Not losing, now i'm GAINING

Siansonea

Here's my story, in a nutshell. . .back in August I joined a gym. I started walking (slowly) almost every day. I got a trainer. I got a meal plan. I started tracking food. I gave up all caloric beverages, save the random unsweetened iced tea. I used to sit on my butt day in and day out and drink copious amounts of regular soda. Anyway, after a month or so, I was able to walk a little faster, on an incline, etc. In 2 months, I lost 15 pounds. I was eating between 1200-1400 calories. walking min 5/7 days ,with 2 half hour personal training sessions a week.

Fast Forward to October. I added bootcamps to my regime. Now I'm doing 4 bootcamps a week. I'm not walking anymore (other than normal day to day stuff). Still doing the personal training. Same calories. And now I've GAINED 5 pounds. I don't get it. Calories the same. Water the same (gallon a day, basically). I'm not eating back any of my burned calories, even though I do add an estimate of bootcamp burned calories to my fitbit/ MFP. I do that mainly to track days I exercised then anything. I have a feeling my problem is diet but I don't know what else to do. . .help?

If my diary isn't open, I am not sure how to do that. . .Thanks. Oh, and I'm 35, 264(ish, what with the gain), and 5'6"

I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

This is exactly what I would say. There's a reason you see tons of people who exercise a lot and eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight. I am 5' 3",155 pounds, eat 1600, and exercise about three times a week or less. I've been doing that since May and 31 pounds gone. You also need to recalculate your calorie intake about every 5 pounds lost or so.

I strongly suspect that the people who "eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight" aren't actually eating those totals. Because if they were, they'd be losing weight. Unless they're children.

pcastagner

Here's my story, in a nutshell. . .back in August I joined a gym. I started walking (slowly) almost every day. I got a trainer. I got a meal plan. I started tracking food. I gave up all caloric beverages, save the random unsweetened iced tea. I used to sit on my butt day in and day out and drink copious amounts of regular soda. Anyway, after a month or so, I was able to walk a little faster, on an incline, etc. In 2 months, I lost 15 pounds. I was eating between 1200-1400 calories. walking min 5/7 days ,with 2 half hour personal training sessions a week.

Fast Forward to October. I added bootcamps to my regime. Now I'm doing 4 bootcamps a week. I'm not walking anymore (other than normal day to day stuff). Still doing the personal training. Same calories. And now I've GAINED 5 pounds. I don't get it. Calories the same. Water the same (gallon a day, basically). I'm not eating back any of my burned calories, even though I do add an estimate of bootcamp burned calories to my fitbit/ MFP. I do that mainly to track days I exercised then anything. I have a feeling my problem is diet but I don't know what else to do. . .help?

If my diary isn't open, I am not sure how to do that. . .Thanks. Oh, and I'm 35, 264(ish, what with the gain), and 5'6"

I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

This is exactly what I would say. There's a reason you see tons of people who exercise a lot and eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight. I am 5' 3",155 pounds, eat 1600, and exercise about three times a week or less. I've been doing that since May and 31 pounds gone. You also need to recalculate your calorie intake about every 5 pounds lost or so.

I strongly suspect that the people who "eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight" aren't actually eating those totals. Because if they were, they'd be losing weight. Unless they're children.

I have the same suspicion. I was helping one gal out who was being told to eat more to lose more, and when we finally got her weighing her meat, it ruined out she was underestimating her portions. By about 300%

oceanreign

I'm figuring it is all diet, but I just can't hit 2000 calories of "good" food. I feel like I'm stuffing myself. But I know that part of the overall problem is diet. Thanks for the calculations.

jonnythan

I'm figuring it is all diet, but I just can't hit 2000 calories of "good" food. I feel like I'm stuffing myself. But I know that part of the overall problem is diet. Thanks for the calculations.

Peanut butter. Cheese. Avocados. Milk. Ground beef. Butter.

DebbieLyn63

I'm figuring it is all diet, but I just can't hit 2000 calories of "good" food. I feel like I'm stuffing myself. But I know that part of the overall problem is diet. Thanks for the calculations.

If you are already gaining, then forcing yourself to eat more calories is not the answer.

born2drum

I'm figuring it is all diet, but I just can't hit 2000 calories of "good" food. I feel like I'm stuffing myself. But I know that part of the overall problem is diet. Thanks for the calculations.

I have a hard time staying under 2000kcals. Shoot. A weighed peanut butter sammy costs me 400kcals so honestly, who can't eat 3 of those plus 3 glasses of milk a day. BAM, 1600kcals

born2drum

Here's my story, in a nutshell. . .back in August I joined a gym. I started walking (slowly) almost every day. I got a trainer. I got a meal plan. I started tracking food. I gave up all caloric beverages, save the random unsweetened iced tea. I used to sit on my butt day in and day out and drink copious amounts of regular soda. Anyway, after a month or so, I was able to walk a little faster, on an incline, etc. In 2 months, I lost 15 pounds. I was eating between 1200-1400 calories. walking min 5/7 days ,with 2 half hour personal training sessions a week.

Fast Forward to October. I added bootcamps to my regime. Now I'm doing 4 bootcamps a week. I'm not walking anymore (other than normal day to day stuff). Still doing the personal training. Same calories. And now I've GAINED 5 pounds. I don't get it. Calories the same. Water the same (gallon a day, basically). I'm not eating back any of my burned calories, even though I do add an estimate of bootcamp burned calories to my fitbit/ MFP. I do that mainly to track days I exercised then anything. I have a feeling my problem is diet but I don't know what else to do. . .help?

If my diary isn't open, I am not sure how to do that. . .Thanks. Oh, and I'm 35, 264(ish, what with the gain), and 5'6"

I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

If you figure her BMR using the Katch Mccardle method, since her body fat % is so high, her BMR is only around 1400. Body composition makes a big difference for some people with very high or low BF%. A 500 calorie difference in her case.

I don;t know where the hell you got 1400 from but assuming she's 40% body fat would still render her TDEE at over 2600kcals with exercise at 3 days a week. Even at 50% bf her BMR would be 1645. Point is, she needs to weigh her food and eat at or above BMR to lose efficiently.

tigersword

Here's my story, in a nutshell. . .back in August I joined a gym. I started walking (slowly) almost every day. I got a trainer. I got a meal plan. I started tracking food. I gave up all caloric beverages, save the random unsweetened iced tea. I used to sit on my butt day in and day out and drink copious amounts of regular soda. Anyway, after a month or so, I was able to walk a little faster, on an incline, etc. In 2 months, I lost 15 pounds. I was eating between 1200-1400 calories. walking min 5/7 days ,with 2 half hour personal training sessions a week.

Fast Forward to October. I added bootcamps to my regime. Now I'm doing 4 bootcamps a week. I'm not walking anymore (other than normal day to day stuff). Still doing the personal training. Same calories. And now I've GAINED 5 pounds. I don't get it. Calories the same. Water the same (gallon a day, basically). I'm not eating back any of my burned calories, even though I do add an estimate of bootcamp burned calories to my fitbit/ MFP. I do that mainly to track days I exercised then anything. I have a feeling my problem is diet but I don't know what else to do. . .help?

If my diary isn't open, I am not sure how to do that. . .Thanks. Oh, and I'm 35, 264(ish, what with the gain), and 5'6"

I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

If you figure her BMR using the Katch Mccardle method, since her body fat % is so high, her BMR is only around 1400. Body composition makes a big difference for some people with very high or low BF%. A 500 calorie difference in her case.

I don't see anywhere that she listed her body fat, so it's impossible to use the Katch-McArdle formula, unless you're just making up a number out of thin air for her.

bwogilvie

I strongly suspect that the people who "eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight" aren't actually eating those totals. Because if they were, they'd be losing weight. Unless they're children.

I think you're right. Plenty of studies indicate that people tend to seriously underestimate calorie intake. Here are a couple of references:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10500011
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18313427

You can find more by searching PubMed for "doubly labeled water" (a technique for accurately gauging energy balance).

DebbieLyn63

The average LBM for a 5'6" female is between 100-110 lbs. When I was at my highest wt of 237 I was around 55%. Since the OP is 265 lbs, I figured she must be closer to 60%. That is where I got the 1400 BMR number. She might have more muscle mass than average, so her number may not be that high.

The point was, that she apparently is eating more than her TDEE to be gaining weight. People telling her that her TDEE is 2600 and she needs to eat more, are not helping her to lose. She needs to figure exactly how many calories she is actually eating, then she can adjust from there.

It is possible to plateau after a prolonged time at a lower calorie, but you cannot create body mass while eating at a large deficit. If she was indeed eating at 1000 or more below her TDEE, she would NOT be gaining 5 pounds.

tigersword

5 pounds of water due to retention for muscle repair after increasing the intensity of strength workouts? Absolutely can, and most likely did. Diet has little to do with it.

gigglesinthesun

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

also interesting read
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

silken555

Hi Ocean,

I calculated your TDEE on the Scooby calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator

I entered the stats you gave and chose an activity level of 3-5 hours a week with a 20% calorie reduction.

Here's what I got:
BMR: 1944
TDEE: 3013
TDEE-20%: 2410

You should therefore be resetting MFP to 2400cals daily based off what I chose. You can also calculate a higher activity level if you want to continue working out as you are (though 3-5 hours a week is plenty).

Keep in mind that with this method you don't eat back calories as they are already taken into account. You also need to recalculate every 5-10lbs lost. When you get about 25lvs from goal youll start using TDEE-15%. When you get to 10lbs left drop the % to 10.

A good read for you: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Good luck!

Forgot to say that the new calorie goal should be tried for at least 4 weeks. If you continue to gain or maintain at that time, drop 100 calories every 4 weeks or so until you find your sweet spot!

pcastagner

I'm the pesky type. So I'm gonna ask again.

Is there a food scale in the picture?


If not, it's not gonna work, sorry, and you aren't properly measuring food. You're going to have to choose between fun answers like "eat more" and boring but effective ones that systematically look of the answer.

Mr_Knight

Here's what I got:
BMR: 1944
TDEE: 3013
TDEE-20%: 2410

IMO those are massively overestimated. Using the IIFYM calculator and accounting for body fat %age and exercise intensity, BMR comes in at 1400 and TDEE at right around 2000.

TDEE - 20% is then 1600 calories/day.

sourgrape_

you should try to use a food scale instead of using measuring cups.. looked at your diary and most of the food is logged as cups/scoops

pcastagner

you should try to use a food scale instead of using measuring cups.. looked at your diary and most of the food is logged as cups/scoops

This is exactly what I saw!

You're clever. Be my friend!