Well I'm annoyed with my body.
Friday was a feast day, so I feasted. Had about 1900 calories. We then made plans to go out on Saturday, so I decided to do a double feast day, as I needed soakage and the alcohol would ruin a fast day anyway. I intended to fast on Sunday but was tired and feeling eatey so I ate. Very badly I must say - we got a McDonald's AND a pizza. But, I wasn't too worried - figured it would do for my kick-start plan.
However, when I weighed myself on Monday morning, I had gone up FOUR kilos, or NINE pounds!! I freaked! I figured that if I fasted on Monday and drank loads of water, it would come down quickly again. I hoped that it was mainly water retention. So I fasted on Monday, yesterday I had a half feast day - I only ate 1000 calories - and today I'm fasting again. I weighed myself this morning though and I'm still about a kilo, or two pounds over the weight I was before the weekend.
I just don't understand it - I mean, I know I ate badly but still - four kilos in three days?? That seems excessive.
Now I find myself worrying that when I've finally reached my goal weight I'll just put weight back on really quickly if I'm eating about 1800 calories a day.
I'm annoyed. I wouldn't have minded if I'd gained a kilo after the weekend, but four just seems unreasonable.
Am I right to worry? I don't know. I wish I knew a doctor or nutritonist.
Hi, I've been doing ADF for about 6 months now.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across your blog & found it very interesting. Particularly the vastly different attitude that you have compared to me.
I started a blog / website ( http://adfasting.com ), where I just talk about my ideas.
I have found some research that says that ADF suits males better than females... and I suspect it might be true (but I'm not trying to discourage you!).
I started at 92Kg, and I'm now 80Kg.
However, the main reason I started ADF wasn't because of weight, but the health benefits... weight is almost irrelevant to me, except its an approximate indicator of health.
In fact, I had no scale to weight myself regularly until 1 month ago, and I only bought it to make sure I wasn't losing weight to fast.
As far as I can see, my weight loss has been gradual, but given that I just don't bother counting calories (ie I eat whatever I like on a feast day, and nothing on a fast day), then I'm sure the weight bounced a few Kg between days.
I get the feeling that you carefully count your calories due to past dieting experience (and doing so might be a mistake).
I also think that counting calories & weighing yourself so often, sets you up for an emotional roller-coaster, that will affect your ability to "stay on track".
I don't know your weight, but I suspect a 4 - 5 Kg weight variation (either way) every few days is normal, and its the long-term weight loss that matters.
The way I see it: its not the weight loss that will result in better health. Its the better health that will result in some weight loss (as a side-benefit).
In some ways, I'm lazy (can't be bothered counting calories, or watching what food I eat), but I'm also disciplined (at most, 1 carrot on a fast day).
Hi, I'm so sorry I never replied, I only saw your comment now! Thanks for the encouragement, you're right, weighing myself every day is a bad idea, especially after a few months of dieting when weight loss eases off. I find that I can't relax enough to not count calories on feast days. However, at least this means that I am learning portion control for the day I finally enter maintenance mode.
DeleteAs you say, it's long-term loss that matters and mine is going down consistently. I just need to stop panicking every second day when it fluctuates. Going to check your blog now, thanks for commenting!!