In which I am undiminished...

[khiemtran]

As I am prone to do, I like to track my weight and exercise, along with other metrics, on a daily spreadsheet. I've done this for enough years that I now have enough experimental data to be able to predict with a fair degree of confidence what will happen if I exercise at a particular level.

Except ... For the last three months or so, travel and holidays excluded, I've been gaining weight at a clear and predictable rate, even when my diet and exercise are at levels that should produce a loss of around half a kilo a month. Some explanation here: I'm not actually trying to lose weight - when you're trying to gain fitness, it's usually easiest to aim to keep your weight stable while your fat ratio goes down. That's the surest way to be sure you're actually gaining muscle. Lose too much weight and your body might not be getting enough input to repair the damage you're doing. Gain too much and you might be putting on fat as well as muscle.

Anyway, so for some reason, I'm putting the same inputs in but getting different results out. This raises a number of interesting possibilities. First of all, it's possible that the inputs aren't really the same. It's possible that I'm eating more without realising it, or maybe I'm somehow exercising differently than I used to.

Second, it's possible that my exercise has actually got more efficient and suddenly I'm gaining more muscle than before. This doesn't seem as likely as my overall metrics haven't improved a great deal, but I have been doing more varied exercise, so I could be calling into play muscles which didn't get used so much before.

Third, it's possible that I've actually triggered my famine reflex. This is where the body decides that it isn't getting it needs and starts hoarding fat (this is another reason why I usually try to avoid losing weight too fast). The only real solution to this is basically to eat more and wait for my body to realize that there isn't actually going to be a shortage of food and it can go back to sending resources to finish up all the repair work I keep sending it.

So, this is going to be interesting. I'm going to press on with exercising at the current level and eating as much as I feel like for another month or so, to see if it is actually the famine reflex kicking in. If it is, my weight should eventually start going down by itself. If not, I'll try reducing what I eat a little (if it is the famine reflex, this is exactly what you shouldn't do). It seems strange to react to gaining weight by eating more, but it's going to be interesting to find out one way or the other.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Has your life changed to become more sedentary, perhaps? You may be doing the same amount of exercise as before, but if you're burning less energy just pottering about doing all the other stuff, then that could explain it.

Or were you counting that sort of activity in with the exercise?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

As far as I can see, my level of exercise should only have gone up. Unless something sneaky has happened like the resistance on my exercise bike has suddenly halved. I am getting fewer "eyebreak" walks during the day, but I'm also playing soccer now too, which should more than compensate.