Saturday, July 25, 2009

It's better to have sweated and lost... but I'll settle for 'I told you so'

funny pictures of cats with captions


Summary du week:
I exercised and ate, lost and gained pounds.

In the past week:
average calories eaten: 1783
average calories burned: 634
(average minutes exercised: 80)
weight gain/loss: -1.0

I lost 3.5 pounds and then, while exercising and maintaining a calorie deficit, gained back 2.5 pounds. (I gained most of that back before the dreaded s'mores incident, otherwise the gain would have made more sense.)

Given a BMR of 1944 (which seems high in my opinion, but all these numbers are based on estimates from Sparkpeople, so at least I'm being consistent), my average weight loss per day is 794 calories, which means my average weight loss per week should come to a bit more than 1.5 pounds. Close enough to my actual result.

HOWever,

I lost the weight early in the week. If weight loss is a simple equation, if the number of calories coming in is less than calories going out, then you get weight loss, then why did I gain back two pounds if I kept up the exercising and kept down the caloric intake?

There was only one day last week where I ate more calories than I burned off, and even then the difference (taking into account BMR) was 200 calories. To gain 2.5 pounds from eating I would have had to ingest an extra 8750 calories. And I haven't been drinking much water; in fact, I've been dehydrated much of the time.

Weight loss may average out in the long run, but it ain't a simple equation.

I'd rather be thin, but if that isn't possible then I'll settle for feeling smug. (I told them it wasn't simple mumble, grumble...)

Exercise du jour: none. Nasty allergy attack. Even with drugs, I was sneezing and blowing my nose every ten minutes. Seems like all the drugs did was make me woozy as well as sneezy and grumpy and all those other dwarves.

Calories in: 1476
Calories out: none, zero, zip, zilch

8 comments:

Scope Dope Cherrybomb said...

It's simple Merry dear. You gained MUSCLE from all the excersising.




hanairr-how a scotsman might say the word 'honour'.

McB said...

I'm going to ignore all the foul language in your post and tell you what you already know: it's not all about the scale. Scope is correct about the building muscle thing. Also weight loss is not straight forward arith$&@$&. Metabolism is part of the equation, too. Think of it like a car engine. There's more there than just gas in/fumes out. There's idling, speed, engine performance and all kinds of other factors. What matters isn't what you gain/lose daily, but how many total miles you get from the tank. Stop thinking in days and focus on weeks and months. And how your clothes feel, your energy level and all the rest of it.

It's not an equation, it's an essay.

The Merry said...

I'm just complaining about people who keep saying weight loss is simple. (And I've got muscle! I've got more muscle than Arnold, as well as more hair and a lot more friends ;)

I like saying it's an essay, not an equation. Neat phrase.

McB said...

And people who make it sound easy should be flogged. All vehicles burn fuel at a different rate, with varying efficiency. Our bodies are no different.

Been there, done that, have the doublet (GPR)

GatorPerson said...

Ooh! Lots of numbers! Goody!

I have absolutely no advice on losing weight. My bod seems to have settled into its current choice of weight, considerably greater than it was for years and years.

Well, one. Drink lots of water.

Crabby McSlacker said...

I agree, there is nothing simple or straightforward about the relationship between calories in, exercise, metabolism, and weight loss. Which is why shows like the biggest loser are so annyoing--they make it seem like all it takes is a little effort, and the weight will come right off. Not true for everyone!

And now you've got me craving a s'more... but your right, I've noticed they don't taste nearly as good now as they did when I was young. I think cause back then I didn't have much sophistication when it came to chocolate.

Diane (TT) said...

Merry - you're RETAINING water. If you drink more,the water will wash away. I think.

I find that I don't lose weight (or inches) nearly as well if I don't drink water - and I often put it on. Two liters/ day, minimum!

And you need to keep the long-term picture in mind. Keep it up and you'll be awesome.

Patty said...

See, you are right! it isn't simple. Muscle, water retention, maybe even inflamation from the allaergies.

Speaking of the allergies, I am better now, but for several weeks I was sneezing so much I counted it as a workout too.