Weight Loss Thread

Cad · Jul 3, 2014

Ossoi_sl said:
Depends what you're eating - if you were low carb for a period then ate some carbs, you'd gain water weight overnight.

The thing to remember is that weight loss is not linear - if my scale weight is suddenly up for no reason then I ignore it and usually expect my weight to drop back down past what it originally was after a few days

What else are you eating? It's also possible that if you've been carb cycling on workout days as I suggested, that you have actually gained muscle.

I'm not limiting carbs in any meaningful way, about 40-45% of my calories are still from carbs. Its possible I'm just miscalculating my logging on MFP, but to this degree?

Yes weighing first thing in the morning every morning.

Eidal · Jul 3, 2014

Cad_sl said:
I'm not limiting carbs in any meaningful way, about 40-45% of my calories are still from carbs. Its possible I'm just miscalculating my logging on MFP, but to this degree?

Yes weighing first thing in the morning every morning.

I encourage you to do your own research on that... I feel like a dick saying "you are miscounting/misrepresenting to a large degree". However, there are three explanations:

1) You are miscounting calories/activity, likely by eating a little bit more than you think and not exercising as much as you think. You haven't lost much BF or gained much muscle. You feel healthier and look better in the mirror because your muscles are pumped up due to frequent exercise.

2) You are counting calories correctly; you are losing ~1-2lbs BF per week AND gaining 1-2lbs muscle per week resulting in a weekly .25lbs BW increase. You are exhibiting muscle tissue growth 400 percent faster than a normal human WHILE operating in a caloric deficit. You are the Wolverine -- only the lack of coconut oil is holding you back from ascension.

3) Some wildcard 3rd variable I'm not thinking of like crippling thyroid issues? I dunno.

You're either in a deficit or not, and if you are, then you aren't building statistically significant amounts of muscle. Its common and accepted that beginners can gainstrengthon a cut (primarily through CNS adaptation)... I have never heard of beginners gainingmuscleon a cut.

Itlan · Jul 3, 2014

#1 seems the most likely.

Cad · Jul 3, 2014

No I think you're probably right. I'll re-examine my portions and measure rather than estimate, I've probably been under-estimating.

Ambiturner · Jul 3, 2014

You could also have been dehydrated when you first weighed yourself and are holding some extra water now.

I'd still go with #1 from Eidal, though, as that's extremely common and the main cause of people breaking the first law of thermodynamics

Eidal · Jul 3, 2014

Cad_sl said:
No I think you're probably right. I'll re-examine my portions and measure rather than estimate, I've probably been under-estimating.

I suggest a cheap food scale off Amazon. Enjoy Amazon decidingAmazon.com - Beadaholique 500 Count Resealable Zipper Poly Bags, 2 by 3-Inch, 50mm by 100mm, Clear -"would interest you!"

Its impossible for me to accurately estimate portions. I'll be 100+ calories off somehow. Remember to use pre-cook weight in MFP unless the entry specifically says cooked weight.

Eomer · Jul 3, 2014

I'm sure there's others out there, but I've been using the Hacker's Diet website to track my weight, and it does a pretty good job. Really helps you spot trends over time, and gives you a more realistic weight that's a moving average:Fourmilab

Don't mind the circa-1995 web design.

Gavinmad · Jul 3, 2014

The real question here is why do you need to be that precise? If you are eating properly and exercising a lot, your health is improving. Your weight is pretty much irrelevant.

Warmuth · Jul 3, 2014

If your goal is weight loss and you're not obese you've got to know how many calories you're taking in. You can be totally healthy and happy eating nice clean food and exercising in any manner and that's great. Once you get down to 15% body fat or thereabouts you have to have your diet tight or you're going to lose no more weight. That equates to setting and maintaining a caloric deficit. Exercise does not burn any amount of calories you can't erase in 10 seconds of eating.

You're right that weight is irrelevant, sort of, but body fat percentage is what people really mean by weight. That is almost entirely based on diet.

Eidal · Jul 3, 2014

Twilight Sparkle_sl said:
The real question here is why do you need to be that precise? If you are eating properly and exercising a lot, your health is improving. Your weight is pretty much irrelevant.

Cad's goal isn't "be healthy"... he probably already is and knows that. He wants to lose BF for aesthetics. Aesthetics require a bit more precision unless your profession is something very physically demanding.

McQueen · Jul 3, 2014

Did you start taking any new supplements, Cad? If you weren't taking creatine before, for example, you'd definitely be storing some more water weight now if you had started taking it.

Cad · Jul 3, 2014

McQueen_sl said:
Did you start taking any new supplements, Cad? If you weren't taking creatine before, for example, you'd definitely be storing some more water weight now if you had started taking it.

No, unless my protein shakes have them in it. But I only drink 3-4 of those a week (after I lift). Mostly I eat lean beef and chicken + vegetables. My one retarded meal of the day is cold cereal in the morning, but I measured it this morning fairly accurately, and it's only ~400 calories... measured the milk + the cereal.

Eomer · Jul 3, 2014

Twilight Sparkle_sl said:
The real question here is why do you need to be that precise? If you are eating properly and exercising a lot, your health is improving. Your weight is pretty much irrelevant.

Min/max bro!

But seriously, I'm just kind of a numbers guy and find it interesting to track and be able to go back and say "hey, last year during the bike race that I felt like shit on, I was 192lbs, this year I should try to get down to 185" or whatever. I exercise a fair amount and eat fairly healthy, but I also like to eat and drink a lot. So tracking my weight allows me to know when it's time to cut back for a bit to get back on track. I don't really do any weight lifting, it's all athletics (biking, skiing, hiking, hockey, rarely jogging), so my body composition isn't likely changing much. So weight loss = fat loss = improvement in physical performance/ability as far as I'm concerned.

Ossoi · Jul 4, 2014

Twilight Sparkle_sl said:
The real question here is why do you need to be that precise? If you are eating properly and exercising a lot, your health is improving. Your weight is pretty much irrelevant.

Asking that question on a forum mostly populated by ex MMO players - who presumably looked for strats and ways to min/max their characters = LOL

Ambiturner · Jul 4, 2014

Twilight Sparkle_sl said:
The real question here is why do you need to be that precise? If you are eating properly and exercising a lot, your health is improving. Your weight is pretty much irrelevant.

There can be a dramatic difference between what someone thinks they're eating and what they actually are. It's not 5 calories here or there, but can be 500-1000 a day

Ossoi · Jul 5, 2014

I bought a bike last week as I wanted to speed up the last month of my cut with some cardio.

I cycle to work every day, only 4.3 miles there but it's slightly uphill so medium intensity.

I've lost a kg since last week and am looking pretty shredded this morning, visually I'd guess 8% bf

Warmuth · Jul 5, 2014

8% is badass, nice job.

Gravel · Jul 5, 2014

Yeah, 8% is fucking shredded. It's pretty close to as low as most men can physically maintain naturally (I think you can probably maintain closer to 6% if you're cycling).

Itlan · Jul 7, 2014

All inclusive week vacation at the Hard Rock in Riviera Maya.

Bets on how much weight I can gain?

Daelos · Jul 7, 2014

This is me, one week vacation followed by more dieting

A week off can be just what you need to kickstart the weight loss

(Max on that chart is 96kg, low is 86kg, x-axis is 10 weeks long)

Weight Loss Thread

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