Fast food and alcohol diet

prodigal_son

I just got back from holidays, and during the week i pretty much only ate at either burger king, or McDonalds, with large fries, usually one of their chicken meals, large coke etc.

Ate snack foods through the day, and at night drank at least 5 pints.

Came back, weighed myself, and i had lost about 3 pounds, or about 1% body fat roughly..

Mind you, i was pretty active during the holiday, and pretty much never stopped moving, But still, it made me think..

You can have a ton of fun while losing weight, just be active and enjoy yourself. (not saying inactive people dont enjoy themselves, but you know what i mean)

Gillo

Try the same for another few weeks see what happens!!! then again as crash diets go, it's not a bad idea all you need now is some celeb to endorse it.

amacachi

I don't know how it works either, 2 weeks in lanzarote consisting of a fry-up every morning and two greasy meals along with a huge dinner and whatever else I was eating during the day and 8-15 pints a night. Believe me I was far from active over there and lost half a stone. Don't know about body fat but I was as strong as when I went over.

celestial

3 weeks in the US of A:

Porridge, smoothies, sausages, potatoes, bacon, pastry, coffee, choco cream desserts, sugary cereals, Coke, biscuits, tacos, chips chips n more chips, sugary foamy coffee, battered fish, milkshakes, onion rings, massive, ridiculous sized ice creams....delicious...ohhhh the list goes on...

Didn't put on a pound. Not only that but wait for it - got home and two people said 'you've lost weight'. Put on a t-shirt that I hadn't brought with me and it was clearly looser - it was swimming on me. Someone said it was much tighter on me before I left! Yay for added muscle mass but also yay for eating only when truly, truly hungry - despite the uber-calorific delights I was mainly having 2-3 meals per day max - sometimes just a big meal in morning or lunch and another late in evening. And I wasn't snacking throughout the day.

All washed down with virtually no exercise.

rubadub

Well the calories in booze are very over-rated for humans, most beer bellies are really made in the takeaway after the pub. Also you hear people saying McDonalds leaves them hungry soon after, many put it down to the crap food, but actually it is also partly since they are relatively low in calories compared to other takeaways, people could unknowingly put away far more calories with pizza, and chinese/indian portions here are massive.

I drink a fair amount, and it is not just 2 week stints here and there, I have been eating more "junk" lately but keep the fat off still without too much exercise.

I also imagine people doing resistance training could do with a break, I know I often ended up stronger after a good binge of food with no training over several days or a week.

Khannie

prodigal_son wrote: »

Came back, weighed myself, and i had lost about 3 pounds, or about 1% body fat roughly..

I fluctuate by 3 pounds in one day.

Honestly, you could explain that away with behing dehydrated. I'm not saying you didn't lose weight....only that you might be, for example, holding less in your intestines because you were eating highly processed food, dehydrated from booze, etc.

amacachi

I can't talk for the OP but in my case it certainly wasn't dehydration.

ladyA

Strangely noticed this when I spent a summer working in Spain - lost a stone and a half. Never cooked once - ate a daily diet of chicken baguette, chicken korma and chips and cheese at night all washed down with huge amounts of drink - drank pretty much every night for three months. Don't think the same diet works in Ireland though. It def has something to do with the amount of activity - you are constantly on your feet and I suppose with the heat burning more calories for the same exercise.

prodigal_son

I just googled the amount of calories used dancing, and its maybe 450 per hour, with about 150 cals in a bottle of beer, meaning I can have 3 beers an hour

Its something i never thought about, how in Ireland i will sit in the pub, and then grab something to eat on the way home, but on holiday, get up and dance with the few beers and not pass a chipper on the way home so just go home to sleep.

The whole thing took me by surprise for sure, i was expecting to have to get back into exercise pretty hard to cut the weight i put on.

I should approach guinness and mcdonalds and ask them to sponsor me to do a documentary, where i loose weight by just having the craic all day while eating/drinking their stuff.

*falls asleep dreaming of the good life*

*edit, I aint dehydrated, good suggestion though.. Its also normal for me to go up and down in weight but only by half a pound. The whole high and low points for a day have all dropped by 3 pound.

ladyA

Good point - plus with the most clubs open until six that's a lot of dancing. And you tend to give the ole dancing a lot more welly abroad. Irish drinking is quite sedentary now that you mention it. Must heckle the Irish govt to keep the clubs open to prevent obesity!!

Pride Fighter

I wonder what factor stress plays in weight gain, it could be the hassle of work and bills make you gain the pounds while in Ireland.

thirdmantackle

lucky for all ye

once spent 3 weeks (working outdoors) in Belgium and put on a stone

belgian beer + belgian frites

amacachi

I wasn't dancing, I don't dance :P

flogen

Noticed the same myself - only went to the gym once for the week before I went, was eating relatively well for the first half of the week I was away and then quite poorly for the second (lots of chocolate and other sweet crap, one hella-lovely, hella-lethal kebab etc.) and was drinking beer in varying degrees ever night (sometimes one bottle, sometimes I lost count) and then the week after I came back I ate quite poorly and didn't go to the gym at all.

Went on Monday just gone and was down 2 pounds.

In fairness where I was staying was on a very steep hill and involved a pretty strenuous walk up a dirt track to get to it - you'd do this at least once a day but usually more. Plenty of other walking and even some long distance walking with decent weight on your back/ in your hands involved and a touch of swimming too. Didn't expect it to be nearly enough to more than counteract the poor diet, though... unless it was muscle I lost!

brianthebard

amacachi wrote: »

I can't talk for the OP but in my case it certainly wasn't dehydration.

And you know this how? Unless you were monitoring yourself before during and after your trip you can't say with any certainty what sort of weight you lost (muscle, fat, water, etc) and what proportion of each.

amacachi

Mostly because I was drinking a ****load of water while I was over there. And when I came back and went back to my regular diet and my weight and size stayed the same. So I would say it was either fat or I lost muscle volume and mass but the power stayed the same.

lindak

I am so jeleous ! I was away for 2 weeks and went to the gym 5 day per week while away and put on nearly 1/2 stone !! Didnt really overdue it either but obviously wasnt as strict as I would be when at home !

Dragan

I would take it as a possible sign that i am undereating the rest of the time. Your calorific intake may not be what you think it is ( most people who think they eat enough to meet their needs in the gym actually are not....i feel into this trap for long enough ).

Your metabolism may have been down if your calorific intake was not matching up with your expenditure. The influx of calories then allows it to speed up again.....possibly.

dioltas

I think the heat is a big factor when you go away.

Khannie

dioltas wrote: »

I think the heat is a big factor when you go away.

Sounds reasonable to me. As a typical paddy I start to melt at about 25 degrees. As it approaches 40, my propensity to sweat approaches infinity.

I also find that on holiday you swim a lot and sit out down by the seaside, long walks in the evening after dinner, etc. I suppose it's all burning calories.

celestial

Dragan wrote: »

I would take it as a possible sign that i am undereating the rest of the time. Your calorific intake may not be what you think it is ( most people who think they eat enough to meet their needs in the gym actually are not....i feel into this trap for long enough ).

This is something I am thinking about of late, especially since I got back from my splurging in the States - I reckon over there I was, at ~83kg, eating the amount of calories I actually need to eat each day. I feel like I undereat, generally speaking. Prob explains why I never seem to look any bigger despite weight training all the time:rolleyes:

olaola

I find when I'm on me holliers I do a quear amount of walking - I'd cover a few k at home running/gym/crosstrainer 4 times a week. But away, I'm out everyday sightseeing and traipsing around. Some holidays I've lost weight, others not as lucky (Germany = many beer & many sausages).