ckworksalot's Journal, 12 February 2016

Congrats! And, I remember the shoulder injury - doing any better? 

Man , it's been said that...If you stay within your deficit you will lose weight, even if you don;t exercise vigorously. every movement is some calories burned. awesome!  

A little... out off the sling but 2 more weeks before follow up to determine if I need surgical intervention. 

Ahhh..best of luck - hope you do not need surgery! 

me too! I have had enouch surgery for 1 year! 

And to further demonstrate how crappy/salty food affects the body... while I did eat fairly clean this morning and afternoon, the wife brought home leftover sam's club pizza from the office for dinner. I normally ignore it and make my own food, as I don't make a habit of eating cheese or heavily processed bread dough and pepperoni. Tonight, I just wasn't up to heating up a can of black beans. Feeling good about 178 lbs, I figured what the heck... 2 slices of pizza won't hurt. Then my niece came over to hang with my daughter and she brought ice cream (something else I don't normally consume)... and then they wanted my famous popcorn with real butter and salt after that! Again, not binge eating... just fellowshipping around food and I hit roughly 2900 cals for the day for a 900 cal surplus... not even a 1/4 of a lb (calorie-wise). I just got on the scale (about 2 hours since eating all that) and it says.... DRUMROLLL..... 184 lbs!!! 6 lbs swing since this morning!  

Can you clarify... you ate 1/4 lb of food and gained 6 pounds? sorry If i miss read your entry. 

On a simplistic level, a lb of Fat is equivalent to 3500 calories... so if you maintain a 500 calorie deficit per day for a week you should lose 1 lb of Fat (500 × 7 days= 3500). Conversely, if you have a calorie surplus you will gain Fat (or muscle if you do it right). Thus, in theory, my 900 calorie surplus yesterday should equate to 900 ÷ 3500 = .257 lbs of Fat gain, or 1/4 lb! So, to answer your question, yes, I ate 1/4 lb of food in calories, but gained 6 lbs on the scale. I suspect the pizza and popcorn and other food i ate yesterday may have weighed only 3 lbs scale weight, but all the salt made me retain every bit of water I took in, thus the 6 lbs on the scale at the end of the day. Drank a bottle of water before bed to flush the salt, and woke up to 182 on the scale... thats pre BM and probably still holding some water! (Why I dont weigh every day). 

... AND.... back to 179 again tthis morning pre breakfast, post BM, even after last night's slight surplus. Had I not understood the correlation between salty/processed food and fluid retention, I might have been discouraged with yesterdays 6 lb "gain". However, armed with a LITTLE nutrional knowledge, I knew what to expect and took it all in stride! ARM YOURSELVES MY FS FRIENDS, ARM YOURSELVES! 

... AND... back at 178 lbs this morning (pre breakfast, post BM). 

Fat is between 3200 - 3700 calories per pound. A calorie deficit of 3500 calories is NOT 3500 calories worth of Fat being lost. You cannot gain muscle without gaining fat, and you cannot lose fat without losing muscle and burning carbohydrates (if you have any left to burn). It is why calorie counting is not an exact science and a calorie does NOT equal a calorie. 

Roger that on calorie counting not being an exact science Mahjohn, thus my caveat "on a simplistic level". For our FS buddies that are still obese or mobidly obese (as I was) I believe this simplistic approach works well for getting the ball rolling, and does not require a lot of "mental investment". As I consistently lost FAT for 3.5 months, my desire to increase my knowledge grew, and I learned some more of the finer details. Thus I lost the first 30 lbs, averageing 2 lbs lost per week, with calorie counting and the simplistic approach above. I ate balanced meals (20/35/45 fat/protein/carb macros), and opted for "clean" unprocessed foods as oftern as possible. After a week or so, this balanced approach eliminated all carb cravings once and for all. 20 years of binge eating became a thing of my past. Woudl love to hear your thoughts on the attached article regarding gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time. Send me a message if you have a chance to read it. http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/ THanks for your service!