Exercising and eating under my calories but gaining weight :(

spoth94

Hi everyone!

In mid December I was 180.8 and since that time I got down to a low of 161.4 this past Monday (my goal is 140, my pre-hospitalization weight). I've been mostly consistent with myfitnesspal throughout this time. However, this week my weight has gone up to 163!! I weigh myself every day and this is the only time I've seen the numbers increase since I started my weight loss journey. I've been exercising a lot, logging everything, and eating well under my calorie limit. I'm really discouraged please help! My diary should be visible.

usmcmp

Are you getting ready to start your period?
Did you have a bit of extra sodium?
Did you increase exercise?
Have you been drinking less/more water?

A pound and a half is a normal weight fluctuation. Make sure you're getting adequate water and give it a couple of days.

spoth94

I'm not about to start my period. Don't think I ate any more salt than usual though I did have sweetened iced tea. I was swimming two hours and jogging three miles most days this past week.

I'll definitely give it a few days but I was very upset to see a steady rise from Monday til today.

concordancia

Unless you had one heck of a binge after weighing yourself in Monday, this is water weight. Even if you had a binge last night, some of this would be water weight.

You are doing great; stick with the plan.

MegaMooseEsq

If this is the first time that you've seen an increase in the scale, you've just been lucky so far - it's incredibly normal to see fluctuations from day to day.

cfredz

are you weighing all your food?

spoth94

Thanks concordancia I'm trying my best to stick to it And cfredz I don't weigh my food but eat mainly pre-packaged stuff or things I wouldn't need to weigh (eggs, almonds, milk).

ccruz985

This is 100% normal. We tend to fluctuate 1 - 5 lbs, if it doesn't go down for longer than a week or two, that means your body has most likely become accustomed to the changes you made and it's time to switch up/go more intense in your workouts.

MegaMooseEsq

If it helps to compare, these are my daily weigh-ins for 2018 so far (170 to 161 lbs).

darrenbeckworth

This is why I do not measure daily. These little fluctuations would get to me when I knew I was following the plan correctly. I recommend continuing to do what is working for you and weigh less often. You'll see the overall trend going down and not the little bumps up.

bendyourkneekatie

spoth94 wrote: »

Thanks concordancia I'm trying my best to stick to it And cfredz I don't weigh my food but eat mainly pre-packaged stuff or things I wouldn't need to weigh (eggs, almonds, milk).

Why wouldn't you need to weigh eggs, almonds, or milk?

JMcGee2018

bendyourkneekatie wrote: »

spoth94 wrote: »

Thanks concordancia I'm trying my best to stick to it And cfredz I don't weigh my food but eat mainly pre-packaged stuff or things I wouldn't need to weigh (eggs, almonds, milk).

Why wouldn't you need to weigh eggs, almonds, or milk?

I can understand not weighing eggs, but milk and almonds (especially almonds!) need to be weighed.

spoth94

Thank you all I think I'm going to weigh weekly moving forward and I'll try to tighten up my diet a bit more. Also, thank you ccruz985 for your feedback and MegaMoose for sharing your daily weigh-ins it's reassuring to know that this happens to all of us.

MichelleSilverleaf

spoth94 wrote: »

Thanks concordancia I'm trying my best to stick to it And cfredz I don't weigh my food but eat mainly pre-packaged stuff or things I wouldn't need to weigh (eggs, almonds, milk).

A lot of pre-packaged stuff can be off weight wise. Especially once you start getting close to goal weight, weigh everything. You don't have room for error and guesses.

kokonani

Water water water. A sudden jump in numbers most likely is from water retention. Whether from hormones, food, salt, insulin spike, ect.. I've had water weight increase 4lbs in the last few days. Very slow going back down, but I know it's just water. My fingers are puffy and rings fit tight.

HoneyBadger302

I still weigh daily and use a trend app (Libra on android). I really like the trend app as it helps eliminate those spikes and major dips - while a major dip feels great that day, it can sometimes be a complete fluke, too.

malibu927

It's only been four days. You're never going to lose every single day, or even every week. It's very surprising that it took 2.5 months for you to experience a fluctuation. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

AnnPT77

ccruz985 wrote: »

This is 100% normal. We tend to fluctuate 1 - 5 lbs, if it doesn't go down for longer than a week or two, that means your body has most likely become accustomed to the changes you made and it's time to switch up/go more intense in your workouts.

The only time "switching things up" is essential is when we've lost so much weight that the X number of calories we eat, that was a calorie deficit for our fatter self, is now maintenance calories for our thinner self.

Switching up foods is unnecessary, unless it helps a person achieve their calorie goal with better nutrition or satiation.

Switching up exercise because your body gets used to it is mainly a marketing pitch to keep you buying a company's fitness products ("muscle confusion" - LOL).

For someone doing an activity in which the calorie-burning work is moving the body around, it's important to realize that moving a small body burns fewer calories than moving a big one, so burn decreases as you lose weight. For someone who's strength training, it's important to progress volume somehow in order to keep getting stronger (increase weight, say).

Beyond those factors, doing the same activity at the same intensity will burn close to the same number of calories no matter how used to it your body is. (Heart rate based devices will claim you burn fewer calories doing the same exercise as you get fitter; that's only one of many ways in which they mis-estimate calories.)

2deltacharlie

161.4 vs. 163 over even as few as 24 hours is nothing. It's almost certainly at least 90% due to your hydration level. You have had great results so far! Stay the course.
Examining weight from day to day is instructive as you learn how much your weight can vary. However on a day to day basis that can be alarming if you are not used to how much it can vary. What is important is your trend over time. i.e. where are you today compared to a week ago...

ladybug4233

A week ago the scale said I gained a pound instead of loosing. One week later I was down 3.5 pounds. Im not sure why but I kept doing what I was doing...trusting the process.

karahm78

Almonds are calorie dense and definitely should be weighed. Milk/liquids can be measured with measuring cup... I often skip weighing eggs when using commercial eggs since they are pretty consistent but I do weigh farm eggs since they vary in size.

You would also likely benefit by logging your weight into a trending app (Happy Scale for iPhone or Libra for Android are popular). It smoothes out the daily fluctuations and shows the overall trend.