I didn't gain wight, I dont get it?!

heybales

So for the last 2 weeks of so i have been over my calorie limit almost every single day, as in there may have been 2 or 3 days where i wasn't over, and when i say over i mean by about 500 calories a day or so. But for some reason, when i wighed in this morning i hadent gained any weight, My weight stayed exactly the same.

So i dont get it, has this happened to anyone else, honestly im confused, im not complaining, but im confused.

Considering how beneficial it is to to take a diet break from time to time - keep eating at whatever level it is - and keep up the logging, no matter how accurate it is.

2 more weeks.

If you keep maintaining, then you know your TDEE for this level of exercise and daily activity at this weight, and with 3 lbs more to go, basically goal weight too.

After the month total diet break, find 250 calories each day you can leave out of your meals.
Don't change anything else.

Be prepared for performance increases in your exercise though since eating at maintenance. And eating more, your body can really make some positive changes now - you'll likely keep losing inches even as weight stays the same.

At that point - you may care less about a number on a scale and the fact your pants are falling down.

lynn_glenmont

I wasn't anymore active then usual no.

Well im 116.8 lbs as of today, and im 5'3 and 22 years old. Im sedentary all day accept for when i workout which is really just a lot of cardio. When i dont workout i assume my maintenance is about 1500 calories, when i do that jumps to about 1800 calories per day (this is an estimation on my part). I like my cardio and i admit i'm obsessive about it, i do between 1- 1.5 hours 5 days a week. There were some days when i ate as much as 2500 - 3000 calories which is why i anticipated a gain of some sort.

I suspect you're underestimating your activity level. You said you were at school. At 22 I'm guessing that means college, so you're probably walking all over campus between parking lot/dorm and classroom buildings. You're probably lightly active and your maintenance is close to 1900 calories. You may also be underestimating what you're burning in your cardio workouts. 200-300 calories an hour (based on your estimate of 300 calories for 1 to 1.5 hours) isn't much, especially if being "obsessive" about your workouts relates to the intensity of your workouts. So maybe on days you work out your maintenance level is somewhere between 2300 and 2700.

Were you logging while you were losing? You should be able to figure out what your true maintenance level was (with and without exercise) by adding calories consumed and 3500 calories per lb. lost over a month or two, then divide by the number of days in the time period you used. (Add net calories and 3500 calories per lb. lost, then divide by the number of days to get maintenance before exercise. Add gross calories, calories burned from exercise, and 3500 calories per lb lost, then divide by the number of day to get maintenance after exercise.)

jenniferb_00

Beneficial to take a diet break? Really? Did not know this. But ill take your suggestion to heart, it would be nice to know my real maintenance calories since im obviously kind of off.

Im a student no more, grsduated last year, im just working part time until i possibly go back to school next year. Although my job keeps me on my feet maybe 5 hours 5 days a week its nothing excessive so i never thought it would have much effect on my overall weight lose. My work outs are not intense by any means, as in im not out of break by the end, they are moderate i would say, another reason why i estimated about 300 calories lost. I only joined a few months ago so i haven't been logging this whole time. Iv always counted calories but i did it with a pen and paper so there are some variations in numbers i suppose.

geekyjock76

I agree with everyone else in that you likely underestimated your actual TDEE.

Additionally, I believe you should focus more on improving body composition instead of scale weight. For a lot of women who reach goal weight by calorie restriction and cardio, they often times do not like the end product because they lost too much muscle mass. If your goal is to get a "lean" physique, you must reduce fat mass to expose the underlying lean muscle. But how soon you start to see this lean muscle also depends on how much muscle mass you managed to preserve.

Let's say you have two women of similar stats. Woman A loses 10 lbs of fat mass and only 1 lb of muscle mass; Woman B loses 10 lbs of fat mass with 7 lbs of muscle mass. Woman A will obtain a leaner physique sooner because she maintained more muscle mass. In other words, Woman A will reach her desired goal faster whereas Woman B will have to do additional work to recover the lost muscle mass and then diet again just to reach the same physique.

jenniferb_00

Makes sense, makes sense. I very unfortunately lost a lot of muscle mass a few years back so i should maybe switch my focus up. I guess i have some research to do then.

heybales

Beneficial to take a diet break? Really? Did not know this. But ill take your suggestion to heart, it would be nice to know my real maintenance calories since im obviously kind of off.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

jenniferb_00

Thanks! Ill definitely be reading through this.