So I was trying to figure recently how it could be possible that I lost so much weight on my R&R when everything I ate was incredibly rich ie; eggs benedict, egg nog, oysters rockefeller, spinach artichoke dip, fancy cheese, etc. etc. I think I've figured out how. It's because, if left to my own desires, I hardly ever feel the need to eat. So for example that (glorious) eggs benedict. I didn't eat it till 9 or 10 (had been awake since 4:30) and I really only ate most of one of the poached eggs and probalby about a tsp of the sauce and one piece of (glorious) bacon. I didn't eat again until about 2pm that afternoon, some 5 hours later, after hoofing it all over the city (San Francisco=crazy hills).

And what did I eat? High tea, which means 2 or 3 sandwiches so tiny they could fit on a 50 cent piece, and 3 or 4 bakes sweets of equal size, along with a lot of hot tea. Then, much hoofing of the city and about 5 hours later, a skewer of about 3 grilled shrimps and a stab of salad. Two hours later, before bedtime, a gingerbread man cookie that I had saved from high tea, he fit in my palm.

So high calorie? Yes. A hell of a lot of cardio? Oh yeah. Quantity? Next to nothing (ie: sleever's usual).

My point is that all of my days food could have fit in my cupped hands and when I returned from R&R and input that kind of eating into my tracker I discovered that I actually did perfectly fine on calories, considering (between 500-900) but that my Protein was woefully inadequate.

So, what's my point? I'm rambling, I know. I guess my concern/curiousity/interest is that if left to my own devices I wouldn't be eating enough, either in quantity or protein-wise.

BUT ...

Why then, did I lose so much weight?

I lost 8 pounds in 7 days people! Many of you long-timers know my regular complaint of feeling like a slow loser, of watching barely a pound a week come off when I am a model patient. So why, when I started taking in barely half the protein I should, 5 times the carbs I should, and nearly no Water, did I suddenly lose weight like nobody's business?

I'm baffled. Any ideas, I'm all ears.

One of the reasons we have to go heavy on protein is because your body essentially starts to resorb your own muscle mass for protein if you consistently lack protein in diet. Whenever people lose weight (especially if it's done without resistance exercise), they lose some muscle mass, but they lose less muscle if they eat a high-protein diet. When you are low on protein, you start burning your own muscle, so even though you lose scale weight like crazy, you are killing your metabolism and making yourself weaker in the long term. This is why you screw up your body so much when you go on fad diets, like the cabbage soup diet - you lose a ton of weight in a short amount of time, but then your metabolism slows down. Therefore, it's important to keep eating lots of protein, otherwise, you might lose more weight, but hinder your goals in the long-term.

I know I posted this before. It was posted by Maddie, I kept it because we can fall into a pit of questions and this seems to make sense to me. Hope it helps...

This is how it was explained to me and it makes sense.

Pull back from your ‘daily’ charting, and look at a weekly or even monthly. There are up and down spikes each day, But if you ‘graph’ the highest to the lowest, I’d bet there is still A downward slope over the course of the month.

There’s an 8 to 10lb. volume of "wiggle room" due to Water alone. And it comes into play a lot. This has to do with our bodies using glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, But it is stored in our muscles for quick energy – One pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, And the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs.

So, when you are not getting in enough food, (Like when you drop down to your calorie intake) Your body turns first to stored glycogen, Which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, You also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it Voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of any diet.

As you stay in caloric deficit, however, Your body starts to ‘realize’ that this is not a short term problem.

You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue And burning fat for energy. But your body also ‘realizes’---- (by way of your liver releasing hormones signaling low Cal intake) ---That fat can't be used for short bursts of energy – Like, to outrun a saber-tooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, And rebuilding the glycogen stores.

And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, (Thus showing negative Calorie load overall) Your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while As you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored. Yes? The whole ‘weight-loss’ process is not a straight "Slide" down the scale. More like "Stair-Steps," (Down then forward, then down, then forward, etc... As your body cycles fat out of "deep storage" and through the Liver Into the muscles as Glycogen.

The muscles and Liver can hold about a 3 weeks supply. This is why many people find that their "Stall" or "Plateau" Breaks when adding a bit of exercise And upping their water intake, or in the case of an "extreme exerciser," The total Calorie or Protein Intake, To signal the liver to let go of more Glycogen.

Hope this helps some.

From the same thread:

Lisalu:

Great posts. I would like to add something to Maddie's explanation of stalls. The liver makes glycogen (read: stored glucose) in order to keep blood glucose levels steady. The liver doesn't convert fats into gycogen though, it either needs carbs or protein. This is why keeping our protein up is so important. Our muscles and brain run on ketone bodies (which do come from fat metabolism) and glucose. If we don't have enough protein to synthesize the glucose we need, our bodies will break down muscle. Not what we want.

Now that was satisfying! I remember when that explanation was first posted, it really is a good one, and absolutely - when I look at my weight loss history on my online food tracker it is a long downward stair-stepping slope. =)

I'm just really tired of eating lately. Although I do cardio everyday I'm going to only do weights every other day now and I've GOT to get better about my Water, I think today I've only drunk 60 ounces and for some reason I'm feeling rebellious and barely took in a couple hundred calories and like 60 gs Protein. Wonder what the psychology behind that is ...

Hey Globe! Really interesting -- I too went away for only 4 days and lost over 5 pounds (couldn't record what I ate, etc.) -- and I know that I ate more carbs than usual (no real choice with food that was available).

And Determined that post from Maddie is interesting -- my weight loss is exactly stairsteps -- I'm wondering if I kept my Proteins up and ate more carbs (I keep it under 30) if I would lose more or it would be the same old stairsteps thing that I currently am experiencing???

Anyway, good info guys - -thanks!

All I can say is that I'm doing lowcarbs now and high protein (5 day pouch test ) and haven't lost ANY weight! I'm gonna finish it for the sake of it and just to make sure my sleeve is working and to get rid of the bad carbs I have been eating round christmas time and then go back to my higher carbs again (but good carbs !) I believe that a balanced diet including all the food groups is what works best for me, especially because I don't want to deprive myself of carbs and then when I start eating them again go mad because I have been restricted for so long and end up putting on weight.

I kinda think the "5 day pouch test" is silly. Or, maybe it's just the name I find silly - it's not really a test, and we don't really have pouches, it's just reverting back to a liquid diet for 5 days isn't it? So, it's not proving anything - of course you will lose weight again if you go back on all liquids, that's why we all lost huge weight right after surgery. I'm trying to figure out where I stand regarding carbs, I ate some bread and cake on vacation but other then that, haven't had bread or flour-based products since surgery. I'm genuinely afraid to try potatoes, bread, Pasta and grains - afraid I won't be able to eat them in moderation and will want to binge on them.

I've decided to no longer count carbs as they relate to vegetables however. If I feel like eating a bunch of brocolli because I have a craving, or a half an orange, or vegetable soup, I shall, and if my carb count for the day is "high" as a result of plenty of veggies that will be fine.

Honestly though, I could drink hot tea all day long and never feel the need to eat. I would get super hyper and trembly, but I wonder how many days it would take before I "felt" hungry? Would I ever "feel" hungry? Or would I collapse before then? hmm.

The 5 day pouch test isn't all liquids, it's 2 days protein shakes and soups and protein for the next 3 days. I've had potatoes, rice a few times, but don't anymore, now i ussually just have protein and salad/veggies, i don't have the urge for those type of carbs. You're lucky you don't feel any hunger this far out, I do feel hungry when I've not eaten anything for 2 or 3 hours

Globe, I seriously would not feel hungry -- now I do get irritable and trembly like you said. But hunger where your stomach hurts?? Or hunger like you gotta eat something NOW?? nope. I never feel it. Maybe that will change. I'm kinda hoping not. Because I really really don't EVER think about food until someone bugs me to make breakfast/lunch/dinner.

yeah Julia, I had never realized the unusualness of my new food habits until I went home, since surgery I've been out here in Iraq and not in "real" society. It wasn't till spending all day touring around with my Mom that I realized I don't operate like a "normal" person, she would say something about needing to eat and I would think "we just ate!" and then find out the time and discover it had been 6-7 hours since we ate!