouldn't worry about it at all.
  • lizsmith1976
    lizsmith1976 Posts: 497 Member
    The beef chili may have had way more salt than the other foods you eat, causing you to retain water. Not really a weight gain then and would normalize in a day or two.

    I find similar problems with other foods, but if the food is healthy - like beans, then I will continue to eat and only weigh myself once per week rather than every day.
  • Scoobies87
    Scoobies87 Posts: 379
    If you stayed under your goal then there is no way you would have put those pounds on. You have to eat an extra 3,500 calories a week to put on one pound! It is probs just sodium (Mexican is high in sodium, I had one last night!) and bloat :) It will probably come off in a few days so I wouldn't worry! Lean meat is goooood!
  • llaurall
    llaurall Posts: 32
    Cheese (in moderation) is good for you because it's packed with protein, so I wouldn't cut it out completely!
  • I read a medical study one time that explained calorie intake. While we may have a daily calorie goal/weekly calorie goal, our bodies are also only able to process a certain amount of calories at any given time. Typically, the standard human body can only process 200-500 calories at one time, so anything in excess to that would be stored as fat. I think the amount of calories at any given time that our bodies can handle would be dependent on any indivudal's specific body type, current weight, etc.
  • stresco
    stresco Posts: 354 Member
    Thanks for the replies! One thing that was different from this recipe than all my others while i have been training is the addition of salt. I never cook with salt and for some reason, Saturday I added salt to it. Hmmmm... The plot thickens.
  • AdAstra47
    AdAstra47 Posts: 823 Member
    Well, you're correct that your body will process some kinds of foods better than others, and you should listen to your body and try to eat the things that are good for it.

    On the other hand, there's "listening" and then there's "hovering" and "micromanaging." :smile: I would recommend only weighing in once a week rather than daily, because a lot of different factors can affect your metabolism and your weight from day to day: your sodium intake, your hormonal cycle (yes, guys have them too), how recently / hard you've exercised (sore muscles will retain water), how much sleep you've gotten lately, even the humidity levels outside. So don't weigh yourself so often that you end up driving yourself crazy; and don't jump to conclusions about what caused a gain. Your body is a very complicated system, and it takes a lot of careful monitoring to establish any pattern of "x definitely causes y to happen."

    But, for what it's worth, given what you've told us, I agree with all the people who are blaming the salt content and saying it's probably water retention. That makes sense.
This discussion has been closed.