Working out, at/under calories and still gaining weight

Klgrey

Hey everyone,

I have been tracking my food for the last few weeks, and gotten back in the gym. After a rocky start tracking my food for the first few days, I seem to have gotten it down: counting items, measuring and weighing food for accuracy. In the past 2 weeks, I have consistently been at or under my caloric allotment for the day. I am also doing 50ish minute spin and body pump classes 2-3 times per week (approx 4-6 hours of exercise per week). I don't track steps, so that's just bonus exercise

Here is an example of what I have noticed this week:
Monday- Spin and Body Pump- 1689 calories under- .5 lb down the next morning
Tuesday- rest- 298 calories under- 4 lbs up this morning.

Overall, I am up about 6 lbs since tracking and getting back in the gym. However, my clothes fit better, and someone asked me if I had lost weight on Sunday.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I need to get that number on the scale down.

Lietchi

You started exercising. That alone can easily explain the increased weight on the scale: extra water retention for muscle repair.
You need to give it more time. And track other measurements. The fact that your clothes are fitting better is a clear indicator that things are moving in the right direction.

Please don't look at your individual weigh-ins as a fully reliable reflection of what happened the day before. Your weight fluctuates from day to day because of water weight fluctations and fluctuations in food waste in your system. Those fluctuations can sometimes be linked to the day before, but only for things like high sodium meals, a hard workout, etc., they're not a reflection of the calorie deficit you achieved. Fat loss is gradual and is ascertained by looking at the long term trend of your weight, not short term changes. You need at least one month (or menstrual cycle for menstruating women) to evaluate your weight trend.

Also: don't undereat. Your goal is a goal to reach, not to stay significantly under. Undereating stresses the body and can cause water retention, not to mention the health risks involved.

J72FIT

Fat loss is not a linear process. Have patience. Your clothes fit better and someone asked you if you lost weight. Does it matter as much what the scale says?

Go_Deskercise

Klgrey

Thanks for the encouragement. It's been a long confusing road that I am still trying to navigate.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

Your daily weight will jump by a few pounds due to many factors. But, if you keep your eating within bounds the trend will go down over time. It's a slow process and it requires patience.

Weigh every morning after toilet; watch the trend over many days.

Klgrey

Ya'll were right. I got the scale this morning, and I was down 5 lbs from yesterday. I have also downloaded the Libra app to track trends over time. I have also reviewed my food trends, and discovered I am eating a lot of salt.

My goal is to track my weight daily and control that sodium for the next few weeks, then check my progress.

WholeFoods4Lyfe

What is your calorie goal? How did you determine that amount? Why are you eating under? And how far under? Are you tracking your calories burned during exercise? How? Do you use something like a Garmin or a SmartWatch or are you using an online calculator? There are so many things to factor in here. And as for your actual weigh-ins, the overall trend is what is most important. Weigh yourself less often, maybe only once per week, and then follow the trend instead of the actual numbers. As long as over time your weight is going down, that is all that matters.

nanastaci2020

Weigh daily if that works for you - but compare your weight either weekly or monthly. If comparing data points weekly, you need several to be able to form a trend. If you compare your weight now to your weight at the same point in your previous cycle (I am assuming you are female) then that will help to alleviate water weight fluctuations from TOM/hormones/ovulation.

AnnPT77

WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »

What is your calorie goal? How did you determine that amount? Why are you eating under? And how far under? Are you tracking your calories burned during exercise? How? Do you use something like a Garmin or a SmartWatch or are you using an online calculator? There are so many things to factor in here. And as for your actual weigh-ins, the overall trend is what is most important. Weigh yourself less often, maybe only once per week, and then follow the trend instead of the actual numbers. As long as over time your weight is going down, that is all that matters.

Not specific to weight particularly, but applies to weight: From purely a technical data analysis standpoint, more data points will establish a trend more reliably and possibly more quickly ** than fewer data points, generally speaking. In that sense, there's a data analytics argument for daily weighing.

(As illustration, think about an extreme case where someone weighs only once a month, happens to catch an outlier low day at the start, and outlier high day at the end, when weight has fluctuated through a much wider range - maybe fat loss was happening at a reasonable rate, but day 1 was dehydrated after a low-residue intake day, day N was with some water retention from sodium/exercise/head cold/hormones plus fiber-rich eating the day before. Those two data points describe a trend, in the most simplistic way. That trend says "gaining" when - with the outliers I describe - the reality may be "losing". Weighing on even one or two days in between would be likely to make that trend line less misleading, and the more consistent-conditions weigh-ins in between, the higher odds - though no guarantee - that the trend line is realistic. )

There's not much point IMO in weighing (for recording purpose) much more often than daily. The "first thing in the morning, same state of dress, after bathroom, before eating/drinking" routine (or something similar) will provide the most consistent possible conditions for gathering a data point for trending purposes. Other data points within the day have more confounding factors, like timing of eating/drinking/sweating, etc.

** I get that this is particularly noisy data (in terms of data variability caused by factors we don't really care about, when what we care about most is fat mass changes). In that sense, frequent data observations might seem to have potential to mislead. In the case of weight data particularly, that characteristic of the data will limit the "more quickly" part of my statement above, but not IMO wipe it out entirely, for many people. For some women, who see a new low weight only once per menstrual cycle, it could take more than a month to get a realistic trend. In that scenario, the daily weights at least have the potential to clue that woman in to the fact that she's one of those women who only see a new low once a month, useful info in itself.

Just my opinion, though . . . admittedly, with *a little* data analysis experience behind it.

HickGurl73

Great Job Klgrey!
This was very informative everyone. Thanks for sharing!

paulberardi1962

Klgrey, I appreciate your question because I have the same issue and the replies provide great info.

sgt1372

I you are gaining wt, you are NOT "at/under" cals.

You are OVER cals and are NOT accurately accounting for what you eat

Pipsqueak1965

To be honest, if you are shrinking in size, does it really matter what the scales say? If you looked like a fitness model and the scales said 400 pounds - would it bother you?

J72FIT

J72FIT wrote: »

Fat loss is not a linear process. Have patience. Your clothes fit better and someone asked you if you lost weight. Does it matter as much what the scale says?

I also want to add that lately I pay more attention to my body fat than my scale weight. IMO, my scale weight does not bother me as long as my body fat stays at a healthy number. For me, I shoot for 12-15%. For women it will be higher...