magohn

I dont get it. Im forced to be off work for a few weeks and so decided to use the time constructively to propel my weight loss into action. Through the winter I have remained at my last summer loss of approx 25lbs and want to lose another 30lbs by July.

My last day of work was Thursday (17th March) and here is what I did:

Went to the grocery store and bought lots of fruit, turkey, chicken, veggies, low-fat yoghurt etc. Almost doubled my grocery bill -eating healthy is expensive!

Since the 18th only ate moderately from the above list and rode (hills):

Friday 15 miles
Sunday 3 mile geocache hike (walking)
Monday 15 miles
Weds (today) 35 miles

Weight loss = +2lbs

That's right, eating healthy and adding extra miles actually caused me to gain weight.

Through the winter I have "cheated" over Thanksgiving, Christmas, my Birthday, etc and enjoyed Kit Kats, Girl Scout Cookies, Pizza etc and remained at the same weight.

How can this be? It certainly is not the "not working" thing. I literally sat in a cube for 8 hours a day - now at least Im moving around the house doing odd jobs AND riding more miles.

It seems if I do the "exact opposite" I lose weight - bizarre

CraigB

As much as people argue about the right way or wrong way to lose weight, or which foods to eat and which to avoid, or whether you're better off exercising in the morning or at night, or other differences of opinion ad nauseum, the one thing I think nearly everyone has experienced and cannot explain are those times when you do everything right and you gain, and the times you've been horribly bad but for some reason aren't punished at the scale. It happens. You just have to roll with it, and keep the "long view" approach foremost in your mind.

Shreck

Since Jan 1 2011 I have lost 20lbs as 10 were from Christmas turkey. I am now at my ideal weight, prior to that I have lost 50lbs over the year and a bit. Most was lost doing exercises and a walking every day at lunch time. I eat the foods you mention above. But also eat healthy foods that accelerate my metabolism. When I do exercises I find I loose more when its an extreme work out, sweating and heavy. My wife has the same problem, it may be a medial reason, it could be time to see you doctor if you are not loosing the weight.

One great tool I got for Christmas was kinnects for the xbox, there are two really good workouts you can get. After getting my self broken in I had lost 5lbs in one week, as a matter of fact the 20lbs I mention is from doing the xbox.

One tool that might help if you track your calories, but you might be doing that already.

Keep your chin up and stay on track, you will get there, I had flat spots too.

Johnny Rebel

Hopefully you're putting on muscle, hence the +2lbs?

I find cutting bread and pastries and upping chicken gives me a little kick to get started, but everyone has their own views and everyone has different needs.

john423

Thousands of reasons. Extra salt in the diet causes water retention. Not enough sleep/too much stress causes water retention. Keeping calories too low while exercising too much causes (guess what?) water retention. Metabolism slows. Don't sweat weird weight fluctuations. Look at weekly weight loss patterns, adjust from there.

BigUgly

I am discovering it is all about calories consumed vs calories burned. Some foods you may think are low in cals could actually be high in cals. Portion size matters as well. There are many calorie tracking websites and even ones that suggest a daily calorie intake if you want to lose 2 pounds a week. They also estimate cals burned based on certain physical activities. I used to drink a lot of milk everyday. One 8 oz glass of milk has about 130 cals. To me, 8 oz is a little glass. I would fill a pint glass up and drink it down several times a day. Milk builds strong bones but is high in cals. Look at the cals per serving size. a 1/2 cup of something could only be 120 cals but if you normally eat 2 cup portions the cals add up quickly. I have been using Livestrong Myplate to track cals eaten and burned based on losing 2 pounds a week. I do not starve myself and stay away from most junk. Low-fat yogurt seems to curb my appetite for the junk food. On occasion I will go over but not daily and then I can decide to go for a walk, run, bike ride, hike, lift weights, or play volleyball to burn some of the extra cals I have eaten.

CliftonGK1

While you're at home, are you staying better hydrated than when at work? If you were a cube farmer, I'm going to guess forced air, AC, very dry, etc. (at least that's how it was in my last office setting.)
When I'm dehydrated, I can see a +/- 5 pound difference in weight from beginning to end of day, especially if I'm throwing a ride in there.

CraigB

Water retention (and dehydration) are huge and can fluctuate in pretty short order from sometimes less-than-obvious causes. When that happens, short-term weight can be all over the map, regardless of calories-in, calories-out.

jethro56 

magohm:I know it doesn't seem like it but you've only lost the easy pounds so far. You're at the point where the vast majority quit. Do yourself a favor and stay away from the scales until you go back to work. Develop good eating habits now that your enviroment has changed. Enjoy the Bike riding for it's own sake.

TysonC

There is a bit more to consider than just simple caloric deficit. Are you getting the sleep needed to get your hormone levels back to normal and rebuild muscle tissue? Are you properly hydrated (a biggy)? Does your diet include the right amount of macronutrients (cals/protein/good carbs/good fats)? And possibly, are you getting your heart rate into the proper range for fat loss?

squirtdad

magohn.... you are only talking 5 days, so it is too early to panic. you have to look at change over a longer time to determine a true trend..... for me a 2 pound variance over a couple of days in not unusual. it could be your diet change could have changed how you processed food and your elimination schedule hasn't adjusted.... or bluntly a good poo could bring that down to a pound gain.

TysonC

That's a negative. For one thing, that's only a general rule of thumb, its not exact. And also, 3500 calories equals 1 pound of weight loss, not necessarily fat. Putting your body into caloric deficit will have it looking for fuel, many times the body will turn to muscle tissue and glutamine to fill that need. Thus, the unconfirmed stigma that you cannot lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

This subject is covered at length at bodybuilding.com .

sstorkel

I generally find that eating healthy costs less than eating pre-packaged crap. What does "ate moderately" mean, BTW? If you're cooking for yourself, it's very easy to consume way too many calories if you don't weigh and measure everything and use recipes that include nutrition information.

I find that long rides (2+hrs, 30+ miles) are much better for losing weight than short rides (~1hr, 15 miles). I lost weight by: 1) controlling calorie intake rigorously, and 2) focusing on longer-duration rides. I do short rides at lunch time, which I feel help me maintain my current weight, but riding for 2-4 hours on the weekend really seems to jump-start weight loss for me.

Carefully monitoring what you eat is also important. Most people seem to under-estimate how much they're eating. Weighing and measuring combined with keeping a food log can be a big help here. It's very easy to consume an extra 500 calories/day just by under-estimating the amount of food you consume. It's also important to realize that the calorie estimates for pre-packaged foods are often based on the weight of the item. With many items, there's a significant variation from one item to the other. I found, for example, that the pre-packaged bagels I liked to eat for breakfast were often 25% heavier than the spec on the package, which mean a corresponding increase in calories.

The last thing to realize is that the human body is very efficient and adaptable, which means that it's very easy to "plateau". Do the same routine (eat, exercise, etc) day after day and you're likely to have success early on, but then find that it tapers off the more you keep doing the same thing. I found that varying my eating and exercise routine, including taking 1-2 weeks off occasionally, helped prevent these plateaus.

motobecane69

i can certainly tell you that you didnt' gain 2 lbs of muscle in 5 days. you would be lucky to do that in a month or two and without lifting weights, it's not gonna happen. As others have said, too soon to sweat it and remember stress raises cortisol level and that can hamper things so just focus on the process and keep doing the right things for the right reasons and it will come around.

It's also possible that your portion sizes are too big, that your retaining a bit of water and numerous other issues. If you were on this kick for a full month and didn't see any results, then I'd be more worried. also, on your longer rides, take in some calories while you are riding, not too much but just 100 an hour or so. Fat burns in carbohydrates fuel. people think not taking anything in will have you just start relying on fat to burn but it doesn't quite work that way.

indyfabz

How have you been preparing this stuff? For example, asparagus themselves are good. Asparagus with Holindaise (sp?) sauce, not so much. And the chicken. Did it have skin and was it otherwise fatty? Preparation methods can add a lot of calories to otherwise "healthy" food.

RichardGlover

One 16 oz water bottle = 2lbs.

pdlamb

Eh? 16 oz = 1 lb. Is the bottle made of lead??

bingemtbr

...thought I'd chime in here. You may be dealing with "diet induced adaptive thermogenesis". Google it if you need further details, but pretty much over the short period your body has adapted the change and, hence, no weight loss. I'd keep at it and adopt some of the suggestions posted: water retention, sodium intake, portion sizes etc.

About myself, in Jan 2010, I weighed 314lbs+, dropped down to 238lbs during the summer of 2010 and currently fighting my way forward from a winter high of 252lbs. What worked for me is daily exercise and logging my calories (on my phone-I've used both the LiveStrong and "LoseIt" apps). I gain weight when I drink beer and eat a weekly diet high in carbs: pastas, pizzas, bagels, all the good stuff. 2lbs is nothing to worry about. Keep your head up.

Good onya for the jump start. I am certain if you set a longer goal, like a 6 week goal of 10lbs, you will be surprised at what you accomplish.

exile

How exactly are you measuring your weight loss or gain? Simply stepping on a scale gives you an overview (unless it also measures body mass). With those scales all you have to do is empty the change out of your pocket and use the bathroom and you loose weight.

Like other posters have mentioned it is to soon to really measure accurately. Also, your weight can fluctuate throughout the day.

myrridin

Measuring weight loss over such a short time is problematic. Even if you have reduced your caloric intake, which is not a given by just eating "healthy", you can retain water by eating salty foods, or you can retain waste in your system. Such issues can easily mask the loss of fat...

magohn

Hi all,

Thanks so much for all the support and thoughts. I have been around the forums enough to know about portion size, prep etc and have been careful. Im leaning towards the possibility of it being water-retention. I have been drinking WAY more water than usual, simply because I have had the time to think about it. When working, I get so involved with a project that I turn around and 2 hours have gone by without a sip. As I am now at home, my main focus is trying to better my diet and so I have easily taken in 3x my usual amount of water. I certainly am not taking in more calories than when working.

As suggested I will leave it another full week before re-weighing myself and let my body readjust to the new diet/water regime. One thing I did feel today on my 35 mile ride - I was flying (for me) !!!! The sun was out, the bike was riding smooth and I felt the best I have felt on the bike in a long time (I have ridden thru the winter)...

Thanks again for the great ideas, I have calmed a little now and will ignore the scale and focus on the overall picture - like I should be doing.

Drew Eckhardt 

A pound of fat is about 3500 calories. Eating the extra 2-3 days of food needed to gain two pounds of it in a week would be hard.

Water weighs a pound per pint, and two pints/pounds is a pretty normal variation. I can sweat through that much in an hour and drink the stuff as fast.

Weight loss is calories in - calories out with the Twinkie diet
https://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08...sor/index.html being the most entertaining example (Professor Haub lost 27 pounds in two months on the diet to illustrate this point). Sugary foods just make that harder to manage because they don't sate your hunger.

I lost over 35 pounds eating and drinking what I usually do - ice cream, pizza, beer, my wife's gourmet cooking including dishes like cassoulet made with both duck and bacon fat, street tacos, etc. Just not too much of it. And riding hard six hours a week. I eat more to accommodate that, but not that much more.

The strategy doesn't produce rapid weight loss (I started keeping track 12 months ago and over that period it's been a steady 2 pounds a month) but it sticks because I don't get fed up eating too much of what food eats and snap when I see tasty treats.

mahoney67

I too started a weight loss journey in October. I started at 265lbs and now im at 210lbs. When i started i was told to weigh myself every 2 weeks. I weighed same time same day. I did that and saw steady weight loss. When once I weighed a couple of days after the last i gained 2 lbs. weighed again at the next regular time and i was back on track with my regular 4 lbs every 2 weeks.

I lift weights 4 times a week with 15 mins cardio warmup on exercise bike before i start.I cant stand riding in one place so just bought a bike to get in more cardio and be outside.

Keep at you will see results.

jethro56 

Welcome mahoney67 Great job on the weightloss.

Wogster

There is a lot to measuring weight accurately, not saying you didn't but you might have, the proper way to do this, is pick a day, say Friday...
Now you get up in the morning,
go to the bathroom, eliminate.
Strip off all clothes,
weigh yourself.

You don't weigh yourself again, until the next Friday, this will give you the most accurate weight.