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