I'm not complaining, but this is one of those things

jlahorn · October 2015

CICO has always worked for me in the usual sporadic, non-linear, trend-over-time kind of way. Even with Hashimoto's, which makes my weight loss and maintenance numbers painfully low, those numbers still at least work pretty reliably. I've been at maintenance now for about 3 years.

The weird thing is, I just got back from a 2-week vacation. I decided before I went that I wanted to be able to eat and drink whatever I wanted and just enjoy the trip, so I dropped 5 lbs in advance through blood, sweat, and tears

Then I proceeded to eat and drink everything in sight. I didn't log, I got way less exercise than I normally do, I had alcohol every day, and I'm pretty sure I consumed my weight in bread and butter. I topped off the trip with a 9-course dinner with wine pairings and like 4 desserts. It was a ridiculously wonderful couple of weeks

I got home and got on the scale chanting, "Please no more than 3 pounds". Turns out I gained exactly nothing. For the last 3 days, no significant fluctuation.

I don't understand. I appreciate the visit from the magical calorie fairy, I really do, but it really doesn't make any sense.

Bodies are weird.

EmmieBaby · October 2015

during your vacation were you active? walk a lot? hike? you could of been burning off some of the calories you were consuming

ponycyndi · October 2015

I find my maintenance range is very wide. I can maintain on as few as 1800, and even as much as 2500, staying writhing the same 2 lb range for 2 full years. It could be that I don't track my activity well.

usmcmp · October 2015

Leptin and cortisol.

jessicarobinson00 · October 2015

I think you should say a silent thank you...smile...do a fist pump...polka?!?! ...whatever it is that you do!!

I'd be doing a happy dance that's for sure!! I hope you had an amazing time on your vacation!!

farfromthetree · October 2015

Bodies are weird! My total guess is now your body is used to that weight and will be more forgiving. Another guess would be if you continued like that at home, you would eventually put the weight on. I think it's so important to enjoy vacations, especially if they are far and few between.
I did the same you this summer at the beach. After one week of eating whatever I wanted, could not wait to get back to my routine. Felt disgusting. I did gain 3 lbs though!

DeguelloTex · October 2015

I don't think bodies "get used to" a weight.

On very consistent intake and deficit, the weekly average of my daily weights has gone anywhere from down from the previous week a little over five pounds to up a little over two pounds. And just about everywhere in between.

At this point, I'm not surprised at all by a weight that goes up when I expected down or vice versa. It just does what it does.

preeJAY · October 2015

You probably got used to eating smaller portions, and wasn't over-eating as much as you thought. After 3 months, I find I can't eat as much as before even when I planned to "go wild".

Also, our bodies don't completely and instantly absorb and store all calories we eat anyway. This is why a single 6000-calorie day here and there won't necessarily cause immediate weight gain; it takes consistent over-eating over a period of time. 5 lbs is 17,600 cal, which would require you to eat an extra 1250 cal every day. If you ate a lot on some days, balanced by normal or lower calories on other days, and also moved around more, did fun vacation activities, the whole thing could balance out to not much weight gain.

Glad it worked out so well!

BarbieAS · October 2015

usmcmp wrote: »

Leptin and cortisol.

Tell me more. (100% sincere.)

Not to hijack, but CICO has been a MAJOR struggle for me as well. I 110% believe in the science behind it, but when you compare my food logging to my burns per my Fitbit (which I know is still based on averages and calculations for my age/size), and compare THAT to the change in my weight, it doesn't add up - like by a couple HUNDRED pounds over ~3 years. Even allowing for a generous margin of error on my logging (far more than I feel would be needed, but I'm absolutely willing to accept the possibility that my logging is not perfect), like the OP, the "CO" side of my equation is shockingly and depressingly low compared to what it "should" be based on all of the calculations and such out there.

So anyway, I'm always genuinely extremely interested to hear (science-based, not Dr. Oz-based) reasons for my "CO" to be so low and ways to bump it up (or correct/counteract whatever is driving it down), aside from increasing activity and increasing/maintaining muscle mass (both of which I'm working on).

rainbowbow · October 2015

it's also hard to say considering you DIDN'T log.

It's likely you didn't overeat your maintenance by as much as you think.

juggernaut1974 · October 2015

EmmieBaby wrote: »

during your vacation were you active? walk a lot? hike? you could of been burning off some of the calories you were consuming

This was my first thought as well. Even if you're not intentionally exercising (depending on the type of vacation) you could easily be burning quite a few more calories just by the activities you're doing vs. sitting at work.

For example - my family & I visited DC this summer, and just from walking around the National Mall & all of the museums, my step counts went from an average of 6,000-7,000 per day (when I'm working) to about 20,000 per day.

farfromthetree · October 2015

DeguelloTex wrote: »

I don't think bodies "get used to" a weight.

On very consistent intake and deficit, the weekly average of my daily weights has gone anywhere from down from the previous week a little over five pounds to up a little over two pounds. And just about everywhere in between.

At this point, I'm not surprised at all by a weight that goes up when I expected down or vice versa. It just does what it does.

Darn. I was hoping this would be true if I maintained for a couple of years.

BoxerBrawler · October 2015

For me personally... what I do today or this week doesn't exactly rear it's head until next week or even two weeks later. If I restrict this week, my results show up next week in how I look, feel and on the scale. Like my body is about two weeks behind... not sure if this is true for others or not. Consistency is key.

sunandmoons · October 2015

cushman5279 wrote: »

For me personally... what I do today or this week doesn't exactly rear it's head until next week or even two weeks later. If I restrict this week, my results show up next week in how I look, feel and on the scale. Like my body is about two weeks behind... not sure if this is true for others or not. Consistency is key.

This is how my body works. About a week later

zyxst · October 2015

Karen_can_do_this · October 2015

I too will be offering up a sacrifice to the calorie fairy!!
Heeheehee seriously though, yay for cheat days!! I hope you had a fantastic holiday!!

zyxst · October 2015

zyxst wrote: »

Oh, I have a fan!

To whomever flagged my post as spam:

The gif is relevant to the topic. Weight loss/gain/maintain expectations that don't follow the CICO mathematics can be considered magic.

If you're the same person flagging other relevant posts in different threads as spam, you need to go back and read up on what is considered spam. You'd be better off flagging my posts under Flag>Report>pick the relevant choice.

daniwilford · October 2015

The situation described by OP is why I am a logging fanatic. If something works for a loss or maintenance, I want to know what it was exactly, so I can repeat it as needed. In college, senior year, I lost a lot of weight eating a snickers and a can of full sugar soda a day. In college, sophomore year, I gained a lot of weight eating a snickers and several cans of diet soda a day. I suspect it had very little do with the candy or pop, and a lot to do with the other stuff I was eating and my activity levels.

Kalikel · October 2015

Over eating usually shows up two or three days later for me, not right away.

But bodies are weird. And the math doesn't always work. I know someone who should gain at least a pound a day, but she doesn't. Going by the math, I should've been done losing long ago, but I'm not.

Everyone is different and there are things going on that we don't understand. "One of those things" is a good way to look at it.

PeachyCarol · October 2015

I agree with USMCMP. You're destressed, lowering your cortisol levels. You ate a bit more, probably carbs, signaling to increase leptin which also correspondingly increased your metabolism.

Interestingly, on our recent vacation, although I felt like I ate all the time? I was logging, and I actually ate less. I felt fuller sooner, apparently, and was really busy. I felt like I was eating a lot, but really wasn't. I lost weight like crazy in the weeks that followed.

Machka9 · October 2015

I went on holiday for 3 weeks back in June. I had hit my first goal and was debating about stopping there. But while on holiday, I had decided to eat everything in sight. Whatever I wanted, I was going to have it.

First stop ... Krispie Kreme donuts. In the past, I've polished off half a dozen in one sitting. This time my husband and I ordered half a dozen between us, rather than a dozen. I had one that evening and found it almost icky sweet. Then I had the other two for breakfast the next morning and could hardly get them down.

The eat everything plan wasn't off to a good start ... I could barely manage half what I used to eat!

A little later I got a bag of dill pickle chips ... my favourite. It took me about 3 days to eat those rather than about 30 min. They were just way too salty for me.

And at restaurants I found myself ordering ... salads! And steamed veggies! The horror!! All that food, but all I wanted was a nice little tossed salad.

Plus, my exercise level about doubled.

When I got home I had put on 2 kg, but lost it within 2 weeks, so it might have been water weight from the flights ... and I then just kept losing.

I'm not complaining, but this is one of those things

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