Gained weight while dieting and exercising?

mirellaleite1

I went from 156lbs to 135lbs in 2 years of working out and dieting. After these 2 years I stopped seen results. I am current 25% body fat and I want to reach 14%, so I decided to track my macros and went from a 1200cal diet to 1800 cal diet, drinking more water, increased the intensity of my workouts and guess what?! I gained weight. I went from 135lbs to 141lbs.
I do feel my body a little toned but I still can see the coat of far covering my beautiful muscles. I have been on this new routine for about 1 month. This is not muscle weight, there is no way I would put on 6lbs of muscle in just 1 month.
Should I go back to the 1200 cal diet or should I keep with 1800 cal diet? Please help!

ndj1979

so you increased calories by 600 a day and you are surprised that you gained weight????

It sounds like 1800 was probably a .5 gain for you so you need to go back to eating about 1400 which would be a half pound loss. Or, you can eat at maintenance or a very small deficit and do a recomp.

what are your stats = height/weight/age/gender/?

Muscleflex79

why would you think that going from 1200 calories to 1800 calories would help you lose weight?? that makes no sense?!?

ndj1979

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

why would you think that going from 1200 calories to 1800 calories would help you lose weight?? that makes no sense?!?

i am guessing that OP read some article on the net about eat more to lose more or something …?

melduf

Like others have said, jumping from 1200 to 1800 is the probable cause of your gain. When you increase your calories, you should start by adding 100 cal per day for a week or two and see how it goes. If you don't notice a gain, then you can add another 100 cal to your daily goal for the following week, and so on. Be patient. It's all about discovering how your body reacts and what's optimal for you.

Ibeachlover

Well, first of all, you might have gained several pounds of muscles if you just started some type of weight training, especially for the first time. I always gained about 5 pounds of weight (muscle) when I started working out again, without losing weight, and, yes, within a month. You wouldn't have necessarily lost equivalent fat pounds because you increase calories; and this is even more dependent on what type of calories you added. If you are starting to do weight lifting exercises, and think you need more food to keep you going...make sure it is protein ! Your body will need it and often the extra protein will help with weight loss. Hey, don't sweat it, just rethink it and go for it again !

mirellaleite1

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

why would you think that going from 1200 calories to 1800 calories would help you lose weight?? that makes no sense?!?

I went to a dietitian last year. She said that a 1200 cal was way too low. She recommended changing to a 1800 cal diet. Then I decided to check my macros and the results was 1800 cal.
I am a 31 y, 5"3 and currently 135lbs.

I have a fit big and according to Fitbit I am burning 2400 cal/day. I weight everything I eat.

This is my workout from last week as an example...




Monday
30 min weight training
3 miles run - 30 min

Tuesday
Rest

Wednesday
30 weight training
5 miles run - 50 min

Thursday
30 min weight training
3 mile run - 30 min

Friday
Rest

Saturday
30 min weight training
5 mile run - 50 min

Sun
30 min weight training
5 mile run - 50 min

LKArgh

mirellaleite1 wrote: »

I went from 156lbs to 135lbs in 2 years of working out and dieting. After these 2 years I stopped seen results. I am current 25% body fat and I want to reach 14%, so I decided to track my macros and went from a 1200cal diet to 1800 cal diet, drinking more water, increased the intensity of my workouts and guess what?! I gained weight. I went from 135lbs to 141lbs.
I do feel my body a little toned but I still can see the coat of far covering my beautiful muscles. I have been on this new routine for about 1 month. This is not muscle weight, there is no way I would put on 6lbs of muscle in just 1 month.
Should I go back to the 1200 cal diet or should I keep with 1800 cal diet? Please help!

Your logging is probably off. You were not maintaining at 1200 calories. Your previous 1200 was whatever your maintenance is (I would guess 1800-2000 for your weight ? ), and increasing this by a whole 600 more means gaining weight.

singingflutelady

Ibeachlover wrote: »

Well, first of all, you might have gained several pounds of muscles if you just started some type of weight training, especially for the first time. I always gained about 5 pounds of weight (muscle) when I started working out again, without losing weight, and, yes, within a month. You wouldn't have necessarily lost equivalent fat pounds because you increase calories; and this is even more dependent on what type of calories you added. If you are starting to do weight lifting exercises, and think you need more food to keep you going...make sure it is protein ! Your body will need it and often the extra protein will help with weight loss. Hey, don't sweat it, just rethink it and go for it again !

Um it's usually water weight you gain at first. As a female you need steroids to gain 5lbs of muscle in a month.

ghimm

Probably not the reason you gained, but there was an article recently on how many fitbit users end up gaining weight because it overestimates calories burned and lets them eat too many calories back. http://www.today.com/health/my-fitness-band-making-me-fat-users-complain-weight-gain-1D79911176

Billy323

This is why you need to pay attention to the measuring tape too. As you lift and exercise with a proper diet you end up with a fair amount of glycogen in your muscles. One gram of glycogen is bound with water by a factor of 4-5.

So if you want to see what you are really dealing with then take a week off the gym, cut out carbs and drink a ton of water. Your body will flush the stores out of your muscles and you will see a noticeable weight loss.

Once you see that loss it will help put the gain in perspective and you will worry less about the scale and more about the ruler.

Muscleflex79

Ibeachlover wrote: »

Well, first of all, you might have gained several pounds of muscles if you just started some type of weight training, especially for the first time. I always gained about 5 pounds of weight (muscle) when I started working out again, without losing weight, and, yes, within a month. You wouldn't have necessarily lost equivalent fat pounds because you increase calories; and this is even more dependent on what type of calories you added. If you are starting to do weight lifting exercises, and think you need more food to keep you going...make sure it is protein ! Your body will need it and often the extra protein will help with weight loss. Hey, don't sweat it, just rethink it and go for it again !

as someone else said, you did not gain five pounds of muscle in a month! lol!

tigerblue

mirellaleite1 wrote: »

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

why would you think that going from 1200 calories to 1800 calories would help you lose weight?? that makes no sense?!?

I went to a dietitian last year. She said that a 1200 cal was way too low. She recommended changing to a 1800 cal diet. Then I decided to check my macros and the results was 1800 cal.
I am a 31 y, 5"3 and currently 135lbs.

I have a fit big and according to Fitbit I am burning 2400 cal/day. I weight everything I eat.

This is my workout from last week as an example...




Monday
30 min weight training
3 miles run - 30 min

Tuesday
Rest

Wednesday
30 weight training
5 miles run - 50 min

Thursday
30 min weight training
3 mile run - 30 min

Friday
Rest

Saturday
30 min weight training
5 mile run - 50 min

Sun
30 min weight training
5 mile run - 50 min

Your stats are very similar to mine. 5'2" and 134. (Although I am a bit older, so that does change things a bit) So I will comment on my experience.

For me, if I am working out 5-6 days a week (at least 3 days of cardio) for 45 minutes or so, then I will maintain at around 1700 calories. More, and I WILL gain, regardless of what the calculators, etc say. So I would say that 1800 could be too high, especially if you are trying to lose. Your results seem to have confirmed that.

Is the Fit Bug you are talking about like the Bodybug that was called BodyMedia in the US? If so, I used one for 18 months and it was about 1000 calories too high!! I gained like crazy, and I never even got close to what it said I burned. Many people love it. My thought is that it is highly inaccurate for people on the lower end of the weight scale (and 130 is lower, even though it doesn't feel lower to shorties like us!).

So don't trust it!

I purchased a Misfit activity tracker about a year ago, and it is much more accurate for me. It reports an average burn of about 1650-1750 depending on my activity (and it says 1450-1500 if I sit all day!). Results confirm those numbers.

So, practical advice:

Make sure you are logging accurately (don't be defensive here, we all make mistakes!! Just up your efforts in accuracy by weighing and measuring. Also, if I have a food that is "unknown"--like a casserole eaten at a potluck, etc, then I log on the high side.)

Drop your calories down a little each week until you stop gaining. Then stay there to verify your maintenance. After a few weeks, figure your deficit using that number.