I need help

AnnPT77

nicolletteleroux wrote: »

Hi Ann. Thank you for your comment. I am averaging between 1400-1600 calories a day now. Exercising with weights 5-6 days a week and walking 10 000 plus steps a day. I have gained 4lbs in the last week. But I did have salty food on the weekend, which I’m sure factors in. I am still seeing improvement in the way I look, even with the scale going up. I just don’t know whether I should be pushing for a calorie deficit now or not? I never used to even eat breakfast, now it feels like I’m eating more than ever to get all the protein in.

I'm sure you know that if you didn't eat 14,000 calories (cumulatively) above maintenance calories, there's no way you gained 4 pounds of body fat. If you ate 1600 gross calories every day (on average), you only ate 11,200 calories during the whole week. That math doesn't math.

If you recently started eating those increased calories, that would mean more food residue on average in your digestive tract on its way to being waste, and a bit more water retention to digest the additional food, either of which adds scale weight. Better odds that some things like that plus the salty weekend food would account for 4 pounds on the scale.

Especially if you're feeling better and looking better, I'd encourage you to ride it out on that routine for a full menstrual cycle, to compare body weight at the same relative point in at least 2 different cycles. (4-6 weeks if you don't have cycles.) That will give you a better idea of the net average effect of the new plan on your body weight (and how you feel).

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if you still ARE at a calorie deficit (maybe a small one), if the 1400-1600 is gross calories. A small calorie deficit can even take longer than one menstrual cycle to stop playing peek-a-boo on the bodyweight scale with digestive waste and water retention fluctuations. (At one point when I was losing slowly, even my weight trending app thought I was maintaining/gaining for 4-6 weeks, but my past experience told me it was wrong. After another week or two, there was a sudden scale drop of a couple of pounds or so, and my weight was right where I expected to be.)

Hang in there: Assuming your logging and estimates are even close to accurate, I think this plan will be better for your health and your goals in the long run . . . but it will take some patience and persistence.

Best wishes!