A Week off the Wagon with devastating results

ipiddock

So, I just thought I'd share this with the group because i think it's interesting. I'm quite a mathematical guy and very carefully count the calories and the exercise etc. I must admit based on my daily calorie goal, etc, the maths have never quite added up and I've lost weight at a far greater speed than I calculated or the system predicted, I went along with it though and was happy to see the weight drop off. In 13 weeks I dropped 35 lbs. I feel great, never go hungry, etc.

So this past week has been a very interesting and unintentional experiment. Having spent the past 13 weeks in full control of my consumption and exercise, I was in a situation where I had little control, and I did not install any discipline.

So the scenario is as follows: I weigh once a week - Monday morning. On Tuesday I fly to Amsterdam on business, staying in a hotel eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, no exercise and lot's of socialising (code for alcohol consumption). I arrive back in the UK late Thursday, work from home on Friday, then Saturday morning I was off with a mate for a weekend of Motorsport staying in his motor home. So that was all eating out again and lots of socialising - arrive home late last night.

One thing I did do while away was keep track of calories consumed. Let's just say - It was off the chart (compared to my MFP goals), but overall I think I still finished the week under what my TDEE is. So the theory was, I'd probably stay the same weight.

So I weigh in this morning and I've gained 4 lbs!!!!!!!

I guess as the maths never worked when I was loosing weight I shouldn't rely on them when trying to predict the results of a 'bad' week. But still, that's a train crash, that has now potentially put be back weeks in reaching my goals. If 3500 calories is really equal to a pound, I should have consumed near on 30,000 calories to do that sort of damage, but I netted out at 13,000 (Av 1857 per day).

So my conclusion is the following (and it won't be a surprise to many of you): When restricting calories for so long (13 weeks) and having a strict routine your metabolism slows tremendously and the body adjusts to the low intake. When you change the habits for a week the body grabs it all and clearly gets confused. I suspect when I get back to routine again it will probably drop it all off quickly. So I'm very conscious now that as I begin to reach my goal I slowly adjust my calorific intake week by week to re-educate the body and the metabolic process.

I'm posting this because I think I have learned something through practical implementation rather than theory crafting which some of us do too much of from time-to-time.

Bye for now.

Ian

Sidesteal

I have a few comments. I don't say any of this with any sort of tone but I am pretty blunt so hopefully you can take that for what it is:


1) 4lbs is not devastating, it's trivial. Yesterday afternoon I weighed in at 189. Today I weighed in at 184.5.

2) You didn't use any method to track bodyfat % so you can't know whether or not your 4lb gain was 1lb of fat and 3lbs of water, or .5lbs of fat and 3.5lbs of water, or all fat, etc. Obviously you wouldn't take DEXA scans before and after as that's not really practical, but the point still stands. I'm willing to bet a good portion of that gain was water weight, this can happen when you go from a chronic deficit to an immediate surplus or even maintenance.

In the long run, this break may do you more good than harm. You need to look at the big picture.


EDIT: I do thank you for posting this, I think there's value in it regardless.

MB_Positif

Agree with Sidesteal. First, you have to realize you were eating out a lot which means major sodium bombs. Second, as already mentioned, this is likely not fat that you've gained and it will come off just as easily as it came on. My weight has fluctuated up to 8 pounds in the same day.

Yanicka1

I predict that in the next few days your weight will come down. Sodium is killer. Also since your body is not used to that kind of food and alcohol consumption anymore, bloating will happen. When I do a rest week and eat at maintenance, even without going crazy I experience bloating.

I say continue your experiment and weight once a day for the next few days.

MinnieInMaine

Agree with both Sidesteal and mbcarreno08. I'd wager 2-3 of those pounds will be gone in a few days.

Shannota

Have to agree with the comments so far. Lots of restaurant food equals lots of sodium equals water weight gain. I have a feeling the alcohol may also cause some water weight gain, but I don't drink often enough to know that off hand. Long story short...don't freak out, just get 8-10 cups of water in for a few days and watch the sodium, and the water weight will dissappear.

LH2011

I was away for 2 weeks in July this was my first total break from MFP in over a year I ate and drink all I wanted in those two weeks and I would guess my average calorie intake was 2000-3000 per day compared to my normal 1400-1800. After two weeks I have only gain 7lbs which I felt was nothing really and I have lots 5lbs in the last two weeks since I came back.

xxnellie146xx

Eating out = lots of sodium. You're body is probably retaining a great deal of water and once you go back to your normal eating and drink lots of water, the extra lbs will come off.

TavistockToad

since when was netting 1800 cals a day eating badly!? even if it was 3 mcdonalds per day and so not nutritious, 1800 cals is not a massive amount of food, especially for a man to be eating...

willia123

What sidesteal said.

I am up 3.5 from yesterday and that was with doing 90 min of yoga, a 5k mud run, hiking for an hour and zip lining (which involved a ton of running up and down a hill). Calories were in control. For whatever reason my weight was up. No clue why. I'm not stressed. It's obviously not fat that I gained.

NoAdditives

1. It's normal for body weight to fluctuate up to 5 pounds from day to day.
2. The weight you gained is most likely water weight from the alcohol and eating out.

wendyjo3

Thanks for posting this. A similar thing has happened to me after a not so great weekend, but the comments are reassuring. Maybe keep us posted on the fluctuation over the next few days! Also, here's to the beginning of a new week ,

jamainet1

Thanks for posting this. I am feeling very similar because of a two week sabbatical, and a corresponding 6 pound gain. The comments have been insightful and very reassuring.

stormieweather

I took off 3 weeks recently, eating at or just below maintenance and went up 8 pounds. Measurements increased slightly too. I know that isn't fat, because I would have needed to eat 28,000 additional calories in order to gain that much fat, and I absolutely did not. So what it has to be is glycogen and water storage from eating additional carbs/calories. Less than a week after going back to deficit eating and working out, I'm down 6 of those eight pounds.

Even if it is fat, I needed a break and so did my body. Now, I'm back and hard at work with renewed vigor.

Most people don't gain OR lose fat that easily. It takes time and determination. So don't despair...take a controlled break regularly and you'll find you can stick to this longer and easier.

GrammyM

And let's not forget that you have eaten a lot more food than you normally do and that much of it is probably still "in process".

I agree that a periodic binge will do you good and may even rev your metabolism. Just don't do it too frequently or too often or you'll be in the unenviable position of trying to lose it all again (like me).

Definitely move your focus to % body fat and set the scale aside.

raerae514

This exact thing happened to me last week. I went home for my friend's wedding and way waayyy too busy to bother logging anything so I took a week off (but was still fairly careful). When I got back afterwards, my weight had gone up 7 POUNDS I almost lost my mind. But, knowing I obviously hadn't gained 7 lbs of fat in one week, I put myself to work at lowering my sodium and drinking lots of water. Now a week later I'm pretty much back to normal.

It's kind of scary to see the weight jump that high so quickly, but it's good to know that it isn't real

almostfortysix

I agree with the postings so far. The past two weeks we have been at camp. I can't even guess to the amout of calories I inhaled. I came home 6 lbs heavier. It's been 5 days and I'm down 4 of those lbs. Travel will always add extra water retention:( Keep up the good work and have a great day.

DebraAukett

Yes for sure! Weigh again in about 3 days time and I can guarantee you that you would have lost almost everything you gained

ipiddock

Don't get me wrong, I'm not worried. My use of the word 'devastating' I think was a little mis-leading. I also believe it is mostly water retention. The comments people have posted is very reassuring and I'll check back in on the thread next Monday with an update on weight situation. The point here I think is for people not to freak-out if this happens to them.

Sidesteal

The point here I think is for people not to freak-out if this happens to them.

This isn't what I gathered from your original post, but for what it's worth I absolutely agree with the above sentence.

lorimacc

Thanks for posting and I agree it is probably the restaurants, travel, and water weight. I understand though when you are in it and losing weight when you see the scale go up even 4 pounds it can freak you out. The great thing is you are back on the "wagon" lol

rileysowner

The point here I think is for people not to freak-out if this happens to them.

This isn't what I gathered from your original post, but for what it's worth I absolutely agree with the above sentence.

This is something most of us need to firmly entrench in our minds. I see far to many freaking out about a few pounds instead of looking at the long term picture which is the one that is much more important.

MB_Positif

The point here I think is for people not to freak-out if this happens to them.

This isn't what I gathered from your original post, but for what it's worth I absolutely agree with the above sentence.

x2

MelissaW1978

I had the same experience. I went on vacation for a week and gained 4 pounds...and I thought I was not doing terribly bad...I logged my food and exercise and on some days, I didn't seem to go over. I've been on here for 300 days now and I think that you are right...that your body is re-programmed to eat less now and it gets shocked and gains weight rapidly when you fall off the wagon. The good news is that my 4 pounds came off in about a month...I had to be extra disciplined to get it off but it did finally come off. Lesson learned...on vacation you still have to behave....you can't have a free pass to eat anything you want for a week:-)

wren337

It's not just the sodium working against you here, you were pulling in a lot of carbs (alcohol!) and your body is stashing that as glycogen. Good writeup on it here, this explains why you initially lose a burst of weight when you start dieting:

http://www.justinowings.com/understanding-bodyweight-and-glycogen-de/

The relevant part:

"Carbohydrate (stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen) is accompanied by a good bit of water. For every gram of glycogen stored, you store anywhere from 3-4 grams of water with it.

Essentially you're packed full of sugar water right now. So when you burn that glycogen back down you'll lose the sugar and excrete the water and lose that weight pretty quickly.

basschick

When I saw "devastating" I was expecting to read that you'd gained 10 lbs. I gained 5.4 lbs. in one day last week from eating too much at a birthday party. You've probably already lost some of that 4 lbs. since you posted this topic. Drink lots of water and the rest will be gone soon.

Lane1012

I'd like to know how in the world you ate out 3 times a day and had drinks and still averaged 1900 cals a day ... I can do that in one eat out meal easily ... salad heavy?

pants77

I'm willing to bet it's mostly water and poop weight.

brandi22479

I have a few comments. I don't say any of this with any sort of tone but I am pretty blunt so hopefully you can take that for what it is:


1) 4lbs is not devastating, it's trivial. Yesterday afternoon I weighed in at 189. Today I weighed in at 184.5.

2) You didn't use any method to track bodyfat % so you can't know whether or not your 4lb gain was 1lb of fat and 3lbs of water, or .5lbs of fat and 3.5lbs of water, or all fat, etc. Obviously you wouldn't take DEXA scans before and after as that's not really practical, but the point still stands. I'm willing to bet a good portion of that gain was water weight, this can happen when you go from a chronic deficit to an immediate surplus or even maintenance.

In the long run, this break may do you more good than harm. You need to look at the big picture.


EDIT: I do thank you for posting this, I think there's value in it regardless.

This! #1

brandi22479

Saturday I weighed 194.8, this morning I weighed 197. Water weight, regular bowel movements and speed of digestion affect how our weight fluxuates (sp) as well.

JPO1980

I agree with most of the above - I reckon by next week this will be gone.
I went to California for 5 days in September - ate a little more but not too bad - when I got home - I had put on 12.5lbs!
I put most of this down to water retention from the flight. 2 weeks later it had gone again...

Jayde