An interesting data pattern in my diet program...

[elfs]

I've noticed an interesting trend in my body fat percentages data, and I figured I'd share it with you. First, the slope is bottoming out. I suspect part of that is because I've been cheating more often. Sad but true. I'm a foodie in a house full of women and children: there are temptations everywhere. Most days, I can keep to the regimen, it's not tragically onerous. Some days, though, like when everyone's having some home-baked cookies or hand-made ice cream (Omaha won an ice cream maker made by a reputable manufacturer at an auction recently), self-discipline crumbles.

Those green dots are days when I recorded cheating: I had two oatmeal-and-peanut-butter cookies and a glass of milk, or a half-cup of ice cream, or ate my barbecue beef sandwiches on real bread (gasp!, I know, right?). I only recently started to mark down cheating incidents, so there's data missing from earlier in the pattern.

The data is pretty consistent. Upward spikes in body fat readings don't happen the day after cheating: they show up the second morning after cheating. This tells me important things about the relationship between food and my biochemistry, about the delay of fat cell construction and how it relates to eating even small amounts of carbohydrates.

Comments

[shunra.livejournal.com]

I note a similar lag in terms of effects of extra-long walks or other vigorous movements that I decline to call exercise.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I;ve noticed the same on Weight watchers. Which is why I try to stay very tightly to the plan for Sunday-Tuesday before a Wed weigh-in. I do better if I stay tight all week, but staying on for 2-3 days before is my emergency backup.

Same here.

[meowse.livejournal.com]

I've noticed exactly the same thing myself--the weight gain shows up two mornings after I eat things that are bad for me.

I've noticed another pattern that might be of interest to you. I don't know if you're familiar with the role of the liver in storing carbohydrates in ready-to-use form (glycogen, to be precise), but the liver stores approximately 3 days worth of carbohydrates. I've found that, if I "cheat on my diet" just one day a week (e.g. by eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's, or drinking a Trader Joe's Vintage 2010 Ale), it doesn't just stop me from losing weight for that day: it also stops me from losing weight for the next two days as well, as my body burns carbohydrates from my liver instead of fat from my fat cells when it needs energy.

And I have to go through the whole "getting through the carb craving wall" all over again when the glycogen runs out!

At this point, I simply don't cheat on my diet, ever. There is no amount of blood sugar rush or taste-of-delicious-sugar that is worth spending *three unnecessary days* working out and avoiding food indulgences, nor that is worth suffering through the subsequent day of cold hands, exhaustion, irritability, and other symptoms of low blood sugar until my body decides that it's really okay to burn fat again.

I'll stick to my eating plan until I hit my goal weight, and then add back in whole grains until I stabilize. It's just not worth slowing that process down, for me--and especially not by three days per indulgence!

Re: Same here.

[anthologie.livejournal.com]

This. And the glycogen-processing requires extra water, so the weight "spikes" aren't fat, they're extra water weight required to process the carbs/glucose/glycogen.

[(Anonymous)]

How are you measuring your body fat percentage, if you don't mind me asking? I don't know much about weight loss, but the day-to-day variation on that graph seems pretty high and I wonder if it's not at least partially noise.

For example, towards the end of the graph, it appears your body fat went up about two percentage points in a single day. That has to translate to three or four pounds of fat in 24 hours. I find it hard to believe the human body can do that.

Number 127

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure that there's noise in that. Bioelectrical Impedance is a pretty unreliable method. Measuring yourself just after waking ensures you the most reliable time of day for using it, because your body achieves a solid level of sleep-related homeostasis. I just found the variations fascinating.

And the last five days the trend spiked way, way up, so I'm going back into seriousness mode. :-)