I promise not to do this very often. But this section of a book I'm reading is very good. "...." means I've skipped some and only typed out the interesting parts. This book is about moving, getting active.
"Get With The Program, Getting Real About Your Weight, Health and Emotional Well-Being" by Bob Greene.
The truth about your weight Page 55:
It all seems so simple. You’re trying to lose weight, you jump on the scale, you see you’ve dropped two pounds, and you feel good about yourself. Two days later, you jump on the same scale, you see you’ve gained a pound, and this triggers an emotional crisis…
The first type of body weight is water weight. This refers to the weight of all the water in your body… The second type of weight is fat weight. This is all the fat in your body… Lastly there’s lean weight. This refers to everything not fat or water, such as muscles, bones, hair cartilage.
When you lose weight you can lose either water, fat or lean weight. The loss of lean weight is not what you want to happen….
The loss of water weight occurs constantly….You will need to prepare for significant gains in your water weight when you first begin “Get with the Program”. In the first weeks, water weight will hide the fact you are losing fat. ...
You may not realize it, but your body automatically protects itself against losing too much fat too quickly. This protection mechanism exists to guard your stored energy and protect you against starvation. What you might not be aware of is that even if you are absolutely diligent with your eating and exercise habits and have favorable metabolism, the greatest amount of fat weight you can lose in a week is about 3 pounds. If you have been on a diet …where you have lost 10 pounds in a given week or more, this weight is a combination of water, lean and no more then 3 pounds fat-with the majority coming from water. This is especially true if your diet was a low carbohydrate, high protein type.
The many ways that your body weight can be erratic and unpredictable pg 58
You weight can go up, go down, or plateau for a number of reasons. Some fluctuations you have control over and some you do not. …
Water fluctuations
Be forewarned that when you first become active or increase the amount and intensity of your exercise, you will retain extra water. Gaining this extra water weight can be disheartening and has caused many people to give up their exercise programs. The truth is that gaining this extra water weight is a very good sign
As you become more active and drink more water, your muscles will act like sponges and will immediately become more fully hydrated. In addition, you may add a little new muscle, which in turn will store even more water. The more active you are, the more glycogen (a stored carbohydrate) your muscles will retain. Each gram of glycogen stores an additional 2.5-3 grams of water. Finally, the better shape you are in the more water stored with in your bloodstream. This additional water weight gain can be significant and is most pronounced when you increase your level of fitness. This is way physically fit individuals store considerably more water within their bodies then unfit individuals. This also explains how a very fit person can weigh much more then their appearance would suggest.
When you exercise regularly, you’re sending the message to your body that water needs to be stored in relatively large quantities….It’s a good sign, it means that your metabolism is increasing as well as your potential to burn fat.
Your body has various water cycles that influence the retention and release of water weight, daily, weekly, monthly and even seasonal water cycles. These cycles occur for a variety of complex reasons and they are not fully understood. …It’s at these times you must reassure yourself that as long as you are “on the program”, there will be a gradual reduction in your body fat even if the scale doesn’t confirm it. …
If you suspect that you’re retaining water, just examine how your clothes fit. If they fit about the same or are loser, it’s probably water to blame… It’s common to be losing fat but gaining weight.
Biological adjustments pg 63
Keep in mind you need a certain amount of body fat to survive. Body fat protects your internal organs, insulates you from the cold, is an important source of stored vitimans and nutrients and provides you with your primary source of stored potential energy. Therefore, when you begin to lose body fat too quickly, certain biological mechanisms are triggered to protect you. We don’t completely understand how these fail-safe protections work, but we do know that from time to time your body needs to “take a breather” from losing weight. Once your body as adjusted to the changes you are making, it will go on its merry way, losing fat.
Realizing your set point-When you hit a real plateau
Sometimes you stop losing body fat for a period of time or it increases slightly. If you have ruled out water gain, seasonal changes and biological adjustments you’ve probably hit a real plateau.
You actually defend a certain percentage of body fat. By defending, I mean that given your genetics, your average daily activitiy, what and how much you eat and the way y ou exercise, your body tightly regulaters the amount of body fat that you maintain and keeps it withina ceratin range. If you don’t change anything you are currently doing (such as increase your level of exercise), you’ll remain at more or less this level of body fat. In other words, you’ve realized your set-point. Think of your set point as the setting on your body fat thermostat. … Every time you make an adjustment to your thermostat by changing your exercise or eating habits, you change the settings…But the important thing to realize that when you hit a real plateau is that it signals when it’s time to add more exercise . …..Reaching a real plateau is exactly what you need to tell you if you’re making progress.
