anyone else losing weight in grad school?

[fibonacci]

I've lost 22lbs while in grad school thus far, not because of some strict regimen of working out and dieting, but because of the fact that I simply don't have time to eat. Many days I only eat once per day. I wasn't that big to begin with, just slightly overweight (161 lbs for a male) and am now down to 139lbs. I haven't been this light since my freshman year in high school. At this rate, ill be sporting a 6 pack soon all without even trying, and ive never had a 6 pack in my life. Anyone else losing a ton if weight because they slend more time doing work than having time to eat?

[sareth]

Ha! I thought I was the only one. It's not so much that I don't have time to eat (though it's a factor) but that I'm walking a LOT more, and unlike last year I'm not sitting in an office & snacking because I'm bored. I'm also eating a lot of salads because they're quick & easy with the result that I'll need to go shopping for pants soon...

[SymmetryOfImperfection]

I've lost 22lbs while in grad school thus far, not because of some strict regimen of working out and dieting, but because of the fact that I simply don't have time to eat. Many days I only eat once per day. I wasn't that big to begin with, just slightly overweight (161 lbs for a male) and am now down to 139lbs. I haven't been this light since my freshman year in high school. At this rate, ill be sporting a 6 pack soon all without even trying, and ive never had a 6 pack in my life. Anyone else losing a ton if weight because they slend more time doing work than having time to eat?

same I don't have enough to eat and I'm so exhausted every day, both mentally and physically, that I definitely severely lost weight.

[psychdork]

I hit the 20 pound weight loss mark yesterday. For a while it was because I was sticking to a diet and making sure I worked out a lot, but around March I came down with a cold and had to eat differently and eventually just dropped the whole thing. For the past two months, although I've been wanting to go back to my original diet/workout plan I haven't found the motivation, and yet I'm still losing weight (a pound or two a week, so it's healthy) so I can't complain. Like everyone else I've just been too busy to eat, though I do make sure to eventually eat a decent amount so my body doesn't go into starvation mode. I'm also a stress eater (I gained around 10 pounds my first year of grad school), but have been really watching that this past year, and now it looks like instead of over-eating when stressed, I just don't eat. I know, not good, but I'm working on it. I still have about 30-40 pounds to lose (though fortunately, it only looks like maybe 15-20 to others) so I still have some work to do, but I'm loving this grad school diet right now.

[Shari A Williams]

I'm not losing a ton of weight but like sareth, I'm far more active. Naturally, no bus stops nor train stations are near to my residence building and especially in September I spent most of the time walking to and from there to get groceries. The result is that I've lost weight in my first six weeks - I can feel it in my jeans, which are all a little looser on me.

Although I've DEFINITELY been stressed out of my MIND, I haven't been eating MUCH less than usual. However my lovely grad student budget means I can't buy everything I want to at the supermarket, nor indulge too much when I go out to eat...so I'm sure that has something to do with it too.

[ktel]

I don't weigh myself so I have no idea. I'm pretty thin so I sure hope I haven't lost weight, although some of my pants are a bit loose. But I could have also bought these pants a few years ago after I got back from Germany and had gained just a tiny bit of weight. And my jeans are stretching out with time so aren't so tight anymore.

Sometimes when I'm really stressed I forget to take eating breaks too. It's bad news. But since all of my work is on the computer now, I gladly look forward to my eating breaks to give my eyes a rest.

[happykitten62]

I lost more than 10 pounds after I started grad school (I was not big to begin with, 130 lbs for a 5'4'' female), at first it was because of getting hurt by a broken relationship...I lost 10 pound within one week when that relationship was broken because I was too sad to eat anything, then gained some weight back, then my research/teaching/course work get very intense and I was exhausted all the time, so I lost more weight than I gained back. I like being slim, though.

[Usmivka]

I've definitely gone down a belt size or two. I'm eating more and worse than I have in years, so I'll chalk it up to all that energetically expensive thinking ; )

[Arrowfletch]

I don't have a scale so I don't know numbers, but I've definitely lost weight since starting.  It's not a good thing for me, since it is because I skip meals because of my schedule, forget to eat because I'm so overwhelmed by what I'm working on, etc.

[Kel14234]

I just started my program a couple of weeks ago and I've already lost 7 pounds. I just haven't found time to eat during the day. 

[spectastic]

i attribute my weight loss to eating less meat. meat used to be my primary portion. now, I eat about half as i used to. i don't fluctuate very much, and i've gone down from 165 lbs to high 150s. now, if I see low 160s, I'm either over hydrated, or i need to put more time on the bike.

not a health guru, but my advice is to stay away from processed stuff, and replace it with fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc. you can save time and still be healthy. it's more a matter of making the decision

 

also, it's important to point out there are good ways to lose weight and bad ones.. overworking, skipping meals, bad stress etc. are examples of unhealthy weight loss. otoh, exercise, better dieting, are good. kind of obvious, but also very important.

Edited August 14, 2016 by spectastic

[PoliticalOrder]

^  There is absolutely nothing unhealthy about 'skipping meals.'

The number of times you eat per day has no bearing on healthiness. The myth that you need to eat 3, or even 2, times a day (or more) is ridiculous. 

[dr. t]

37 minutes ago, PoliticalOrder said:

^  There is absolutely nothing unhealthy about 'skipping meals.'

The number of times you eat per day has no bearing on healthiness. The myth that you need to eat 3, or even 2, times a day (or more) is ridiculous. 

Not to be pedantic, but that's not skipping meals. That's changing the number of meals you eat. 

I've dropped 10 lbs over the past year, but that's due to the fact that I've been biking 200mi a week because it's either that or ritalin, and I hate ritalin.

[PoliticalOrder]

1 hour ago, telkanuru said:

Not to be pedantic, but that's not skipping meals. That's changing the number of meals you eat. 

What's the difference?

[spectastic]

skipping meals is bad. look it up..

[PoliticalOrder]

13 minutes ago, spectastic said:

skipping meals is bad. look it up..

I have many times in the past. There are completely contradictory results...the amount of meals, either way, have not been conclusively shown to matter for health. There are benefits and negatives to intermittent fasting, and there are benefits and negatives to eating 3+ meals a day. It does not seem to matter either way as long as you still get the same amount of caloric intake each day.

[rococo_realism]

8 hours ago, PoliticalOrder said:

What's the difference?

I believe what @telkanuru is saying is that, because three meals a day is arbitrary, merely omitting one from your diet is simply changing the amount of meals you have a day. If you normally eat three meals a day, but decide not to eat, say, lunch one day, that's skipping.

He said he's being persnickety about it.

Edited August 20, 2016 by rococo_realism
Being persnickety about word choice

[dr. t]

On 8/19/2016 at 10:26 PM, rococo_realism said:

I believe what @telkanuru is saying is that, because three meals a day is arbitrary, merely omitting one from your diet is simply changing the amount of meals you have a day. If you normally eat three meals a day, but decide not to eat, say, lunch one day, that's skipping.

He said he's being persnickety about it.

Yep. But I think that, for the purpose of this conversation, the distinction is important.

Edited August 21, 2016 by telkanuru

[spectastic]

On 8/19/2016 at 8:53 PM, PoliticalOrder said:

I have many times in the past. There are completely contradictory results...the amount of meals, either way, have not been conclusively shown to matter for health. There are benefits and negatives to intermittent fasting, and there are benefits and negatives to eating 3+ meals a day. It does not seem to matter either way as long as you still get the same amount of caloric intake each day.

ok

[AshAnatomy]

I did too! Especially my loss of weight is evident on my face!

[MarineBluePsy]

I've lost 10lbs so far for 2 reasons....1) I'm walking and taking public transit more than I'm driving and 2)  I dine out less because the food here is awful.  I needed to lose weight anyway so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

[Robbentheking]

@PoliticalOrder

 

I haven't really done any research, but from personal experience and word of mouth:

The amount of meals doesn't matter insofar as you are getting the same amount of calaories. For me personally though, trying to combine two or even three meals into one huge meal results in me eating less calories per day on average I think. On the flip side, a lot of athletes try to eat throughout the day to get more calories in their system during intense weight training. You just have to pay attention to your body.

[nogitsune]

I'm gaining weight because of stress and lack of time.  I need to start working out and eating more health but I need tiiiiiime.

[loganmills]

On 27.09.2016 at 1:30 AM, MarineBluePsy said:

I've lost 10lbs so far for 2 reasons....1) I'm walking and taking public transit more than I'm driving and 2)  I dine out less because the food here is awful.  I needed to lose weight anyway so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

 

I lost about 8lbs as well because of awful food.

[MarineBluePsy]

@loganmills  And the trend has continued with me now being down about 30lbs.  I wasn't morbidly obese or anything, but losing weight has been good.  Thank heavens I know how to cook.