Ate lots of calories then...lost weight?

Losingthedamnweight
Losingthedamnweight Posts: 536 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
im just fascinated at the science of all this.

I've weighed myself everyday for the past week and have been a consistent weight. Maybe even felt a little bloated and chunky. Then today I eat a crappy breakfast, then eat a McDonald's breakfast later on and I mean really crappy. I had 2 mcgriddles, 5 hash browns and a strawberry and cream pie.

I logged everything to the t and it says I basically ate about 3,000 calories today and about...get ready for this....6,000 mg of sodium. So that was this morning. I've been hangin around the house for awhile. Been in bed the past few hours and god dammit I've been urinating way more than I feel like I should. I don't think I drank THAT much fluid today but I've been to the bathroom to pee like 4 times.

Then out of curiosity (because I waited to see how bad that McDonald's messed me up) I jump on the scale and I'm a pound and a half lighter? Whaaat? How can that even be possible when I was at a calorie surplus today and had 3 x the amount of sodium I should? Did I flush out old water weight or something?

What a nice surprise

Replies

  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    3000 isn't that much.

    Say your maintenance is 2000 then you only ate around 1/3 of a pound?

    So you lost 1.5 pounds maybe with out maccas you would have lost 1.8 or 2 pounds.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited April 2015
    O my goodness this is the whoosh effect... Yes it is water... Loading up on the carbs can do this and this will happen...

    u8awm5stnwwe.jpg
  • Ameengyrl
    Ameengyrl Posts: 127 Member
    :):):):):)

    Well you can't see "damage" on the scale the same day (definitely not fat gained). And depending on your TDEE 3000 could be not so bad. Get back to balanced eating tomorrow and keep your fingers cross that there's no gain in the few days
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    The eating of one meal is not going to give you results of either loss or gain, within a couple of hours.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Your body could be trying to purge the excess sodium by getting rid of water. Things will soon go back to normal.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    gia07 wrote: »
    O my goodness this is the whoosh effect... Yes it is water... Loading up on the carbs can do this and this will happen...

    u8awm5stnwwe.jpg

    Yes, that's exactly what it is! I have experienced it several times. It's always great when it happens, and for whatever reason seems to be triggered by eating more than usual.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    MoiAussi93 wrote: »
    gia07 wrote: »
    O my goodness this is the whoosh effect... Yes it is water... Loading up on the carbs can do this and this will happen...

    u8awm5stnwwe.jpg

    Yes, that's exactly what it is! I have experienced it several times. It's always great when it happens, and for whatever reason seems to be triggered by eating more than usual.

    Yeah, except that nice infograph is bull pucks; cells don't work like that.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    EvgeniZyntx wrote: »
    MoiAussi93 wrote: »
    gia07 wrote: »
    O my goodness this is the whoosh effect... Yes it is water... Loading up on the carbs can do this and this will happen...

    u8awm5stnwwe.jpg

    Yes, that's exactly what it is! I have experienced it several times. It's always great when it happens, and for whatever reason seems to be triggered by eating more than usual.

    Yeah, except that nice infograph is bull pucks; cells don't work like that.

    I don't now what the exact mechanics are, but it is water weight loss. And it is triggered for many people by a large meal or higher carbs than usual. I have several times lost nothing for two or three weeks and then lost 5-7 pounds in a day or two. Obviously I don't believe I lost 7 pounds of fat overnight. The fat was lost in the previous weeks and masked by excess water retention. I don't know why. And frankly, I don't really care. I just know it happens.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    EvgeniZyntx wrote: »
    MoiAussi93 wrote: »
    gia07 wrote: »
    O my goodness this is the whoosh effect... Yes it is water... Loading up on the carbs can do this and this will happen...

    u8awm5stnwwe.jpg

    Yes, that's exactly what it is! I have experienced it several times. It's always great when it happens, and for whatever reason seems to be triggered by eating more than usual.

    Yeah, except that nice infograph is bull pucks; cells don't work like that.

    You don't believe there's a whoosh?
  • Oldbitcollector
    Oldbitcollector Posts: 229 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

    Yeah, except that nice infograph is bull pucks; cells don't work like that.

    You don't believe there's a whoosh?

    Actually it sounds more like a "flushing" sound doesn't it? ;)

  • randomhero1177
    randomhero1177 Posts: 1 Member
    So. Basically the fat got built back up and water was released?
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    randomhero1177 wrote: »
    So. Basically the fat got built back up and water was released?

    No

    Absolutely no

    I mean where did you read that?
  • Babykeys32
    Babykeys32 Posts: 36 Member
    I dont understand the science of this BUT i have experienced it.

    Was on strict calorie controlled diet for like 3 months, then i went on holiday and ate a load of crap...i mean i didn't binge or anything but i wasn't counting calories...and i know i ate much more then i should of. Cake, scones, party food, eating out a bunch of times.

    I got home and jumped on the scale expecting a couple of pounds gain....i had lost a pound. And i kept it off. No idea how that happened, but it did and i have read that sometimes a short time eating more cals can be beneficial - just dont do it very regularly. It has a similar effect as calorie cycling or 5:2 i think. Kinda gives your metabolism a nudge.

    So i reckon probably try not to eat like that again for a while, but you got away with it this time so be happy :)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    maintenance - leptin - squishy fat and water weight whooshes
  • ArkMom35
    ArkMom35 Posts: 225 Member
    It happens to me too. Overeat, then lose. I find it amusing :)
  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
    Does the water spin when it wooshes? Like when it goes down a drain?
  • hollyrayburn
    hollyrayburn Posts: 905 Member
    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    Does the water spin when it wooshes? Like when it goes down a drain?

    Yes, but the direction of the spin depends on where you are located in this world.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    Babykeys32 wrote: »
    I dont understand the science of this BUT i have experienced it.

    Was on strict calorie controlled diet for like 3 months, then i went on holiday and ate a load of crap...i mean i didn't binge or anything but i wasn't counting calories...and i know i ate much more then i should of. Cake, scones, party food, eating out a bunch of times.

    I got home and jumped on the scale expecting a couple of pounds gain....i had lost a pound. And i kept it off. No idea how that happened, but it did and i have read that sometimes a short time eating more cals can be beneficial - just dont do it very regularly. It has a similar effect as calorie cycling or 5:2 i think. Kinda gives your metabolism a nudge.

    So i reckon probably try not to eat like that again for a while, but you got away with it this time so be happy :)

    Well what I notice is that when you go on a constant deficit your body goes through stress to adapt and loss weight from storage. So when you eat more calories your body gets out of the stress period(calorie deficit). Also I think cortisol plays a role too in this effect you see.
  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
    One big calorie day won't make you fat and one salad day won't make you skinny. The reduced weight was coincidence and had nothing to do with the overeating.
  • s2Mango
    s2Mango Posts: 44 Member
    I've had something like this happen to me. Last night even! Last night I indulged in.. quite a bit of pizza, but I hardly ate anything through the day since I wasn't home, so I felt I could do so. 3 slices of pizza for dinner around 6pm last night, this morning I weight in at 114, and yesterday morning I was 115-116. Any time i'm on a deficit I lose weight rather reliably, but i've noticed these "pizza days" drop me a pound or two overnight, and that weight doesn't come back, it stays off. Not sure how or what but it's still fun to see.
    Definitely need less pizza days though, so i'm going to start slapping my boyfriend's hand away from buying pizza all the time.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html

    Let me just drop this here

    *backs away*
  • Razzaz
    Razzaz Posts: 102 Member
    This happened to me too when I ate mcdonalds I lost weight
  • astralpictures
    astralpictures Posts: 218 Member
    s2Mango wrote: »
    I've had something like this happen to me. Last night even! Last night I indulged in.. quite a bit of pizza, but I hardly ate anything through the day since I wasn't home, so I felt I could do so. 3 slices of pizza for dinner around 6pm last night, this morning I weight in at 114, and yesterday morning I was 115-116. Any time i'm on a deficit I lose weight rather reliably, but i've noticed these "pizza days" drop me a pound or two overnight, and that weight doesn't come back, it stays off. Not sure how or what but it's still fun to see.
    Definitely need less pizza days though, so i'm going to start slapping my boyfriend's hand away from buying pizza all the time.


    Three slices of pizza isn't a whole lot. Depending on the toppings and size, it could be anywhere from 600 to maybe 1100 calories max. If you hardly ate anything else throughout the day, then you probably stayed close to your calorie goal.
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