I agree with most others; you probably ate more than you realized and just didn't burn enough calories during the day to make up for it. 4 miles is a decent amount to walk, but in all honesty you probably walk close to that doing your normal day-to-day things at home. I walk more than 4 miles just walking my dog in the evenings. Throw in all that pasta, gelato and wine and it adds up!

It could very well be your missed period though, too. It's easy for women to get thrown off their cycles, especially when on vacation or doing things outside their normal routines for an extended period of time. It's also common for our weight to fluxuate by 3-5 pounds.

I am 26 and luckily don't have much problem gaining weight on vacation, but like TexasAggie I also work out regularly 5-6 days a week with regular cardio and weights, which helps my metabolism. At home I am fairly strict with my diet. However, I don't deprive myself on vacation. In Italy I eat gelato at least twice a day and lots of pizza and pasta. I just figure that if I gain a few pounds I will work it off when I get home. Its worth it! Italy wouldn't be Italy without gelato and pizza! :)

Tracy

And just as an aside, I always lose more inches than pounds, probably due to all the weight training I do. I don't even own a scale. I go by my clothing and a tape measure.

5 pounds isn't worth enough to get upset over. Going to the gym is a great idea and a good attitude.

Good luck!
Tracy

Hi I,

Two months in Italy and you gained only 5 lbs? That's pretty good.

How much wine did you drink?

((I))

This has to be another one of those miracles of medical science that are on late night TV between the Super Snacker and the Ron Popeil commercials: woman who "never ate" gained five pounds..and you can be just like her for only $19.95!

LOL Ira...just some wine with dinner sometimes. I'm not really a big drinker but I do like it with dinner sometimes :-)

As many have pointed out somehow you must have taken in more calories than you expended. Since you were gone 2 months, that’s only ~1/2 pound per week gain. Even though you don’t think you technically “overate”, like stuffing yourself with food, still it can creep up on you. Weight gain and loss is a pretty mathmatical proposition = calories in vs calories out.

A little comment about physics for jlm_mi:

Mass = Volume x Density (M = V x D from now on)

Now let's say F for Fat and M for Muscle.

So if you lost 1 pound of fat and gained 1 pound of muscle, M_F = M_M.
Now if the density of muscle would be LESS than the density of fat, D_M < D_F, that means the volume of muscle in 1 pound should be MORE than the volume of fat in 1 pound to make the equation work, so you'd have a bigger volume, V_M > V_F, and therefore you would fit WORSE in your pants, not better.

If you reverse the whole thing, you get that muscle is MORE dense than fat and therefore the volume of muscle is less than the volume of the same mass of fat, therefore you fit better in your pants.

And, if the volume stays the same (clothes fit the same), but the density raised (muscle replacing fat), the mass will raise as well.

So, Italianissima: if you're sure you didn't take in more calories and did burn the same amount of calories or more than at home, then either you're retaining water (you'll loose that in the next couple of weeks) or you gained muscle (which is probably even better news :-))

I definitely ascribe to the calories consumed vs. calories burned mathematical model of weight management. However you have to take into account the following: 1) Any food consumed while you're standing has no calories. 2) Any food cut with a knife causes the calories to escape. 3) Foods consumed in the work place have half the calories of those consumed at home. I'm sure there are additional calorie corollaries, but I don't have time to recall them as I have to go eat breakfast.

Betsy

Don't forget that a diet coke cancels out the calories in what you eat with it!! ;)

stardust - I'm an engineer; physics is my life. :) But it was very late and I couldn't sleep, so I mistakenly typed less when I meant more. :)

Have you thought of checking your scale...it may have missed you while you were gone and is paying you back!

jlm_mi: I'm a soon-to-graduate engineer, though travelling is more my life than physics ;-) I was already surprised how you came up with a scientific approach and then made such a huge mistake, in bold even ;-)

Mrs_Paw, that's so funny. I was wondering the same thing - scale need a new battery?

Calories in doesn't always equal calories out. Each of us has his/her own metabolism, and each of us produces insulin, and uses or stores calories in our own way. If we were all the same, some people wouldn't be perpetually skinny regardless of intake, while some constantly battle weight regardless of what they eat. Age and hormonal levels are also factors. You can put the same amount of fuel into different fire places, furnaces, and stoves, and not get the same amount of heat from each. Some stoves are more efficient than others.

elaine, i agree but also think people make excuses (i.e., there's way more overweight people then ones who have thyroid problems, etc.)

age is a huge factor that i almost posted about earlier on this thread, but i didn't want to carry on like an old lady to the 20-somethings who can eat pizza and gelato and think they are thin because of exercise. it's all i can do not to shout "it's because you're 25 that's why" ;-)

I once lost 15 pounds in two months without even trying after quitting my job (at age 36). I've never quite figured out why. Maybe the stress of my job made me eat more than I realized? Or perhaps the cafeteria food was higher in fat than it appeared? Who knows. I even saw my doctor and she couldn't find anything wrong with me. Whatever. I kept the weight off for about three years and then it started to creep back on. :-( I wish I could repeat this small miracle, but it does not seem to be in the cards... Nowadays I have to work hard at taking and keeping off extra weight.

Anyway, all of this to say that it is not always easy to pinpoint the reason for weight gain or loss. Five pounds is not very much and could very well disappear as easily as it appeared. Give your body a few weeks at home to see what happens.

suze, honey, don't worry about it. They'll find out soon enough. Sigh.

I have about 20 pounds of water weight. It fluctuates each month about 2 oz. Or maybe that is still "baby fat." He just turned 14 :-<

I'm with Marilyn here and not the muscle/fat school of thought.

Cut out the pasta, the bread, the cheese, the butter, and the wine - eat fruit, vegetables, fish, and chicken.

Also eat LESS. A coworker of mine once decided to lose weight, so he ate only HALF of everything. He ate the same stuff - only half as much. He slimmed down really fast in six months.

Exercise is OK, but too many people think that because they exercise they can eat MORE or eat fatter foods. "It's OK, I exercise, so I can eat ..." "I'm on a diet, but I walked six miles today, so I'm going to help myself to..." How often have you heard people say things like this?

easy you found the keys to the pie shop and ate all the pies.

Give the keys back.

;-)

Muck

Elaine,
I love your analogy about different stoves and furnances giving off different amounts of heat when supplied with the same amount of fuel.
Some stoves are more efficient than others. Just as some bodies are different because it certainly annoys me that my husband can eat and eat and eat and never gain an ounce. He eats full big bags of chips while on the computer late at night 2 or 3 times a week and has done so for years without gaining an ounce. Me on the other hand, all I have to do is pass thru the kitchen without stopping and I gain 5 lbs. LOL

ahhhh Marilyn... thank ya darlin'. that's the sweetest thing I've read on the board all week!

in my 20's i know that i myself would *never* have believed the words of warning that would be what i want to post here if i said them (how's that for a sentence?)

Actually, Muck, I was a devout follower of Marie Antoinette -

"Let them eat cake," she said, so I ate cake and ate cake and ate cake.

Not pies, m'dear, cakes! :)

Marilyn is a tiny person IMHO. Now I put on weight when I travel because my friends party for us but also the days we are alone, the husband must have his apertifs, digestifs, a not at home every day thing.
But at my age, I don't worry that much about my weight as in my younger days.

There are several possibilities. One might be that you didn't eat enough, your body went into starvation mode and when you came home, everything turned to fat. Another factor might be that you didn't drink enough water and your body just didn't process the food efficiently. Or you might have had more carbs (pasta?? pizza?) than you are used to and your body gained wait from those. If you go back to your normal mode of eating with a little extra exercise thrown in, you should lose the weight fairly quickly.

Thank you, cigale dear! It's all done with smoke and mirrors, I assure you.:-D

LOL ok so it was the cake shop....
You had the keys and you gave them back . Either way you were Happy,satisfied,contented and comfortable in your trip. Therefore you put on a few pounds, get down the gym or simply walk a 2 miles a day as fast as you can you will soon be super skinny.

Good luck

Muck

I just had to post this quote from the "Public Eavesdropping" feature in the SF Chronicle:

"310 pounds!...I need to stop putting salt on my margaritas. It makes me retain water."

suze, I'm one of those "twenty-somethings" who responded above. I absolutely think age makes a difference, but not everyone in their twenties (or under) are naturally thin. I used to be about 20 pounds heavier than I am now (and slightly overweight back then) and I had to work very hard to get that weight off. I've been working out consistently for over six years now and I think it definitely has helped my metabolism, but unfortunately I am not one of those naturally thin people who can eat anything. I put on weight very easily so I have to monitor what I eat and work out consistently to keep that weight from creeping back. So sure, weight does matter, but I definitely don't agree that I am thin just because I'm 26. My health is very important to me, so I'm thin because I work very hard to be this way.

Just thought I would defend some of us "twenty somethings"! :)

Tracy

Good for you, Tracy! Exercising and eating well are good habits to establish in your 20's, because believe me, you're going to need them in 20 years!

Hi Tracy,
I'm with you girl. I do realize that my age helps me stay thin but I also exercise my butt off to stay that way. When not on vacation I eat reasonably well and I run a <u>minimum</u> of 20 miles per week. I also lift weights 2 or 3 times a week. I wholeheartedly believe that my exercise routine has a LOT more to do with my weight than my age. In my case, all I have to do is look to my younger sister. We are the same height and build and she is only 22... however she is avidly &quot;anti-exercise&quot; and consequently weighs 30 pounds more than I do. To my way of thinking, age is just one of many factors but exercise is the kicker.

Tracy and TexasAggie, you both support my view from a kind of backwards perspective. Personally in my 20's I did not exercise at all and was naturally thin mostly because I didn't eat very much. In my 30's forward I added exercise to my weekly routine.

The point I am attempting to make is that now I could exercise 24/7 and still not be able to eat 3 gelattos and a couple slices of pizza. Ever. Period.

TexasAggie, I absolutely agree! I do cardio 3-4 days at week at the gym and I lift weights (with my personal trainer and by myself) a minimum of 2 days a week. It's time well spent. Not only do I look better but I feel better and much healthier. Sure, many twenty-somethings can eat whatever they want too (at least now) and never gain a pound, but I'm not one of those people and work very hard to stay in the shape I am in.

My sister is 23 and doesn't work out at all (and eats whatever she wants) and weights a good 15 to 20 pounds more than I do. I hate to say it, but she is motivation enough for me to continue with my workout plan!

Tracy

suze, I understand your point. However, that's a large reason why I decided to make a lifestyle change and add exercise to my regular routine long ago. I was never able to eat whatever I want and not gain weight, and I knew it would get worse as I get older. Making healthier lifestyle changes and exercising regularly now, in my 20's, should help with my metabolism as I grow older and my metabolism slows naturally. I look at my fitness routine as a life long commitment, not as something I do to lose a couple of pounds and then stop.

The reason why I can eat more on vacation (although I definitely can't eat 3 pieces of pizza and gelato in one sitting without getting sick) is that I am willing to allow myself to gain a few pounds on vacation (what's Italy without gelato and pizza? Its more than worth it and I will make up for it at home), and I walk so much on my trips that I usually end up burning it off anyways. I'm sure my metabolism has something to do with it, and I credit my strict fitness routine at home for that.

Tracy