Bike Hub weight loss challenge 2016

[eccc whippet]

105.5kg...the lowest i have been this year.

[Fat Boab]

105.5kg...the lowest i have been this year.

 

Well done on the effort. But remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint race. Engrave the eating/drinking practices, by repetition, and the 'moving average' weight loss will happen. Day-to-day fluctuations will happen, but the under-lying trend is what you're after.

 

Re water retention.....in my uninformed opinion, a red-herring. If you've got your calorie-deficit sorted, then water-retention may influence your short-term weight, and thereby mess with one's motivation, but under-lying weight loss, due to fat burning, can't be over-shadowed by increasing amounts of water-retention indefinitely. Yet again, reinforcement that it's about short-term practices and habits, for long term results.

[dave303e]

probably thinking too hard about this weight loss thing without giving it a solid run, and expecting too much from 2-3 weeks of eating healthy.

 

Remember its a long road, don't be demotivated by short term results, or the lack of it. Push on, give it 2-3 months. It took me a solid run of about 6 months to go from 106 to 89 last year.

 

Yes I am much younger but without commitment and determination it won't be possible.

I have to agree with this, you increase weight over months and months and then expect to reverse that cycle in weeks... Diets are often sold as get rich quick schemes, IMO rather go slightly less intense on the diet but for a far longer period of time, will also put less stress on your body. This will however take a lot more determination and mental strength though.

 

But that is just my 2c...

[eccc whippet]

i am gona put a real spanner in the works...yesterday i got to a point where my body was crying for food...so i listen to my body and ate half the cow...peanut butter and honey sarmies.,..finished my daughter dinner and ate my dinner (greens and mince )  ...i felt so much better afterwards...i then finished my hour on the IDT. 

 

since i setup the indoor trainer on sunday...i have clocked 180 km and been on the trainer for more than 7 hours...yip my popal is pretty raw...even with cream.

 

this morning i woke up and "unloaded" something that normally happens every day...has been taking a break...only happening every second or 3rd day since i have been eating less and cutting the junk...what i also find strange is i havent even had breakfast yet and i dont feel hungry at all...been on the trainer for an hour this morning...just taking it easy because the garmin is telling me i still need 17 hours of recovery. 

[eccc whippet]

I have to agree with this, you increase weight over months and months and then expect to reverse that cycle in weeks... Diets are often sold as get rich quick schemes, IMO rather go slightly less intense on the diet but for a far longer period of time, will also put less stress on your body. This will however take a lot more determination and mental strength though.

 

But that is just my 2c...

i have been at it since January 2015 (around 18 months)

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

i am gona put a real spanner in the works...yesterday i got to a point where my body was crying for food...so i listen to my body and ate half the cow...peanut butter and honey sarmies.,..finished my daughter dinner and ate my dinner (greens and mince )  ...i felt so much better afterwards...i then finished my hour on the IDT. 

 

since i setup the indoor trainer on sunday...i have clocked 180 km and been on the trainer for more than 7 hours...yip my popal is pretty raw...even with cream.

 

this morning i woke up and "unloaded" something that normally happens every day...has been taking a break...only happening every second or 3rd day since i have been eating less and cutting the junk...what i also find strange is i havent even had breakfast yet and i dont feel hungry at all...been on the trainer for an hour this morning...just taking it easy because the garmin is telling me i still need 17 hours of recovery. 

Commonly referred to as the "whoosh effect" - a period of rapid weight loss triggered by having a normal sized meal or switching something up in your exercise (cross training) after an extended period of extreme calorie restriction. Essentially your body getting rid of extra fluids and solids that it has held on to due to your extreme restriction of calories. 

 

Highly controversial and not truly understood, here’s what my friend and extreme fat loss expert John “Roman” Romaniello said to me about the WHOOSH.

“Even the toughest fat loss plateaus eventually experience a ‘WHOOSH’ effect where your body weight rapidly drops. This happens because of a strange biological twist of fate in your fat cells.

“During a regular fat loss program, your fat cells, which normally do not store water, may take in water as the stored triglycerides are burned through diet and exercise.

“This gives the appearance of a fat loss plateau…which then can be broken, rapidly, through a couple of diet tricks. You then experience extreme rapid fat loss at once – thus known as the WHOOSH effect.”

So if you’re struggling, do NOT give up.

You could be one WHOOSH away from rapid results.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Here's a nice article on it. Check out the bold italicised text. 

 

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/

 

Of Whooshes and Squishy Fat

A few weeks back I answered a question about Not Losing Fat at a 20% Deficit, What Should I Do? and among other things, one comment I made had to do with a water retention that often occurs during fat loss which can mask fat loss and make it appear as if the diet is not working.  I also mentioned specifically that I had written (with a straight-face no less) about whooshes in The Stubborn Fat Solution, along with a related phenomenon which I call squishy fat.

In any case, to expand on that issue, I’m going to excerpt the chapter section from The Stubborn Fat Solution dealing with both phenomena.  With that introduction, I give you (again, with a straight face)…

 

Of Whooshes and Squishy Fat

Before you freak out and think you’ve entered some weird Internet forum where people talk about stalls and whooshes, please bear with me; there’s actually some physiological rationale to what I’m going to discuss.

Many people have noted that fat loss is often discontinuous, that is it often happens in stops and starts.  So you’ll be dieting and dieting and doing everything correctly with nothing to show for it.  Then, boom, almost overnight, you drop 4 pounds and look leaner.

What’s going on?  Back during my college days, one of my professors threw out the idea that after fat cells had been emptied of stored triglyceride, they would temporarily refill with water (glycerol attracts water, which might be part of the mechanism).  So there would be no immediate change in size, body weight or appearance. Then, after some time frame, the water would get dropped, the fat cells would shrink.  A weird way of looking at it might be that the fat loss suddenly becomes ‘apparent’. That is, the fat was emptied and burned off days or weeks ago but until the water is dropped, nothing appears to have happened.

For nearly 20 years I looked for research to support this, I was never sure if it was based on something from the 50’s or he just pulled it out of thin air as an explanation.  Recently, one paper did suggest that visceral fat can fill up with water after massive weight loss but that’s about it.

Somewhat circumstantially, people using Bioimpedance body fat scales (which use hydration to estimate body fat levels) have noted that body fat appears to go up right before a big drop.  This implicates water balance as the issue here.

As well, women, who have more problems with water retention, seem to have bigger issues with stalls and whooshes than men.  Further, some individuals who have done dry carb-loads (high carbohydrate refeeds without drinking a lot of water) have seen them occur; presumably the body pulls water into the muscles and out of other tissues (fat cells).  In lean individuals, appearance is often drastically improved with this approach, it doesn’t do much for those carrying a lot of fat.

I’d note that dry carb-loads suck because you’re so damn thirsty.  Interestingly, even normal refeeds often work in this regards, perhaps the hormonal effect ‘tells’ the body to chill out and release some water.  So not only do refeeds seem to improve stubborn fat mobilization the next day (as discussed above), they may help the body drop some water so that you can see what is happening.

Finally, many have reported whooshes following an evening which included alcohol. A mild diuretic, this would also tend to implicate water balance issues in the whoosh phenomenon.

I’d also note that this isn’t universal, lean dieters often see visual improvements on a day to day basis; a lot seems to depend on whether or not they tend to retain water in general.  Folks who do have problems with water retention tend to have stalls and whooshes, those who don’t show nice consistent visual changes.

On a related topic, I wanted to discuss something else that often happens when people are getting very lean and dealing with stubborn body fat: the fat gets squishy, feeling almost like there are small marbles under the skin.  Yes, very scientific, I know. That’s the best I can do.

As folks get very lean, down to the last pounds of fat, the skin and fat cells that are left will often change appearance and texture.  It will look dimply (as the fat cells which are supporting the skin shrink and the skin isn’t supported) and feel squishy to the touch. This is bad in that it looks really weird, but it’s good because it means that the fat is going away.  I have nothing truly profound to say about this topic, just realizes that it happens and usually indicates good things are happening.

[Fat Boab]

i am gona put a real spanner in the works...yesterday i got to a point where my body was crying for food...so i listen to my body and ate half the cow...peanut butter and honey sarmies.,..finished my daughter dinner and ate my dinner (greens and mince )  ...i felt so much better afterwards...i then finished my hour on the IDT. 

 

since i setup the indoor trainer on sunday...i have clocked 180 km and been on the trainer for more than 7 hours...yip my popal is pretty raw...even with cream.

 

this morning i woke up and "unloaded" something that normally happens every day...has been taking a break...only happening every second or 3rd day since i have been eating less and cutting the junk...what i also find strange is i havent even had breakfast yet and i dont feel hungry at all...been on the trainer for an hour this morning...just taking it easy because the garmin is telling me i still need 17 hours of recovery. 

 

I've also had the reduction in 'unloading' that you speak of. I think it's due to less food, less bulky food (less fibre?). Nothing to worry about. And as for cheat days leading to increased 'unloadings', I'd put that in the same category as water-retention - a red-herring. **** happens!

 

If you look at the attached graph - my body weight from mid-June to mid-July - you'll see lots of jumps in body weight, it happens. And if you look at the last data point, the mass drops from 81.6 to 80.6 in one day. And you know why? Paradoxically, my birthday on the 81.6 kg day. I let myself have a dog-diet: coke, chocolate, curry for dinner, birthday cake afterwards etc. And I lost 1kg in a day. I don't really know what the conclusion is, and I don't really care (not over-thinking it), but what it isn't is that a dog-diet is the way to sustainable weight loss! That conclusion would be ignoring the trend-line, at a loss of 0.5kg a week, and the sustained calorie-deficit achieved from diet & exercise.

 

 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

And I'll post this one again...

 

http://www.muscleforlife.com/water-retention-and-weight-loss/

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I've also had the reduction in 'unloading' that you speak of. I think it's due to less food, less bulky food (less fibre?). Nothing to worry about. And as for cheat days leading to increased 'unloadings', I'd put that in the same category as water-retention - a red-herring. **** happens!

 

 

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I think the point is that the water retention / refeed / whoosh whatever you want to call it affects your short-term numbers, and may cause a spike or dip even though you've been doing everything "right" or following a "bad day" as you had, and mask the effects that the longer term calorie deficit can have on your body (sustained weight loss)

 

When it comes to the longer term side of things, a sustained calorie deficit WILL result in weight loss. But for people who get easily discouraged or fall off the wagon, it's important to realise that there may be an actual reason as to why the scale doesn't reflect the efforts they put in day after day, and it'll just take something small for those numbers to reflect the actual underlying fat loss. 

 

So - short term influences would be water retention etc. But that won't affect the long term weight loss, if you keep at it. 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I know that this may be confirmation bias at work, but it makes sense at a certain level. This is the simplest explanation I've found 

 

Why Does It Happen?

The most likely reason for this stop and start pattern of fat loss actually has to do with water retention.

When you are maintaining a caloric deficit, your fat cells are emptied of triglyceride as your body breaks it down for energy. However, as this happens, the fat cells end up temporarily filling back up again with water.

In effect, this means that the fat cells do not immediately shrink. There is also no immediate decrease in body weight, due to water uptake offsetting the actual fat that was burned.

Then, after a period of time, the fat cells will suddenly flush all of the water that they’re holding and finally shrink down. This is the whoosh taking place.

So, in reality, you have actually been consistently burning fat the entire time, but it will only become obvious after these whooshes, since that is when your scale weight drops and everything tightens up.

[Escapee..]

testosterone...the lack of it...could that be the problem...reading more and more about us older folk lacking it...which results in a tube around the gut and a few other issues.

had a chat with a mate (same age) today and he is also battling with his weight...he went for tests which indicated he required a boost...he got a shot yesterday for it...will be interesting to hear the results. 

there is a video which keeps popping up in you tube which shows a pic of a 53 years ballie...sporting lean body...watched a bit of the video and they talk about testosterone.

 

i thought only if the little fella didnt stand at attention when checking out some tidy stock or you haveing dirty thoughts about the lady sitting opposite you in the office...or you fixing the network cable under the desk and look up...you know what i mean

 

could it be that there is more to it ?

 

time to do some more research.

 

Did they show his diet and his exercise routine?

 

 

i am gona put a real spanner in the works...yesterday i got to a point where my body was crying for food...so i listen to my body and ate half the cow...peanut butter and honey sarmies.,..finished my daughter dinner and ate my dinner (greens and mince )  ...i felt so much better afterwards...i then finished my hour on the IDT. 

 

since i setup the indoor trainer on sunday...i have clocked 180 km and been on the trainer for more than 7 hours...yip my popal is pretty raw...even with cream.

 

this morning i woke up and "unloaded" something that normally happens every day...has been taking a break...only happening every second or 3rd day since i have been eating less and cutting the junk...what i also find strange is i havent even had breakfast yet and i dont feel hungry at all...been on the trainer for an hour this morning...just taking it easy because the garmin is telling me i still need 17 hours of recovery. 

 

This sounds like a vicious circle...

 

Dont feel hungry, diet diet diet, eat everything, feels good, dont feel hungry...

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Did they show his diet and his exercise routine?

 

 

 

This sounds like a vicious circle...

 

Dont feel hungry, diet diet diet, eat everything, feels good, dont feel hungry...

exactly why I increased the amount of food I'm having on a daily basis. Don't want to get into that position of only having 1,200 kcal and then eating the fridge. 

 

Just under 2,000 a day at the moment, and I'm back on the same weight I was last week (almost)

 

108.5

[partydave]

exactly why I increased the amount of food I'm having on a daily basis. Don't want to get into that position of only having 1,200 kcal and then eating the fridge. 

 

Just under 2,000 a day at the moment, and I'm back on the same weight I was last week (almost)

 

108.5

 

Up or down?

[Fat Boab]

I think the point is that the water retention / refeed / whoosh whatever you want to call it affects your short-term numbers, and may cause a spike or dip even though you've been doing everything "right" or following a "bad day" as you had, and mask the effects that the longer term calorie deficit can have on your body (sustained weight loss)

 

When it comes to the longer term side of things, a sustained calorie deficit WILL result in weight loss. But for people who get easily discouraged or fall off the wagon, it's important to realise that there may be an actual reason as to why the scale doesn't reflect the efforts they put in day after day, and it'll just take something small for those numbers to reflect the actual underlying fat loss. 

 

So - short term influences would be water retention etc. But that won't affect the long term weight loss, if you keep at it. 

 

100%. Exactly why I track my under-lying trend - weekly moving average on Excel - and respond (correct?) accordingly. I don't worry about daily swings, or even 3-4 day swings, but if the trend isn't what I'm happy with, then I react.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Up or down?

was at 108 last week Friday. 110.5 Monday. Back at 108.5 now but the scale is doing that shuffle between numbers that electronic scales do, so I suspect it's somewhere between 108 & 108.5 this morning (those were the numbers it was switching between)