To think eating more junk and losing weight is impossible?

[Pumpcushion]

I realise this is going to make me sound like a moron (hence not asking anyone in RL) but hoping someone with knowledge in this area might be able to shed some light. Without getting a very small sarcastic violin out if possible.

I am just short of a stone heavier since having DC and have half-heartedly been dieting to try to lose with no real success. Losing a couple of pounds then back on overnight for no obvious reason. Anyway, the last cycle of this made me really fed up so for about the past 4 days I’ve eaten whatever I like. Chocolate, cake, crisps, all the unhealthy snacks on top of meals if I feel like it. And...I have lost 4 pounds?! Not just for a day either. I’m so confused. This can’t be ‘actual’ weight loss surely? But I don’t know how else to explain it.

In general my meals are healthy and balanced, I’ve always had a very good appetite and eaten a lot. Until a couple of years ago I always ate literally whatever I wanted with no effect. I have always been quite athletic with a fast metabolism so this non-shifting stone is driving me mad. However even with this extra weight I am pretty ok with my figure, I was a bit at the low end of the BMI before so I don’t exactly look fat but not as good as I’d like. I often crave salty or sugary food and I’ve basically just been giving in to this the last few days and saying fuck it.

So - any ideas as to what is going on here? Should I carry on just doing what I want and see what happens? Or is this going to come back to haunt me because there is some technical scientific reason for this ‘working’ in the short term only??

Could it be you’ve actually accidentally practised metabolic confusion? Where you have a period of low cal/carb high veg and meat (or protein) eating which slows your metabolism then have a time of high carb eating which speeds it up a bit? Cycling between the two helps. Works really well for endomorph body type (I am one! ) I would personally try to stick to the healthy side of things though but since you’ve not got much to lose anyway you may as well have the odd treat. Maybe one small one a day, or a bigger one once a week (ie a meal out/cheesecake!)

That or you’ve been eating in a calorie deficit recently (Up to four days ago) and its a coincidence that it took your body that long to get rid of the fat cells? I’m just theorising here... either way don’t go too mad on the snacks but don’t restrict too badly either as you’ll drive yourself a bit mental.

Have you actually been eating more junk since you thought 'fuck it' though? Because there's a theory that says that if you stop banning yourself from eating 'bad' food it becomes less of an illicit pleasure and you crave it less. So in theory, if you're 'allowed' to eat what you want, you might for example happily eat one biscuit and not bother with another. Whereas if you're constantly trying to deny yourself, one biscuit can open the floodgates to devouring a whole packet. So is it possible you've been allowing yourself junk but not actually consuming more of it than usual? Or maybe you've been subconsciously eating less at meal times because you've allowed yourself snacks?

@QueenOfHell669 I have never heard of metabolic confusion, I will look this up, thank you

@lazylinguist you may have a point here. Thinking about it, I have not felt as ravenous at mealtimes - probably because of the many snacks - so it wouldn’t be impossible that I’ve actually eaten less overall because I’m not as hungry for a big portion in one go. That’s amounts though, I absolutely must have been eating a lot more calories...

Well, a pint of water weighs over 1 lb and not to be vulgar but a good-size turd could weigh a couple, so dehydration and whether you'd had a shit that day could explain 4 lb.

Alcohol consumption and exercise both cause water retention also.

The other obvious candidate is hormones. I gain 6 - 7lb in water every sodding month, and pee it all out again when my period is over.

Any of those a possibility?

My guess would be that the physical amount of food and water inside of you is what has changed. If you've been replacing healthy (fibrous and water filled) foods with 'empty' calories then you could easily have changed your weight based on what's inside of you. 1litre of water = 1kg = 2.2lbs. Plus all that fibrous food will have passed through and not have been replaced with an equivalent mass.

It's one of the reasons people often lose so much weight in the first week of initial dieting. They eat much less and so they have water + fat + physical amount of food loss.

If I were you'd I'd just carry on with what you're doing because if it is true weight loss and you're happy / don't feel like you're dieting then it seems like a great thing to carry on with. If it doesn't continue then it's no big loss.

@Curiosity I thought drinking lots of water helped you lose weight though? I must say I always forget to drink and don’t have anywhere near what you should have

I'm not sure, but the main takeaway from losing weight is: Intake of calories < Calories used.

I'm sure there are things that help or hinder but if you work out roughly what you use a day and then remove 'x' amount of calories with either diet or exercise then you'll lose weight. 3500 calories is 1lb, so if you have a deficit of 500 a day you'll reliably lose 1lb a week.

However, you will see fluctuations unless you're very strict with what you eat because you will physically have more/less food and water on board depending on exactly what you've eaten, what time of day you weigh yourself, what you're wearing, hormones, etc. So one week you might lose 2lb (when you expect a 1lb loss), but the next week you might lose 0 and wonder what you're doing 'wrong'. However, if you stick to it then over time you'd see an average of 1lb loss.

I still stick by my original guess though. You may be seeing true weight loss, but it might just be that you physically have less food and water on board so you're seeing a 4lb loss on the scales.

I'm not meaning to oversimplify it, by the way. I'm in a very similar position to you but I have used calorie deficit in the past to lose weight in a reliable way. At the moment I have 1 stone to lose but 0 motivation.