I've gained weight

rachvale

What the hell?

I've been under my net calorie limits for most days...am I eating the wrong things? Am I tricking myself into believing I'm eating the right amounts when I'm STILL eating too much?

Is it because I'm weight lifting? Should I not do that and just focus on losing weight through calorie deficits and cardio? Help me! I'm so frustrated. I've tried to measure my success, but I've only lost 1 inch in my arms. That's all I have to show for 3 months of work.

I'm not going to give up, I just need to know why this is going so slowly for me? And how I can get it to speed up? I'd like to lose 30 lbs by the end of the year, but at this rate I'll lose like 5 lbs.

HALP ME PLZ!

jwdieter

What height/weight currently, and what did you input as objectives into MFP?

rachvale

I'm 5'5 at 199. I put that I want to lose 1 lb. a week.

kr1stadee

Hey!
Are your muscles sore/is TOM approaching/have you pooped lately?
Those things can cause gains.

Keep up the lifting! Make sure you weigh and measure (and record) everything you eat, drink enough water, and avoid the scale if any of those 3 things up there are going on

potluck965

How are you measuring your exercise calories? Are you using a body monitor of some sort or are you estimating ?

ladynocturne

I noticed that you are frequently under your net calories, sometimes by as much as 800. This is actually counter productive to losing fat. Please make sure you are eating all your calories (or 80% if you feel that MFP is over estimating caloric burn).

Sometimes weight loss isn't linear. My bf has been experiencing great frustration with this as well, he won't lose anything for 3 weeks, then one day BAM! down 4lbs. Body's are really complected.

rachvale

I'm estimating. But I usually estimate less. Yesterday I had a pretty good cycling work out for 50 minutes and I inputted it for 30 mins at a slower rate. I don't trust MFP calorie burner estimates. :P

There are body monitors....that tell me how much I burn?

kr1stadee

I noticed that you are frequently under your net calories, sometimes by as much as 800. This is actually counter productive to losing fat. Please make sure you are eating all your calories (or 80% if you feel that MFP is over estimating caloric burn).

Sometimes weight loss isn't linear. My bf has been experiencing great frustration with this as well, he won't lose anything for 3 weeks, then one day BAM! down 4lbs. Body's are really complected.

^^This!
I was whining that I was 2lbs away from a mini goal, and I wasn't hitting it and I wasn't losing.. so then I aired my frustrations (and a pic to remind myself) on facebook, honestly, to get the reminder that I've come a long way.
The next day, I was down those 2 lbs! hahah

MyaPapaya75

estimating is not really good how do you know your estimating less?...you need a heart rate monitor...it will tell you how much you burn during a workout I use Polar F7

Hummingbird82

Hi Rachvale,
I looked at your diary and it does not seem that you are consistent. Somedays you over eat your calories, but most days you are not eating back your exercise calories. MFP alreayd has you set at a calorie deficit to lose weight so if you are exercising and not eating at least half of your exercise calories back you're NET calories are well below your BMR which makes your body think it is starving and holds on to every ounce of fat. Try eating at least to your BMR calories level (NET Calories NOT total calories)everyday for a month and see what happens. Just a suggestion.

jwdieter

I wouldn't be too confident in the under-eating theory. Quite possible a 5'5 woman could be at maintenance around 2000, even with a few days of exercise per week. And just 10% under-calc on the diary entries would put the OP right around 2k/day average, since it looks like around 1800/day if you go back a little bit.

janinealfke

Hi,

Muscle weighs more than fat. If you are working out you are gaining muscle.....measure yourself since you are likely losing inches as you gain muscle mass. Also check your carbohydrate intake. I've had weight loss surgery so it's different for me, but as a normal person you should keep your carbs under 100g a day. I have to keep mine around 40g or less or I literally gain. Carbs are evil and since they turn to sugar which makes the body produce insulin....it can make us get hungrier, sooner than we should Try eating high protein, and low carb!!! See if that helps and definitely measure yourself so you won't feel so down when the stupid scale goes up! Hang in there. You're doing great!!

Janine Alfke

Alisha28

I have trained many women and in my experience I feel weight lifting should be done when you have lost weight you want and need to tone up gain muscle I am a fan of lean muscle look and this is my opinion but many women love results when they do that. Up your cardio now weights later!

SuzyLy

I'm sure this does not account for your stall in weight loss, but two things caught my eye on your diary, the calories for the orange juice and the fried potatos seemed low. A quick input on 1 c. fried potatos (in light oil) came up on MFP as 240 calories, as compared to your entry & since one medium orange (not the juice) is 60 cals, I wouldn't know what to enter. Make sure you enter your calories correctly.

kganc001

Hi,

Muscle weighs more than fat.

No it doesn't. It's more dense.

CrystalFlury

Consider investing in a Heart Rate Monitor--Polar brand tends to be pretty reliable. Go look them up on Amazon.
If you're weight lifting that's actually really good for physical results. Other's are correct though, eat more and try to eat as "whole" as you can. Cardio is important but so is strength training, wish I had learned that while actively losing.
Drink lots of water--I STILL have this problem. I need a more efficient way to track water rather than marking it on MFP diary.

PLoveElliott

Hi there,
This process can be frustrating but keep on going. You will start to see results. In fact, losing inches is huge...so make sure to celebrate the small things. All of those milestones add up to you meeting your goal.
Things to keep in mind:
* Get a monitor to accurately track your calories burned (MFP isn't always correct)
* Get a scale to weigh out your food (portion control is huge...I know I was surprised at what 4 oz of fish looked like)
* Don't fall under your calories for the day....you want to properly fuel your body to continue on your journey
* Remember that retaining water will add weight. If you have had an especially hard workout your body will retain water. Case in point, I had a really hard workout on Sunday. Monday I weighed myself and I was up 3lbs from the previous week and was very discouraged. Had a doctor appt and spoke to my doctor and she confirmed that I had water retention (My legs were apparently puffy...I didn't see that through my discouragement). Today just to see if she was right, I weighed myself and was down 4lbs (the 3 lbs of water retention and 1lb from all of my working out and eating healthy). I should also add that when I was weighed at the doctors office I was 2lbs lighter than I had been in the morning. So why did I tell this story...a woman's body will retain fluid and our weight will fluctuate from day to day and really from hour to hour.
Just remember that you are making headway to a healthier you.

britzzie

I have trained many women and in my experience I feel weight lifting should be done when you have lost weight you want and need to tone up gain muscle I am a fan of lean muscle look and this is my opinion but many women love results when they do that. Up your cardio now weights later!

When you eat at a deficit, you lose muscle as well as fat. Strength training while eating at a deficit helps prevent some of that loss and preserves muscle tissue. This helps to preserve metabolism and get more appealing end result after weight loss. Not sure why anyone would want to diet/cardio train their muscle away then work to build it back after it's gone?

ShaunaMcMac

Weight loss is all about calories in calories out (with a few minor exceptions). I wouldn't give up on the weight training, studies have showed weight training does protect against metabolic syndrome.

I agree with what people have been saying about estimating. I would try to be more accurate with your estimations not less accurate (i.e. underestimating).

some things to think about investing in;

1) Food scale
2) Heart rate monitor (or some other activity tracker, I have a Nike fuel band which I like)

Use the labels to input calories instead of generic searches. When generic searches are necessary, do your due diligence in researching the most accurate. MPF can give you some pretty varied results, do the best you can.

The idea though is to strive for greater accuracy and be consistent.

Knowledge is power. A great group for research and advice is http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

Good luck to you!

ShaunaMcMac

I have trained many women and in my experience I feel weight lifting should be done when you have lost weight you want and need to tone up gain muscle I am a fan of lean muscle look and this is my opinion but many women love results when they do that. Up your cardio now weights later!

When you eat at a deficit, you lose muscle as well as fat. Strength training while eating at a deficit helps prevent some of that loss and preserves muscle tissue. This helps to preserve metabolism and get more appealing end result after weight loss. Not sure why anyone would want to diet/cardio train their muscle away then work to build it back after it's gone?

^^ This... I also thought that advice was weird.

jwdieter

I'm sure this does not account for your stall in weight loss, but two things caught my eye on your diary, the calories for the orange juice and the fried potatos seemed low. A quick input on 1 c. fried potatos (in light oil) came up on MFP as 240 calories, as compared to your entry & since one medium orange (not the juice) is 60 cals, I wouldn't know what to enter. Make sure you enter your calories correctly.

These are really good points. OP has a cup of homemade fried potatoes showing up at 20 calories - that's off by 10x. Whole bunch of homemade entries. Non-standard or unlikely serving sizes (0.25 bowl of noodles, 1/8 cup mac n cheese, 1 tbsp trail mix).

OP isn't eating particularly low calories to start with. Simple calculation errors or bad MFP entries (there are a lot) could put her at maintenance calories, which would be entirely consistent with her results.

81Katz

You have a lot of 'homemade' food entries. Did you actually make these meals yourself or are using 'generic' MFP food entries of someones existing homemade recipes and calling it 'good enough'?

For example 'veggie spring roll, 1 roll'. Is this homemade? Did YOU make it? Is it from a restaurant? Is it frozen from a box?

JerZRob

I didn't start losing weight until I got a food scale. I was way off on my guesses.

phyllisbobbitt

:flowerforyou: i went back and looked at your diaries! i noticed you eat a lot of carbs, fat & foods that turn into sugar! you may want to increase your fresh veggies more & leave the carbs off a little! you also may want to measure your foods at first to get a feel of what a serving looks like! hopefully this may help!

britzzie

I'm sure this does not account for your stall in weight loss, but two things caught my eye on your diary, the calories for the orange juice and the fried potatos seemed low. A quick input on 1 c. fried potatos (in light oil) came up on MFP as 240 calories, as compared to your entry & since one medium orange (not the juice) is 60 cals, I wouldn't know what to enter. Make sure you enter your calories correctly.

These are really good points. OP has a cup of homemade fried potatoes showing up at 20 calories - that's off by 10x. Whole bunch of homemade entries. Non-standard or unlikely serving sizes (0.25 bowl of noodles, 1/8 cup mac n cheese, 1 tbsp trail mix).

OP isn't eating particularly low calories to start with. Simple calculation errors or bad MFP entries (there are a lot) could put her at maintenance calories, which would be entirely consistent with her results.

I think this is your answer, OP. You need to be more careful about recording calories. Since you aren't eating at at giant deficit (not recommended, so good job!) you don't have a ton of wiggle room, so you have to log accurately. Digital food scale + less generic entries + For the love of all that is good and holy don't stop weight training, bc that's not the problem. Would be my advice. You don't need to cut out carbs. Check out the Eat, Train, Progress group as someone else mentioned. Friend me if you like! Good luck!

RGv2

Hi,

Muscle weighs more than fat. If you are working out you are gaining muscle.....measure yourself since you are likely losing inches as you gain muscle mass.

Nope....

Muscle Mass is EXTREMELY hard to gain, especially enough to stop a scale, and pretty much impossible in a caloric deficit.

KathleenMurry

I looked at your diary. First thing I saw was enough for me to answer your question. You had 1 cup home made potatoes cooked in oil - you had it logged as 20 calories and 17 grams of protein. WHAAAAAAT?

You need to get more precise with your tracking. You are likely eating way more than you think.

kathyk519

Hi - some thoughts...

First, a pound is a pound - it does not matter whether it is muscle or fat - the fat takes up more room. (I read the opposite in someone's reply).

Second - Try to vary your exercise routine, if you are doing the same thing, your body gets used to it, and even if you are "burning calories" - your body isn't using it the same way.

Also, I read that if you are plateauing, you should allow yourself a day or two of indulging and then go back to your regular diet consumption of fewer calories (I think that was Jillian MIchaels). I am in a gain/plateau/lose/plateau phase myself, so I understand your frustration. I haven't looked at your diary, but I would see how much sugar you are ingesting...even from fruit - I tend to eat a bunch of fruit everyday and my sugar level is over based on that (even if I don't splurge on ice cream;) I would measure everything, get a kitchen scale for your food too. Just to make sure that you haven't been inadvertently misjudging your portions. Are you eating too much processed foods? Are you eating the right kind of fats?

Also check to make sure that the food nutrition/calories on MFP is correct - I have noticed many discrepancies...

RGv2

I have trained many women and in my experience I feel weight lifting should be done when you have lost weight you want and need to tone up gain muscle I am a fan of lean muscle look and this is my opinion but many women love results when they do that. Up your cardio now weights later!

Why would you want to train away muscle mass to go through the work of trying to put it back on, which is extremely difficult?

When you eat at a deficit, you lose muscle as well as fat. Strength training while eating at a deficit helps prevent some of that loss and preserves muscle tissue. This helps to preserve metabolism and get more appealing end result after weight loss. Not sure why anyone would want to diet/cardio train their muscle away then work to build it back after it's gone?

^^^I would take this advice all day everyday.

Iron_Feline

I have trained many women and in my experience I feel weight lifting should be done when you have lost weight you want and need to tone up gain muscle I am a fan of lean muscle look and this is my opinion but many women love results when they do that. Up your cardio now weights later!

Wow that sound like great advice, lose some muscle while dieting and not doing weights, so they have to stay with you to put muscle on afterwards (which is harder and takes time). Excellent business plan. Crap advice for the op. :noway:

rachvale

See the problem with my food entries is that I'm not sure what is going in my food. I'm currently volunteering with a Buddhist community and they provide my meals for me. Which are all vegetarian and made-from scratch. I usually get estimates from our chefs but they aren't exactly weighing everything themselves. The only thing that's in my control is portions portions and portions! And of course, what I eat....