PSMF DAY 6 stats

Weight: 211.8
Fat Percentage: 25.5 

Yeeeeeah, I think I’m done.

This morning I woke up and I knew, I just KNEW that there would be some sort of change on the scale.  For the last 3 days I’ve been really stringent, and I’ve exorcised and I’ve ingested virtually zero grabs of fat carbs.  My ketostix are a purple that only happens when I’m eating incredibly fatty foods. I’m doing what I’m supposed to do and on the 3rd day in a row I’m at the same weight. Not even like .8 down.  A .5 would have helped. Just show me something to let me know that what I’m doing has more benefit that giving me something to blog about every morning.

I won’t lie to you.  By last night I wasn’t feeling too hot. After a full day of being active, I was cooking for a party, had done weight training and my feet still hurt from that 8.5 mile walk I did a few days ago. I think I made the decision last night way before I ever stepped onto the scale this morning. Basically when I got on the scale it was to make it show me WHY I should stay on this.

It didn’t. 

Now someone commented and left me a link to Lyle McDonalds post about how  weight loss isn’t continuous and it has moments of nothing, then more nothing, then boom. 4 pounds. I know that my body must be freaking out and is trying to retain what it can. All of this does not counter balance my feeling crappy and nothing seeing some sort of movement on the scale. 

Maybe I just need one of those refeeds they speak of so much.  I have enough fat that I figured that I could go 2 weeks with out a break. And yes, I DO see that it says my fat percentage is down again. But I seriously just don’t understand what that means. It’s impossible. I’m the same weight. according to that Ive gained 2 or 3 pounds of muscle and lost 2 or 3 pounds of fat in an exact ratio. If I follow this  supposed fat loss rate I just need 15 more days on this thing and I’ll have a 6 pack. I’ll be the exact same weight, but magically i’ll gain something like 20 pounds of muscle. 

I’m not completely done with the concept of PSMF.  Fact is I’ve done it before but didn’t KNOW I was doing it. Just did it for a few days to clear some sodium out of my system.  I know it works great for that (see the 5 pounds I lost in a day.) I’m going back to my regular Low Carbing. I plan to keep my protein high though. Maybe in another 2 weeks I’ll attempt another week of this.  I might even play with a little intermittant fasting (i did THAT too before) but I’m fairly sure my PSMFing for now is DONE.

And I almost cut my g/f last night.  This thing was NOT helping my mood even a little bit.

First off, I apologize for the title.  I can already see someone freaking out about how A2C is somehow a terrorist sympathy site and should be boycotted.  Breathe you crazy sensitive folks. For those of us in the battle for weight loss we understand the idea of water weight being an evil, evil thing.

When you first lose weight on a Low Carb regimen people are quick to alert you that you haven’t actually lost any weight. It was all water.  That’s what Low Carb diets do, make you lose water.  Not fat. NEVER FAT.  You’ll gain it back soon as you eat some of those healthy life sustaining carbs.  Got it?

Low Carbing does cause you to lose water weight, its true. But personally, I don’t want to walk around with 10 pounds of excess water in my system. Fact is carbs cause you to retain a bit of water. Ketosis causes you to lose water.  So yes, you have just lost water weight when you first jump on that new lifestyle of yours. But that’s not the only cause of water retention.  Sodium, dehydration and a few other things can all play a part in you keeping a few extra pounds you’d prefer to have off of you. This is one of the biggest problems when you possibly have a cheat day or a cheat weekend. Perhaps your resolve wasn’t as…er…resovlve-ey as you would have preferred.

Next thing you know you stepped on the scale and you gained8 pounds in a day!

HOLY CRAP. You’ve gone and done it now. Ruined your diet. Might as well just eat because you already gained 8 pounds. Whats the worst that could happen at this point?

This was my theory and the theory of  a lot of folks who are trying to lose the weight. And to this I say STOP! STOP RIGHT NOW.

Quick question. Do you know how many calories 1 pound is? You probably do. Just in case – It’s 3500.  What did you eat? Really think about it. How many calories did you eat? If the scale went up 8 pounds. That would imply you ate 28,000 calories in order to make that happen.  Is it possible to eat that much? I guess, but I’m betting you didn’t. I’m betting  you probably were closer to 4000 cals.  That’s what I’ve noticed I’ve done when I decide to rage out with food.  Its NEVER 28,000 calories. So inhale! You didn’t destroy your diet. You’re retaining water. For 1 of a few different reasons your body has picked up some water.

Have you been drinking enough water in the first place? Dehydration causes water retention. In a cruel twist of science, the body lacking water causes it to keep every ounce it can get its hand on. You could actually drop the water by drinking MORE water. Same with sodium. It’ll take a few days possibly but you will drop that excess water if you don’t do anything crazy like giving up and going out for Pizza and a 17 beers. (Mmmm. Pizza and Beer. Whoops. Sorry.)

When I type posts like this, it’s really just me telling me to relax. I noticed a 5 pound swing on the scale in the past day or 2 and I know I didn’t eat 5 pounds of food. I literally counted it up and realized that freaking out would be crazy. This has happened to be me before.  Long as I just decided to watch my sodium and drink plenty of water, I drop back down in no time.  But it’s nice to say it write it out and read the clear, clear logic and then go about my day with out dropping into the fetal position rocking back and forth and saying “I’m getting fat!”

Not that I’ve ever done that.