When I am home, I track everything -Protein, fat, carbs, sugar, Fiber, and calories. I have a hard time losing weight (go up & down the same .5 - 1lb)

But when I go visit my parents for a week, I don't track anything, eat everything, and come home 6 pounds lighter!

How does that work?

I admit, I don't really cook, and at home I use shakes and Protein Bars for a lot of my protein.

At Mom & Dad's this week, I ate rice, bread, grits, even a whole piece of lemon ice box pie! But meals were things like crab, shrimp, lamb, beef filet, a bunch of pork (we were in North Carolina, home of pulled pork!) and even chili dogs.

Is the difference real food vs fake food (the shakes and bars)?

Why do I lose more when I don't keep track and even stray off program? This is very frustrating.

You may have been on a stall. By eating more food, you might have signaled your body to burn more.

Sometimes a change is all it takes for your body to jump-start the weight loss again. Also, if you are stressed at all, your body has a tendency to hold onto fat. When you relax, it often helps the weight loss - maybe you were more relaxed on vacation?

I was definitely stressed before leaving, but the trip wasn't really a vacation, it was for a family reunion with 60 people, most of whom I had either never met, or hadn't seen since 1979! We had caterers do all the cooking for 4 days, so you know none of it was diet food! So why did I lose so much weight?

The thing is, the same thing happened a month ago - little weight loss at home, but eating at Mom & Dad's for a week, I lost 3 pounds.

I was definitely stressed before leaving, but the trip wasn't really a vacation, it was for a family reunion with 60 people, most of whom I had either never met, or hadn't seen since 1979! We had caterers do all the cooking for 4 days, so you know none of it was diet food! So why did I lose so much weight?

The thing is, the same thing happened a month ago - little weight loss at home, but eating at Mom & Dad's for a week, I lost 3 pounds.

Can I go eat at your Mom & Dads? I need something to jump start me.

YOU WERE PROBABLY MORE ACTIVE AS WELL !!

Maybe you hadn't been eating enough calories.

Yaya, this is an interesting thread. Thanks for starting it. I would love to hear people's thoughts on this because my surgeon is one of the ones that does not want his patients on protein supplements, but getting protein from real food.

YOU WERE PROBABLY MORE ACTIVE AS WELL !!

Not really.

Activities at home: walk 2 miles 6 days a week, work out with personal trainer 2 days a week, ride my horse 45 minutes 3-5 days a week (really moving, not just trail walking). Oh, and all this with a heat index of 105-108 this week!

Activities while at Mom & Dad's: croquet (not a real high-powered game), shopping, standing around at cocktail parties, walking up & down stairs a couple of times a day, maybe walking up & down a steep driveway a couple of times. Avg temp: 75 degrees.

I don't think they really compare.

I guess I just need to adapt the lifestyle of Mom & Dad's house (and learn to cook!) because I'd much rather spend my time shopping and eating pie than all the workouts I do at home, especially when I lose more weight! (sarcasm alert!) Or maybe I just need to move there.

But really, it is very puzzling and frustrating!

It may have been the jump in calories. I know sometimes I get into an eating rut (all the same things for days at a time) and my weight loss stalls, then I throw in a few days of higher cals and it jump starts weight loss again! lol

I've been at a stall for over a month. I went on vacation last week an lost 5 pounds then this week nothing! I don't get it! I am active at home more so than vacation. At home I jog 20 miles a week!

I would say three things. Jump in calories. Good timing potentially? were about to lose anyway?

But I do believe real food takes more energy to digest than Protein shakes. I don't know if its 5 lbs worth, in fact I'm pretty sure it's not, but real food requires more digestive effort.