upping calorie intake in one week and gained weight, help!
PriscilaLealArizpe
Posts: 8 Member
Hi! so I've been trying to lose weight (5'2) from 125 to 115 for a good year now and it won't budge. I know I've been doing this all wrong, I tend to eat 1200 calories a day, some days 500-800 if I binged 3000-3500 calories in one day. I work out about 4-5 times a week, for an hour, burning sometimes from 350-450. I weigh myself once a week, and last week I weighed 121.1, I was super excited that I finally had broken my 123 barrier, and so I thought to myself that I could finally up my calorie intake to about 1400-1500. And so I upped it this week, and it has been a week since my last weigh in and I am at 123.5!!!!! I KNOW it's not my time of month because that was before I weighed myself at 121. I weighed myself exactly the same way and same time. This is really killing me because I worked out and thought I could finally eat normal and still try to get to 115 but I am going backwards 
Even right now at 1400-1500 cal I feel hungry! In the mornings I eat something like a light egg white sandwich, for lunch usually a salad with some proteinm with a piece of fruit, for a snack I eat a bit of greek yogurt or cottage cheese before taekwondo and for dinner its whatever my boyfriend prepares me less than 400 calories so in total i get a good amount of calories. I have a taekwondo tournament coming up in 2 weeks and I wanted to be at 120 but I'm back at 123.5! I really just want to go back to eating 1200 and working out a little more because things aren't going the way I thought they would!
Even right now at 1400-1500 cal I feel hungry! In the mornings I eat something like a light egg white sandwich, for lunch usually a salad with some proteinm with a piece of fruit, for a snack I eat a bit of greek yogurt or cottage cheese before taekwondo and for dinner its whatever my boyfriend prepares me less than 400 calories so in total i get a good amount of calories. I have a taekwondo tournament coming up in 2 weeks and I wanted to be at 120 but I'm back at 123.5! I really just want to go back to eating 1200 and working out a little more because things aren't going the way I thought they would!0
Replies
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One week is long enough to determine anything. Your weight could be up this week for any number of reasons.0
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Especially if salt intake was upped as well. Be sure you're still drinking water.0
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Probably because you set your new metabolic average to be 1200 calories a day so anything over that you're body is going to think it's eating more than you should so you'll gain weight.0
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At your size, you may have to eat 1200-1300 consistently to lose weight. But I agree, your weight can fluctuate a couple pounds for various reasons.0
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Are you saying it took you a year to get from 125 to 121.5 on mostly a 1200 calorie diet and working out up to 5 times a week? Anything else change like your measurements?0
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121.1. Sorry0
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CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Are you saying it took you a year to get from 125 to 121.5 on mostly a 1200 calorie diet and working out up to 5 times a week? Anything else change like your measurements?
exactly, and I feel like it was because I've been starving myself and I have binges every month, but with 1200 i feel so tired, and since this week of eating 1400 I've had more energy but I gained weight! just by increasing my intake to a couple 200-300 a day!0 -
You're already physically fit. You likely have a good deal of muscle mass from taekwondo. If you want to try to lose a few, add more general cardio like jogging or elliptical to your usual routine. Don't eat back much of the exercise calories. If you add 20-40 minutes of cardio after each of your usual workouts, you'll probably lose a few. But will you want to keep that up forever?? It sounds like you're very healthy.0
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Stanley1903 wrote: »You're already physically fit. You likely have a good deal of muscle mass from taekwondo. If you want to try to lose a few, add more general cardio like jogging or elliptical to your usual routine. Don't eat back much of the exercise calories. If you add 20-40 minutes of cardio after each of your usual workouts, you'll probably lose a few. But will you want to keep that up forever?? It sounds like you're very healthy.
I'm still pudgy and I feel it! I'm just not sure if revving my intake to 1400 was a good idea or if I should just go back down to 12000 -
Hmmm. I'm not one of the experts on here but you sound like me. Trying to get to 125 from 133, and was on 1200, too. My trainer said I was eating way too low for my activity, 5 days a week of working out and sometimes 2 hrs per day. She told me to up my calories, and my weight went to 135.8 in a week. I was thinking how I would fire her until the good folks here calmed me down. It was water weight. My body just wasn't used to the carbs, extra fiber, etc. and I wasn't letting my body recover from the workouts. my measurements were/are decreasing - I keep a new size 4 pants and try them on weekly. Littler and littler! I won't lie tho - I oh so do wanna see 125! Are your measurements changing?0
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It is normal to see an increase on the scale when you first increase calories as your body replenishes glycogen stores. It will level out.0
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CeeBeeSlim wrote: »I was thinking how I would fire her until the good folks here calmed me down.
hahahah I love that! I've read that too, that if you up your calorie a bit you will gain a little weight, but when did it go back down for you? I really never checked my mesurements, but my pants fit better! I just really need the number on the scale to go down for taekwondo and am hoping this water weight will go down by two weeks of competition!
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PriscilaLealArizpe wrote: »
It will vary for each person from a few days to a week or so.0 -
Haha. You sound like me. It took me about two weeks. It probably would've taken less but I panicked, started to work out more, take Metamucil (geez, what a loon I was), so that even EXTRA fiber, plus the water retention from the muscle soreness made things worse. There's no question I lost on 1200 day (went to 126, then to 123 twice) but since I couldn't stay there, I was clearly doing something wrong. Unlike you, I don't have a weight deadline. Don't starve yourself!!0
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Probably water weight from your binges.0
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CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Haha. You sound like me. It took me about two weeks. It probably would've taken less but I panicked, started to work out more, take Metamucil (geez, what a loon I was), so that even EXTRA fiber, plus the water retention from the muscle soreness made things worse. There's no question I lost on 1200 day (went to 126, then to 123 twice) but since I couldn't stay there, I was clearly doing something wrong. Unlike you, I don't have a weight deadline. Don't starve yourself!!
hmmmm okay I guess I should just calm down and wait it out, keep working out and stick to 1400 see how it goes! Thanks!!0 -
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If you're tired and binging then you're probably not eating enough and retaining water. Leave it at 1400 for a few weeks and keep an eye on your measurements and/or BF%.0
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If it fits with your lifestyle, you could try low carb at 1400 for competitions. Low carb is supposed to drop glycogen water weight. And avoid sodium. I'm glad you are trying to eat more to deal with the binge/starve cycle
Good luck! 0 -
Thank you guys! I weighed myself sooooo nervously but I went back to 121! well......121.9
but hey it's close to 121, gives me a better chance to compete at that weight!!! I guess it was just retention, I'm so glad I can eat 1400! I felt like I was starving at 1200! 0 -
Keep in mind that in order to gain a pound of fat, you would have to eat 3500 calories above your maintenance calories. I'm pretty sure you didn't do that, binge aside. You're likely seeing fluid retention. Keep up what you're doing and you'll eventually see the drop.0
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PriscilaLealArizpe wrote: »CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Are you saying it took you a year to get from 125 to 121.5 on mostly a 1200 calorie diet and working out up to 5 times a week? Anything else change like your measurements?
exactly, and I feel like it was because I've been starving myself and I have binges every month, but with 1200 i feel so tired, and since this week of eating 1400 I've had more energy but I gained weight! just by increasing my intake to a couple 200-300 a day!PriscilaLealArizpe wrote: »Thank you guys! I weighed myself sooooo nervously but I went back to 121! well......121.9 but hey it's close to 121, gives me a better chance to compete at that weight!!! I guess it was just retention, I'm so glad I can eat 1400! I felt like I was starving at 1200!
Glad you're back in the 121s!
Ya, if eating 1200 is triggering binges, you're better off at 1400 or whatever the not triggering binges daily amount of calories is for you.0 -
Haha! I could hear your heart beating from here!! I know the feeling. Great news and good luck with the competition. I'll take 120 anything right about now.
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Hi, I am a petite lightweight too. That went from 130-105. I have maintained between 100-105 for 6 years.
At your height and weight your loss should be about .5 lbs a week. You are, eating 1400 or 1200+exercise calories, eating almost at maintenance so weight loss is really slow. It's just the way it is when you are petite.
One thing you can do is work out what your maintenance will be at your goal weight and then just eat that. It will be a little slower, not much, but will probably give you a few more calories.
Try working out your TDEE (link below)and eating what you would at maintenance. Like I said it is going to be really slow. It took me close to 20weeks to get from 120-110.
Water weight fluctuations have been explained, so you know not to worry about that. It can take anywhere from 4-10 days for the water to leave your body. I tend to have a day of peeing like an elephant if I take a break from the gym. That is just getting rid of the excess water from muscle repair.
Drinking a good amount of water is supposed to help flush out any water retention.
Cheers, h.
http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html0 -
PriscilaLealArizpe wrote: »Stanley1903 wrote: »You're already physically fit. You likely have a good deal of muscle mass from taekwondo. If you want to try to lose a few, add more general cardio like jogging or elliptical to your usual routine. Don't eat back much of the exercise calories. If you add 20-40 minutes of cardio after each of your usual workouts, you'll probably lose a few. But will you want to keep that up forever?? It sounds like you're very healthy.
I'm still pudgy and I feel it! I'm just not sure if revving my intake to 1400 was a good idea or if I should just go back down to 1200
At 5'3" , 123.5 lbs, you are already in a healthy weight range. If you feel that you are/look "pudgy", then there are deeper issues here that you need to consider.0 -
If you think you are still a little pudgy, and are not doing a progressive compound lifting routine, try incorporating one to complement your taekeando. It will help reshape your body.
There are various posts in the exercise sub forum that you can check out. Most are a variant of a 5x5 routine 3 x week.
I personally like AllPro.
I don't think you have any issues with the weight you want to achieve, but I do think you could be a little heavier with a better musculature and be happy too.
Cheers, h.0
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