Help! Gaining on Maintenence Calories

Kakalina2

OK. So, I've lost over 100 pounds . I did it by changing my outlook on food and exercise and lifestyle. I reached my goal in 14 months. Then I upped my caloric intake from 1200 to 1350 on the advice of the trainer at the gym to maintain.

I am working out hard 3 times a week and I was swimming the other 3 days. I had to drop the swimming due to the weather about two weeks ago.

I quit smoking two months ago. I have made it a point not to snack or eat more.

I have gained 6 pounds. I can't seem to lose it. Any advice would be more than welcome. Especially since I leave for vacation in 3 days!

TavistockToad

OK. So, I've lost over 100 pounds . I did it by changing my outlook on food and exercise and lifestyle. I reached my goal in 14 months. Then I upped my caloric intake from 1200 to 1350 on the advice of the trainer at the gym to maintain.

I am working out hard 3 times a week and I was swimming the other 3 days. I had to drop the swimming due to the weather about two weeks ago.

I quit smoking two months ago. I have made it a point not to snack or eat more.

I have gained 6 pounds. I can't seem to lose it. Any advice would be more than welcome. Especially since I leave for vacation in 3 days!

unless you are about 3ft tall and weigh 99lbs i doubt 1350cals is your actual maintenance...

how long have you been eatign 1350?

AverageUkDude

OK. So, I've lost over 100 pounds . I did it by changing my outlook on food and exercise and lifestyle. I reached my goal in 14 months. Then I upped my caloric intake from 1200 to 1350 on the advice of the trainer at the gym to maintain.

Sick of seeing this, your trainer is a moron who obviously knows nothing about nutrition.

post your height/weight/age/sex and how many hours of what exercise you do a week and we can help more.

Kakalina2

I am 63 years old. I now weigh 160 ( I started at 259). I am 5'6" tall. Female

I upped my calories to 1350 about 3 months ago. My gym routine is 30 min on treadmill at 3.5 workout hills at level 3. Then 30 crunches, then 75 sit ups with 30 lbs of weight.
Then 25 on each of the hip abductions with 30 lbs. of weight. Then the "express circuit". I then go to the adjustable cables and do 30 each tricep and bicep pulls with 40/20 lbs. of resistance. I then get the 5 lb. weights and do 3 sets of 20 reps. I don't know the term for the reps. I then do 40 pulls on the rowing machine with 30 lbs of weight.

I finish off with some core exercises on the mat. It's about 90 minutes 3xweek.

AverageUkDude

Your tdee is 2106 calories a day.

You sound like you need to start eating more, you may put some weight on during this period whilst your body adjusts, but give it a solid 4 weeks for your body to get shocked into processing correctly.

Youll find you have more energy and a better mood, hormone balance is importance at your age for a woman, so make sure you arent doing any stupid low fat/low carb diets.

Calculated your tdee here:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Some reading around eating a bit more can be found in this group:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

Good luck!

TavistockToad

I am 63 years old. I now weigh 160 ( I started at 259). I am 5'6" tall. Female

I upped my calories to 1350 about 3 months ago. My gym routine is 30 min on treadmill at 3.5 workout hills at level 3. Then 30 crunches, then 75 sit ups with 30 lbs of weight.
Then 25 on each of the hip abductions with 30 lbs. of weight. Then the "express circuit". I then go to the adjustable cables and do 30 each tricep and bicep pulls with 40/20 lbs. of resistance. I then get the 5 lb. weights and do 3 sets of 20 reps. I don't know the term for the reps. I then do 40 pulls on the rowing machine with 30 lbs of weight.

I finish off with some core exercises on the mat. It's about 90 minutes 3xweek.

there is no way you need to eat so little with all that exercise. so you have gained 6lb in 3 months, or did you gain 6lb as soon as you upped your cals 3 months ago?

westendcurls

Did your trainer want you to increase your calories slowly say week by week but you haven't re-up because your scale weight was going up? Did you tell him/her?

How are your measurements? Are you watching your avrage weight or your scale weight? Your avrage will give you a much better idea of whats really going on. there are many apps for it.

Kakalina2

Wow. I guess I am very uneducated. The trainer didn't tell me how much to add, just to eat more. I decided on my own that that was a good amount to add. Guess I was very wrong.

I've been going by the digital weight watchers scale. For the last 3 months I've seemed to gain and lose the same three pounds over and over again. (sigh) Then this week I added 3 more. I figured it was because the swimming laps for an hour the other 3 days of the week stopped.

As for the amounts of fat/carbs/calories I've just used the breakdown here under the adding food section.

I appreciate all your replies, every single one. I will go calculate my tdee ( I guess I'll find out what it is LOL) right now. Again, thank you all.

keem88

1350 seems very low for maintenance...are you sure it's not higher like 1750 or 1850?

caminoslo

Tell me your typical meal plan in a day what you eat

westendcurls

I just bumped a post about glycerine stores. I cant link it on my tab but its really great info! Its in the general weight loss section, its called why gain if you eat more than your cut. Definitely give that a read it will exsplain whats probably going on.

Kakalina2

sorry double post.

ronnielamm

although its not 100% accurate you need to first find your BMR, then calc your TDEE, this is what i use as a base then alter some of the macros to my liking, for instance i dont consume 300g of carbs a day i do about 190, but my protein intake is far higher than their recommended at around 290-300 a day. like most said above me 1350 is no way your maintenence unless your metabolism has completely regressed. eat more protein and lift youll gain lean muscle

* use this to calculate your BMR and TDEE http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

moment_to_arise

also possible a muscle gain? muscle weighs more than fat. i have lost inches all over my body while maintaining roughly the same weight. take your focus off the number on the scale and take measurements of your body instead. you will see better results that way!

supermodelchic

I'd address the quitting of smoking, when you smoke your heart rate is accelerated from the nicotine , which can burn calories , when you quit you don't have that faster heart rate thing going on anymore. Just my opinion.. Hang in there keep doing what your doing add in more weightlifting, add more muscle...goodluck

Kakalina2

I so appreciate all your suggestions. I did go to that site and did the calculations. If I want to maintain I should be at 1500 calories per day from what I can figure out. My BMR is 1308 and my TDEE is 2120.

I made the adjustments to my goals on MFP and we will see how it goes. I have not gained any inches. I measure my inches about 2 x month and haven't seen any change for awhile.

I also read where you burn 250 calories smoking a pack a day and I didn't allow for that change either. I also read the post on glycerine storage and that makes perfect sense to me.

I also realized that unless I am at the gym I've slowed way down on drinking water since it isn't hot anymore. I need to watch that also.

Once again thanks to all of you.

QuietBloom

1350 seems very low for maintenance...are you sure it's not higher like 1750 or 1850?

At 5'6" and 49, my maintenance is only 1553.

OP, please use the calculators provided. That should get you a good start at figuring out what you need to eat to maintain. Please be aware that you WILL gain 3 or so lbs in water weight when you increase to maintenance. This is normal. Don't fight for the rest of your life with those 3 lbs of water weight. Your body is replenishing glycogen stores.

FromHereOnOut

I'm not exactly in maintenance (still lots to lose), but I will tell you that I lose & gain 3lbs nearly daily. After a day of child-wrangling, walking all over the city, and a run, I come home to weigh 3lbs less. It is from loss of glycogen stores and water weight. It's also the big WHOOSH of weight loss that people get when they first go on a diet. The only reason that I gain it everyday is because I eat enough to replenish those stores. Now that you are eating more, you are doing that as well. But your daily calorie goal is far from where it needs to be, to be in maintenance.

For a better explanation of that regular up & down, read this post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/993576-why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut



Also, do you measure? Have your clothes gotten snugger? You are doing some muscle workouts, so eating more (but still so little) should help to maintain or build slightly muscle, which is a good thing. Do you really feel like you've gained FAT, or you just see the scale go up and assumed it was fat? Try measurements and photos and ditch the scale for a little while, it'll only mess with your head.

Good luck

FromHereOnOut

Also, that vacation will be a good thing. You are working out much of the week. Taking a week off from working out will cause your body to expel some of the water it's been holding to repair muscles. Between that and the glycogen thing, that could be your 6lbs right there. Don't go crazy on alcohol or ultra-high calorie foods while on vacation, but eat well enough and rest and you'll probably end up at your true maintenance weight and can start to creep your calories up to where they need to be.

donnadondon

I am 5ft6 female 136lbs just done first week of insanity on 1430 calories a day iam looking at maintenance after Christmas so was just looking for tips on how to make sure I dont gain and realax abit more with fod also how many calories I would be looking at to maintain