Thread: 5 day fast
View Single Post
Old 06-19-17, 05:56 AM
  #72  
HerrKaLeun
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Madison, WI
Posts: 1,923

Bikes: Giant Toughroad SLR1 and Motobecane Sturgis NX

Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 900 Post(s)
Liked 231 Times in 168 Posts
Originally Posted by WizardOfBoz
tl;dr, at least I didn't read all of the responses.

I'm trained as an engineer, with a specialty in control systems. I also have done research and modeling in weight control. There are three things I'd advise you about.
1) Too much information. Weight fluctuates all day, and can depend upon exercise, diet, water intake, emotional state, the mental and physical demands of daily activities, basal metabolic rate, and so forth. As such, if you weigh yourself more than once a day, you are on a fool's errand: the data you get are meaningless in the context of long-term weight control. Not debatable, there are no scientifically sound counter-arguments: it's meaningless.
2) Time constants. A former colleague (K. Hall) is a tenured researcher studying weight at the NIH. His models (and data) show that if you cut down on your caloric intake, it takes months to realize a substantial fraction of the total final weight reduction you would expect. This underscores point 1, above: if you measure weight more than once a day you are measuring noise. Even worse if you act upon these data. It's useless: stop it.
3) Set points. Your body adapts over the long term to the weight you are, and fights attempts to change. This was pointed out to me by Dr. Hall and another former colleague, Dr. D. Polidori. If you starve yourself for a few days, you'll lose some weight but the body responds by turning down the furnace and you regain most of that weight in a week or so. Think about a time you had the flu: you may have lost weight but your body regained it after you recovered, right? This implies that binge fasts are not gonna contribute much long-term weight loss and health and fitness. In fact, binge fasts are known to create health problems. Binge fasting can hurt you and won't help you with long-term weight control. Stop doing that.

If you are serious about long term, sustainable weight loss, then set up a healthy diet with lots of veggies and fiber and an exercise routine and stick with them. With your routine set, weigh yourself only at one specific time after you rise (and take care of any bathroom needs). You probably should do this only once a week. (You can will see a significant difference when you weigh yourself early on a Friday morning after you got home late on Thursday and ate late, and on a Sunday morning after you had a light dinner Saturday and slept in, and the difference is meaningless and completely uninformative for long term weight trends).

The dietary data you keep is cool. If you really want to exploit it to the max, discuss it with a Registered Dietician. They have a LOT of good training and knowledge. That said, even in a "metabolic unit" (the clinical setting where they do weight loss and other studies, and where every scrap of food is noted), clinicians expect a lot of variability in the quality of caloric data.

The point is, there is noise, variability, and error in EVERY data stream in science an engineering. When the human body is involved, there is a LOT MORE noise, variability and error. No exceptions. Measuring your weight five times a day gives you no advantages over once per week, for the purpose of long-term weight control. In fact, it's counterproductive. You are measuring noise and error, and attempting to act on them. So:

1) Stop measuring short term weight data - it's not helping you and obviously frustrating you
2) Stop doing short term (e.g. fasting) stuff to get long-term weight loss - it won't work
3) Do measure weight at most once per day, upon rising. Better yet? Measure once per week on the same day, and same conditions.
4) Do set up a reasonable exercise plan and stick to it
5) Do set up a reasonable, balanced and healthy diet with lots of veggies and fiber, and stick to it
6) If you really want to monitor your diet as closely as you have, get the most out of the data by consulting a registered dietician or physician.
7) If you don't see a weight trend in a month or two, lower (slightly) the calories and make sure you are sticking with your exercise plan.

At the risk of feeding a mania (sorry, that's how it looks), I will share Dr. Hall's "Body Weight Planner" that will compute information that may be of use in your goals. It's here.

Last, if this relates to a significant health risk, see a properly trained and licensed health care provider. A health care provider who has examined you and knows your medical history is the best person to diagnose and treat your health problem. If you have specific health questions, please consult your health care provider.
+1000

Best comment in this thread. Scientific, true and easy to understand.
HerrKaLeun is offline