Why am I gaining weight with Fitness Pal?
Replies
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It could be water weight or the scale is showing the muscle you're gaining from exercise. The scale isn't always reliable because it doesn't differentiate muscle and fat gain, so go by how you feel. Take measurements, maybe you lost inches. If you're logging correctly and at 1300 calories per day, you can't be gaining fat. That math doesn't make sense. Be honest with yourself, log everything correctly (weigh and measure your food and drinks with calories, like juice), and give it some more time. MFP is a great resource and is not leading you astray, but you have to keep yourself accountable and log honestly and religiously.
Best of luck,
Bri
She hasn't gained 5 pounds of muscle in 4 weeks. It's not possible.0 -
You didn't "gain" 5# of muscle in 4 weeks at a deficit. Sorry. You can convert fat to muscle but you will not gain muscle (in lbs) at a deficit. Period. Probably water weight.... usually when you see a small gain, you will in time see the loss. Just be patient. That being said... if you are only eating 1300 cals/day and you're working out... sounds too low to me.
thank you!
Even with the right workout and food intake she'd probably only gain 2.0 -
Most likely options -
1. Short term gain caused by sudden increase in exercise. Your muscles are holding water to repair, and this will increase your weight.
2. It's a 'blip'. Weight loss isn't linear, and you'll go up and down even as you trend down overall. You may just have more in your bowel at the moment, or be retaining water.
3. You are eating more than you think you are. If you aren't weighing everything you eat, you are probably eating more than you think you are. No matter how good you think you are at 'eyeballing it'.
4. You aren't exercising as much as you think you are. Just as in 3, where most people under estimate their intake, most people over estimate their calorie burn. If you are routinely logging 1,000+ calorie burns, you are probably overestimating.
None of these are personal - I don't know you and don't claim to - they are just the most common causes of your problem.0 -
You also have to take into account your specific body's needs. For example, I have PCOS. My doctor told me that I cannot simply count calories to lose weight. My body's issue is with bad carbs. I have to do the Atkin's diet in order to be healthy and fit.0
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Your starving eat more...protein and good fats together and carbs and protein after workouts. Never carbs and fat. Drink Cold water 1st thing in the morning. 20 min of something. Even 20 squats 10pushups 20 crunches. Breakfast 2 hours after waking. No package crap. If it's in a box, you're better off eating the box (lol) You'll get more nutrition out of it. Carbs only after work out. . Base calories + 400 on workout days, base calories - 400 on none workout days. It will work wonders
Ignore all of this. Well, the 2nd to last sentence isn't entirely bad.0 -
The holidays, maybe?0
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Your starving eat more...protein and good fats together and carbs and protein after workouts. Never carbs and fat. Drink Cold water 1st thing in the morning. 20 min of something. Even 20 squats 10pushups 20 crunches. Breakfast 2 hours after waking. No package crap. If it's in a box, you're better off eating the box (lol) You'll get more nutrition out of it. Carbs only after work out. . Base calories + 400 on workout days, base calories - 400 on none workout days. It will work wonders
I love eating the box.
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So the weigh and measure your foods has been beating to death (but is absolutely correct) so I’m sure you got that, I saw a few post about measuring yourself, that’s where I would focus. Measuring helps you track progress that you may not see otherwise. I measure my, neck, chest, waist, thighs, calves, forearms, and biceps. I was doing a combination of weight training, TRX, cardio, and circuit training. My weight was going up significantly so I started measuring, I noticed that while my arms and legs went up in size, my neck, chest and waist went down. These were mostly unnoticeable except for my pants were fitting loser and I was able to get to a new hole on the old belt.
I just started using the site and I am still in the process of setting everything up but you can add all the measurements for tracking purposes.
I wish you the best of luck, stay positive and believe in yourself.
V/r,
DW.0 -
Open your diary and we may be able to help more.0
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If you are eating your exercise calories back - i.e. when you log exercise and MFP gives you extra calories to eat - I wouldn't eat all those extra calories back.
I hurt my back for a month so stopped exercising during that time. So I was no longer exercising, logging exercise, and eating the exercise calories back. I lost more weight more quickly during that month when I was not exercising, logging it, and eating the calories back, I think because the # of calories MFP says you've burned with this or that exercise seem to always be grossly overestimated. So before I hurt my back, when I had been exercising, logging it, and eating back exercise cals, I had been eating more calories back that I thought I had earned with exercise than I had actually burned.
Depending on how much you exercise, you will want to only eat back part of your exercise cals, unless you have one of those monitors you wear on your arm and you can add by hand EXACTLY what your device says you burned.
Also, if it makes you feel better, me and several people I know didn't lose anything for the first 4 - 6 weeks, then the weight just started to fall off. I think it takes time for the body to realize what it needs to do.
Good luck!1 -
Overestimating your calorie burns and not eating enough.0
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Your starving eat more...protein and good fats together and carbs and protein after workouts. Never carbs and fat. Drink Cold water 1st thing in the morning. 20 min of something. Even 20 squats 10pushups 20 crunches. Breakfast 2 hours after waking. No package crap. If it's in a box, you're better off eating the box (lol) You'll get more nutrition out of it. Carbs only after work out. . Base calories + 400 on workout days, base calories - 400 on none workout days. It will work wonders
I love eating the box.
Are we friends yet?? jk0 -
Don't weigh yourself after you eat... depression city1
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It sounds like you may have several different problems. First if you are being honest about what you eat and how much you may be eating the wrong type of foods. Some foods help you pack on the pounds very fast if you do not burn the calories off in the day. It takes about 3,500 calories to gain a pound. Look at what you are eating and logging in. Now that you see the idea of 3,500 calories per pound I will tell you all calories are not the same. A potato, pasta noodles and even rice will give you very basic calories. However, for most people it is the sugar that is converted to fat in these foods that will cause your weight gain. Yes I said. One potato, baked, boiled or nuked is like eating three snicker bars in one setting. The same goes for pasta and rice in different degrees. You can friend me if you want and look at my food lists. I eat everything. But I work out a lot. I have lost 80 plus pounds in six months because I figured what my trigger foods were that made me gain weight. I weigh in daily and I eat better. I know when my body weight goes up and I burn off the fat daily. It works for me. If you have questions just ask.0
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don't know if anyone has mentioned, did you weigh yourself at the same time of day each time? i.e. nekkid, first thing in the morning, after dropping the kids off at the pool and before eating? Fairly normal for me to be up to 5lbs heavier at night than in the morning.
Yep. Plus it's shocking how much your clothes weigh. There's a huge difference between weighing yourself in jeans and sweater versus workout pants and a tshirt versus your underwear.0 -
It could be muscle gain. I lost loads of weight when i wasn't exercising, sitting around and eating lots... but i'm not toned or fit anymore. I cant run like I used to or stretch as far and it's because i'm loosing muscle and gaining fat. so yeah your weight gain could simply be muscle gain. good luck
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Your starving eat more...protein and good fats together and carbs and protein after workouts. Never carbs and fat. Drink Cold water 1st thing in the morning. 20 min of something. Even 20 squats 10pushups 20 crunches. Breakfast 2 hours after waking. No package crap. If it's in a box, you're better off eating the box (lol) You'll get more nutrition out of it. Carbs only after work out. . Base calories + 400 on workout days, base calories - 400 on none workout days. It will work wonders
STAHP. You cannot say she is not eating enough when she has gained 5 lbs. Holy smokes. And I'll bet you didn't even look at her diary to see how accurate her logging is, did you?0 -
Overestimating your calorie burns and eating too much.
Fixed it for you.0 -
It could be muscle gain. I lost loads of weight when i wasn't exercising, sitting around and eating lots... but i'm not toned or fit anymore. I cant run like I used to or stretch as far and it's because i'm loosing muscle and gaining fat. so yeah your weight gain could simply be muscle gain. good luck
again....nope.
5lbs of muscle in 4 weeks at a deficit?0 -
I really think it may be water weight...
Your body may be retaining water because it is not getting enough.
How many glasses are you drinking per day?0 -
Your not tracking everything you put in your mouth. If you have a sub you have to track the bread, cheese, meat, veg and condiments and Salt. Try scanning in the Bar Code of every item and cut your calories back by 50 cal and see if you start to loose anything. For me I started to see a big change in my weight when I started really keeping better track of every single item I put in my mouth and was honest about my portions.0
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Hi, I began this program about 4 weeks ago, am following a 1300 calorie plan
and exercise about every other day. My goal was to lose about 8 lbs. I HAVE GAINED
5 lbs. What is going on? It is not muscle weight, and I do not have thyroid issues (I had blood work
done for that.). I am a 37 year old mom of 2 and weigh more than ever!
if your truly gaining, your doing something wrong. either logging wrong portions, wrong indredients, fotgetting to logg things, such as condiments or bites / tastes here and there, over estimating your exercise and eating back too many calories... or, number one deal breaker... GUESSING FOODS / PORTIONS...
calories add up so fast, and what you may think is 1300 per day could very well be way over. if you were truly eating 1300 per day, you would not be gaining...1 -
Most likely options -
1. Short term gain caused by sudden increase in exercise. Your muscles are holding water to repair, and this will increase your weight.
2. It's a 'blip'. Weight loss isn't linear, and you'll go up and down even as you trend down overall. You may just have more in your bowel at the moment, or be retaining water.
3. You are eating more than you think you are. If you aren't weighing everything you eat, you are probably eating more than you think you are. No matter how good you think you are at 'eyeballing it'.
4. You aren't exercising as much as you think you are. Just as in 3, where most people under estimate their intake, most people over estimate their calorie burn. If you are routinely logging 1,000+ calorie burns, you are probably overestimating.
None of these are personal - I don't know you and don't claim to - they are just the most common causes of your problem.
This especially number one.....I started back in Sept on this sight thought I was doing everything correctly, didnt record my creamer or wine in take. Jumped up 6 lbs in a couple of weeks. I started to gain weight. Decided to cut back especially on the wine in take and started drinking more water....It took me over 4-6 weeks to see any difference in my weight Then lost a quick 10 lbs in about a month figuring it had to do with water retention and that my muscles got used to me being more active... So in your case that may be true. I think I read you say that you weigh everything. Do you even measure your drinks that are calories? Im telling you 5 ozs of wine look a lot less then what I thought it was0 -
MFP is an estimate not a true accuracy on calorie burn. I thought i was burning all these calories and couldnt understand why i wasnt losing, i got another fitness tool fitbit and the difference in true activity burn was really far off form what MY fitness pal is claiming i burned. just fyi0
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Hi, I began this program about 4 weeks ago, am following a 1300 calorie plan
and exercise about every other day. My goal was to lose about 8 lbs. I HAVE GAINED
5 lbs. What is going on? It is not muscle weight, and I do not have thyroid issues (I had blood work
done for that.). I am a 37 year old mom of 2 and weigh more than ever!
It might be water weight. Are you drinking plenty of water and how long do you exercise every other day. You may have to workout a little more because your body may need a little shocker or wake up call.0 -
You should try weighing yourself only once per week instead of every day. Weigh yourself at the same time every time, as well. You can gain up to 5lbs of water weight in a day(I know I gain almost 7lbs in water weight through an 8 hour shift at work), so you're better off weighing when you first get up in the morning. Make a schedule and weigh only on say Mondays after you pee first thing in the morning instead of being sporadic about it. A lot of the posters here have good ideas as to what could be causing the gain, as well.0
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Your starving eat more...protein and good fats together and carbs and protein after workouts. Never carbs and fat. Drink Cold water 1st thing in the morning. 20 min of something. Even 20 squats 10pushups 20 crunches. Breakfast 2 hours after waking. No package crap. If it's in a box, you're better off eating the box (lol) You'll get more nutrition out of it. Carbs only after work out. . Base calories + 400 on workout days, base calories - 400 on none workout days. It will work wonders
i have a headache from reading this.1 -
I am getting a food scale today! 1
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I am getting a food scale today!
i think the food scale will be a big help. it was an eye opener for me on how much i really was eating. checked your diary (it will help people offer advice so thanks for opening) and i suspect you are selecting entries that are similar or close to whatever you're eating. i'm guessing this based on the grocery store brands you are using. stop and shop and publix are not in the same regions. stop and shop is a northeast supermarket chain while publix is in the south. if this is the case you may really be eating more calories than you think because not all brands are equal. if i'm wrong sorry about that. 1 -
Your starving eat more...protein and good fats together and carbs and protein after workouts. Never carbs and fat. Drink Cold water 1st thing in the morning. 20 min of something. Even 20 squats 10pushups 20 crunches. Breakfast 2 hours after waking. No package crap. If it's in a box, you're better off eating the box (lol) You'll get more nutrition out of it. Carbs only after work out. . Base calories + 400 on workout days, base calories - 400 on none workout days. It will work wonders
I won't argue with your formula if that is what works for you but I have done none of that and have lost 43lbs in 5 months. I average 2lbs a week and am quite happy with my progress.0
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