Where am I going wrong?

MsPouncer

Let's get straight into it

Me: female, 46, 5'6", 160lbs, partial hysyerectomy last year so no periods but still hormonal fluctuations.

History: previous success with Fast800 keto but gained after surgery. Want to break out of the 800 calorie slog and be more active.

Aim: 135lbs, visible muscle, lose post op apron belly as much as possible (I've always helf weight in my stomach)

Exercise: full body dumbell hypertrophy MWF for 30 mins, 10K steps a day

Cals: week 1, 800 a day, lost 2.6lbs
Week 2 - 1200 a day, 100g protein, gained 3lbs. Weighing everything.

I know 800 a day isn't enough, but if I eat over that I gain. Is that because I've gotten used to eating 800? I want to eat more but this is disheartening.

Thanks!

MsPouncer

Maybe it's the sudden increase in strength training? I've not done this level of exercise in years.

Lietchi

You can't judge your progress based on single weeks: short term changes in weight reflect changes in water weight and food waste in your system. First week was extremely low calorie, with certainly a lot of water weight loss and also less food waste in your digestive tract. Increasing to 1200 then increases water weight and food waste again. And strength training is notorious for causing water retention in the muscles for muscle repair (3 lbs is well within normal water retention for strength training)

Stick to a calorie goal (hint: 800 isn't a good choice ) for at least 4 weeks and preferably 8 and see what happens. Also: take progress pictures and take measurements - the scale doesn't tell the full story.

You're used to restriction but you already have some idea that it's not the right way. You just need to stick with a more sensible strategy for a while

cmriverside

Lost 2.6 pounds at 1800
Gained 3 pounds at 1200

You can see how the above is all kinds of wrong, don't you?

I'd say stick to around 1500, add a couple hundred on exercise days, OR go to 1700 and stick at that. Give your efforts your best shot - logging food, consistently getting close to your number. After 4-6 weeks you'll have good trending data on which to base your Goals going forward.

With 25 pounds to lose, don't try to lose any faster than one pound per week.

Patience! It'll work. Just don't keep jumping around, calorie wise, or you won't know where to settle. Stick with one decision for a month and use that data to your advantage. There WILL be fluctuations of weight. Stay the course.

AmunahSki

As @Lietchi said - consistently is the key (not going hard, losing energy, and giving up). Slow and steady wins!

Our stats are similar - I’m just a little older than you (52), and I was a little heavier (164.6lb) when I restarted back in November, and not as tall (5’5”), initially aiming for 147lb but recently adjusted to 144lb.

I put my stats into the MFP setup to lose 1lb per week (I was actually aiming for 0.8lb so I adjusted my calorie intake accordingly once I got started - perhaps one of the regulars can post how to calculate that?). I was eating about 1,350 calories a day throughout that period excluding exercise calories (of which I generally ate about 80% back unless I was particularly hungry). I ate a little bit more on a few special occasions/holidays, logging it all.

After the first 100 days I did some calculations to see how much error I was making in weighing my food or eating back from exercise, which I have put into the spoiler below.

100 days total calories Garmin estimated expended (RMR + Active) = 201,599 (a requirement of 2,016 per day)
100 days calories recorded 154,910 (an average of 1,549 per day)

So weight loss expected 13.3lb
201,599 - 154,910 = 46,689 (divided by 3,500) = 13.3lb
Actual weight difference 12.4lb
12.4lb x 3,500= 43,400

Margin of error (either Garmin overestimating exercise calories, or my recorded calorie intake) is 3,289 difference (0.9lb) over 100 days, or 33 calories per day.

It took only 189 days to get to my target weight ‘range’, and I’m currently in maintenance at the lowest weight I have ever been as an adult (average 143.9lb in July). It works. Trust the maths.

An interesting fact I read here on MFP: Your body can, at MOST, pull 31.4 calories per day from any given pound of fat per day to use for energy. Once you've multiplied that by the number of pounds of fat you have available, any excess energy used would have to come from muscle. Eating too little is not healthy for MANY reasons, but this one really shows how futile it is to survive on so little food. I’ll repeat what @Lietchi said - please rethink your strategy.

yirara

Patience is your problem. Weightloss doesn't just happen from one week to another but takes a long time and commitment because there are so many factors next to bodyfat that influence scale weight: water weight and hydration in general, poop weight, clothes you wear, time of the day you weigh, etc...Oh, and stress, like from eating too much and exercising too much also causes water retention.

Your numbers don't really make sense anyway.

Cals: week 1, 800 a day, lost 2.6lbs
Week 2 - 1200 a day, 100g protein, gained 3lbs. Weighing everything.

In order to lose 1lb per week you need to eat 500 cals less per day. or 3500 per week. One lb requires about 3500 calories to be eaten less. If you really lost 2.6lbs on 800 cals then your tdee would be 2.6*3500 =9100/7 = 1300 calorie deficit + 800 calories = 2100 calories. That seems quite possible.

So in order to neither lose nor gain and with the same activity you'd need 2100 calories per day. With eating 1200 calories per day you'd still be losing at a far too high rate.

What likely happened here: The TDEE of 2100 might be realistic if your weighing is realistic. But you also lost a lot of stuff in your intestines and likely water in the first week. During the second weak your body recalibrated, plus water weight gain on top from working out, maybe stress due to the crazy regime, maybe hormonal fluctuations.

So basically: relax, eat enough, accept that weight constantly fluctuates, give it a lot more time.

tomcustombuilder

Wait 4-6 weeks at a consistent weekly calorie amount before judging how that amount is affecting your weight and body composition. As far as muscle you won’t be gaining much, if any while in a consistent calorie deficit so the key is to not lose what you have right now.

kshama2001

I'm your height, 10 years older, also with ovaries but no uterus.

Like others have said, you're not gaining FAT on 800 or 1200 calories. The scale went up due to factors like water retention.

Some years back when I started weight lifting again I "gained" 7 pounds. It took a few weeks to come off and keep dropping.