Why am I gaining weight?

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Replies

  • cdcooper321
    cdcooper321 Posts: 157 Member
    If I had to guess, I'd say that you trained your body very well to run on very few kcalories. You may have to start over with a metabolic reset (an initial gain), lose it again slower and then level off into maintenance.

    More helpful info here
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

    ^This. If you logging honestly, it would seem impossible to gain weight from eating so few calories - but it isn't. Eating less than 1000 calories for a significant amount of time, limiting carbs, while also exercising by doing endless amounts of steady state cardio, you most likely have caused metabolic damage. Your body has gotten increasingly efficient at running on so few calories by slowing down its metabolism. The answer isn't to cut out more calories, because you are already at a dangerously low level. The above link from tryclyn should provide more help. I also recommend searching YouTube for Layne Norton and metabolic damage. You basically have to do a reset by reverse dieting. Increasing your calories by slowly upping carbs and slowing decreasing cardio and training. You will most likely gain more weight, and it isn't an overnight fix. Seek professional help if need be.

    The goal is to eat as many calories as possible and manintain weight, not as few calories as possible. In the long run, such a large restriction, coupled with intense training, causes more harm than good. Good luck.

    ^^^^^^^^ 110%
  • nitza53
    nitza53 Posts: 44 Member
    My first step was giving up Pepsi. I started drinking mio ice tea flavor drops to replace it and now I am down to 1 mio flavored drink a day. . You can adjust the drops to your individual taste, now I just use a very little bit. Hope this helps. I too gained on diet Pepsi lost 6 pounds in a week by replacing it. give it a shot
  • triciab79
    triciab79 Posts: 1,713 Member
    Out of curiosity what are you doing to those lean chicken burgers to make them so lean? Chicken breast is 140 cal for 4 ounces and you have a 2.5 ounce patty listed at 44 cal. Always looking for a new burger patty recipe.
  • MCsAngel2
    MCsAngel2 Posts: 49 Member
    I have to throw my hat in to the metabolic damage ring. I also lost weight (about 45 lbs) going low carb, low calorie. I have gained back 20 lbs, but that is because I went back to eating like I used to.

    The most important thing I learned about low carb dieting when I started, was that I read that you have to give your body a break from it every 3 months if you want to avoid the metabolic damage. I am not familiar with how to repair/reset, but I thought that information would be helpful for you in the future. Good luck!
  • CWonder003
    CWonder003 Posts: 29 Member
    Well, I'm not an expert, but I agree with those who say you were eating too few calories while losing, and your body adapted to that.

    I don't know how tall you are, but to put it in perspective:

    I am 4'11", about 115 lbs.


    I lost 10 lbs. over 4 months this past year by doing circuit training 2-3x a week for 30-60mins. and occasionally running 1-2 miles 1-2x/wk. I was very busy, so was not really strict with the workouts, but I do have a job that keeps me on my feet and moving around.


    I lost weight eating 1400 cals/day... some days over, rarely more than 100 cals under. I tried the 1200 cals MFP originally suggested, and felt HORRIBLE and ravenous everyday, started getting headaches... and that was before I even started exercising! So, I manually changed the cals to 1400 and ate that much to see what happened... and I STILL lost weight.


    I did not even weigh my food, I just did as close an estimate as possible, and made my own recipes when needed. So, I'm sure that I often underestimated my cals.


    I would not be able to survive on less than 1200 cals/day, just sitting around, nevermind working out. I always eat most of my exercise calories back, too.

    I can maintain eating that much and not exercising much at all. If I stop exercising AND eat more than 1400 cals, I start to gain. For my size, though 1400 is not a small amount of calories, and with exercise, I get to eat 1700-1800, which is where I normally stop eating on my own anyway.

    I think you just need to start over with a higher calories intake per day, keep up the exercise, and slowly take off the weight you've gained. It will be hard, and the results not very dramatic, but it will be easier to maintain.

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