Week 5: A little vacation

• Weight (7d avg): 193.2lbs/87.6kg

• RHR (7d avg): 56.7bpm

• Calories In (7d avg): 1986kcal

• Exercise (7d avg): 825kcal

• Net Deficit (total): -2000kcal

• 6x500m row sprints: 1:50.2

Notes:

As noted in my prior week, 3 months is a long time for sustained weight loss. And vacation time or life events happen. How do we build a a resilient routine that can handle some off days? My 7d weight average actually went up this week, even though my calorie counting showed I was still in a deficit. A reminder that these are estimates.

I was curious about the impacts of cortisol on weight loss. This 2010 study examined the impact of low calorie dieting on cortisol levels and no surprises

Restricting calories increased the total output of cortisol

The study concluded that stress from low calorie dieting could be counter productive to the goals of dieting. The stress hormone cortisol is of course notorious for driving weight gain. A study isn't required to show the value of vacations in reducing stress and cortisol, but here's one anyway.