Why am I gaining? I’m so confused!

zagarolimichelle

Hi, I am a 43 year old female, I am 5’4” and weigh 160 pound trying to get to 135. I have tried every fad diet known to man and I’m finally trying to do it the right way since nothing ever works. I’m so afraid of over eating or under eating which has me so confused. My macros calculator says I should be at 1600 cal and 173 g of protein along with 50 g of fat. I’ve been at this for two weeks and I have gained 3 pounds. I am active in the gym, doing weight training as well as cardio 4 to 5 times a week. (Cardio twice a week.). It’s extremely hard to meet all of that protein and I feel like I’m eating way too much. I’m eating clean, incorporating fruit and veggies. and have incorporated whey protein, but I am so full and haven’t even reached 100 g of protein or the 1600 calories. I haven’t quite figured out a meal plan that can get me to these numbers but I don’t understand how if I’m eating more I will be in a deficit and lose weight. Hoping this makes sense to someone because any help is appreciated.

sollyn23l2

Trust the process. If you're sure you're at or under 1600 calories, the weight will come off. Don't worry so much about macro goals. They're way over-hyped on here. Also, be aware that "eating clean" and eating to lose weight are 2 different things. Perfectly healthy foods can have a lot of calories and cause weight gain. Also, if you're getting full before reaching 1600 calories, I'd let it be and not worry too much about it unless you start dropping way too much weight too fast. Listen to your body.

CharlieMonkeybear

You may gain weight from muscle mass first of all because muscle weighs more than fat. Also, the more muscle you have the faster your metabolism will be. This also means your resting metabolic rate will be higher like when you are just watching tv or sleeping.
You will have a better sense of if you’re making progress by how your clothes fit. Also, you need to remember that this is an app. It’s a generalization.

Things like bmi and calorie amounts were originally standardized for adult non-hispanic caucasian males, then adult non-hispanic caucasian females. Research now shows that these measures are not accurate for Asian, Hispanic, Indigenous and Black populations.

Not everyone’s body is the same in terms of metabolism and we can really mess up our metabolism with dieting and it takes time to recover.
Also, weight loss and gaining muscle is just harder after age 40.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. And you need enough food for sure, but you shouldn’t be making yourself sick. If you can afford to go see a dietitian I would suggest that rather than trusting an app.
You are unique with a unique history.

herringboxes

You might need to adjust your settings - 1600 may be too high. If you set for very active but aren’t very active outside of intentional exercise, you might be eating at maintenance or possibly a little over.

dscapps1972

I’m in the same boat as you. I’ve been doing this app for 3 weeks after exercising (mostly weights, some cardio) for 5 mos solid hadn’t changed my shape at all. I weigh and take measurements. I’ve gained 2 lbs using on this app so far while keeping at 1200 calories and 76g protein. I am 50 though and had my blood tested, all thyroid and pituitary levels were low (barely under ranges) and the dr was like meh are you stressed? *face palm. Even after telling him my mom has hypothyroid. So I understand it’s going to be hard for me to lose weight but I’m finding the lack of movement in a positive direction frustrating.

zagarolimichelle

@dscapps1972 I understand. I never turn to these message boards for help, but figured the people that answer probably know more than me! They all make sense but in the end they’re right, listen to your body. Any exercise is good exercise, and we can’t give up. @CharlieMonkeybear is right, muscle weighs more than fat so I’m going to trust the process. I know I give it my all in the gym so something will change, just not overnight like we would love it to. Also I’m going to reach out to a dietitian and see if they can help me understand it all. Don’t give up, you’ll get there!

bobsburgersfan

The two thoughts I have are these:

1) The MFP calculator calculates your calorie goal without exercise calories and then you can add workouts and it gives you more calories for the day. If you used a calculator that adds workout calories into your daily goal like online TDEE calculators do, then you won't want to log your exercise calories in your MFP tracker. If you're adding workouts into MFP, you might be doubling up on exercise calories. This is only a problem if you eat all of them. (I've never tried a macro calculator, so I'm not sure how those handle exercise.)

2) If you have been estimating the calories you're eating, you might want to weigh or measure your food, at least for a while, to make sure you aren't underestimating what you're eating.

From what you wrote, I don't know if either of these are really an issue for you, so I'll reiterate the earlier advice to just trust the process. Good luck, and hang in there!

kshama2001

zagarolimichelle wrote: »

Hi, I am a 43 year old female, I am 5’4” and weigh 160 pound trying to get to 135. I have tried every fad diet known to man and I’m finally trying to do it the right way since nothing ever works. I’m so afraid of over eating or under eating which has me so confused. My macros calculator says I should be at 1600 cal and 173 g of protein along with 50 g of fat. I’ve been at this for two weeks and I have gained 3 pounds. I am active in the gym, doing weight training as well as cardio 4 to 5 times a week. (Cardio twice a week.). It’s extremely hard to meet all of that protein and I feel like I’m eating way too much. I’m eating clean, incorporating fruit and veggies. and have incorporated whey protein, but I am so full and haven’t even reached 100 g of protein or the 1600 calories. I haven’t quite figured out a meal plan that can get me to these numbers but I don’t understand how if I’m eating more I will be in a deficit and lose weight. Hoping this makes sense to someone because any help is appreciated.

If the exercise is new, you likely have some temporary water retention. I gained 7 pounds when I started lifting weights. It took a few weeks to come back off.

Your protein goal seems unnecessarily high. Here's a reputable protein calculator:

https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/

I shoot for 500 calories of exercise per day, and when I achieve that, using the MFP default of 20% protein aligns with the protein grams recommendation from Examine. If I were completely sedentary, I'd need to bump my protein goal up to 30%.

tomcustombuilder

If you’re having to force food down doubtful you’re in a calorie deficit and also, you don’t need that much protein. Closer to 120 grams. 1,600 is not that high and probably a good starting point however I’m thinking you’re taking in or trying to take in more than that due to flawed calorie tracking which can be from several factors.

musicfan68

You are eating way more protein than you need, and you are probably eating way more than 1600 calories. Do you weigh all of your foods on a food scale to verify correct calories? If not, start doing this so you actually know how much you actually are taking in. Bottom line is if you are gaining weight, (aside from the first week or so of starting an exercise routine) you are eating more than you need.

vivmom2014

I agree with @sollyn23l2 that macros can be overhyped on these boards, especially when it comes to protein. I do fine on a minimum of 70g protein a day. I exercise 4-5 days a week (I am not currently trying to lose weight.) Point being: if I had to shoot for 173g protein a day (!!) I would go nuts. Relax a little on the macros, particularly if it will give you more peace of mind and assurance that you're heading in the right direction.

AnnPT77

OP, I agree with others that water retention from new exercise may be a very meaningful factor in why the scale isn't dropping yet. The 50g protein minimum sounds reasonable to me (as a similar sized woman, 5'5"), but 173 calories of protein is unnecessarily high IMO, especially if much of your protein comes from meat/fish/dairy sources.

A possible factor is that some macro calculators will estimate protein based on current weight, rather than basing it on a healthy goal weight. We don't need massive amounts of extra protein to keep our fat mass healthy, it's about supporting our lean mass.

There's an evidence based protein calculator here, with its explanation:

https://examine.com/protein-intake-calculator/
https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

If you read the explanation closely, even they say that anyone substantially overweight might want to consider basing protein on goal weight. The site has a reasonable reputation for following the science, and they don't sell supplements so they're not motivated to pump up the recommendations.

On top of all of that, while it isn't the most common pattern, some women report only seeing a new low weight once per month, at a certain point in their menstrual cycle. (Yes, hormonal water retention can be that weird.) At 43, I'm guessing you may still have cycles. Stick with your new routine at least long enough to compare your weight at the same relative point in at least two different cycles. Then you can adjust intake based on your own experience.

A very common thing, as others have alluded to, is to expect weight loss to happen fast, and at a steady rate. That leads to diet-switching or giving up way before the real results are in. In a body that can be 60% plus water, multi-pound water weight fluctuations from one day to the next are going to outpace the gradual rate of fat loss (which actually may be happening more close to linearly behind the mask of water fluctuations).

Think about it: Even at the very fast loss rate of 2 pounds a week - a rate that's unhealthfully fast for someone at 160 pounds, generally - the fat loss would be about 4.6 ounces per day, on average. That's the weight equivalent of slightly more than half a cup of water.

This thread, and especially the article linked in the first post on the thread, would be a good, informative read:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

You may lose weight on 1600 calories, or not. But it's too soon to know, after two weeks - under any circumstances, let alone with new exercise and a change in eating habits in the picture.

CharlieMonkeybear wrote: »

You may gain weight from muscle mass first of all because muscle weighs more than fat. Also, the more muscle you have the faster your metabolism will be. This also means your resting metabolic rate will be higher like when you are just watching tv or sleeping.
You will have a better sense of if you’re making progress by how your clothes fit. Also, you need to remember that this is an app. It’s a generalization.

Things like bmi and calorie amounts were originally standardized for adult non-hispanic caucasian males, then adult non-hispanic caucasian females. Research now shows that these measures are not accurate for Asian, Hispanic, Indigenous and Black populations.

Not everyone’s body is the same in terms of metabolism and we can really mess up our metabolism with dieting and it takes time to recover.
Also, weight loss and gaining muscle is just harder after age 40.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. And you need enough food for sure, but you shouldn’t be making yourself sick. If you can afford to go see a dietitian I would suggest that rather than trusting an app.
You are unique with a unique history.

I know you're trying to encouraging, which is great; but it's important to be realistic, since over-optimism can set people up for disappointment in the longer run.

And it's true that MFP (and other calorie calculators and fitness trackers) give us a goal that's the average for people similar to us. Consulting a registered dietitian can be very helpful, but a low tech way to adjust calorie goal is simply to treat the MFP (or other) estimate as a starting point, stick to it for 4-6 weeks (whole menstrual periods for those to whom that applies), then adjust calorie goal based on actual results. That can even compensate, to some extent, for less than ideally accurate calorie logging.

Under ideal conditions, gaining 1-2 pounds of new muscle mass per month would be quite a good result. Most anyone can gain muscle mass with the right combination of factors, which include a calorie surplus, a good progressive strength training faithfully performed, and good overall nutrition (especially but not exclusively adequate protein), among other things. Since one of the favorable factors for faster rates of muscle-mass gain is relative youth, OP at 43 can find ways to make gains through persistence and patience, but as you observed, realistically it's going to be slower than 1-2 pounds per month.

On the flip side of things, half a pound a week is about the slowest rate of fat loss most people would find satisfying, and even that can take multiple weeks to show up on a bodyweight scale amongst routine (irrelevant) multi-pound day to day body weight fluctuations caused by changes in water retention and digestive contents on the way to becoming waste.

A sad but inescapable conclusion is that it's extremely unlikely that OP has gained enough new muscle mass in two weeks to outpace meaningful fat loss.

That doesn't mean fat loss isn't happening, because others have a point that water retention is a thing that actually can mask fat loss, sometimes for a surprisingly long time, as noted above.

Researchers believe that a pound of muscle at rest burns around 6 calories or so per day, maybe 10ish according to optimists. A pound of fat, which is also metabolically active, burns around 2 calories per day at rest. That 4-8 calorie difference per pound per day is not a huge metabolic boon - also a sad thing.

It's true that muscular people often do tend to have higher TDEEs than unmuscular ones in practice . . . my strong suspicion is that a big part of the reason is not metabolism, but rather the probability that it's more fun and easy to move when strong/fit, so strong/fit people move more in all aspects of life (not just exercise) and burn more calories that way. Strength exercise is absolutely worth doing for a wide range of reasons, but the metabolic bonus is pretty low on the list in effectiveness terms.

I wish it were otherwise, but that's what I think is true: Multi-pound scale weight changes (absent a dramatic change in eating or exercise) over a few days to a month are likely to be about water retention and digestive contents; fat gains or losses may show up - stop playing peek-a-boo on the scale with water/waste - over weeks to a small number of months depending on loss rate; and meaningful muscle mass gains are more about many weeks to many months.

springlering62

The two things that stick out to me:

1.) as @kshama2001 rightly pointed out, if you are new to exercise and are feeling sore, you’re retaining water. Your body retains and directs water to those sore places and then releases it when healing is complete.

2.) congratulations! You’ve just learnt that you’re one of those who is satiated by protein. Some folks take ages to experiment and figure out which macro does. Now you can experiment with cutting back. That’s a very high protein level to reach on such a (comparably) limited calorie budget. Props to you for getting there, but spend those calories somewhere else.

Having said that, I personally prefer to eat 170 and above protein, but I also get several hundred more daily calories than you do because of my activity level. If you’re planning to continue lifting consistently, I’d shoot for well more than the 50 or 70 mentioned here.

AnnPT77

AnnPT77 wrote: »

OP, I agree with others that water retention from new exercise may be a very meaningful factor in why the scale isn't dropping yet. The 50g protein minimum sounds reasonable to me (as a similar sized woman, 5'5"), but 173 calories of protein is unnecessarily high IMO, especially if much of your protein comes from meat/fish/dairy sources.
(snip)

Oh, CR*P!

Quoting myself because Spring's comment made me wonder who recommended as little as 50g protein, then I realized it was me. NoNoNo!

The bolded in my self-quote is a typo, or at least a bad brain thingie. I meant the 50g fat minimum!

At a similar height to OP, I shoot for a 100g protein minimum, and tend to exceed it by around 20% on average. For me, that's a bit over 1g per pound of estimated lean body mass, and within the range recommended by the Examine.com protein calculator I linked in my PP.

50g fat seems fine. 50g protein wouldn't seem fine to me at all, in this context.

Profound apologies!

Pdc654

Yes, I agree with prior posters here that 173 g of protein would be really hard to do while in a deficit, and even in maintenance it would be way too much for me! I am a lot older than you and slightly shorter, 5'3.5", and my personal trainer told me to get a minimum of 100 g a day of protein while losing weight in order to maintain as much muscle as possible.

westrich20940

Something you haven't mentioned is what you put in the guided set up as your 'activity level'....? It sounds like you are going to the gym too - are you logging your cardio in MFP as well?

Using a TDEE calculator and using 'sedentary' (since I assume you're using MFP for everything)...1600 might be not a deficit. It's nothing you're doing wrong...it's just that any 'calorie goal' you are given is just an estimate...and yours might be a bit high. Also, you've only been at it for a short amount of time. As others have said --- you are likely retaining water as well.

See what your weight is like after ~4 weeks. If you truly didn't lose or gained....slowly decrease your calories by 50-100 for the next 3-4 weeks and see what happens. It's trial and error sometimes.