How long does it take to turn into "permanent" weight loss?

Lets say you have 3 super kick ass days of training and exceptional dieting, how many days does it take for those results to show on the scale where you'd know it wasn't just water you lost and you actually lost real weight?

Could you weigh yourself on the night of day 3 and have an accurate read? Or would you have to wait until day 4? Or would you have to wait more than just a day?

 

There isn't really going to be a 'day' where it just drops off. Try it for a week.. Weigh yourself at the beginning of the week (sunday or Monday) then weigh yourself (friday or Saturday) and look at the results

I lost 40lbs in 3 months it didn't just drop off me in 2 days

 

Ok, that really wasn't my question.

Let me try to better demonstrate it.

For instance, when you go tanning or spend a long day in the sun, the "real" results from those won't show right away. You may get red at first, but it takes longer than that to actually turn into a brown/bronze color.

So the sun you get on day 1 may not show it's lasting effects until day 3.

I am trying to get an idea for how it works with training. The "lasting effects" are not instantaneous, and there is a period of time that passes until they are. I am curious to know what that period of time is.

 

What?

 

There is no such thing as a permanent weight loss. I know this isnt really relevant, but i have to rant on this.

you will need to achieve the same diet that you used to keep the weight loss.

This is the problem with most people. People think when they lose weight they can just go back to their old style without any consequences.

Wrong. Actually youll come back fatter than ever.

 

Exactly. I hear that if you keep going on a diet, then putting the weight back on, eventually it becomes very unhealthy and you end up far less fit than ever before. The moral of the story is have a healthy diet that you can live with. Don't feel deprived and don't be having treats all day. Healthy diet every day will help you live longggg.

 

That question would probably make alot more scence if we could hear it instead of read it. Cause it does not make any sence to me at all.

 

I understand what you are saying but I'm not sure there is a correct answer. A person needs a caloric deficit of 3500 calories in order to lose one pound of body fat. So I guess the results would appear at the time that your body is able to process those results.

 

Yeah, my question was better suited for a scientist.

Like when you say you need to be at a 3500 cal deficit -- if you woke up and burned 3,500 calories doing cardio -- would that 1lb of fat be gone right at the very second you were done working out? Or would it be gone later that night? Or would it take a few days? There is some sort of relationship with time in this process, and that is what I was asking about.

I am sure the answer to my question exists. This has to have been studied before... but if no one has read about it am sure it's probably not common knowledge.

 

If you have a gallon of gas and use it up is the wieght from the gas gone a day later, the second it is used up, or gradually as the gas is being used up? If you answer that question you should answer your question......

 

Wow.

how about just by going by body fat percentage? seriously, wieght mean nothing when it comes to your fitness level in any form. weight is just the net mass of your body.

 

i think he means when does it get to the point where it is considered your "natural" bodyweight. At least thats my interpretation.

 

having a natural weight is still crap if its all fat.

 

a lifetime.

 

Quoted for truth.

Once you stabilize at a certain weight, you can't let up.

Case in Point: I'm 5'11". When I was 17 or so, I boxed at 168; I hadn't really filled out yet. 10 years later, I weighed 285! Total tub of lard - not only had I filled out, I filled up! I busted my hump, got back into boxing, and got down to 215. I was in good enough shape for the beach, but I'd have to get down to 190 or so to really be in fighting shape.

Guess what? I started thinking I was Joe Weight Loss and let up on my training when I started my business. Here I am 3 years later, weighing 250. I barely even noticed that I was gaining until my pants stopped fitting right, around 230. I've been training again for a few months, but let me tell you - the 32-year old body does NOT respond like even the 27-year old body did.

Keep on top of it, and STAY on top of it! You'll be glad you did. Me, I'm probably looking at a year of hard work to get rid of this 50 pounds, my body responds so slowly now.

 

Forever.

Real results? If you weight 5 pounds less then yesterday isn't that real? If you heavily tan today, and turn red, isn't that real?

I think one of your premises of thought are wrong. It seems like you believe that there is a time where your body is in a state of "static" or non-changing and that is just untrue. We are in a constant state of change from moment to moment and everyone of those moments are real.

 

What you're talking about here is the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) which was first studied by Dr. Hans Selye, a physiologist from the University of Toronto. The suntan analogy you used is actually very precise and indicative of GAS. Whether it's a suntan, building more muscular strength, or weight loss, the human body adapts the same way. The basic idea here is that you provide your body with a stressor and the body adapts to that stressor. For example, you stand in the sun and your skin gets darker. Sun exposure is the stressor and darker skin is the adaptation.

Weight loss is the same way, but I'm not sure if it's possible to pin point when the adaptation occurs. There's a lot of variables to factor in --> water retention and loss, metabolism, caloric intake, daily physical activity. Although, every human body adhers to the GAS principle, the timing of the adaptation for weight loss is most likely a little different for each of us.

I'm no scientest here but I guess if you really wanted to find your adaptation rate, you could try to limit the variables involved in weight loss by eating the same diet and performing the same amount of activity for a certain number of days while paying attention to the scale and noting your weight on each of those days and see if you can detect a specific time range in which your body adapts. So if you diet and exercise the same way for 10 days. Weigh and measure yourself each day. Write down the weight and measurement of each day and see if you can detect specific day or range of days when weight loss/measurement loss occured. You'd probably have to do this 10 day cycle more than once to get a better picture of your adaptation rate. It doesn't sound fun but if you really wanted to know, this might help you find out.

Check out the following links:
http://www.mikementzer.com/bodyfat.html
http://www.mikementzer.com/recoverydm.html.

 

As a more informal response, I've lost about 12 lbs over the last 6 months. I consider the pound actually lost if it's gone when I weigh myself three times on three separate days. Personally, I think I gain the water weight back the day after my workout. So if I go hard on Monday by Wednesday I'm at a normal weight.

 

frettish :its gone as soon as its gone , which is pretty much when ur body uses it for fuel when exercisin or for recovery or ur for ur base metabolism.

depending on how much u do and a whole lot of other stuff is how soon it is visible. you can burn 3500 calories in a day , but that wont necessarily equal 1 pound of fat exactly. could b 3/4 fat and 1/4 muscle etc. also , water weight will probably cause u 2 b a bit lighter and ur food in ur stomach etc.

lets use ur example if u sit in the sun all day u go red(ur metabolism gets a kick in teh ass from ur workout) then brown (metabolism settles at a slightly raised rate) then u go back to pasty (ur metabolism will react to its situation) . if u sit in the sun an hour every day u wont necessarily go as red , but u will still go brown eventually becuase ur not allowing ur metabolism to drop off back to its lower rate by exercising regularly.<-- i took 2 long writing that shit out 2 delete it , cuz i just saw itf's post.

 

Case in point is that you can have "cheat" days but you gotta eat healthy as a lifestyle, then you dont have to worry about any of this crap