Can't figure out the logic of this

weeblex
weeblex Posts: 412 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I started into my weight loss by increasing my exercise and reducing my calorific intake and lost some weight. This was expected.

Then I hurt my knee so I stopped cycling and continued losing weight. Knee better cycling no weight loss.

Then I realised I drunk to much wine. I cut it down, cut it out, no more weight loss, had a heavy drink weekend. Weightloss.

Back on the wagon exercising and eating better, steady weight.

Went away for the weekend and ate poorly, back and had weight loss.

All I can conclude is drinking and eating poorly aides weightloss and exercise is irrelevant. :)

This week I don't have a chance to cycle to work so I'm going to be super super careful on calorie logging and see what is happening.

Is anyone else struggling with a pattern to their weight loss?

(On the upside my wife does like the new improved rear view from the cycling, so its not all bad :)

Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Losing weight is about calorie deficit

    Exercise helps tone and build muscle but can also mean your body stores more water weight as micro-tears repair

    Alcohol is a diuretic
  • Elle1250
    Elle1250 Posts: 9 Member
    I've noticed the same thing. When I stay at 1,200 a day nothing happens. When I say "Heck with it" and have a day of Coke, cheeseburgers and fries - Bam. The next day I'm down 3 pounds. I just figured that maybe weight loss doesn't show immediately, but has a delayed effect? I don't know. I only know that 95% of the time I prefer to eat healthy, no matter what the scale says. So that's what I'm sticking to!
  • kessler4130
    kessler4130 Posts: 150 Member
    Weight loss is not linear, and your metabolism makes adjustments constantly based on your caloric intake, that is why people who are cutting weight have refeed days, you see similar issues when you phase from cutting to bulking. You will see an almost instant increase in body fat which seems to taper off as your body adjusts accordingly to your caloric intake. Nothing about your body is constant, except its basic need to keep you alive. Chances are, you are having these high carb days from wine or whatever you consume, your body sees the increased carb intake and picks up the pace a little, leading to weight loss. When cutting I have a refeed day once a week and have never had any issue with cutting weight.
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member
    Y'live like a monk and eat like a mouse for weeks on end ... losing nicely then you have ONE, just ONE slice of pie and it's back to the start....... Dieting is like a game of snakes and ladders, Welcome to my world :-p

    But in reality, kessler4130 has the right of it, me thinks.
  • TiberiusClaudis
    TiberiusClaudis Posts: 423 Member
    Weight loss is not linear, and your metabolism makes adjustments constantly based on your caloric intake, that is why people who are cutting weight have refeed days, you see similar issues when you phase from cutting to bulking. You will see an almost instant increase in body fat which seems to taper off as your body adjusts accordingly to your caloric intake. Nothing about your body is constant, except its basic need to keep you alive. Chances are, you are having these high carb days from wine or whatever you consume, your body sees the increased carb intake and picks up the pace a little, leading to weight loss. When cutting I have a refeed day once a week and have never had any issue with cutting weight.

    x2
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    bump
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    On the upside my wife does like the new improved rear view from the cycling, so its not all bad
    :laugh:

    "Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.
    However, evidence shows the only way to maintain weight loss is to be engaged in regular physical activity."
    http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html
  • Missjulesdid
    Missjulesdid Posts: 1,444 Member
    Even when I stick to the exact same calories and routine for months on end, I'll have multiple weeks in a row where I lose nothing and then I'll have times when I lose 5 pounds over 3 days. Often times when you see a "big change" after eating junk food or whatever, you would have had that change anyway. It's just coincidence.
  • playful1510
    playful1510 Posts: 21 Member
    Weight loss is not linear, and your metabolism makes adjustments constantly based on your caloric intake, that is why people who are cutting weight have refeed days, you see similar issues when you phase from cutting to bulking. You will see an almost instant increase in body fat which seems to taper off as your body adjusts accordingly to your caloric intake. Nothing about your body is constant, except its basic need to keep you alive. Chances are, you are having these high carb days from wine or whatever you consume, your body sees the increased carb intake and picks up the pace a little, leading to weight loss. When cutting I have a refeed day once a week and have never had any issue with cutting weight.

    Refeed day? Never heard of it o_o
    Please elaborate :)
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
    On the upside my wife does like the new improved rear view from the cycling, so its not all bad
    :laugh:

    "ALL weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.

    FIFY
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,756 Member
    I have noticed that trend occasionally. Expecting to have gained weight after a 5 day poker weekend with the boys, and actually lost weight after eating a lot of junk food, drinking alcohol etc...

    Reality is these short periods of really good, or really bad days do not tend to affect our body weight as much as steady, consistent, eating and exercise habits.

    I definitely gain weight after extreme cardio sessions though, and then lose it all a day or two later though...so do not blame exercise......exercise is super important for well-being and does aid in weight loss. It just doesn't take the weight off the instant you do it, body needs time to adjust to the shock and heal,recover and build accordingly.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
    Weight loss is not linear, and your metabolism makes adjustments constantly based on your caloric intake, that is why people who are cutting weight have refeed days, you see similar issues when you phase from cutting to bulking. You will see an almost instant increase in body fat which seems to taper off as your body adjusts accordingly to your caloric intake. Nothing about your body is constant, except its basic need to keep you alive. Chances are, you are having these high carb days from wine or whatever you consume, your body sees the increased carb intake and picks up the pace a little, leading to weight loss. When cutting I have a refeed day once a week and have never had any issue with cutting weight.

    Refeed day? Never heard of it o_o
    Please elaborate :)

    A Re-feed day is a day where you go about 0.8g of protein per body-weight 25% fat and the rest carbs and eat at your maintenance level of calories. It helps to alleviate some of the metabolic blocks that stop you from losing weight. Honestly it's not really necessary if your bodyweight is quite high. Because those metabolic blocks will give in under sustained effort. But it's the kind of things people have to think about if they want to get to really low body fat%. Because once you get below 15% body fat your body REALLY doesn't want to lose any more. I know I am gonna be there eventually because unless I am REALLY lucky I will have loose skin that needs tightening.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    I've eaten within a relatively narrow caloric range for about three and a half months now. Some days I gain three pounds. Some days I lose three pounds. Some days I don't gain or lose anything. IMO, trying to pin those occurrences on any particular cheeseburger day, or whatever, is the human mind's tendency to find patterns even where patterns don't exist. With the exception of sodium -- if I eat a crapton of salt I can almost be assured of a temporary water gain the next day or two -- there has been no clear relation between what I eat and what I weigh the next day... and, believe me, I have numerous spreadsheets trying to find that relation.

    I eat at a caloric deficit and my weight goes down. It does so in a jittery pattern, but it does go down.
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member
    I... and, believe me, I have numerous spreadsheets trying to find that relation.

    I eat at a caloric deficit and my weight goes down. It does so in a jittery pattern, but it does go down.

    Yeap - way too many variables .. Only Trends matter.
  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
    Exactly how it works. I refer to it as a "calorie dump" but I'm sure there's an actual term for it. It's like my body says, "Hey you've been staying steady so we've been staying steady too. And then you went off the routine and got right back to it. That reminds up...oh yeah, we didn't need to hold onto those calories anymore. Here ya go."

    I can stay almost precisely at my goal, even meeting my macro goals damned close to exactly right, for three or four weeks and nothing much happens. I might go up and down the same two pounds a few times, but no significant gain or loss. Then I'll have a week where I'm slightly over my goal every day or where I go significantly over goal for one day. The next week after that, I'll see a three pound loss all at once.

    Basically my trend has looked like this:
    same, same, same, up one, down one, same, same, same, up one, down one, same, down three, same up one, same, same, same, up one, down one, same, same, down three, up one, same, same...
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    Even when I stick to the exact same calories and routine for months on end, I'll have multiple weeks in a row where I lose nothing and then I'll have times when I lose 5 pounds over 3 days. Often times when you see a "big change" after eating junk food or whatever, you would have had that change anyway. It's just coincidence.

    I don't think it is necessarily coincidence. Weight loss is not a linear predictable process, changing your eating/exercise routine can affect it in unpredictable ways. I would be willing to bet that after "sticking to the exact same calories and routine for months on end" if you were to jump the fence and be more unpredicable, your body would react positively too.

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