Help?

kathygouldsmith1

I go over fat grams but stay under calories. Am I going to lose weight?

AnnPT77

Yes, on average over a period of weeks.

That's assuming your logging is accurate, and you are average in your calorie needs, or close to it (as most people are). Calculators like MFP give you a starting calorie goal based on averages for people similar to you.

It's calorie level that directly determines fat loss, period. Over a day or few, up to a small number of weeks, the fat loss can play peek-a-boo on the scale with normal, healthy changes in water retention and digestive contents in transit (on their way to becoming waste). That's why I said "on average". Nutrition can indirectly affect fat loss, in the sense that sub-par nutrition may leave you fatigued (so you burn fewer calories), or spike your appetite (so you find it hard to be consistent in staying within your calorie goal). The direct effect is still via calorie intake.

Nutrition is important for health, even though it doesn't directly affect fat loss. If you're persistently under on protein (while within calories but over on fat), it would be good to chip away at improving your eating patterns to improve that, since protein (like fat) is an essential nutrient.

kathygouldsmith1

I gained a half a pound this week and I don’t even add my exercise calories back in and I exercise a lot! How can I do so well all week and gain?? I don’t get it.

xdinoduck

kathygouldsmith1 wrote: »

I gained a half a pound this week and I don’t even add my exercise calories back in and I exercise a lot! How can I do so well all week and gain?? I don’t get it.

It could something as simple as your sleep pattern.

I gained weight my first week of healthy eating and cutting sugars and fast foods- all because my sleep was atrocious.

This week’s weigh-in, after finally getting sleep underway and having 2 days where I had fast food I lost a total of 7lbs.

Sleep can do a lot for you. Stress also affects your body with gaining and losing.

Courtscan2

I was in the same boat last week, was my first week back on plan in a verrrrrrry long time, and was super good all week, my tracking was flawless - everything down to the gram, my macros were all on point....and I gained 100g. Could have been for a million different reasons. Possibly time of the month/hormones, water retention, extra food in my gut when I weighed, the stars weren't aligned quite right...whatever the case, I was frustrated but knew a week is way too short to judge by as weight fluctuates up and down for reasons that have nothing to do with fat loss, so I decided to continue as I was without complaining (out loud) about my lack of loss, and was rewarded by a loss of 0.5kgs this week. Yay! So. Long story short, if you are in a calorie deficit, you will be losing fat, but the scale won't always reflect it right away. Keep at it. You'll get there. If nothing has changed after 4 weeks, that may be the time to review what you are doing.

Lietchi

kathygouldsmith1 wrote: »

I gained a half a pound this week and I don’t even add my exercise calories back in and I exercise a lot! How can I do so well all week and gain?? I don’t get it.

Weight loss is rarely linear. Our bodyweight fluctuates due to other factors than just fat loss of gain: water weight and food waste in our system can mask fat loss on the scale..
Water weight is the most likely culprit: it can increase because of stress (for example at work or from not eating enough), lack of sleep, exercise (for muscle repair), hormonal fluctuations linked to your menstrual cycle, air travel, hot weather,...

You need to evaluate your weight over at least one month/menstrual cycle to determine reliably if you're losing weight.

Half a lb over a week is nothing, I gained two lbs (of water weight) between yesterday and this morning.
This is my weight graph (in kilograms) from the past year, perfectly normal ups and downs but with a clear downwards trend: