Sudden Weight Loss when lessening exercise? Huh?

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moylie
moylie Posts: 195
in Health and Weight Loss
I know you all will say this is a good problem to have, but I'm just trying to figure out WHY it's happening. A bit of history: spent most of summer working out (bootcamp/gym) & running 6 days a week in prep for my first half-marathon, which was Oct. 9th. Only would average .5-1 lb./week loss, and plateaued A LOT. After that HUGE accomplishment, I vowed to take a whole week off w/ NO exercise. Was ready to start again, then got sick, so one week off turned into almost two weeks off. I lost two pounds in the first week off. Now I'm back to only working out 1-2 times, with 1-2 times running. Weighed myself today, and lost almost FOUR pounds since weigh-in last week. I've maintained my 1500 calories/day, and always go over on calories on the weekends. Still drink a lot of water, but really have been paying closer attention to sodium, and keeping that under 2,000/day. Just wondering why the sudden loss, when I've never had big numbers like that, AND I'm even getting closer to goal weight. Thoughts?

Replies

  • lenwie
    lenwie Posts: 240
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    bump

    id be interested in the responces to this too. :smile:
  • Lisa1971
    Lisa1971 Posts: 3,069 Member
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    The same thing happened to me! I was burning 500 calories a day, eating 1100 calories and only netting 600 a day. I backed off exercise and now the pounds are just falling off! YAY! I think it happens because your body isn't in starvation mode and then it can get rid of the weight without hanging on to every last calorie.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    are we talking 1500 net or gross? Maybe you just weren't eating enough before, this is why it's set up that you should eat back most of your exercise calories, because it works.
  • moylie
    moylie Posts: 195
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    are we talking 1500 net or gross? Maybe you just weren't eating enough before, this is why it's set up that you should eat back most of your exercise calories, because it works.

    1500 NET, plus I always eat my exercise calories back (one of the pluses of exercising!)
  • Lauren5280
    Lauren5280 Posts: 67 Member
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    Same thing happened to me. I was out of commission for about a week and I lost 3lbs that week. The only thing I can think of is that I wasn't consuming enough calories with the workouts I was doing. I've scaled back the workouts and increasing my calories. I hope things level off!
  • Seajolly
    Seajolly Posts: 1,435 Member
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    I am curious to find out the answer too. I had a similar thing happen when I stopped working out so much.
  • MissyGorman2012
    MissyGorman2012 Posts: 52
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    Part of repairing muscle involves retaining water in the muscle. So when you don't exercise and use those muscles, the body doesn't need to retain the water. It's hard to do but it's important to not focus on the scale when exercising because the number can be misleading. Focus on inches.
  • H_Factor
    H_Factor Posts: 1,722 Member
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    your body needs time to rest and recover. if you're working out 6 days a week, your body doesn't really have a chance to recover. your time off was much appreciated by your body so it could play catch up on recovery.

    I think folks believe that more exercise = better results. that's not usually the case. you can overtrain and its counter productive to weight loss (not to mention that you're more likely to get injured).
  • nursinggirl64
    nursinggirl64 Posts: 49
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    Wow same things happening 2 me!!...I'm only losing a pound or 2 n my friends aren't exercising n losing 6 n 7 lbs a week n I'm exercising like a dog 5 to 6 days a week n eating 1200 cal I'm upping my calories up to 1400 this week cuz I'm sure I'm jus not eating enough we will c how it goes next week....good luck
  • H_Factor
    H_Factor Posts: 1,722 Member
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    Wow same things happening 2 me!!...I'm only losing a pound or 2 n my friends aren't exercising n losing 6 n 7 lbs a week n I'm exercising like a dog 5 to 6 days a week n eating 1200 cal I'm upping my calories up to 1400 this week cuz I'm sure I'm jus not eating enough we will c how it goes next week....good luck

    I'm curious what your friends are doing to lose 6 or 7 pounds a week. that doesn't seem sustainable. if you're losing 1-2 pounds a week then you are doing fine.
  • LosingTheWeight2014
    LosingTheWeight2014 Posts: 173
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    I've had this happen to me too and my trainer and nutrionist both told me that it could be that when you are exercising your muscles, they are retaining water to help heal the little tears that occur whenever we exercise. So when you rest for a few days or weeks, your body doesn't need the extra water to heal the muscles because you aren't exercising them anymore or as much and it releases the water.
  • who922
    who922 Posts: 26 Member
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    I plateaued bad!! I upped my calories by almost a 1000 for a few days!!! I lost 4 pounds that week and got off the plateau. I just wasn't eating enough to cover my exercise because I was training for a triathlon. It was amazingly weird!!
  • moylie
    moylie Posts: 195
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    your body needs time to rest and recover. if you're working out 6 days a week, your body doesn't really have a chance to recover. your time off was much appreciated by your body so it could play catch up on recovery.

    I think folks believe that more exercise = better results. that's not usually the case. you can overtrain and its counter productive to weight loss (not to mention that you're more likely to get injured).

    I definitely realized 6 days was WAY too much for me. I'm quite content at 3-4 days now that my race season is over, and maybe 3-5 during running season. I'm just worried that decreasing my workouts will equal less muscle building, i.e. less fat loss. My measurements keep going down consistently, and I place way more stock in that, than what the scale says.
  • lupa01
    lupa01 Posts: 162 Member
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    your body needs time to rest and recover. if you're working out 6 days a week, your body doesn't really have a chance to recover. your time off was much appreciated by your body so it could play catch up on recovery.

    I think folks believe that more exercise = better results. that's not usually the case. you can overtrain and its counter productive to weight loss (not to mention that you're more likely to get injured).

    Great answer!! I have also heard, from somewhere, that your body needs time to register all the work you've done from working out. So, if you work out this week, it may take a week or two to see results on the scale. I'm only weighing myself the same time every month because I figure it will all even out by then. I think there are too many fluctuations with our (women's)bodies so the scale can be very misleading. I also prefer to rely on inches, they don't lie.
  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
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    That's interesting, but why would it take 2 weeks to see the results of say exercising every day for one week..if only usually did it 2-3 times a week?
  • madisonsteelex
    madisonsteelex Posts: 295
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    I always lose weight on the weekend because I always have a lot of trouble eating back my exercise calories, and on saturdays I don't workout and usually go way over and I guess by body then realizes it's not starving and lets go of the weight it was holding all week
  • missjelika
    missjelika Posts: 115 Member
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    Yup. same thing happened to me when I took a week off. I think our bodies get used to the same routine and you need to shock it once in a while. some here suggested that you take a week off every 6-8 weeks. by week off I don't mean eat all you want, just rest on the intense exercise but keep on track with calories and nutrients.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Yes, I've had a cold this week so I haven't been exercising. I've lost 1.5 lbs (my usually rate is about 1 lb per month now) but I've gained .5 inch on my waist. *sigh* I remember a time when that would have been on my bum and I wouldn't have minded so much. Getting old SUCKS!

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