I lost more when I didn't work as hard?
xruss7
Posts: 9
For three months I had maintained the same weight of 165. It was a roller coaster, from 165 to 167 to 161. It really frustrated me because I wasn't losing. I started eating less and exercising more, but found that it didn't help at ALL, and I was actually sometimes gaining. I was doing at least 3 hrs of workout a day and kept my calorie count to around 1200.
Then I just gave up pushing myself like that, and ate 1500 calories (which included a lot of rice!!) and exercised only 60-70 minutes. I even skipped a few days (although not consecutively) and to my surprise, I HAD REACHED 158. This was last week.
On Sunday I had pigged the heck out, eating ribs and rice and fish tacos, but today I had weighed myself and saw a solid 157.
Why is this so? Does moderate amount of exercise really work better than vigorous amount of exercise?
Then I just gave up pushing myself like that, and ate 1500 calories (which included a lot of rice!!) and exercised only 60-70 minutes. I even skipped a few days (although not consecutively) and to my surprise, I HAD REACHED 158. This was last week.
On Sunday I had pigged the heck out, eating ribs and rice and fish tacos, but today I had weighed myself and saw a solid 157.
Why is this so? Does moderate amount of exercise really work better than vigorous amount of exercise?
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Replies
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You ate more. You obviously ate too little when you were exercising vigorously . If you eat too little you won't lose weight. Read about BMR (basal metabolic rate) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure. You should not eat below your BMR.0
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misskarihari wrote: »If you eat too little you won't lose weight.
Nope. Not true at all.
Intense exercise causes the body to retain water. Three hours of exercise per day with a 1200 calorie goal? What the...why?! Your body probably just realized you're not trying to kill it and shed some excess fluid retention.
Either way, please continue to eat more, especially if you're working out as much as you do. 60-70 minutes per day is still quite a bit.
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This very same conversation is going on in one of my other groups. The consensus is they lose more weight when they tone down the exercise. .. No one has an answer to why yet.0
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LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »misskarihari wrote: »If you eat too little you won't lose weight.
Nope. Not true at all.
Intense exercise causes the body to retain water. Three hours of exercise per day with a 1200 calorie goal? What the...why?! Your body probably just realized you're not trying to kill it and shed some excess fluid retention.
Either way, please continue to eat more, especially if you're working out as much as you do. 60-70 minutes per day is still quite a bit.
All of this0 -
christinev297 wrote: »This very same conversation is going on in one of my other groups. The consensus is they lose more weight when they tone down the exercise. .. No one has an answer to why yet.
One answer will be that the body doesn't need to retain as much water during muscle repair
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TavistockToad wrote: »christinev297 wrote: »This very same conversation is going on in one of my other groups. The consensus is they lose more weight when they tone down the exercise. .. No one has an answer to why yet.
One answer will be that the body doesn't need to retain as much water during muscle repair
Yes, exercise causes quite a bit of fluid retention. I will often lose 5-8 Lbs of fluid when I take a week or so off.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »christinev297 wrote: »This very same conversation is going on in one of my other groups. The consensus is they lose more weight when they tone down the exercise. .. No one has an answer to why yet.
One answer will be that the body doesn't need to retain as much water during muscle repair
Yes, exercise causes quite a bit of fluid retention. I will often lose 5-8 Lbs of fluid when I take a week or so off.
ahaa Thanks guys. Makes total sense.
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I take two weeks off, I drop some pounds.
I lift my bum off for two weeks, I lose some inch-age.
Which matters more to me? Which meets my goals better?
That 'tis the question.0 -
misskarihari wrote: »You ate more. You obviously ate too little when you were exercising vigorously . If you eat too little you won't lose weight. Read about BMR (basal metabolic rate) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure. You should not eat below your BMR.
Good points.
Not everyone is into or understands the science involved with long term successful.
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What some of you are saying is that if you stop exercising for a week you will lose 5 pounds of water weight?0
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What I've noticed is that eating a large meal encourages a bowel movement. This can easily account for pounds of weight loss. But eating less cannot prevent you from losing weight. The world doesn't work that way.0
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A lot of people report that they break plateaus by eating more for a short time. If it works for you, yay!
Most people find that eating less seems to help them lose and eating more helps them gain.0 -
misskarihari wrote: »You ate more. You obviously ate too little when you were exercising vigorously . If you eat too little you won't lose weight. Read about BMR (basal metabolic rate) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure. You should not eat below your BMR.
No!0 -
misskarihari wrote: »You ate more. You obviously ate too little when you were exercising vigorously . If you eat too little you won't lose weight. Read about BMR (basal metabolic rate) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure. You should not eat below your BMR.
No!
There is some truth about not eating below your BMR...but it's true that you will lose weight eventually if you under-eat.
BUT you are also stressing your body a lot by so much cardio and they have found that this will keep you from losing weight quite at the pace you'd expect. Cut back on the cardio, eat a bit more and see what happens.0 -
You were probably not eating enough. Also over-exercising results in weight gain, not loss.0
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rachellll98 wrote: »What some of you are saying is that if you stop exercising for a week you will lose 5 pounds of water weight?
It depends on how much water your body is retaining, which is determined by your diet and exercise.
Exercising too much while eating too little causes excess cortisol in your body which is a stress hormone. Our bodies are programmed to hang on to weight when it is stressed. So, for those people, eating more or exercising less can result in the weight being released.
Of course that is not general advice for *everyone*, just people who are over exercising and not fueling enough.
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If I keep hydrated it helps keep the weight loss moving sometimes. I have to drink about a gallon of water a day to do that. If I do not drop 2-3 pounds at my first trip to the bath room each morning I know in my case I am not drinking enough. I try to keep % of moisture at 48-50% on the Health O Meter scales.0
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My most recent weight drop-off was following a week with a flu where I was practically immobile. I dropped all my activity while I recovered.
Like pincushion noted, I had to decide what was more important; the numbers on the scale or overall health and energy? I picked health and energy. I figure the added activity won't hinder weight loss....in the long run.0 -
LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »misskarihari wrote: »If you eat too little you won't lose weight.
Nope. Not true at all.
While I'd agree that the assertion that is one eats too little one won't lose weight is nonsense, my own experience of undereating was illuminating. When I was undereating, for a couple of months in the middle of 2013 my background activity levels reduced significantly. Essentially my settings on here were wrong. I was opting to send an email, rather than run up a couple of flights of stairs for a conversation and similar decisions.
The effect of eating too little was driving unhelpful behaviours, rather than being a contributor itself.
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If you over exercise there is a chemical your body produces that will slow down weight loss. Idk what it is at the moment, but it does happen.
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Doesn't they type of exercise matter? Burning fat building muscle, from what I have read and think experienced you can get slimmer but gain lean muscle and weight. I know when I slowed down on my cardio I stayed around the same weight for a month or so, +-2lbs but got much stronger. My pants kept getting looser . . .0
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I would think its the cardio based on your description. Excessive cardio can cause stress which can cause fat storing. if anything, if you HAVE to work out, do weights or circuits (cardio/weight/cardio). otherwise just turn it back. 30 minutes a day is generally considered minimal for cardio, then add on as tolerated
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I would think its the cardio based on your description. Excessive cardio can cause stress which can cause fat storing. if anything, if you HAVE to work out, do weights or circuits (cardio/weight/cardio). otherwise just turn it back. 30 minutes a day is generally considered minimal for cardio, then add on as tolerated
How does stress cause fat storing?
Seriously??? look it up.
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I would think its the cardio based on your description. Excessive cardio can cause stress which can cause fat storing. if anything, if you HAVE to work out, do weights or circuits (cardio/weight/cardio). otherwise just turn it back. 30 minutes a day is generally considered minimal for cardio, then add on as tolerated
How does stress cause fat storing?
Seriously??? look it up.
Your assertion, you prove it. Sounds like nonsense to me.
Must be why all these (minimum) hour long sessions I'm doing are causing so much gain... or perhaps not...
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The "water weight" explanation doesn't answer the question, even if one accepts the premise that exercise is accompanied by water retention. Water retention may explain a short term change following beginning or stopping exercise, but it doesn't explain the long term plateau the OP experienced.0
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I would think its the cardio based on your description. Excessive cardio can cause stress which can cause fat storing. if anything, if you HAVE to work out, do weights or circuits (cardio/weight/cardio). otherwise just turn it back. 30 minutes a day is generally considered minimal for cardio, then add on as tolerated
How does stress cause fat storing?
Seriously??? look it up.
Yes, seriously. You said excessive cardio causes stress which can lead to fat storage. Tell me how can that directly lead to fat storage. Go look it up is not answer.
Also, Cortisol isn't the answers either because if elevated Cortisol causes you to have a hormone imbalance and you over eat due to that then the fat storage is a direct result of CI > CO.
That is true, the cortisol causes insulin resistance, but eating more is not the only factor. Cortisol causes triglycerides to move to visceral fat. There are also other molecular processes where the cortisol affects the adipose tissue.
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