Our discussion on fat loss made me think back to times I did not successfully diet, or came off a diet and gained vicious amounts of weight over night.
A friend once gained nearly 45 lbs in less than 3 full days when he came off a diet. I have heard stories of others but not many. People don't discuss the after diet food binge too often.
After my first show (1986) that I was more ripped at than any show before or since..I went off my diet. By Sunday night I had gained 33 pounds back. Sure a lot of it was water...but it did not come off either. SO it stuck! I went from 147 lbs to 168 lbs overnight. My normal weight at this time was 165 lbs.
Does anyone else have stories like this?
If you are curious how I gained the weight...Saturday night after the show I ate about 3 complete meals in junk food at Bennigans. I got real sick, threw up, then came out of the mens room and ate 3 more meals with alcohol. I woke up Sunday morning (about 6 hours later) and had about 5 breakfasts (including 2 large boxes of Lucky Charms cereal and a full gallon of milk) and kept eating all day. By late Sunday I had ballooned up.
I never experienced anything like it. It was like a switch had flipped in my head. I ate almost non stop for several days. Luckily it went away or I would be 500lbs easy.
I am reading a book about this phenomenom and it's very interesting.
I recall being so full, my stomach hurt...yet I still felt like I was starving!

Our discussion on fat loss made me think back to times I did not successfully diet, or came off a diet and gained vicious amounts of weight over night.
A friend once gained nearly 45 lbs in less than 3 full days when he came off a diet. I have heard stories of others but not many. People don't discuss the after diet food binge too often.
After my first show (1986) that I was more ripped at than any show before or since..I went off my diet. By Sunday night I had gained 33 pounds back. Sure a lot of it was water...but it did not come off either. SO it stuck! I went from 147 lbs to 168 lbs overnight. My normal weight at this time was 165 lbs.
Does anyone else have stories like this?
If you are curious how I gained the weight...Saturday night after the show I ate about 3 complete meals in junk food at Bennigans. I got real sick, threw up, then came out of the mens room and ate 3 more meals with alcohol. I woke up Sunday morning (about 6 hours later) and had about 5 breakfasts (including 2 large boxes of Lucky Charms cereal and a full gallon of milk) and kept eating all day. By late Sunday I had ballooned up.
I never experienced anything like it. It was like a switch had flipped in my head. I ate almost non stop for several days. Luckily it went away or I would be 500lbs easy.
I am reading a book about this phenomenom and it's very interesting.
I recall being so full, my stomach hurt...yet I still felt like I was starving!

That just seems literally impossible... to gain 21 pounds of fat in three days would require consuming 73500 Calories above your maintenance level! That is an average of 24500 Calories a day, or 1020 Calories an hour for every single hour of the three days!

In order to gain 45 pounds of fat in three days requires 157500 Calories above maintenance, or 52500 Calories excess per day, or 2187.5 every hour of every day for three days. Sounds highly, highly unlikely to be anything other than water weight.

That just seems literally impossible... to gain 21 pounds of fat in three days would require consuming 73500 Calories above your maintenance level! That is an average of 24500 Calories a day, or 1020 Calories an hour for every single hour of the three days!

In order to gain 45 pounds of fat in three days requires 157500 Calories above maintenance, or 52500 Calories excess per day, or 2187.5 every hour of every day for three days. Sounds highly, highly unlikely to be anything other than water weight.


Agreed...

i've gained like 4.4lbs over the past 4 days
i had alot of carbs yesterday(i was really hungry for some reason), so im pretty sure that has something to do with it, im not really hungry today, so it should even out, thats why its best to weigh yourself just once a week, and not make any changes after that, even then you should be going by monthly figures, after your weight gain/loss has evened out
the week before that i lost about 2.5lbs, week off training, and i didnt really eat properly (part of my "eat only when hungry" plan, so some days i may overeat alot, ie:yesterday, and somedays i wont eat as much, ie: probly today) i still workout, only eat healthy foods(worst food i eat is a sushi roll like once a week, rest is clean as anything!), so its probly mainly water, some muscle, some fat, im not too worried, but it sounds like you have been eating absolute crap, which would make your situation a little worse :p but what do you expect! just buckle up and eat clean, do exercise and it will fall back off!

When you eat a meal, the weight of the meal is with you until you pass whatever of it you do. Same with fluids. So if you eat and drink a lot in a short period, and don't pass much of it, you'll have "gained" a lot of weight. Needless to say, it'll be hard for your body to turn it all into fat.

...including 2 large boxes of Lucky Charms cereal...
Kryptonite!!! I'm absolutely no good around this stuff :drool: :drool: :drool:

Our discussion on fat loss made me think back to times I did not successfully diet, or came off a diet and gained vicious amounts of weight over night.
A friend once gained nearly 45 lbs in less than 3 full days when he came off a diet. I have heard stories of others but not many. People don't discuss the after diet food binge too often.
After my first show (1986) that I was more ripped at than any show before or since..I went off my diet. By Sunday night I had gained 33 pounds back. Sure a lot of it was water...but it did not come off either. SO it stuck! I went from 147 lbs to 168 lbs overnight. My normal weight at this time was 165 lbs.
Does anyone else have stories like this?
If you are curious how I gained the weight...Saturday night after the show I ate about 3 complete meals in junk food at Bennigans. I got real sick, threw up, then came out of the mens room and ate 3 more meals with alcohol. I woke up Sunday morning (about 6 hours later) and had about 5 breakfasts (including 2 large boxes of Lucky Charms cereal and a full gallon of milk) and kept eating all day. By late Sunday I had ballooned up.
I never experienced anything like it. It was like a switch had flipped in my head. I ate almost non stop for several days. Luckily it went away or I would be 500lbs easy.
I am reading a book about this phenomenom and it's very interesting.
I recall being so full, my stomach hurt...yet I still felt like I was starving!
Sorry for being so blunt, but to get that sort of gain you'd have to be a major lardass in terms of food consumption :)

Yeah, I don't know about that huge amount of weight gain, but I made a recent post about this sort of binge! I go through the same thing from time to time. I'm completely content with the way I eat normally...but I always have this longing, perhaps from my larger days, to eat junk, even though my mind's screaming that I'll feel bad afterwards. Hm, I can also relate on the 2 boxes of lucky charms and a gallon of milk. It would be totally sick to start a thread to list everything consumed in a cheat day to see who's had the nastiest experience! lol...cheating...it's a love/hate ordeal.

-Shafe

I do believe that the initial weight gain has to be water..however the weight really does stay with you. IN other words you weigh 160 on May 1st. You overeat for 3 days and get to 185. You stay off your diet and eat normal food including extra (like pizza and bread) as now you are off the diet. May 7th. A week later you still weigh 185 lbs. 2 weeks and 3 weeks and so on..you check the scale and if anything you are now 188. May 30 you are 190lbs. You never drop back.
I don't know how the calorie thing equates to reality. The reality is--You sit down and start eating, pizza, milk and so on, at every meal, you can put on 30 lbs in a week. Yes you are slob, but it sure is not hard to do. Maybe I just have the metabolism to gain weight, but it never seemed so as I am pretty thin. Of course I don't eat like this but I have--and I have seen others binge as well. It's easy to gain fat.
I have seen guys ripped to the bone and smoothed out (no abs) in 3 days and be blobs in 2 weeks. These people are the exceptions..but strangly are often incredibly built. These extremists are the same ones willing to diet into unreal shape and often win the contests.
At the Southeastern USA 2 weeks ago I talked to a guy that was 5' 6" 159 lbs. He was incredibly muscular and ripped. His body was like 5 of mine in one shorter package. He was so muscular It was amazing. He had dieted down from 225 lbs. Another guy I spoke to had dieted down nearly 48 lbs! He was a light heavy and a very expereinced competitor. He had competed for almost 15 years. He was the most muscular fellow in the show. His legs had deep grooves of muscle in them. He looked incredible.
I don't think it take these guys that long to return to their normal weights. Maybe a month--tops. More like 2 weeks if they resume normal eating.
I think women gain fat even faster than a man and it takes them 3 x the work to lose it. I have seen women blow up, 10 to 15 lbs from one weekend of eating "normally". Undoing months of work.
It has taken me, about 6 months to lose about 20 lbs. I think it will go back on in about 3 days--unfortuntely. :p

I have seen women blow up, 10 to 15 lbs from one weekend of eating "normally". Undoing months of work.

I don't see how anything about their eating could be considered normal by putting on that much weight in one weekend.

It seems to me that a lot of people that lose so much and then go binging right after a competition are doing it for the wrong reasons. They are not doing it because they are trying to be healthy, they are doing it for awards, recognition, money perhaps. That lifestyle can't be healthy, and I don't envy them.

That's showbiz! ;)

I do believe that the initial weight gain has to be water..however the weight really does stay with you. IN other words you weigh 160 on May 1st. You overeat for 3 days and get to 185. You stay off your diet and eat normal food including extra (like pizza and bread) as now you are off the diet. May 7th. A week later you still weigh 185 lbs. 2 weeks and 3 weeks and so on..you check the scale and if anything you are now 188. May 30 you are 190lbs. You never drop back.
I don't know how the calorie thing equates to reality. The reality is--You sit down and start eating, pizza, milk and so on, at every meal, you can put on 30 lbs in a week. Yes you are slob, but it sure is not hard to do. Maybe I just have the metabolism to gain weight, but it never seemed so as I am pretty thin. Of course I don't eat like this but I have--and I have seen others binge as well. It's easy to gain fat.
I have seen guys ripped to the bone and smoothed out (no abs) in 3 days and be blobs in 2 weeks. These people are the exceptions..but strangly are often incredibly built. These extremists are the same ones willing to diet into unreal shape and often win the contests.
At the Southeastern USA 2 weeks ago I talked to a guy that was 5' 6" 159 lbs. He was incredibly muscular and ripped. His body was like 5 of mine in one shorter package. He was so muscular It was amazing. He had dieted down from 225 lbs. Another guy I spoke to had dieted down nearly 48 lbs! He was a light heavy and a very expereinced competitor. He had competed for almost 15 years. He was the most muscular fellow in the show. His legs had deep grooves of muscle in them. He looked incredible.
I don't think it take these guys that long to return to their normal weights. Maybe a month--tops. More like 2 weeks if they resume normal eating.
I think women gain fat even faster than a man and it takes them 3 x the work to lose it. I have seen women blow up, 10 to 15 lbs from one weekend of eating "normally". Undoing months of work.
It has taken me, about 6 months to lose about 20 lbs. I think it will go back on in about 3 days--unfortuntely. :p

Remind me again please then why the gym owner was bad for not wanting to stick to this ludicrous diet regime in order to do competitions?

I did not mean to upset the apple cart. I was just talking about my observance of myself and others.
I have just read the book "The right bite" and the entire book is case studies of this nature. (Very cheap at Amazon.com) I am sorry if I offered up a fact of dieting that is not popular.
And yes, competitive athletes are extreme. That's why they win.
I realize very few people even here on a FItness forum, want to be ripped like Frank Zane. The price is high and it ain't no fun (unless you enjoy the competition and the process).
This is not a competitive athlete's club--- and I understand how extreme these gains and losses seem to people who don't do it.
Back to my egg whites and rolled oats... :tu:

I'm going to check that book out.

Obviously it was not fat weight, but you never said that it was. Two boxes of lucky charms is insane. I remember eatnig a full box of honey combs cereal with 2% milk many years ago. Another time I ate almost an entire packet of bacon. It was like a lb of bacon. I kept making trip after trip to the microwave cooking that stuff up. Damn was it good. My heart bleeds to think of it.

If I've been dieting I can put on maybe 4 lbs overnight tops, though I'm not TRYING to gain weight - just eating whatever I like. I'd initially have called shenanigans on your claims but I recall reading somewhere else years ago about a guy after a contest who put on 30 lbs or something stupid in about 24 hours, so it can happen. The body is so brutally starved for everything that it soaks it up like crazy. I recall reading about a terribly obese man weighing hundreds of lbs who was put on a crash diet and lost a lot of weight, and then he cranked on a couple of hundred lbs again in almost no time. Very interesting. Very unhealthy.

I've never competed, and never in my adult life consumed less than probably 1500 calories in a day, so I've never piled on more than 5 lbs or so in a day.

Just to chime in here, as I do frequent a few competetors forums. The weight gain that danartman is refering too is indeed a well known fact in the competetive bodybuilding circles. Here's a couple of posts from one of those forums:

POST:**Just was curious what others have had for weight gain in the immediate post contest phase. I just gained 15lbs in 24 hour period, and 19lbs. in 48 hrs. Boy do I feel lousy. Last night was my last binge night, now its back to the program. Boy was it good while it lasted. Anyone got those numbers beat?**

POST:**Wow Bob!,

I know its not uncommon for many to show a scale weight gain of 15-20lbs in a few weeks following a show. I know I gained 9 lbs the week following my contest. Most of it seemed to be water shifting and water retention from high carb foods...& eventually it leveled out to a 5 lb actual weight gain afer my contest. You must have had one big food feast! :-)

I learned from that experience however NOT to open Pandoras box as it were after a show. It leads to a lot of head games, cravings for trigger foods, for weeks after the actual indulgence. Sure a more relaxed nutrition plan is called for after a show & a Splurge or two within reason, but I won't allow it to go beyond that anymore because I just do not want to pay the price. Its to uncomfortable & quite honestly I work to hard regularly, to let it go in a few weeks or months after being in my very best condition**

POST:**My last show i had a 14 lbs swing by the next day, but it leveled there for about a week before adding 3 more lbs**

POST:**Brace yourselves...
A few years back I competed on Saturday and ate any and everything in site after the comp. I had even abused the sauna to drop every last bit of weight before my comp, alas I had to be a light weight. The next day was Easter.
Ate like a pig all day Sunday including a Buffet Brunch at a local casino riverboat.
Did not taper back down from potassium loading.
Monday I flew to a customers facility. 2 hour flight then a few hours in a rental car then on the shop floor for 12 hours or so trouble shooting.
By Tuesday morning I had gained almost 30 lbs.
All water. Could not even get my dress shoes on Tuesday morning.
My skin actaully hurt it had stretched so much.
That was before Beverly and the worst competition experience I have ever had.

Ray**

The body becomes so sensitive to water, and carbs after contest dieting, that it reacts quite dramatically when those are reintroduced after the show. Most competetors learn if they've been doing shows for a while, how to keep the weight gain under some kind of control.

i was waiting for you here kino. i thought you might be familiar with this. i didnt believe it at first but i do now. thats amazing.

I don't see how anything about their eating could be considered normal by putting on that much weight in one weekend.

It seems to me that a lot of people that lose so much and then go binging right after a competition are doing it for the wrong reasons. They are not doing it because they are trying to be healthy, they are doing it for awards, recognition, money perhaps. That lifestyle can't be healthy, and I don't envy them.

Just so you know as a woman I can carry an extra eight pounds just because I have a certain friend that visits monthly. The week before her visit I can be that 8 pounds over then if I eat like a pig because of the stress she puts on me I can gain another 5-6 pounds. Tah-dah, 13-14 pounds in less than a few days. Yes it will come right off after she leaves, with the exception of a few of her nasty friends she brought while I was binging on chocolate and salt. :drool:

There is the guy that went on the McDonald's diet for a month. Afterwards, he gained about 25 pounds (if I remember correctly) That was eating about 5,000 calories of junk food a day. I don't see how anyone can suddenly gain 20 - 30 lbs in a couple of days, even if it is water. Doesn't a gallon of water weight about 5 lbs? That's like 6 gallons fo water in 3 days. You would/ should be dead from too much water!

1 gal water = ~8 lbs

High carb and high sodium foods help accelerate water retention.

I don't know how or even fathom that kind of weight gain

Remind me again please then why the gym owner was bad for not wanting to stick to this ludicrous diet regime in order to do competitions?
:lol:

The reason I have become part of this community is because I decided to get a healthier body, not because I wanted to look fabulous for a few weeks, or a few days, or a few hours.

I'm surprised how angry I feel to learn that some of the people who are competing take such terrible care of their bodies.

At the Southeastern USA 2 weeks ago I talked to a guy that was 5' 6" 159 lbs. He was incredibly muscular and ripped. His body was like 5 of mine in one shorter package. He was so muscular It was amazing. He had dieted down from 225 lbs. Another guy I spoke to had dieted down nearly 48 lbs! He was a light heavy and a very expereinced competitor. He had competed for almost 15 years. He was the most muscular fellow in the show. His legs had deep grooves of muscle in them. He looked incredible.
I don't think it take these guys that long to return to their normal weights. Maybe a month--tops. More like 2 weeks if they resume normal eating.

Losing 48 pounds doesn't impress me one bit if it's just going right back on you. Lose 24 pounds in six months and keep it off for two years and I'll be more impressed.

Please let me believe there are more people in this world that can maintain the John Stone look, than the sad people that want to look perfect for one small moment.

I read an article about Elvis and his unbelieveable eating habits. It stated that he actually flew some nights to his favorite resturant a few states away to collect 12 of his favorite sandwiches. Each consisted of 42,000 cals. He was eating two a day naering his death. They consisted of a 12 inchs thick of bacon with jam. He must of put on so much weight in a short space of time.

I read an article about Elvis and his unbelieveable eating habits. It stated that he actually flew some nights to his favorite resturant a few states away to collect 12 of his favorite sandwiches. Each consisted of 42,000 cals. He was eating two a day naering his death. They consisted of a 12 inchs thick of bacon with jam. He must of put on so much weight in a short space of time.
42,000 calories in one sandwich??? Is that even possible??? :d_eek:

I read an article about Elvis and his unbelieveable eating habits. It stated that he actually flew some nights to his favorite resturant a few states away to collect 12 of his favorite sandwiches. Each consisted of 42,000 cals. He was eating two a day naering his death. They consisted of a 12 inchs thick of bacon with jam. He must of put on so much weight in a short space of time.

This has URBAN LEGEND written all over it. It would take 12 pounds of pure fat to equal 42000 kcals, and do you know how much space 12 pounds of fat takes up? It might possibly be that the 12 sandwiches together were 42000 kcals, which would come out to 3500 calories per sandwich, which is much more resonable.

1 gal water = ~8 lbs

High carb and high sodium foods help accelerate water retention.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. Binge eating is usually hi sodium eating, mix that with water and boom.. there you go. I can easily gain 6-8lbs in a few hours just by chugging my water.

This has URBAN LEGEND written all over it. It would take 12 pounds of pure fat to equal 42000 kcals, and do you know how much space 12 pounds of fat takes up? It might possibly be that the 12 sandwiches together were 42000 kcals, which would come out to 3500 calories per sandwich, which is much more resonable.It must have been 4,200 calories/sandwhich. Two of those a day I'd believe.

It will be good when humanity evolves, at an ever so slow pace, away from the eat-until-stuffed mentality that is inherently bred within the majority of us.

You know, speaking of weight gain, our daughter was born 50 days ago at 5,12" (4 weeks early which is why she was somewhat lighter), and in 50 days has gotten, as of today, up to 8,14, which is a 65% increase in body weight in 50 days. Not bad! That would be me going from 180 to a hair under 300lbs! I have before and afters too. Her thighs have really pudged up, as has her face ;)

It must have been 4,200 calories/sandwhich. Two of those a day I'd believe.

It will be good when humanity evolves, at an ever so slow pace, away from the eat-until-stuffed mentality that is inherently bred within the majority of us.

You know, speaking of weight gain, our daughter was born 50 days ago at 5,12" (4 weeks early which is why she was somewhat lighter), and in 50 days has gotten, as of today, up to 8,14, which is a 65% increase in body weight in 50 days. Not bad! That would be me going from 180 to a hair under 300lbs! I have before and afters too. Her thighs have really pudged up, as has her face ;)

Mine had gone from 8, 9 to 14 in about two months he is around 19 now at three months, you should see the fat on the back of his legs. But it is so cute when they are babies ;)

I remember seeing a show about young body builders once, where they followed them all through working out and building muscle, dieting to achieve a low BF% and through the competition. One thing I picked up is that in order to look as ripped as you can, you want to draw as much water out of your body as possible. One of the competitors had to go to the hospital, suffering from severe dehydration. Wouldn't it be natural in this state that the body will act as a sponge, sucking up every bit of water it can? Also, since it's deprived of fat, it will try to put on every bit of fat it can in order to build up the storage again.

I don't see the point of bodybuilding really. Sure, I understand wanting bigger muscles, but putting your body under so much stress that you have to in time for competition, I don't understand it.

Skoorb, I think the man you are referring to is included in the Guiniess (sp) Book of Records. As I remember it, he weighed 450 kgs or so (roughly 1000 lbs), got down to 200, and then gaing 90 kgs (200 lbs) in one week. His heart couldn't bear such a weight gain and collapsed.

Actually, in regards to the water manipulation...my understanding is to take in as much water as possible, (2.5-3 gallons) right upto the day/night before prejudging, then drop it to nearly nothing. The body becomes so used to having a constant intake of water, that it's flushing itself as fast as it possibly can. With your body in that state, you drop the water intake, and end up looking "as dry as toast".

Actually, in regards to the water manipulation...my understanding is to take in as much water as possible, (2.5-3 gallons) right upto the day/night before prejudging, then drop it to nearly nothing. The body becomes so used to having a constant intake of water, that it's flushing itself as fast as it possibly can. With your body in that state, you drop the water intake, and end up looking "as dry as toast".
We learn something new every day, especially at these forums.

The after result would be the same though, wouldn't it? That the body would soak up like a sponge once you give it water again.