Advice - Gaining/Losing weight

bioqueen66

Hi Everyone, so I'm trying to lose that famous tire around my stomach, and it would be nice for my butt and thighs to be a little smaller. I had success with MFP before when I wasn't exercising; I was eating 1200 calories a day and I lost 7 pounds. Of course, I stopped watching calories, starting drinking a little more, and poof, the weight came right back on.
Now, I've joined a gym and go pretty religiously, at least 6 days a week, but I aim for 7. I do a cycle class 3 days a week, weights on off days, and on the weekend either cardio or weights, depending on which day it is.
So, at first, I was eating still 1200 calories a day, and I was gaining weight. Very discouraging, but I found on multiple threads that I was starving myself and needed to eat more. I found that little calculator thing and now I see I should be having 1500 (work out 4 days a week) or 1700 (hard work out 6 days a week). So even though I go 6 days a week, I don't know if it's a "hard" work out, so I try to aim for the middle of 1600. I think it's a hard work out, usually within 5 minutes you can wring my clothes out, but who knows.
So I started watching my weight patterns more closely and I found a trend. I am GAINING weight on days I do cardio and LOSING weight on days I do weights??? How is that possible, it should be the other way around? I weight myself in the morning when I wake up and before I go to bed. So for example, Tuesday was my weight day, when I woke up Wednesday, I lost a pound in total and it was all done overnight. Wednesday was my cycle class, and when I woke up Thursday, I went up a pound and there was only a difference from night to morning of .2 pounds. Thursday was my weight day, I lost .8 pounds, all overnight, and when I woke up this morning, I gained it all back and the difference between last night and this morning was .1 pound.
I'm so confused! Should I be eating differently on cardio days than weight days? And how is it possible on some days I lose so much at night, and other days I barely lose anything? Obviously I'm doing something wrong, I just don't know what?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Jennifer

MelissaL582

It sounds like you may need to watch your sodium as well. Track that for a week and see where the numbers take you.

AllTehBeers

First off - put away the scale. There are a hundred reasons the scale fluctuates. Water weight, bloating, muscle tears retain water to repair themselves, sodium, TOM. Ect...

I think you should take measurments and pictures and weigh once every other week. I think other then that, you're doing it right. Give yourself AT LEAST 4 weeks then reassess.

kellyjamespro2012

First off - put away the scale. There are a hundred reasons the scale fluctuates. Water weight, bloating, muscle tears retain water to repair themselves, sodium, TOM. Ect...

I think you should take measurments and pictures and weigh once every other week. I think other then that, you're doing it right. Give yourself AT LEAST 4 weeks then reassess.

PERFECT ADVICE!

DebbieLyn63

Are you eating back your cardio calories?

AllTehBeers

Are you eating back your cardio calories?

This depends on the method she is using, but OP, you should be NETTING about 1700.

erikkmcvay

MFP does not include work out calories in it's calculation of your daily goal. If you don't do anything else then it should be set to 'sedentary'. All calories burned can then be eaten back so I'm confused why you say 1400 a day if you do 4 work outs and 7 for more since MFP doesn't work that way. Take the workouts out of your daily goal and it should remain the same based on your BMR and 'normal' daily activity.

Next, don't over-train. The body needs 24 hours to recover from a workout and it can take 3 to 5 days for the muscle to fully heal. This is why guys (like I used to) and gals who body build or power-lift don't train every day. Typically you train one muscle group once or twice a week only, train no more then 6 days a week (5 is most often but sometimes you ramp that up or down a little) and do cardio only 3 days a week -- NOTE: I do cardio 5-6 days a week but I'm not in the gym anymore and am more interested in burning calories right now which has aided my 50lbs of fat loss immensely.

So, next is to analyze what you eat, is your diary open?

bioqueen66

Thanks everyone for the great advice/comments.

My sodium might be a problem, I pretty much eat all frozen meals which even though they are weight watchers, I'm sure the sodium is threw the roof. I eat a WW breakfast sandwich in the morning, a WW or Lean Cuisine meal for lunch, and a WW dinner. Then, I'll eat a granola bar between breakfast and lunch, a small WW snack between lunch and dinner and peanuts thru out the day. Everything is within 1 serving size, so yes, I count out 38 pieces of peanuts and put them in my container! LOL I'm not perfect though and go out to dinner every now and again. But, I will usually cut my portion in half, and make sure I don't eat too much during the day because if I'm going to a nice restaurant, I'm not getting just salad with no dressing!

I was calculating my calories based on the Harris–Benedict method. I found a thread on MFP with a link to some calculator. It was basically finding my BMR (1294), then times that by the work out multiple (moderate active is 1.55, very active is 1.725, etc) and then that number by 80%. I'm using MFP to keep track of my calories, but I'm using the Harris–Benedict for the amount of calories I should be having.

Since at this point, I'm trying to lose weight, should I just stop the weights workout and just stick to cardio until I get to where I want, and then start weights again?

AllTehBeers

Thanks everyone for the great advice/comments.

My sodium might be a problem, I pretty much eat all frozen meals which even though they are weight watchers, I'm sure the sodium is threw the roof. I eat a WW breakfast sandwich in the morning, a WW or Lean Cuisine meal for lunch, and a WW dinner. Then, I'll eat a granola bar between breakfast and lunch, a small WW snack between lunch and dinner and peanuts thru out the day. Everything is within 1 serving size, so yes, I count out 38 pieces of peanuts and put them in my container! LOL I'm not perfect though and go out to dinner every now and again. But, I will usually cut my portion in half, and make sure I don't eat too much during the day because if I'm going to a nice restaurant, I'm not getting just salad with no dressing!

I was calculating my calories based on the Harris–Benedict method. I found a thread on MFP with a link to some calculator. It was basically finding my BMR (1294), then times that by the work out multiple (moderate active is 1.55, very active is 1.725, etc) and then that number by 80%. I'm using MFP to keep track of my calories, but I'm using the Harris–Benedict for the amount of calories I should be having.

Since at this point, I'm trying to lose weight, should I just stop the weights workout and just stick to cardio until I get to where I want, and then start weights again?

So you read the responses, got good advice and decide to do the complete opposite?

CoderGal

Since at this point, I'm trying to lose weight, should I just stop the weights workout and just stick to cardio until I get to where I want, and then start weights again?

I wish someone tried to convince me otherwise so I'll just leave this:



130lbs cardio:

130lb (right is strength training)

EvgeniZyntx

Dietary variety is important. It is more important if you are losing weight as you are less likely to get enough micronutrients on a lower calorie diet. Eating only WW food basically guarantees you are not getting enough variety.

Why would you want to stop the weight training? If you don't hate it and have time, it will definitely help in body comp and weight loss, prevention of long term osteo issues and general strength and fitness.

MyChocolateDiet

Hi Everyone, so I'm trying to lose that famous tire around my stomach, and it would be nice for my butt and thighs to be a little smaller. I had success with MFP before when I wasn't exercising; I was eating 1200 calories a day and I lost 7 pounds. Of course, I stopped watching calories, starting drinking a little more, and poof, the weight came right back on.
Now, I've joined a gym and go pretty religiously, at least 6 days a week, but I aim for 7. I do a cycle class 3 days a week, weights on off days, and on the weekend either cardio or weights, depending on which day it is.
So, at first, I was eating still 1200 calories a day, and I was gaining weight. Very discouraging, but I found on multiple threads that I was starving myself and needed to eat more. I found that little calculator thing and now I see I should be having 1500 (work out 4 days a week) or 1700 (hard work out 6 days a week). So even though I go 6 days a week, I don't know if it's a "hard" work out, so I try to aim for the middle of 1600. I think it's a hard work out, usually within 5 minutes you can wring my clothes out, but who knows.
So I started watching my weight patterns more closely and I found a trend. I am GAINING weight on days I do cardio and LOSING weight on days I do weights??? How is that possible, it should be the other way around? I weight myself in the morning when I wake up and before I go to bed. So for example, Tuesday was my weight day, when I woke up Wednesday, I lost a pound in total and it was all done overnight. Wednesday was my cycle class, and when I woke up Thursday, I went up a pound and there was only a difference from night to morning of .2 pounds. Thursday was my weight day, I lost .8 pounds, all overnight, and when I woke up this morning, I gained it all back and the difference between last night and this morning was .1 pound.
I'm so confused! Should I be eating differently on cardio days than weight days? And how is it possible on some days I lose so much at night, and other days I barely lose anything? Obviously I'm doing something wrong, I just don't know what?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Jennifer

HRM
&
Weigh Weekly

MyChocolateDiet

Hi Everyone, so I'm trying to lose that famous tire around my stomach, and it would be nice for my butt and thighs to be a little smaller. I had success with MFP before when I wasn't exercising; I was eating 1200 calories a day and I lost 7 pounds. Of course, I stopped watching calories, starting drinking a little more, and poof, the weight came right back on.
Now, I've joined a gym and go pretty religiously, at least 6 days a week, but I aim for 7. I do a cycle class 3 days a week, weights on off days, and on the weekend either cardio or weights, depending on which day it is.
So, at first, I was eating still 1200 calories a day, and I was gaining weight. Very discouraging, but I found on multiple threads that I was starving myself and needed to eat more. I found that little calculator thing and now I see I should be having 1500 (work out 4 days a week) or 1700 (hard work out 6 days a week). So even though I go 6 days a week, I don't know if it's a "hard" work out, so I try to aim for the middle of 1600. I think it's a hard work out, usually within 5 minutes you can wring my clothes out, but who knows.
So I started watching my weight patterns more closely and I found a trend. I am GAINING weight on days I do cardio and LOSING weight on days I do weights??? How is that possible, it should be the other way around? I weight myself in the morning when I wake up and before I go to bed. So for example, Tuesday was my weight day, when I woke up Wednesday, I lost a pound in total and it was all done overnight. Wednesday was my cycle class, and when I woke up Thursday, I went up a pound and there was only a difference from night to morning of .2 pounds. Thursday was my weight day, I lost .8 pounds, all overnight, and when I woke up this morning, I gained it all back and the difference between last night and this morning was .1 pound.
I'm so confused! Should I be eating differently on cardio days than weight days? And how is it possible on some days I lose so much at night, and other days I barely lose anything? Obviously I'm doing something wrong, I just don't know what?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Jennifer

....oooooooooooorrrrrr weight fairy?

Disclaimer: I know I did double posting and double quoting but I had two equally plausible theories based on OP and had to post both. They had to be separate to avoid confusion of bolding support for one point and rebolding support for a different one in the same quoted OP. That is all.

MyChocolateDiet

Thanks everyone for the great advice/comments.

My sodium might be a problem, I pretty much eat all frozen meals which even though they are weight watchers, I'm sure the sodium is threw the roof. I eat a WW breakfast sandwich in the morning, a WW or Lean Cuisine meal for lunch, and a WW dinner. Then, I'll eat a granola bar between breakfast and lunch, a small WW snack between lunch and dinner and peanuts thru out the day. Everything is within 1 serving size, so yes, I count out 38 pieces of peanuts and put them in my container! LOL I'm not perfect though and go out to dinner every now and again. But, I will usually cut my portion in half, and make sure I don't eat too much during the day because if I'm going to a nice restaurant, I'm not getting just salad with no dressing!

I was calculating my calories based on the Harris–Benedict method. I found a thread on MFP with a link to some calculator. It was basically finding my BMR (1294), then times that by the work out multiple (moderate active is 1.55, very active is 1.725, etc) and then that number by 80%. I'm using MFP to keep track of my calories, but I'm using the Harris–Benedict for the amount of calories I should be having.

Since at this point, I'm trying to lose weight, should I just stop the weights workout and just stick to cardio until I get to where I want, and then start weights again?

No, keep the weights out. Put the scale away.

ETA: aaaaaaaaaaaand triple post. And I haven't even had my coffee yet!