Of refeeds and diet breaks
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I just decided to do a rare check in on the thread during the weekend. Seems like things are looking positive. I’m inebriated and things were eaten and consumed. A gym sesh when I wake up will be interesting lol. May have to use machines instead of free weights depending on what state of consciousness I’m in. Carry on lol9
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Hope you're alive anubis.
We can safely say my glycogen is fully replenished. And some.......7 -
Nony, your pictures are so lovely to wake up to.
Anubis, sounds like you had quite the evening!
That cauliflower/gluten free flour pizza crust hybrid I posted about was great. I was wrong on the calories, it was 510. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the box contained two crusts, so it wasn't as expensive as I'd first though. Win-win. I had it with caramelized onions and mushrooms and fat free mozzarella. I actually don't mind the fat free cheese. They've come a long way with those since they were first introduced.
The whole pizza came to just over 800 calories. I can fit that into my regular diet, not just refeeds. I ended up yesterday after eating that with having to eat a serving of yogurt and 3 servings of cereal and a cup of my brewing chocolate with half and half in it to hit maintenance calories for the day.6 -
I just decided to do a rare check in on the thread during the weekend. Seems like things are looking positive. I’m inebriated and things were eaten and consumed. A gym sesh when I wake up will be interesting lol. May have to use machines instead of free weights depending on what state of consciousness I’m in. Carry on lol
I've been lurking on this thread for 2–3 weeks now and have to say this is the highlight of an already intriguing discussion. He who most soberly presents information to others here has taken a sobriety break.
I'm an ENFP 'Campaigner' on the Myers-Briggs, FYI, and the first page of the description so far seems pretty accurate, though I'm not crazy about the 'campaigner' label. Makes me feel like some kind of proselytiser.
More relevantly to the thread, I'm also currently on the last day of a two-week break, which I started because I figured I was overdue for one in general (it's been 6 months) and because I'd been sleeping terribly in particular. The sleep has improved so I figure this has been a successful experiment. Counting down to a return to deficit in about 15 hours. Have been tracking calories but not weighing myself (not for moralistic reasons, just don't have a scale at home and will be moving countries in 4 months so not buying one any time soon). Can report that all my measurements were the same after Week 1, midway through Week 2 my waist was up by 2 inches, but it was obviously water—I was all jiggly; also my thighs were down half an inch in that period (I'm clearly an apple).
Look forward to finding out how my measurements are, say, a week after the conclusion of break.8 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »The whole pizza came to just over 800 calories. I can fit that into my regular diet, not just refeeds. I ended up yesterday after eating that with having to eat a serving of yogurt and 3 servings of cereal and a cup of my brewing chocolate with half and half in it to hit maintenance calories for the day.
*sighs dreamily* looking forward to the day when I have to actually scrounge around to get enough calories in a day!
Unfortunately for me, my brain and stomach are definitely not communicating well, and this diet break has proved that to me. If I dig deep and really pay attention, I realize that I'm not really truly hungry - my stomach is fine and dandy. But my brain is dying to have something to eat! And mom's house has lots of temptations - so when I find myself reaching for that bag of sun chips, that's when I know its time to head over to my temporary home in the camper to get away from the temptation....
Oh, and apparently according to the link for personality provided back, I came up as a INFP Mediator type when I took the test. I'm not so sure I fit that, though - I have a pessamistic streak a mile long and consider myself to be a living Eeyore lol Though I found it hard really hard to answer the questions - I couldn't really decide if I agreed or disagreed with the statements and kept thinking "I don't know? maybe? kinda?" so that's probably the problem.
Though it came up as 90% introvert - and that I know is spot on!4 -
Wow, Nony, your photos are spectacular! All I really know about NZ geography/scenery I got from Lord of the Rings, and these make me envy you your hikes even more. Thank you so much for posting them! If you ever do a group hike event, I'll make the trip. In fact, I think I'm going to be looking into real hiking here at home starting soon -- thank you for that, too!
I'm in the middle of my first break right now. I'm feeling pretty good about what & how much I'm eating (although yesterday proved that eating at maintenance doesn't completely protect me from a sugar festival), and the scale's stayed within 1.6 lbs of my weight from a week ago. And to my surprise I've rediscovered a few foods that I can include during deficit too. Today should be interesting -- my Sunday schedule is especially suited to deficit eating, and it'll be an exercise in creativity to fill in the blanks.
Hope you got a good sleep!2 -
The past few days I have been eating an extra 75-100 grams of carbs. I didn't have any calorie heavy days this week, just a few days close to maintenance. My weight has been on the high side of where I want to sit for the winter so I am trying to decide what to do. Should I try to trim down a little to get into the middle of my range or should I just say F it and go for the bulk and gain an additional 3 pounds over the next 3 months? I keep wafting!
Today's workout was pretty fantastic! Usually Sunday and Monday are my roughest workouts so it is nice to get the extra boost from the carbs.2 -
Oh, I forgot to report on the scale movement for the refeed for those interested in that sort of thing. It went up 1.6 pounds in total over the weekend from my low reading on Friday morning. I can live with that. I know it's temporary.
Honestly, I'm really hoping to start to find this easier the more I pay attention to the numbers and crunch them, because it makes me trust the process more. Crunching my deficit numbers against my fitbit was so relieving last week, you all have no idea. I had a vague idea that it was fairly accurate before, but I'd always had logging that was too inexact to figure it exactly. Last week I'd paid attention to my logging enough to have a good enough set of numbers to trust.
I'm rambling now, so I'll stop posting
I just want to say once again that I'm really glad for this thread because I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on some issues that have been dogging me for the past year, and that's a great feeling. 5 -
Can report that all my measurements were the same after Week 1, midway through Week 2 my waist was up by 2 inches, but it was obviously water—I was all jiggly; also my thighs were down half an inch in that period (I'm clearly an apple).
Oh, I thought I should clarify, since there were some people on here who were nervous about potential negative side effects of upping their calories, that when my waistline grew in the middle of the second week it's because I had just gotten home from a 5-day trip out of town, complete with long bus rides, lots of eating out, and little drinking of water. It'll be fine.
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I should probably expand on my post too! I really really went to town on the carbs. Virtually ate away the weeks deficit in carbs. Which is fine. There was a point yesterday where I chucked it in the *kitten* it bucket because I know this is always a hungry weekend every 8 weeks. I am 3lbs up which is actually not terrible when you consider just how much I ate.
I actually just looked. I still have a 1000 calorie deficit for the week. Winning.
I'll be interested to see how long it takes for that to drop off and if I will ever get the low I've been expecting for oh, 6 weeks.6 -
Everyone is most welcome to come to NZ for a group hike!! And I will be gentle, I know how long it took me to build up to being able to do ones like yesterday's, and I know the consequences of pushing too hard, too soon.
@GottaBurnEmAll, you did better than me on pizza cals. My base is actually only 400 cals (couldn't get the sprouted seed one this week, so got the plain, which is a little lower in cals, also a lot lower in fat so will be a better option for refeeds), but I put the motherlode of mozzarella on it since I didn't have to worry about fat, and it came in at 921 cals total. I haven't found fat-free mozz here, but the reduced fat feta that also goes on the pizza was a brilliant find. Pizza was delish. Ended up 150 cals over maintenance for the day, but don't care. Weight is up a mighty 1 kg (2.2lbs), but PMS bloat, carbs and fluid retention from the hike, so again not bothered. It will come down by the end of the week.
@anubis609 I hope your hangover isn't too bad!
Legs are not too bad post-hike, quads are a little stiff. Bung knee is absolutely fine, though both knees would probably grumble if I had to walk up or down stairs. Still debating if I'm going to walk to work. I have physio beforehand, and definitely don't want to walk there and then to work, so will probably drive to physio, drop the car back home, then do the shorter walk both to and from work today, since it's meant to be full rest day.2 -
The crust I used had 18 grams of fat, which I needed. I also cooked my veggies in a tablespoon of olive oil. I generally need to look for fat, and I especially needed to yesterday because I didn't have a ripe avocado to eat with my lunch cottage cheese so I sprinkled it with some almonds instead.
I tend to eat low fat anyway, and I have to watch sat fat. Since I'm vegetarian, generally what I do is eat low fat dairy and then add a healthier source of fat into the meal like avo, nuts, flax, or olive oil to get around having a lot of sat fat in my diet.
I try to get around 50 grams of fat a day in my normal diet and that's the refeed level so nothing changes for me.2 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »The crust I used had 18 grams of fat, which I needed. I also cooked my veggies in a tablespoon of olive oil. I generally need to look for fat, and I especially needed to yesterday because I didn't have a ripe avocado to eat with my lunch cottage cheese so I sprinkled it with some almonds instead.
I tend to eat low fat anyway, and I have to watch sat fat. Since I'm vegetarian, generally what I do is eat low fat dairy and then add a healthier source of fat into the meal like avo, nuts, flax, or olive oil to get around having a lot of sat fat in my diet.
I try to get around 50 grams of fat a day in my normal diet and that's the refeed level so nothing changes for me.
Yesterday's base only had 6 grams of fat, the sprouted seed one has 21. As you know, I have no trouble getting enough fat, it's keeping it down at 50 for refeeds that's the challenge!!3 -
I'm kinda sad that I didn't get a really good tree pose photo on the trig, but also super impressed that I can just hang out there with my leg right up with ease now. A few months ago, I couldn't hold my leg that high in tree. Should check if I can do it properly with left leg up yet (I suspect not, because my left hip isn't as flexible, so I can't get as good a turn out).
Right quad currently has a wheat bag on it in an attempt to release that muscle a bit...3 -
Oh, other NSV, those shorts I wore yesterday are a pair I accidentally bought a size too small last year, then lost the receipt. Even when I was at (old) goal earlier this year, so basically the same weight as now, they were a smidge too tight. The only annoying thing is the place where I get my active wear (kind of the equivalent of Walmart I think) seems to think that to be a size S you also must be short, so they're a little short in body length. I may have to resort to getting running shorts at an actual sportswear shop.4
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Just to report I did my Monday-morning measurements to kick off my return to deficit, and everything is back where it started from 2 weeks ago (i.e., water weight in midsection gone), save for the half inch I actually lost on my thighs. If there's a measurements-affecting whoosh in the next week I'll report that progress back.5
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I just decided to do a rare check in on the thread during the weekend. Seems like things are looking positive. I’m inebriated and things were eaten and consumed. A gym sesh when I wake up will be interesting lol. May have to use machines instead of free weights depending on what state of consciousness I’m in. Carry on lol
I've been lurking on this thread for 2–3 weeks now and have to say this is the highlight of an already intriguing discussion. He who most soberly presents information to others here has taken a sobriety break.
I'm an ENFP 'Campaigner' on the Myers-Briggs, FYI, and the first page of the description so far seems pretty accurate, though I'm not crazy about the 'campaigner' label. Makes me feel like some kind of proselytiser.
More relevantly to the thread, I'm also currently on the last day of a two-week break, which I started because I figured I was overdue for one in general (it's been 6 months) and because I'd been sleeping terribly in particular. The sleep has improved so I figure this has been a successful experiment. Counting down to a return to deficit in about 15 hours. Have been tracking calories but not weighing myself (not for moralistic reasons, just don't have a scale at home and will be moving countries in 4 months so not buying one any time soon). Can report that all my measurements were the same after Week 1, midway through Week 2 my waist was up by 2 inches, but it was obviously water—I was all jiggly; also my thighs were down half an inch in that period (I'm clearly an apple).
Look forward to finding out how my measurements are, say, a week after the conclusion of break.
Haha well spotted. Though, I must say I’m also quite articulate when I’m not sober on the rare occasion
Though, that’s just carryover from years of experience... consider it periodized sobriety
Not having a scale might actually be a helpful tool in this case, considering the refeed/diet break period is to come back with a renewed perception about what it’s like to not be in a constant deficit. The refeed is like hitting the refresh button on your browser, and a full diet break is like optimizing and defragging your hard drive.
So, my refeed yesterday wasn’t too carby (subjective), but cornbread and jalapeño Mac and cheese were very welcomed choices. By the end of the night it was mostly añejo/tequila that paired with and followed the bbq leftovers.
2.6 lb fluctuation up is almost like nothing happened lol. For the curious, my hangover wasn’t bad. No headache/nausea/etc.. just overall felt like dragging *kitten*. Went to the gym, did my usual Sunday morning fasted lifting of back and legs, and came out pretty lively. I reduced my training volume last week for recovery since I needed it, so this week will taper back up to normal with slightly higher volume and intensity.
Interestingly, Lyle shared this earlier today which ties in with the same concept of periodizing body composition and training for elite endurance athletes.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29140157/
I thought maybe @collectingblues might find it pertinent since she does the same in accordance with her own training.. hell I thought she might even be the subject they studied lol. Nonetheless, my take away from the study is regardless of the sport, nobody should want to keep their nose to the grindstone all year long, in terms of body composition and training, if they want to optimize overall health and performance.
Thus concludes my Sunday homily. May the force be ever in your favor.10 -
The refeed is like hitting the refresh button on your browser, and a full diet break is like optimizing and defragging your hard drive.
^^^^ Love this!
The scale weight is moving up slowly and I am over the moon. I was beginning to think my plan was flawed and I had miscalculated stuff. Have to keep reminding myself to be patient and also to get a deload in here somewhere as stuff is feeling heavy. Sleep not so great again, apart from last night post 5 and a bit mile walk.
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Week after Diet Break: (Data for those interested) (All days eating somewhere around 1200 give or take 50)
Day 1: 193.6 weighed in am
Day 2: 192.4
Day 3: 191.8 (my pre-diet break weight was 191.5)
Day 4: 192.2
Day 5: 191
Day 6: 191
Day 7: 191.4
This morning: 190.6!
Takeaways:
1) I struggled to eat at 1200 deficit and was very hungry most of the week. Just like the first week I started (Aug 1).
2) @anubis609 I'm a wine drinker and during my diet-break I went back to drinking a glass or two every night. I continued it this week, but I can't do that again and have enough calories to eat my nutrition goals. I'm going back to saving it for the weekends. Food much more important.
Looking forward to Thursday! Yum Yum. I am planning an additional 100 cal deficit leading up to Thursday so I can eat them back Thursday and Friday leftovers. (I'm not even going to pretend that I'm going to even try to track calories Thursday)
@Nony_Mouse Great pics!
I will check in from week to week from now until my next diet break, but don't worry, I won't be giving you a day by day playback.
Peace out.5 -
Up two pounds this morning. Am reminding myself that it's water weight/fluctuations, and that hey, it's still a pound lower than last week's peak, which also was coincidentally on a Monday, as were the two weeks before. (AKA: Why I freak out on Mondays.)
So went down the Google rabbit hole, and found this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24504358
Was very reassuring to see that this Monday peak cyclical peak could just be a normal fluctuation, and that I'm not some freak of the universe.6
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