cheat week broke my starvation mode?

[graviton23]

I have been consistently losing weight since December at a 1-2lb/week rate. I was at 265 back then and am now 1lb shy of my goal weight (200lb). I just wanted to share with you guys a story. I have been pretty consistent with my caloric intake by tracking calories in my iphone and am currently alotted about 1650 calories per day. Last week I had to go to Las Vegas for job training and had been at a sticking point of around 205lbs for a few weeks. I think I was starting to show some signs of overtraining as my workouts had been losing intensity and I was catching a cold. Well I decided that the Vegas trip would be a perfect excuse to have an "unload" week where I use 50% of my normal training weights and cut back on the cardio by 50% too. I also decided that I wasn't going to bother with counting calories or watching what I eat after all I was in Sin City. My usual foods would include Whey and Casein protein, steel cut oats, 100 calorie flat bread with lunch meat, veggie burgers or turkey burgers, chicken, eggs, apples, bananas, almonds and popcorn. In Vegas I ate pizza, burgers, chicken fingers, french fries, beer, pastrami, cheese danishes, frosted flakes, and whatever I could find that was yummy on a buffet line. Some of those meals and beers were consumed very close to bedtime. Oh and I drank TONS of water because I had a cold and I was in Vegas where it is dry as can be. When I got back home I weighed myself and was 209.5lbs. I wasn't too upset because I was expecting the worse and had a great time. I cleaned my diet back up to its previous level and the next day I was 206.5, I figured I probably pissed out a lot of water weight. The next day I was at 205lbs. The day after I was at 204 and now I am at 201. This cheat week really busted me through a weight loss plateau! Do you think my body was in starvation mode? What are your theories?

[SUPER_MANLET]

i bet that break boosted your motivation too

i had similar situation but mine started on the 11th of july i traveled to jordan to meet cousin anyway

i was already done 17 weeks of cutting down to 156 lbs but the last bit of fat on lower abs didn't want to go

anyway i started eating like i'm on bulk season , slept everyday for 10-12 hours

no cardio just walking no weight lifting

gotta admit i felt bloated and my stomach was hurting me cuz of the crappy food

but now i'm on track 156 lbs same weight no more no less and ready to lose the last damn bit of fat and so is my body!

[Webber91]

I just got back last week from Malaysia after being there for 10 days, trained once, ate so much random crap that a) I couldn't pronounce, b) was loaded with carbs, fat and very little protein, and c) I had no idea where it came from or what was in it.

Needless to say, now that I'm back I've set 2 new PR's and ended up coming home leaner than when I left...

METABOLISM > SPEED OF LIGHT

[theandichrist]

I'm wonder this is what's happening to me. I was on a business trip last week and ate essentially whatever I wanted. I didn't binge on ice-cream or anything, but I didn't deny myself food that I normally would cringe when I'd eat it (bread, potatoes, pretty much anything that wasn't salmon and steamed broccoli). I didn't hit the gym once the entire week. Weighed myself this week and I went from 150lbs to 156lbs ... pretty bummed but I'm going to weigh myself today and see what's happening. Hoping to have the same results.

[polar775]

I'm wonder this is what's happening to me. I was on a business trip last week and ate essentially whatever I wanted. I didn't binge on ice-cream or anything, but I didn't deny myself food that I normally would cringe when I'd eat it (bread, potatoes, pretty much anything that wasn't salmon and steamed broccoli). I didn't hit the gym once the entire week. Weighed myself this week and I went from 150lbs to 156lbs ... pretty bummed but I'm going to weigh myself today and see what's happening. Hoping to have the same results.

thers no way u can gain 6lbs of fat in a week..

unless u sat down and ate a bucket of butter with a large spoon and washed it down soda

[theandichrist]

Haha. Point taken. Like I said I'm going to reweigh myself and see what where I'm at. Bucket o butter ? Sounds like an interesting challenge ...

[fatinNYC]

Past 5 weeks or so I have been cycling my calories. I have 3-4 days during the week where I eat close to 1k and sometimes less. (mon-thurs). Then friday night I go out to dinner and don't really pay attention. Saturday and sunday I go out for lunch/dinner with family and don't pay much attention - sometimes have dessert but still don't binge - cals here are probably closer to 2k sometimes a little above. Then Sunday night back to monday morning i restrict cals again. I have been keeping track of this stuff with my Wii fit taking 2x daily measurements and I think I have made sense out of all the madness.

My weight has been a downward sinusoidal wave. On the weekends after I cheat, I'm back up 5 lbs which goes away within the first day and then im back to losing again. This pattern has taken me from 260 to 242 as of yesterday within 5 weeks.


edit: the graph of my weight is pretty interesting and shows just how much can change with water-weight in a matter of hours.

[theandichrist]

I haven't been countin cals at all since I've started my cut. I basically eat the same thing every day and it's been going pretty well ( down 30lbs ) I've just kept my carbs as low as possible. Nervous about plateauing though.

[MikeD4386]

rather than be worried about gaining weight, u should be excited about the nobel prize u r going to receive in physics this fall. After all, if you were in "starvation mode", then u defied the laws of thermodynamics and created free energy out of nothing. thanks to u we r on our way to a clean energy future... moron

[fatinNYC]

rather than be worried about gaining weight, u should be excited about the nobel prize u r going to receive in physics this fall. After all, if you were in "starvation mode", then u defied the laws of thermodynamics and created free energy out of nothing. thanks to u we r on our way to a clean energy future... moron

yeah well... you also forget this -

the body may slow down and consume less calories. make you feel more tired... you may physically move LESS than you would had your metabolism been higher.

There is no creation of energy from "nowhere" but there are better ways the body can use of conserving it. like... healing a cut slower or not dividing your cells as much, or making you tired so you lay on the couch for an hour.

[MikeD4386]

that is not a slowdown in "metabolism" that is an increase in laziness. and the changes are negligible, especially in the short term


go take ur temperature. is it 70 degrees???? no??? ur not in "starvation mode". the mere fact that u r capable of constucting full sentences indiciates u r not in starvation mode.

also, in addition to solving the energy crisis, thank u for solving world hunger, cuz kids in africa will only need a few hundred calories a day to live now, since they can "slow down their metabolism" so much. use ur brain, stop getting ur science from npr.

[clash101]

that is not a slowdown in "metabolism" that is an increase in laziness. and the changes are negligible, especially in the short term


go take ur temperature. is it 70 degrees???? no??? ur not in "starvation mode". the mere fact that u r capable of constucting full sentences indiciates u r not in starvation mode.

also, in addition to solving the energy crisis, thank u for solving world hunger, cuz kids in africa will only need a few hundred calories a day to live now, since they can "slow down their metabolism" so much. use ur brain, stop getting ur science from npr.

All that can be said without sounding like a jackass ya know?

[theandichrist]

All that can be said without sounding like a jackass ya know?

Agreed.

[whitely]

Agreed.

+1

U added 6 lbs... Let's assume u were carb depleted, and see : 300ish g of carbs + 1200 g of water added to carbs = 1500. 1,5kg*2.2= 3.3 lbs. 6lbs-3.3 lbs = 2.7 lbs of who knows what, so you see, it's not 6lbs that u added but around 2.5, and you definitely did increse your metabolism, so good job.

[theandichrist]

+1

U added 6 lbs... Let's assume u were carb depleted, and see : 300ish g of carbs + 1200 g of water added to carbs = 1500. 1,5kg*2.2= 3.3 lbs. 6lbs-3.3 lbs = 2.7 lbs of who knows what, so you see, it's not 6lbs that u added but around 2.5, and you definitely did increse your metabolism, so good job.

I was thinking that I gained around 3, with my egg whites,coffee,water being the remaining 3. So, your calculation ... although I'm trying to wrap my head around it is 100% accurate. I guess my biggest issue I would have is a really have no idea how many carbs I should be taking in. I keep my eating real clean and mainly stick with protein and veggies (chicken,fish,ground turkey) and as of late I've been exploring more fats by eating more peanut butter, olive oil to see if it'll help the process along. To put it plainly, I'm a newb to the whole science of eating and I'm trying to get as much info from here as possible.

[theandichrist]

Not trying to put the spotlight on myself. Just excited that someone actually gave me some good info. Thanks whitely.