3,100 calorie deficit and still gained a pound?...What gives

NWCountryGal

I will get a sugar withdrawal now if I eat too much or drink it so I try to steer clear. I ate a donnut for example, and in about 2 hours I felt sick to my stomach so I chugged some water and ate a healthy snack.

Denise

If you drink Pop, you could be retaining more water weight than you should. Among other bad things.
I had this problem. Soda is something I have a hard time giving up. I have in the last couple weeks and have seen rewards for it. By way of the scale and the way I feel.

SAY NO TO SODA.

NWCountryGal

I've heard it takes 3000 or so calories to gain a lb but don't know for sure. I suspect most of your weight was water;) Salt will do that to me! Happy 4th and congrats on getting a vacation:drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

I just returned from vacation and was 15 lbs heavier (in 10 days!). Three days later after being back on my program I have shed 10 of those pounds. All the eating out put a TON of salt into my diet and I was retaining water.

Usually after a week of heavy running I'll put on a pound or two. I attribute this to the muscles in my legs being swollen and holding onto water.



Weight Loss / Fitness is more like Chess than Checkers.
You have to look at the long term results, not short term gains / losses.

BarbieCat1

Jade's early comment has it right... last week I hit an early plateau despite not eating much of anything and exercising more, well under my calorie allowance each day. I was pointed to this thread which has a lot of information as to what may be going on.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

Sure enough, I began eating a bit more to include my "earned" exercise calories and the weight started to come off again.

Don't discount water retention either. You need to drink a lot of it... it helps balance out your fluid levels in your tissues. Drink too little, and you may retain water, just as your body may go into starvation mode and hold onto body fat and slow down metabolism. The article I linked above has more info.

It's very very hard to count "eating out" calories. Restaurants are notorious for sneaking in butter, oil, fat and carbs that you don't know are there. Also, portions may be much larger than you'd serve at home. The best thing to do, if possible, is to ask for dishes without sauces or dressings.. or have them served on the side and only dip into them sparingly. Ask for foods to be broiled, steamed or grilled... without added fat.

Good luck

NWCountryGal

Ditto and excellent post. Those "eating out" suggestions are great! Denise:drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Jade's early comment has it right... last week I hit an early plateau despite not eating much of anything and exercising more, well under my calorie allowance each day. I was pointed to this thread which has a lot of information as to what may be going on.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

Sure enough, I began eating a bit more to include my "earned" exercise calories and the weight started to come off again.

Don't discount water retention either. You need to drink a lot of it... it helps balance out your fluid levels in your tissues. Drink too little, and you may retain water, just as your body may go into starvation mode and hold onto body fat and slow down metabolism. The article I linked above has more info.

It's very very hard to count "eating out" calories. Restaurants are notorious for sneaking in butter, oil, fat and carbs that you don't know are there. Also, portions may be much larger than you'd serve at home. The best thing to do, if possible, is to ask for dishes without sauces or dressings.. or have them served on the side and only dip into them sparingly. Ask for foods to be broiled, steamed or grilled... without added fat.

Good luck

NWCountryGal

Exactly! The zigzagging is really a good deal. I do it by accident pretty much. If I try to be to rigid/perfect, I don't shape up as well or as fast. Plus, the way I understand it, even after we exercise we still burn, for hours!! And if we aren't fueled up enough the body doesn't burn stored fat before it starts grabbing lean, muscle. I think that is how it works but I've been wrong before. I don't know how to explain it well but I know it works for me and lots of cool people on this site that have reached their goals without starving or being sick and tired of working your butt off exercising. I mean lots of people love doing that and that's great. But if you are like me and enjoy taking a walk or swimming for a half hour, you can still end up healthy and lookin good!! Denise;)

There's a good chance your body is holding on to fat because you're burning so much so fast. Are you eating your exercise calories? It's important to do that! I know that it's SCARY to add...400 extra calories in that you just burned off. But after reading about the importance of it on the sight-I read it, and forced myself to eat 1600 calories a day (when I was just eating 1200 and exercising) and I broke my plateau that I'd been at for MONTHS! Try "zig-zagging" for awhile. Eat whatever it is you're eating, then eat at least half of the calories you are burning in the gym the next day, then go back down. Your body will be kicked into starvation mode otherwise, and will hold on to weight for energy (I didn't believe it at first. But it works, I promise!)