Using a Fitbit trying to lose weight but gaining! Help!!

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  • V79F
    V79F Posts: 12 Member
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    Have you measured yourself instead of weighed. You're moving and lifting A LOT and you're running a pretty damn high deficit in calories.
    Either you're losing fat and gaining muscle (and muscle is heavier than fat) or your metabolism has slowed down from chronic undereating which means anything that estimates your burn will be underreporting until you reset your metabolism.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    georginacullen wrote: »
    synacious wrote: »
    georginacullen wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    gia07 wrote: »
    hardt13 wrote: »
    Maybe you gained some muscle ?

    Um..... NO!

    This would be more useful if you elaborated.

    Ahhh don't let it worry you...
    peleroja wrote: »
    georginacullen wrote: »
    gia07 wrote: »
    hardt13 wrote: »
    Maybe you gained some muscle ?

    Um..... NO!

    Why not? Have you ever met a real plasterer? We don't do weights or gyms we've got 25k bags of plaster to carry, mix and lay...

    Why not?

    Because you simply cannot build significant muscle if you are eating at a calorie deficit. Your body requires sufficient calories to increase muscle mass and if you're on a diet, it's not possible, no matter what you're doing all day. It's not a slight to your physical activity, it's just biology.

    You can make some strength gains still, yes, and the muscle you have will show more clearly as you lose fat, but you're not going to increase the size of your muscles at the same time you're losing weight.

    ETA: You should be looking at your diet, not your exercise, for the answers here. If you're not weighing and measuring everything you're eating and you're wondering why you're not losing, it's because you're eating more than you need, period.

    But you don't know what I'm eating or how much. And yes, I definitely burn what I eat... Which right now isn't much at all.


    That's their point though. If you truly are not eating that much food, you'd be at a calorie deficit. You cannot gain muscle on a calorie deficit. That's not how muscle building works. You can only gain muscle mass eating at a caloric surplus or, at a much, much slower rate, eating at maintenance. Hence why several posters have said it cannot be muscle mass. If the weight gain were due to muscle mass, that would imply you are either eating at maintenance or, more likely, a surplus of calories. Since you are saying that simply cannot be the case, people are saying it simply cannot be muscle gains. Give it a bit more time if you truly feel your calorie counting is on point. If in the next two weeks you still do not see a loss, then yeah, you need to start weighing your food because you're eating more than you think/need.

    Riiiiiiiigggghhhhttttt. Thank you.

    What this poster said is exactly right. If you are truly at a calorie deficit, you would be losing weight, and you would not be able to gain muscle volume. If you are eating at maintenance or a surplus and building muscle, you are obviously not going to be losing any weight.

    If you're not losing, then you're eating as much as/more than your body requires to maintain regular functions and whatever physical activity you do, it's honestly as simple as that.

    I don't need to know specifically what you're eating because your results are telling me that you're not eating as few calories as you think you are. That is not an insult, it's just that people are rarely good as estimating exactly how much they're eating. There is a great video that makes the rounds on these forums that I'm going to try to track down for you so you can see what I mean.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Here it is. Please take the time to watch it, I really think it will help you understand where you're going wrong and help you to be successful:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU


    This thread also has a ton of helpful suggestions for getting your logging under control so you can create and maintain a consistent calorie deficit and lose weight.
  • elaineamj
    elaineamj Posts: 347 Member
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    1700 cals vs 2900 cals? Ouch.

    DH tried to convince me last night that estimating is just fine and I don't need a scale. I finally told him that for my peace of mind - I want to start weighing things. I doubt I will weigh everything as I currently am losing weight - but I want to learn what a normal portion size looks like.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited January 2016
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