How is it possible that I gained 2 kilos in a day?

It is possible. I just returned from a monster weekend getaway in Tokyo with my wife. It was our first trip away from the kids so I decided to eat with reckless abandon. It all started on Thursday afternoon at the Hong Kong airport where I was eating and drinking my face off and it did not end until Sunday night on the flight back home (still drinking cheap airplane wine and eating crappy airplane food)I did not get in a single workout (I don’t count the walking we did while shopping) nor did I count any calories or track any macros the entire time. The only thing I did was continue my IF protocol of skipping breakfast which is second nature to me at this point. It was a weekend of pure indulgence and utter freedom.

Zero regard for calories, macro-nutrients and just by looking at the restaurants I ate at, you know that dietary fat and sodium were way high while my protein was way down from what it normally is. I gained nearly 10 lbs. in just a weekend. But then after aggressively cleaning up my diet by the end of the work week after I was back down to my original weight.

Here is what I learned:

1. It doesn’t matter what the scale tells you. As I just demonstrated in a matter of 5 days I both gained and lost over 6 lbs. Water retention + high sodium + bloating from alcohol + small fat gain all contributed to this. This is why your weight can fluctuate so dramatically based on the time of day and what your diet has been like and why I tell people to stop freaking out over daily fluctuations in weight. Weigh yourself once a week and track your progress over a 2 week rolling average. Trend is your friend and that is all you should care about over a longer period of time.

2.Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss: It drives me nuts when I hear people talk about “dieting” and “weight loss”. You are missing the point here. What you should be concerned with is FAT LOSS. Weight doesn’t matter. This is why I hate the antiquated body fat measurement of the BMI. Every year when I get my physical done I am in the “fat” category based on the BMI reading because of my height and weight. Let’s focus on what matters and that is fat loss.

3.Freedom in Fitness: Your level of fitness DOES matter. I’ve been at single digit body fat for a while now and it was very easy for me to bounce right back after a weekend of gluttony. All the painstaking days of counting calories and tracking macros has allowed me the freedom to do these “binge weekends” without sweating every meal and food choice because I know I am at a level of fitness and have the discipline that allows me to easily bounce back with little to no fat gain. It DOES get easier when you are leaner. 3 months of hard work for a lifetime of freedom.

-----------------------------------