<p>I don’t think you can attribute a sudden weight gain to what you ate last night.</p>
<p>Were the dumplings very salty? It could be water retention, in which case you should be down a couple of pounds by tomorrow!</p>
<p>I don’t see how you can run that much and not need large amounts of calories to fuel your body and maintain weight (and certainly not gain.) Have you seen a doctor?</p>
Long steady running as a primary source of exercise is not really viewed as the most effective fat loss strategy. Yes, it burns calories, but that’s all it does. The most effective fat loss strategies involve exercise that burns calories AND builds lean muscle mass AND has hormonal effects like reducing insulin resistance.
[Hierarchy</a> Of Fat Loss](<a href=“AlwynCosgrove.com”>AlwynCosgrove.com)
You may need to read this article several times, googling as necessary to understand the terminology. Once I understood what he was talking about, I realized that this really is the Rosetta Stone for fat loss exercise. It’s really all about sufficient intensity. Short bursts of very intense effort (such as doing a squat) triggers stuff at the cellular level that tilts the playing field in your favor in a way that sustained running does not.
Running should be a part of an aggressive fat loss program only AFTER you have done 3 hours a week of large muscle resistance strength training and a few sessons of high intensity interval cardio. That’s the stuff that builds/maintains lean muscle (which is super-important for metabolism) and makes the body less insulin resistant.
As for diet, I can’t really come up with a scenario where dumplings should be on the diet of somebody aggressively trying to lose fat. The more refined carbs you can cut, the better your fat loss results will be. Pasta is a killer because it is absorbed and converted to sugar so fast.
Losing 1 to 2 pounds a week is fantastic! Don’t be discouraged by the ridiculous Biggest Loser numbers. Unless you are starting at 400 pounds, 1 to 2 pounds a week is awesome progress.
Also, if you are exhausted from exercising day after day after day, take a break for a few days. Proper recovery is an important part of the deal. I learned that I had to force myself to take at least one day a week completely off from exercise.
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<p>A big dinner salad spikes my weight. Always has. I can only assume that it’s because there is so much water in lettuce and veggies.</p>
Dad II, is there any chance when you say steamed dumplings you’re meaning dim sum?
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I’m not one with any medical background but when I read your post I wondered if this could somehow be thyroid related.
I gained 3 pounds between Friday and Sunday - Bastille Day party. I expect it will be gone by midweek.
Peaches and dumplings don’t sound like the best approach to weightloss DadII. I’d try more protein and vegetables. I found it very helpful to go to Livestrong.com and plug in the numbers to see what was require for losing a pound every two weeks with moderate exercise. If I lose faster than that it’s because of extra exercise, but I can’t happily eat less than that.
InterestedDad has done more of the reading than I have, but I agree completely that intervals and exercise that involves moving weights (either your body weight or actual weights) is critical. Try to do pullups, pushups, burpees, squats etc and not just running as part of your exercise routine.
<p>Dad II, to gain 3.8 lb, you need to consume extra 13,000 calories. I do not think a bowl of dumplings and a couple of peaches can get you there. I agree that it is most likely salt related water retention.</p>
<p>My exercise for today: 4.7 mile run. I did not feel too well at the end of the run, so I cut it short. Took my blood pressure after the run - 85/60. That is a notch too low even for me! I’m vegging out on a couch with a (not so good) book.</p>
<p>I took another rest day - just did some stretching. I was supposed to play tennis but things didn’t work out and I wound up doing chores. I took 1 Advil for some back pain and hopefully I’m better for a while. I was still somewhat tired today.</p>
<p>[T</a> NATION | Ten Thousand Swings to Fat Loss](<a href=“Ten Thousand Swings to Fat Loss”>Ten Thousand Swings to Fat Loss)</p>
<p>Who is with me on this challenge? Idad, you ready to go? ;)</p>
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<p>Your body is in overtrained mode. It is trying to shut down and you keep pushing it. If you continue to push, you may suffer serious injury…</p>
<p>I log my weight every day on a digital scale accurate to 0.2 pounds. It is not unusual at all for my weight to swing up or down 3 or more pounds in a day. The graph is not smooth at all.</p>
<p>But as long as the trend is down, I don’t worry about it. I hope to hit a new low sometime during each week. If I do, I’m happy, because it means I am still headed in the right direction. But day-to-day, it doesn’t mean all that much.</p>
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<p>I think I’m gonna pass! When I do my burpee fusion workout, I do 108 swings. That’s gracious plenty. 10 times that many would be too much for my ol’ (formerly) fat lower back.</p>
I was at Marshall’s and Dicks yesterday. The selection at Marshall’s was probably the worst that I’ve seen in a year. Very little stuff available though there were some interesting colors. I guess things are selling well this year or they are doing a good job managing inventory.
Dicks was very interesting. Nike and Adidas have some very interesting fabrics - very, very light materials and they look very comfortable. I saw the shirt that Verdasco wore in a tournament this spring there - bring orange with some wild flares on the shirt - not something that you normally associate with ATP pros. I have never seen these materials at TJX companies - maybe this fall or maybe not at all. I would imagine that this stuff gets dumped on sale soon once the heat wave abates - this stuff is probably not too useful in the fall.
They have short that are pretty lightweight too but you couldn’t make a pair of shorts out of this material - it’s too thin. I’m tempted to say that it wouldn’t be strong enough but I don’t know how strong the material is - they can make very strong and light stuff these days. Prices run about $40 for a shirt in these materials.
<p>hops_scout, you all go right ahead with that challenge, if that’s gonna float your boat. As for me, I’m not sure I see the point!! Looks like an injury waiting to happen!</p>
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<p>LOL. I’m thinking maybe starting with 1,000 over 10 days. That’s only 100 a day. That would be pretty easy. Maybe build from there ;)</p>
<p>Dad II, heed the exhaustion. It’s telling you something. It’s not normal to be completely exhausted. Sometimes it’s an underlying health issue or a medication.</p>
<p>I sometimes get completely exhausted too - three hours of tennis in 90+ degree heat will do that to me and I will typically sleep a lot of hours in the next day or two. It really isn’t good for the body to get exposed to that on a regular basis as systems can start to break down.</p>
<p>^This sounds like a torture, not good for a body at all, very dangerous! Why, what is a purpose? To hurt yourself?</p>
<p>MiamiDAP- I know you don’t understand this concept, but some of us LIKE to push ourselves and actually enjoy a hard effort. Sometimes we push a little too hard. A lot of the time we feel good, sometimes we get exhausted.</p>
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<p>That’s the ticket, build from there! 
Actually, I don’t find swings to be THAT gruellng anymore, except that I’m always doing them right after burpees and it always takes me a couple of swings to get my gasping for air synched with the swings! I may put them in a weight workout and go heavier for a change of pace.</p>
<p>Speaking of T-NATION articles, I’m guessing that website has done more to turn people away from strength training than any other single site around. It’s a shame because they get some good content, but they also have a lot of nonsense. And the photos are enough to make me want to lose lunch. If I thought there were any risk, whatsover, of looking like that, I would stop lifting weights immediately!</p>
<p>32 mins w/30 sec sprint at the end. Not a lot of wildlife sightings. Birds, and a banana slug positioned precariously on the path amongst walkers and joggers.</p>