Why you gain weight if you eat more than your cut

michellekicks

I answered someone in another topic and it was suggested to me that I give my response its own thread. It seems this is new information for a lot of people and it could potentially relieve a lot of anxiety about weight gain when increasing calories. So for anyone who thinks, "But 1700 calories IS my maintenance amount!" Or, "I must just have a really slow metabolism because when I go over 1200 I gain." ... this post is for you.

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The reason most people think they have to eat so little to maintain their weight is because our bodies naturally store glycogen and water in our muscles. This is the body's ready energy. When you eat at a caloric deficit, the glycogen stores (and the water molecules they must bind to in the cells) are shed first. That's why you get a big loss the first week of any diet. You just depleted your glycogen stores and now the body has no choice but to resort to fat in a continued caloric deficit.

So you keep up your deficit and your body is burning both glucose from the food you're eating and fat from your body (and some lean mass because you're in a deficit and that will just happen anyway) and you finally get to a weight you like. So you increase your calories to stop losing...

Or, you just decide to ditch the caloric deficit for a weekend of eating without discretion...

Or Christmas rolls around or you go on vacation and you eat to satisfaction and maybe a touch more...

... and you find you almost instantly put on 5 lbs.

All that has happened is your body has restored its glycogen stores and the water that glycogen must be stored with. In fact, trained endurance athletes will deliberately store extra glycogen by carb-loading before major events in order to have more energy for sustained effort. The body will, under perfect conditions, store this energy for use. It's part of being human.

So suppose you want to maintain your weight at 125 lbs. You diet down to 125 and then think, "Awesome! I will diligently increase my calories to maintenance." So you were eating 1700 calories/day to lose and you increase to 2000 calories daily... and after 1 week you've put on 1.5 lbs... so you cut back down to 1800 and your weight stays the same but now you're at 126.5... but you want to be 125lbs, so now you're just pissed off. So you go back down to 1500 calories for a week and you get back down to 125lbs. Then you increase by only 100 calories/day for a week and your weight stays the same... so you do it again... and you stay the same. You think, "Yay! I'm maintaining!"... And any time you eat over 1800 calories daily you start to gain again.

Why?

Because your body just wants 5 lbs of glycogen stores. The solution? Cut down to 5 lbs under your target weight and then eat at maintenance. Your body will rebound up to a healthy non-glycogen-depleted state and you'll be able to maintain relatively effortlessly and eat more food.

Okay, sorry... that was long-winded. I just cringe at the number of people who think they have to eat so little to maintain.

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So now having thought about my answer for another day or so, I do want to also say this:

1) I have no formal education in this field.
2) I believe how much glycogen is stored is relative to the amount of lean mass on a body. A 100lb person may store 2-3 lbs while a 250lb person could probably store up to 7-8lbs when combined with the water.
3) If your goal weight is unreasonably low because of ED, I am not recommending you cut to 5 lbs less than that

So with that said... feel free to discuss, rebuke, relax...

majope

Awesomely helpful. Thank you! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

mmddwechanged

Like!:)

sarahstrezo

Awesome post!! So helpful and true!!!

For me...I cut down to 125lbs (which was my goal weight). Then I decided that my workouts were suffering from jack of energy (and my cut was about 1800-1900 cals), so I upped to maintenance (2200-2300 cals) and within a week, went back up to 127lbs. Of course, I freaked just a little. But you know what....I look the same as I did at 125. My clothes for the same as I did at 125 and, most importantly, my measurements are relatively the same as they were at 125.

Plus....I'm now able to eat like, what I consider, a normal person would. I don't have to 'not' eat certain things because of my deficit/lack there of. I've realized that number on the scale doesn't tell the whole picture. I've been at maintenance for about 6 weeks now and the scale has stayed completely the same....127. And those 2lbs mean nothing.

michellekicks

^ That's awesome.

Here's the original post:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/993146-people-eating-low-calorie-to-maintain-weight-read

There was another helpful testimonial from someone who got to the other side of the glycogen replenishment gain and lived to tell the story

harlanJEN

Most EXCELLENT ! Very well- written and on the money.

I can attest to it with a most recent example. I had a pretty severe energy slump a month ago. Pretty darn bad. I could FEEL it was nutritional / carb related. My glycogen stores were depleted BIG TIME. I saw the lowest # on my scale on the day I felt the most depleted. I added in more carbs, my glycogen stores were replenished and my energy back to normal. The scale? Up 3 lbs. My glycogen depleted body weighs 3 lbs less.

THIS is why we should have a weight RANGE to maintain, not A weight. trying to maintain A single # is fruitless and angst ridden. If I had a $ for every " ACK iI've gained 3 lbs over the weekend" post Ive read, my IRA would be plump. related to that is the " I weigh "x" and want to weigh "x minus 3-5 lbs". 3-5 lbs is pretty insignificant scale-wise and wont have significant body composition differences. At that point: focusing on body recomp vs. scale weight is the way to go! that's another ball of wax : )

nomeejerome

Thank you for posting this.....

xjckemx

Hi, I've only been on maintenance 2 weeks and actually didn't up Calories too much as wanted to do if slow. I've already put back 1.5 llbs out of a 9 llb loss! It's took about 3 months to lose the 9 llb and I want to maintain at 112 llbs. But what yr saying I need to do is lose a bit more first say another 3 -4 llb! To be able to maintain ish at 112! I do understand the science of it, it just makes me sad I've got to lose more as these 9 llbs were such hard work!! Hope i haven't mis understood!!

bluevwgurl

This makes alot of sense. If I ever get to my goal weight, I will take this into consideration.

travlinjess

Very useful information, and very well put and explained. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

servilia

Yep makes sense

khall86790

Perfect! Thanks so much for this

TraceyG1971

Thank you for posting this helpful information

goodtimezzzz

even easier ..just vary your cals every other day about 20 percent below maintenance..and on a harder training day 20 percent above..works like a charm...results you get leaner and stronger regardless of scale!

goodtimezzzz

Hi, I've only been on maintenance 2 weeks and actually didn't up Calories too much as wanted to do if slow. I've already put back 1.5 llbs out of a 9 llb loss! It's took about 3 months to lose the 9 llb and I want to maintain at 112 llbs. But what yr saying I need to do is lose a bit more first say another 3 -4 llb! To be able to maintain ish at 112! I do understand the science of it, it just makes me sad I've got to lose more as these 9 llbs were such hard work!! Hope i haven't mis understood!!

michellekicks

Hi, I've only been on maintenance 2 weeks and actually didn't up Calories too much as wanted to do if slow. I've already put back 1.5 llbs out of a 9 llb loss! It's took about 3 months to lose the 9 llb and I want to maintain at 112 llbs. But what yr saying I need to do is lose a bit more first say another 3 -4 llb! To be able to maintain ish at 112! I do understand the science of it, it just makes me sad I've got to lose more as these 9 llbs were such hard work!! Hope i haven't mis understood!!

Unfortunately, yes. That's what I'm saying :frown: ... but if you do it, and get down to maybe 109-110, that may be enough. If you're that tiny, I don't think you're going to store a whole lot of glycogen. But once you're maintaining at 112 lbs with your body all fueled up, you're going to feel like a million bucks.

JeanMBK

Interesting, thank you!

goodtimezzzz

The great Bodybuilder Steve Reeves said.."you gotta go 3 to 5 pounds below what you wanted to lose..then gain the RIGHT kinda weight..meaning lean muscle to your desired weight"

Juliste

Thanks for the info.

LaurenAOK

Very informative post. Your example sounded just like me, I got to my goal weight of 125 pounds but when I started eating normally again I went back up to 130! My goal weight is 120 now for this very reason.

jsuaccounting

Thank you for pointing this out. This is very helpful for us transitioning to maintainence.