Why you gain weight if you eat more than your cut

Options
12357…11

Replies

  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
    Options
    bump
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Options
    My take on fluctuations...

    A close horse race is won by a nose, not by a tail or by being the first set of stirrups to cross the line. In my book, if my weight is trending down then my current weight is the lowest I have seen recently. I am not too concerned about why fluctuations happen (though I appreciate the explanation) but accept that they do happen. If I don't see that lowest weight go lower for an extended amount of time then I will re-evaluate. When I reach my goal, I won't go into maintenance until I get below it but I won't claim the low as my new weight because I won't be trending in that direction anymore. My point is that you really shouldn't get hung up on day to day readings if you know your burn is more than your consumption.
  • jicohen117
    jicohen117 Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    bump!
  • Arkhos
    Arkhos Posts: 290 Member
    Options
    Pretty much what someone else told me in my thread. Thanks for posting this, it makes it very clear. Since the amount your body stores varies by lean body, it helps to explain why my 13-15lb gain in a couple of days was so high. I'm sure there's a couple lbs of fat mixed in there as well.

    Aside from fluid intake and lowering sodium, is there another way to get the body to quickly release the storage weight?
  • panda1414
    panda1414 Posts: 12 Member
    Options
    Bump! Very interesting
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    Options
    Pretty much what someone else told me in my thread. Thanks for posting this, it makes it very clear. Since the amount your body stores varies by lean body, it helps to explain why my 13-15lb gain in a couple of days was so high. I'm sure there's a couple lbs of fat mixed in there as well.

    Aside from fluid intake and lowering sodium, is there another way to get the body to quickly release the storage weight?
    If you want to truly weigh yourself with most water weight dispensed of, take a day at low carb (<45g for me) and weigh the next morning after a nice long pee.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    Options
    Pretty much what someone else told me in my thread. Thanks for posting this, it makes it very clear. Since the amount your body stores varies by lean body, it helps to explain why my 13-15lb gain in a couple of days was so high. I'm sure there's a couple lbs of fat mixed in there as well.

    Aside from fluid intake and lowering sodium, is there another way to get the body to quickly release the storage weight?

    Is there a particular reason you'd want to. I mean glycogen stored in your muscles is a good thing.
  • maniesduchocolat
    maniesduchocolat Posts: 39 Member
    Options
    Aaaah. that explains a lot. thanks!
  • Arkhos
    Arkhos Posts: 290 Member
    Options
    Pretty much what someone else told me in my thread. Thanks for posting this, it makes it very clear. Since the amount your body stores varies by lean body, it helps to explain why my 13-15lb gain in a couple of days was so high. I'm sure there's a couple lbs of fat mixed in there as well.

    Aside from fluid intake and lowering sodium, is there another way to get the body to quickly release the storage weight?


    Another question to add to this... you eat your high carbs or what have you and gain the 5lbs for storage. If you continue eating at that level of sodium/carbs and are still in caloric deficit wouldn't you begin losing the weight aside from the stored? Are simple carbs and sodium a main contributor to the storage or is it simply caloric? I seem to maintain by simply eating a higher level of carbs despite the caloric deficit. As in, if I were to consume 2200 calories and 180g of carbs I don't drop weight. I consume 2200 calories and drop carbs to 100g and my weight drops week after week.

    if that makes any sense?
  • blondageh
    blondageh Posts: 923 Member
    Options
    What an awesome, logical way of explaining how I can go out of town one weekend, indulge a little here and there and come back 10lbs heavier! In the past, I kept telling myself, oh it is just water weight, but still would get bummed enough that sometimes I didn't get back on the wagon and just continued to eat terrible. Knowing this, you have made me really think about 1. Not over-indulging and 2. Don't freak out when you put on 10lbs overnight! I can't even imagine actually getting to my goal weight, but if I ever do, I will give myself a 10lb leeway until I start freaking out.

    Thank you! I am so going to share your explanation!
  • momofthreesons
    momofthreesons Posts: 162 Member
    Options
    Well that explains it! duh! Thank you for the info.. now I can stop wondering WTH? lol :-)
  • RoseTears143
    RoseTears143 Posts: 1,121 Member
    Options
    This is fantastic to read as I am still in my journey and something to keep in mind for when I get to goal and begin the transition to maintenance. :)
  • meeper123
    meeper123 Posts: 3,347 Member
    Options
    hey thanks normally I get side tracked when I read stuff like this but this was so informative I really appreciate you taking the time to post it :D I never really understood what all that meant.
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Options
    Pretty much what someone else told me in my thread. Thanks for posting this, it makes it very clear. Since the amount your body stores varies by lean body, it helps to explain why my 13-15lb gain in a couple of days was so high. I'm sure there's a couple lbs of fat mixed in there as well.

    Aside from fluid intake and lowering sodium, is there another way to get the body to quickly release the storage weight?


    Another question to add to this... you eat your high carbs or what have you and gain the 5lbs for storage. If you continue eating at that level of sodium/carbs and are still in caloric deficit wouldn't you begin losing the weight aside from the stored? Are simple carbs and sodium a main contributor to the storage or is it simply caloric? I seem to maintain by simply eating a higher level of carbs despite the caloric deficit. As in, if I were to consume 2200 calories and 180g of carbs I don't drop weight. I consume 2200 calories and drop carbs to 100g and my weight drops week after week.

    if that makes any sense?

    It does make some sense and it is a question I have had also. It's about efficiency. Don't mean to gross anyone out, but your poop is not calorie free. In other words, just because you consume 2000 calories doesn't mean you have 2000 calories gained. For purposes of discussion, lets say you absorb 90%. It probably isn't 90% of every food; some may be more, some less. So if you ate a bunch of food that you don't absorb as well the calories you need to expend to offset it would be less than if you ate the same amount of calories using a food you absorbed better as a source.

    Here is another oddball example - alcohol. The calories are a pure measure of energy that can be produced, but the way they test for drunkenness is by checking for alcohol in your expelled breath. In other words, some of the alcohol you ingest is expelled without being broken down. There is no way you can get calories from those molecules that passed through and were expelled without ever being broken down.
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member
    Options
    When I hit my goal weight, I changed my goal from lose 2lb to lose 1.5lb for a week. then lose 1lb for a week.... then .5lb for a week... then maintain.

    Any time you have sudden jumps you have to expect a gain.
  • Lysander666
    Lysander666 Posts: 275 Member
    Options
    This is a useful thread.

    My goal weight is 147 pounds, however, I have been at 2000 cals for the last week, 1800 before that and I am still losing weight. I am now at 142 pounds.

    I will jump straight to 2500 cals a day which should hopefully let me maintain.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,639 Member
    Options
    I answered someone in another topic and it was suggested to me that I give my response its own thread. It seems this is new information for a lot of people and it could potentially relieve a lot of anxiety about weight gain when increasing calories. So for anyone who thinks, "But 1700 calories IS my maintenance amount!" Or, "I must just have a really slow metabolism because when I go over 1200 I gain." ... this post is for you.

    *********************

    The reason most people think they have to eat so little to maintain their weight is because our bodies naturally store glycogen and water in our muscles. This is the body's ready energy. When you eat at a caloric deficit, the glycogen stores (and the water molecules they must bind to in the cells) are shed first. That's why you get a big loss the first week of any diet. You just depleted your glycogen stores and now the body has no choice but to resort to fat in a continued caloric deficit.

    So you keep up your deficit and your body is burning both glucose from the food you're eating and fat from your body (and some lean mass because you're in a deficit and that will just happen anyway) and you finally get to a weight you like. So you increase your calories to stop losing...

    Or, you just decide to ditch the caloric deficit for a weekend of eating without discretion...

    Or Christmas rolls around or you go on vacation and you eat to satisfaction and maybe a touch more...

    ... and you find you almost instantly put on 5 lbs.

    All that has happened is your body has restored its glycogen stores and the water that glycogen must be stored with. In fact, trained endurance athletes will deliberately store extra glycogen by carb-loading before major events in order to have more energy for sustained effort. The body will, under perfect conditions, store this energy for use. It's part of being human.

    So suppose you want to maintain your weight at 125 lbs. You diet down to 125 and then think, "Awesome! I will diligently increase my calories to maintenance." So you were eating 1700 calories/day to lose and you increase to 2000 calories daily... and after 1 week you've put on 1.5 lbs... so you cut back down to 1800 and your weight stays the same but now you're at 126.5... but you want to be 125lbs, so now you're just pissed off. So you go back down to 1500 calories for a week and you get back down to 125lbs. Then you increase by only 100 calories/day for a week and your weight stays the same... so you do it again... and you stay the same. You think, "Yay! I'm maintaining!"... And any time you eat over 1800 calories daily you start to gain again.

    Why?

    Because your body just wants 5 lbs of glycogen stores. The solution? Cut down to 5 lbs under your target weight and then eat at maintenance. Your body will rebound up to a healthy non-glycogen-depleted state and you'll be able to maintain relatively effortlessly and eat more food.

    Okay, sorry... that was long-winded. I just cringe at the number of people who think they have to eat so little to maintain.

    *************************

    So now having thought about my answer for another day or so, I do want to also say this:

    1) I have no formal education in this field.
    2) I believe how much glycogen is stored is relative to the amount of lean mass on a body. A 100lb person may store 2-3 lbs while a 250lb person could probably store up to 7-8lbs when combined with the water.
    3) If your goal weight is unreasonably low because of ED, I am not recommending you cut to 5 lbs less than that

    So with that said... feel free to discuss, rebuke, relax...

    Neat posting OP!
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Options
    bump
  • BenPolonowski
    BenPolonowski Posts: 115 Member
    Options
    Thanks for all the info.
  • djwife03
    djwife03 Posts: 333 Member
    Options
    I answered someone in another topic and it was suggested to me that I give my response its own thread. It seems this is new information for a lot of people and it could potentially relieve a lot of anxiety about weight gain when increasing calories. So for anyone who thinks, "But 1700 calories IS my maintenance amount!" Or, "I must just have a really slow metabolism because when I go over 1200 I gain." ... this post is for you.

    *********************

    The reason most people think they have to eat so little to maintain their weight is because our bodies naturally store glycogen and water in our muscles. This is the body's ready energy. When you eat at a caloric deficit, the glycogen stores (and the water molecules they must bind to in the cells) are shed first. That's why you get a big loss the first week of any diet. You just depleted your glycogen stores and now the body has no choice but to resort to fat in a continued caloric deficit.



    So you keep up your deficit and your body is burning both glucose from the food you're eating and fat from your body (and some lean mass because you're in a deficit and that will just happen anyway) and you finally get to a weight you like. So you increase your calories to stop losing...

    Or, you just decide to ditch the caloric deficit for a weekend of eating without discretion...

    Or Christmas rolls around or you go on vacation and you eat to satisfaction and maybe a touch more...

    ... and you find you almost instantly put on 5 lbs.

    All that has happened is your body has restored its glycogen stores and the water that glycogen must be stored with. In fact, trained endurance athletes will deliberately store extra glycogen by carb-loading before major events in order to have more energy for sustained effort. The body will, under perfect conditions, store this energy for use. It's part of being human.

    So suppose you want to maintain your weight at 125 lbs. You diet down to 125 and then think, "Awesome! I will diligently increase my calories to maintenance." So you were eating 1700 calories/day to lose and you increase to 2000 calories daily... and after 1 week you've put on 1.5 lbs... so you cut back down to 1800 and your weight stays the same but now you're at 126.5... but you want to be 125lbs, so now you're just pissed off. So you go back down to 1500 calories for a week and you get back down to 125lbs. Then you increase by only 100 calories/day for a week and your weight stays the same... so you do it again... and you stay the same. You think, "Yay! I'm maintaining!"... And any time you eat over 1800 calories daily you start to gain again.

    Why?

    Because your body just wants 5 lbs of glycogen stores. The solution? Cut down to 5 lbs under your target weight and then eat at maintenance. Your body will rebound up to a healthy non-glycogen-depleted state and you'll be able to maintain relatively effortlessly and eat more food.

    Okay, sorry... that was long-winded. I just cringe at the number of people who think they have to eat so little to maintain.

    *************************

    So now having thought about my answer for another day or so, I do want to also say this:

    1) I have no formal education in this field.
    2) I believe how much glycogen is stored is relative to the amount of lean mass on a body. A 100lb person may store 2-3 lbs while a 250lb person could probably store up to 7-8lbs when combined with the water.
    3) If your goal weight is unreasonably low because of ED, I am not recommending you cut to 5 lbs less than that

    So with that said... feel free to discuss, rebuke, relax...

    Ok it makes sense! Very helpful! My issue is that since I started eating healthy and tracking calories, I haven't lost anything and have actually gained! I have no idea what is going on with body! I do workout. I get into circuit training a couple months ago and I love it! But again no weight loss. My TDEE is 1886 and I have my activity set at lightly active. I am 5'11, 166lbs, but this week that went to 168!

Categories