Why the scale lies to us

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  • newhabit
    newhabit Posts: 426 Member
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    ok so why is it that "cheat days" where someone might have 1400 calories one day and 2600 the next seem to result in weight loss in the long term? does that person actually store fat because they had one low day and then a high day. why does "zig zagging" work?

    there's a lot of variables in this, how often a person is doing this, how long they are staying at the different levels, what their body composition currently is, what types and length of exercise they are doing, how old they are, whether they are in malnutrition or not, whether they are completely filling out their glycogen stores during the re-feeding phase...etc.

    Generally zig-zagging does NOT involve calorie surpluses, it involves larger and smaller calorie deficits at very specific timing in order to take advantage of the time it takes to complete glycogen depletion in a 72 hour period. these are advanced techniques that require patience, knowledge and trial and error, usually they are difficult to do correctly and only work for a relatively short period of time (although I know a few people that do it all the time, but it takes a lot of dedication and monitoring to do right).

    so if someone had a week of staying around 300 below TDEE but just had one high day and one low day, would this tend to make them store more fat or not? for example, my tdee is 1900. usually i eat around 1600 most days. one day i went as high as 2400 and then another day 1200. would this mean more fat stored because of the high day?
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    so if someone had a week of staying around 300 below TDEE but just had one high day and one low day, would this tend to make them store more fat or not? for example, my tdee is 1900. usually i eat around 1600 most days. one day i went as high as 2400 and then another day 1200. would this mean more fat stored because of the high day?

    Assuming all the numbers are accurate, on the day you ate 2400, you would store some fat, more than you would if you ate the same way but less total calories. One day isolated at 1200 probably wouldn't have any effect one way or another since you would have glycogen stores to be able to replenish that much. Keep in mind that I'm talking in generics here, it would truly depend on your body, everyone is a little different in their metabolism, which is why I stress trying things and constantly tweaking until you are satisfied.
  • buzzcogs
    buzzcogs Posts: 296 Member
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    Best explanation I've seen so far!
  • GanjaBall
    GanjaBall Posts: 31 Member
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    Thanks! This really helped me out!!
  • degasvegas
    degasvegas Posts: 2
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    Bump
  • DouMc
    DouMc Posts: 1,689 Member
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    Thanks. I really needed to read this!
  • marvybells
    marvybells Posts: 1,984 Member
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    Last week I had a freak out when the scale went up a pound and a half...the next day it was down 4 lbs and i decided to hell with scales. I'm going off of how i look & feel and will take measurements instead
  • kerriotto
    kerriotto Posts: 93
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    Very timely advice for me. Thank you for posting!
  • lucylou9701
    lucylou9701 Posts: 194
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    Bump
  • lorcart
    lorcart Posts: 406 Member
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    While none of this is NEW information to me, you have no idea how much I needed to read this and be reminded right now. Your timing was perfect! Thank you!!!
  • dharmony1
    dharmony1 Posts: 7 Member
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    While counting calories and getting good exercise is important, eliminating as much processed food (and thereby eliminating sodium, excess carbohydrates and fat) and replacing it with fresh food is critical. Get rid of the canned vegetables and "instant" foods and replace them with fresh(or frozen) vegetables and food you make yourself - not something from a can or a box. This will help to even out some of those swings on the scales - or at least it has for me.
  • makemyselfpr0ud
    makemyselfpr0ud Posts: 84
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    Bump
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    While counting calories and getting good exercise is important, eliminating as much processed food (and thereby eliminating sodium, excess carbohydrates and fat) and replacing it with fresh food is critical. Get rid of the canned vegetables and "instant" foods and replace them with fresh(or frozen) vegetables and food you make yourself - not something from a can or a box. This will help to even out some of those swings on the scales - or at least it has for me.

    I'm with you. to a point. I don't feel that a person needs to completely eliminate processed foods, but yes, minimizing processed foods and choosing food sources that are the least processed as possible is always a smart idea. Not only just for sodium, also because fiber, micro-nutrients, and phyto-chemicals are lost during processing as well.
  • AestheticStar
    AestheticStar Posts: 447 Member
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    A friend sent me the link to this post because I got up today, & the scale said I gained two pounds. But now after reading this, I see why. I did eat something a little high in sodium, so I assume it's water weight. This was a great informative post! Thank you. I see the changes in my body already, so I'm going to ignore the scale. As long as I see & feel the changes, that's important.

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