Very informative site—I was brought here by a google search result to your article regarding a more accurate estimate of the net calories per gram of fat, protein, carbohydrate and fiber accounting for the losses due to metabolism and storage.  Us analytical types appreciate this.

I have become interested in better understanding the individual components of total body weight and how they fluctuate over a 24 hour period and during exercize.  It seems they might be broken out as follows:

1.  Lean body mass (excluding water and glycogen)
2.  Fat
3.  Water (in use in the body, excluding water in the stomach and bladder)
4.  Undigested stomach contents (water and solid food)
5.  Glycogen stores
6.  Waste products to be eliminated (water and solid food)

My situation—I’m 51, have lost 50 pounds in 4 1/2 months and am 12 pounds away from my age 21 weight (5’10”, 170 pounds).  I’ve done this almost effortlessly by choosing and eating foods in such a way to reduce my appetite, so that I do not have to resist cravings (because I don’t have any) so I can easily stick to a daily consumption of 1500 to 1850 calories (in fact, some times I fall short and have to force myself to eat.  Weird).  Eating low GI foods, grazing throughout the day, and going to bed satiated but with nearly an empty stomach seems to work well for me and burn the weight off.  My calorie breakdown is usually 50% carbs, 20% fat, 30% protein.  I track what I eat on SparkPeople.com.  Occasionally, I will hit a 3-5 day plateau or spike (particularly after weekend parties and barbeques), but by Thursday or Friday, the weight loss restarts.  Also, I took up casual cycling to raise my metabolism and increase my energy deficit.

Contrary to some advice, I weigh myself every day and enjoy being able to predict, see and therefore control and assure my weight loss.  I have gone from thinking “there is no way I could ever weigh 170 pounds again” to knowing that if I simply continue to do what I have proven works for me, I will weigh 170, 165, 160 in less than 3 months—whatever I choose.

I’ve come to believe that by understanding the individual components of weight and how they vary over time, I can take the mystery out of why weight fluctuates so counterintuitively on a daily basis.  Anyway, great site, and thanks for quantifying some of this!

Dave,

Congratulations on your weight loss. It’s very impressive.

Thanks for sharing your story and how you did it.

I think weighing yourself everyday—getting feedback daily so you know immediately what works and what doesn’t—is very important.

I realize that for women this may be more frustrating because their weight naturally fluctuates during the month because of their changing hormones, but I think it’s still important.

I think it is also helpful for people to plot their weight on a chart so they can see their progress ( or not ).

On the chart, they can also plot a line showing their goal of losing 2 lbs per week ( or whatever it may be ) and then they can compare their actual weight loss to this “goal line”.

This is similar to the idea that studies show that people who are held accountable regarding their weight—that is, they have to make a call and report their weight, or have to go in and be weighed, or have to be weighed in front of a weight loss group—lose more weight, a lot more weight, than those who are not held accountable.

Thanks for your nice comments as well.

You might also consider talking into a video camera to tell people exactly how you lost the weight and then posting it on YouTube in order to help others.

You could show
- Before and After pictures,
- what you eat,
- old pants vs new pants like Jared The Subway Guy
- and turn around for the camera so it shows you from all sides while wearing fitted clothes so people can tell how much you’ve lost

Larry Hobbs

Thanks Larry!  I wish I had the “before” pictures—at 232 lbs I didn’t look morbidly obese, just the typical chubby former athlete pre-heart attack look.  I’ve now had all my clothes altered—the largest had to be taken in about 6 inches at the waist.  By the way, you can have a shoe repair shop alter leather belts to save a lot of money.

On the topic of weight components, I had not considered female monthly fluctuations—I’m assuming that would be increased water retention, correct?

Finally, should I repost this original post in the General Discussion Forum?

Dave,

I’ll be glad to post your story as an article so that more people will see it and then if people post questions, I’ll be glad to forward them to you so you can respond.

Or I will be glad to list your contact info if you’d rather them contact you directly.

If you want to send some more details, that would be of interest to readers.

When someone s interested in a topic, as people will be with your story, they can’t get enough. So the more info / details, the better.

Larry Hobbs
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Dave,

Yes, the weight fluctuation for women during the month is probably mostly due to water retention.

Obesity researcher, Frank Greenway, MD told me that for this reason, they now do weight loss studies involving women in full months—two months, three months, four months, six months, etc—rather than 6 week studies—1.5 months—because of these natural fluctuations in women’s weight during the month.

, the change in weight for women during the month is probably mostly due to water retention and changing harmones,really i m very much impressed after reading it.,i am also trying to losse my weight and and get some progress too,thanks for your information…....