Super Frustrated At Weight Gain

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24

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  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    OP just want to make sure I've read the previous posts correctly:

    You are male, 5'9, currently 198.5, have steadily lost about 20 lbs in past 5 months but recently have stalled/fluctuated during the holidays, your goal is to lose another 15-25 lbs, you exercise daily and have been eating 1200 cals even though your Apple Watch estimates your total calorie burn is nearly 3000 cals, you don't weigh your food currently, you believe you overestimate your logging to account for any inaccuracies.

    Is all that correct?
  • MileHigh4Wheeler
    MileHigh4Wheeler Posts: 67 Member
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    I'll work on logging more accurately to the best of my ability and ditch the diet for a week or two to see if my body can resettle. I'm still not sure if I should be eating 100% of what I burn or not, but I'm assuming that's a good place to start. It's going to suck because I know that I'll probably gain 5+ pounds when my body totally freaks out at the massive calorie intake.

    I appreciate the comments!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    ibscas wrote: »
    I'll work on logging more accurately to the best of my ability and ditch the diet for a week or two to see if my body can resettle. I'm still not sure if I should be eating 100% of what I burn or not, but I'm assuming that's a good place to start. It's going to suck because I know that I'll probably gain 5+ pounds when my body totally freaks out at the massive calorie intake.

    I appreciate the comments!

    What calorie goal does MFP provide you when you enter your current stats and a goal of losing 0.5 lb/week? With 25 lbs or less to lose that's the optimal rate of loss, and it is likely to be significantly more than what you are eating now, you may want to gradually up it over the next few weeks rather than all at once.
  • Sgries
    Sgries Posts: 1 Member
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    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    ibscas wrote: »
    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    THAT RIGHT THERE IS THE PROBLEM. RIGHT THERE. IN BLACK AND WHITE.

    not to mention, your caloric needs and deficit have changed since losing weight. i could eat more and lose before i lost. you have to recalibrate the information to take into account you are no longer the size you were.

    Thanks for this information - I'm down 18 lbs and just went into my goals to check that out and lost 30 calories a day. :\ But that does make sense. I'm carrying around 18 lbs less, I need less fuel. So the thanks is sincere.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
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    ^^^listen to this!!!
  • MileHigh4Wheeler
    MileHigh4Wheeler Posts: 67 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    What calorie goal does MFP provide you when you enter your current stats and a goal of losing 0.5 lb/week? With 25 lbs or less to lose that's the optimal rate of loss, and it is likely to be significantly more than what you are eating now, you may want to gradually up it over the next few weeks rather than all at once.

    Yea, I was just doing that exact thing right after my previous post. I set it to .5 a week and it ramped me up from 1,200 calories to 2,000 calories a day. Heck, at this point I'm not sure I know HOW to eat that many calories a day without being stupid and eating cheeseburgers every day.

    I've learned a lot in this thread, and I've learned a lot taking information from this thread and researching it online a bit too. It sounds like I have several things that are a problem here:
    • Not logging accurately enough. This will be difficult but I'm going to work harder on this
    • Unrealistic goal of 2lbs per week is still active, my body is used to the 1,200 calories per day intake and my metabolism may be in starvation mode
    • Extra exercising leading to water retention
    • Cortisol levels out of balance (this explains my generally sh*tty mood lately)
    • Lower carb diet means any carbs can throw things off - yesterday I had a potato, maybe that's part of the spike today
    • Eating less than I should be for the calorie burn that I'm achieving each day

    I guess I hadn't ever equated "more exercise" to "gain weight" other than muscle weight (which I know weighs more than fat weight).

    I have to be honest that I dread putting everything I eat on a scale, I just don't see that as "quality of life" when you have to weigh every peanut because you are so preoccupied with being that ideal weight that you forget that life is to be enjoyed. I suppose I understand it when you are a body builder or when you are 200+ pounds overweight and trying to bring it in, but for someone who is just a bit overweight it seems like a lot. I'm going to do it and see what happens, but it's kicking and screaming that I go there :).
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
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    If I do not weigh and log every bite I put in my mouth, I gain weight. 11 months of inconsistent logging resulted in a gain of 35 pounds of the 65 I originally lost. I continued to exercise, strength and cardio, I even picked up a Zumba class. I just have to accept the fact that I suck at intuitive eating. After reading two years worth of MFP posts, I have found: not logging + gaining weight = eating more than I think! Learn from your frustration.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    Damn you're male?! This changes things again. You have been chronically undereating, I wouldn't be suprised if your fat loss is actually more than the 20lbs the scale is saying due to the extraordinary stress your body is under. Eat more, immediately but make sure your logging is as tight as possible, at least for the next two weeks during your break.

    You WILL gain most likely but it won't be fat. I would bet it will whoosh off pretty quickly when all those stress hormones dissipate a bit.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Wait...you're male and mfp gave you 1200? That does not sound right. Men should not eat below 1500. Clean up your logging first, and if you're still eating below 1500, change your weight loss goal to half a pound to 1 pound a week and eat at that number.

    You also just increased exercise, right? This will cause water weight to creep on.
    ibscas wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    You're not logging properly, you're eating more than you think...

    Stick to a calorie deficit consistently and you'll lose. A weight trend app might be useful too.

    I totally understand that and won't disagree that I could probably work on my accuracy. But let me ask this: if I'm logging straight from the DB as I generally do (i.e., I'll have a can of soup and I'll log that exact soup from the DB, so I assume it's accurate because I tend to only use the green check marked items) and most of what I eat is in the database accurately, where could I be straying? But, for arguments stake, lets say I'm straying by as much as 400 calories a day (I find that hard to believe but I won't discount it), and then I'm burning twice that each day in exercise on an average day - should this not still equate to a calorie deficit?

    The green check mar items are not always accurate. They're they when 3 or more mfp users 'verify' the data, so it might not be accurate.

    Usually '1 can', '1 cup', '2/3 sandwich' are not accurate. Weigh everything. You don't have to weigh every little peanut...weigh the handful, record the grams then log it. It really isn't that much extra time. I tend to make my salads and sandwiches right on the scale on a plate and tare or zero the scale for different ingredients. Cups and spoons should only be used for liquids. If you want to lose weigh, you need to take a bit more time to be a little more accurate for the results that you require.

    I do not understand how weighing food is so difficult. Sometimes I prelog and preweigh my food for the next day when I have a little time, and others I just weigh as I go along. It really is't all that time consuming. It helps with mindful eating. Place the plate or bowl you want to eat from on the scale and write down the food and weigh on a mini whiteboard/chalk board or with pencil on paper...it really just takes an extra few seconds. Then you can enter the food into mfp when you have a little time to sit down.

  • StevenGarrigus
    StevenGarrigus Posts: 234 Member
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    You found your main problem: 1200 versus 2000 calories per day. You are in full-on starvation mode.

    Measuring food can be a PITA, but it doesn't have to be. You mention peanuts. If a serving of peanuts is a quarter cup, it doesn't have to be EXACT. Use a measuring cup and realize that even what is printed on the bag/can/whatever is an approximation and can fluctuate. Same goes for labels on things like soup. If I want to eat Doritos, the bag says a serving is "about 12 chips." So I take out 12 chips. No biggie really.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    ibscas wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    What calorie goal does MFP provide you when you enter your current stats and a goal of losing 0.5 lb/week? With 25 lbs or less to lose that's the optimal rate of loss, and it is likely to be significantly more than what you are eating now, you may want to gradually up it over the next few weeks rather than all at once.

    Yea, I was just doing that exact thing right after my previous post. I set it to .5 a week and it ramped me up from 1,200 calories to 2,000 calories a day. Heck, at this point I'm not sure I know HOW to eat that many calories a day without being stupid and eating cheeseburgers every day.

    I've learned a lot in this thread, and I've learned a lot taking information from this thread and researching it online a bit too. It sounds like I have several things that are a problem here:
    • Not logging accurately enough. This will be difficult but I'm going to work harder on this
    • Unrealistic goal of 2lbs per week is still active, my body is used to the 1,200 calories per day intake and my metabolism may be in starvation mode
    • Extra exercising leading to water retention
    • Cortisol levels out of balance (this explains my generally sh*tty mood lately)
    • Lower carb diet means any carbs can throw things off - yesterday I had a potato, maybe that's part of the spike today
    • Eating less than I should be for the calorie burn that I'm achieving each day

    I guess I hadn't ever equated "more exercise" to "gain weight" other than muscle weight (which I know weighs more than fat weight).

    I have to be honest that I dread putting everything I eat on a scale, I just don't see that as "quality of life" when you have to weigh every peanut because you are so preoccupied with being that ideal weight that you forget that life is to be enjoyed. I suppose I understand it when you are a body builder or when you are 200+ pounds overweight and trying to bring it in, but for someone who is just a bit overweight it seems like a lot. I'm going to do it and see what happens, but it's kicking and screaming that I go there :).

    How did you get a goal of 1200 cals to begin with? I'm glad you're taking the information on board.

    Weighing food is not a requirement for success. I lost 30 lbs and am successfully maintaining and didn't use a food scale. That said, it is an incredibly helpful tool and only increases accuracy and predictability of results. If I had found myself in your situation I absolutely would have gotten one and started using it.

    Additionally, you may have fallen into the classic mindset of extremes that so many struggle with. Nothing wrong with eating a cheeseburger - it can be a healthful component of a diet and you certainly have the calories for it. People make a change for healthy eating and think they have to give up all the foods they previously ate, when it's entirely possible to continue to eat the same foods as before, in moderation, and still achieve your goals.
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
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    ibscas wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    What calorie goal does MFP provide you when you enter your current stats and a goal of losing 0.5 lb/week? With 25 lbs or less to lose that's the optimal rate of loss, and it is likely to be significantly more than what you are eating now, you may want to gradually up it over the next few weeks rather than all at once.


    I have to be honest that I dread putting everything I eat on a scale, I just don't see that as "quality of life" when you have to weigh every peanut because you are so preoccupied with being that ideal weight that you forget that life is to be enjoyed. I suppose I understand it when you are a body builder or when you are 200+ pounds overweight and trying to bring it in, but for someone who is just a bit overweight it seems like a lot. I'm going to do it and see what happens, but it's kicking and screaming that I go there :).

    I won't touch the starvation mode comment, nor the muscle weighing more than fat, I'm sure others will weigh in on that, but I just wanted to let you know something:

    You DON'T have to weigh your food FOREVER. :) You really and truly don't. What would be a really good thing for you to do is to weigh your food consistently for a period of 4-6 weeks or so, until you get a really good idea of what a food LOOKS like at a particular weight. I weigh my food, and at this point (several years in, I weigh on and off but always weigh calorie-dense stuff) I can eyeball 100g of ground beef, 15g (1 tbsp) of peanut butter, a similar amount of cheese, the weight of an egg, etc., within 1-2 grams.

    Keep testing yourself, like put your jar of PB on the scale and tell yourself you're gonna eyeball 15g. Then, tare the scale (so that it says zero with the PB jar on top of it) and then take the jar off the scale and take out what you think looks like 15g. If you're very close to that number... You're getting good. Do this with all of your foods and sooner or later you can wean yourself off weighing food if you really hate it. Lots of people are successful with what I'd call "loose logging" and don't need to weigh their food after some time, but it's VERY useful to start out with the scale and learn what portions/servings really look like. (Hint: They're a heck of a lot smaller than I wish they were...)
  • MileHigh4Wheeler
    MileHigh4Wheeler Posts: 67 Member
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    daniwilford wrote: »
    Learn from your frustration.

    I'm trying. I've been using MFP since it came out years and years ago, many iterations and many years of just maintaining or trying to lose. This time I'm dead serious so it's a much more important tool to me, so I'm trying.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    edited January 2017
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    OP, based on your stats and rate of loss, the only conclusion is that your logging is way off. At your height and weight, if you were really eating 1200 calories, you would be losing weight super fast and be starving. I am a petite female, and I would be losing weight and starving if I was eating only 1200 cals, it's just not a lot of food.

    Do you think maybe you could commit to accurately logging and weighing everything for just a couple of weeks? You don't have to do it long term if it's not your thing, but a couple of weeks of super-accurate logging will probably give you much better data to work with.

    Having said that, one week with a slight gain is perfectly normal. If you havent experienced this before, you're lucky! Hang in there, and good luck :drinker:
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
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    Because it needs repeating... your body is not in starvation mode as you think, it doesn't hold on to the weight in a calorie deficit.

    That is a diet myth that keeps getting repeated. If it were real there would not be people with certain eating disorders and folks in food scarce counties all skin and bones.
  • MileHigh4Wheeler
    MileHigh4Wheeler Posts: 67 Member
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    Wow a flood of 2nd page comments! Yes, MFP really suggested 1,200 calories for a man of my stature when I started this journey 5 months ago and I never thought to have it re-evaluate my needs. That was stupid. I've always thought 1,200 calories was insanely low but I went with the flow.

    Yes, I eyeballed food and I'm probably off, I admit that - but I believe that my exercise has likely (notice I have said likely) negated my inaccuracies enough in the past week as to cause me frustrations over not losing. Even if I were way off, I've been steadily losing weight for quite some time, it's just this week was a non-stop gain. I'm going to weigh my food and work on my accuracy but, until now, it's been working for me.

    I figure my system is really messed up right now. Eating improperly (be that too few calories or being inaccurate in logging them) and this week I upped my exercise and probably made the problem worse. Like I said, my mood has been really horrid this week and a hormone imbalance would certainly help explain that - especially since it all coincides with me putting a LOT more activity in this week.
  • emilysusana
    emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Don't throw in the towel, just try to relax. Even seven days of weight going slightly up will just be a gentle little bump in a long and hilly journey. This is the long game... if you quit, you're deciding this isn't worthwhile. If you don't want to long everything, but you find you are gaining when your calculations say you shouldn't be, you may just want to estimate higher intake or lower your calorie goal slightly. You will have a week here and there where the scale goes in the wrong direction. Instead of exercising more and more and risking burnout and frustration, take care of yourself, stick to a sensible workout plan and give it more time. I'm just short of 6 months into this, and I took getting a couple of little "hills" to truly understand that it's the big picture that counts. A weight trending app helps a lot because I get to "count" my weight as being a moving average rather than the number I get one day based on a hundred factors. Good luck, you've done great so far. It's holiday season... most everybody is gaining a bit. Think where you'd be without doing this work...
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
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    @ibscas I won't reiterate all the great advice you've gotten, that would be overkill. But I will go back to your original issue, the weight gain this week. Weight is not a set thing. I've seen my weight change drastically in the course of a day. So any number of things could be affecting your numbers. I weigh daily so I know the frustration. Especially since I have a high sodium diet.

    One thing noone has mentioned has been your bowel movements (TMI, I know). If they aren't regular, this could account for the scale creep you've seen this week. At least once every few months I have lighter bowel movements than usual and notice my daily weigh ins are higher that week. It's usually when my fiber intake or fat intake has changed. It regulates itself within a week or so. And I usually see a big woosh on the scale when it does.

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