My faith is shaken! Why am I gaining?

Emilyswillivan

I've recently hopped back on the workout wagon and cut my cals to around 1400. Give or take day to day, depending on hunger. I'm 5'6", and currently 157 lbs. the first few weeks were great, lost a few lbs, but now I've gained weight! Wednesday I was 155.6 and now I'm up to 157.2! I know there's so many factors and that I could be building muscle and retaining water etc. it's just so discouraging! And I KNOW I'm there's no POSSIBLE way I'm gaining fat on 1400 cals. And there's no possible way that my body is using less than that. I guess I just need encouragement!

Extra details: I have pcos so I keep the carbs pretty low. I work out at least 4 times a week. I mix up running and strength training.

denhar01

It is truly awful to see a gain when you are trying so hard with your diet and exercise regime. It can happen- and does happen- to us all. You know in your heart of hearts this isn't a fat gain and that's important. Keep your perspective and remember this is a marathon not a sprint. Your body will do all sorts of crazy things as you motor along. Keep your head down and trust that your body knows what its doing and will come right.

Some days are diamonds and some days are stones.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Water weight. Swelling. Gycogen retention. Undigested food. Weight loss is not linear. We all tend to have little ups and downs. I weigh daily, then plot them in exel so I can see the overall trends instead of worrying about daily variations.

Today I weighed 156.2 and yesterday I weighed 154.6 and Wed I weighed 153.8.

cppeace

Really this is why you should only weigh weekly cause day to day can drastically different. It can be water weight from sore or exhausted muscles or sodium or simply from changes in your cycle. You're not gaining fat, I assure you if you are accurately counting your calories

cantfail

Weight can and does fluctuate from day to day and you already know that. Don't stress yourself out over less than 2 lbs. You just started the MFP journey. Stay the course.

kethry70

All of the above ^^^
Plus hormonal fluctuations.
I weigh daily for trends and fun but I only log my weight once or twice a month because it can fluctuate wildly due to water/muscle repair/hormones

QuietBloom

Are you using a food scale? Cups and spoons for liquids? How are you calculating your calories burned through exercise?Gaining muscle is next to impossible if you are in a true deficit. I also agree that weighing every day is not a good way to track your progress because weight fluctuates so much.

cheripugh1

Like everyone is saying many factors can do this... if it causes you to want to give up then do not weigh in everyday! Because you have PCOS the hormonal fluctuations are most likely the main issue here. So keep doing what you are doing and give it time to even out. If it stays at the higher number or gains in a week then take a harder look at your diet, you may be off on the calories so weigh/measure every single thing and make sure that number is right.

aalbert_82

This has been happening to me too and I've been on MFP for 4 months now, and have lost 19 lbs. For the first three months I exercised here and there but not frequently. The scale consistently showed a loss, with a minor fluctuation here and there. This month I decided to get serious about exercising and have been working out 6 days a week. Now the scale fluctuates anywhere from 1-3 lbs depending on the day. I weighed myself over a week ago and had a loss of almost 2 pounds. I weighed myself throughout the week and was up 1-3 lbs, and all over the place. Finally today I am back to the weight I was 8 days ago. No loss despite burning enough calories to lose at least another pound. I know it's my body repairing itself from the exercise.

It is frustrating, but like others have said, common sense tells you aren't gaining fat. It was hard for me to accept at first, but now I realize that if I keep up with the exercise this will continue to happen throughout my weight loss. Be sure to take measurements and pictures for those times when the scale is not showing your progress.

From my experience, if you weigh weekly you still may have a gain or no loss compared to the week before, even if it is impossible (calorie wise) to have gained or stayed the same. You could try logging twice a month, which should give the fat loss time to overtake the extra pounds of water, glycogen etc.

cherigaudet

Faith shaken? Good news - changing your body and improving your fitness doesn't require faith. Just consistency and a stubborn refusal to give up.

Better benchmarks than weight or even body measurements are feeling and seeing your body changing, and continuing to improve in your workouts. I've been working out for four months, on a calorie budget, and gained 9 pounds, then lost 6 for a net gain of 3. I've gained and lost the same two inches of stomach fat over and over, yet inexplicably, my pants are enormous on me now. One thing I've learned, there's no sense to weight and body measurements, at least not for me. But I can do more pushups, lunges, don't get winded as easily, etc., and oh yeah, I can see all my new muscles.

Just keep going. Things will change. You'll be surprised how.

AmyRhubarb

Building muscle - no. Retaining water - most likely.

I weigh myself daily, have for years, it's a habit. The fluctuations don't bother me, and there ARE fluctuations every single day. I can easily go up or down 3-5 pounds throughout the month. The overall downward trend over time shows the progress.

If the numbers drive you crazy, ditch the scale and grab a tape measure. And pay attention to how your clothes are fitting. Progress photos for comparison help too - sometimes you can't see it day to day, but will see differences in photos a couple months apart.

Patience. Eat your calories, drink water, exercise, take rest days, get good sleep.

KimberlyinMN

For me, back when I had a uterus, I used to easily gain 5+ pounds of water weight around the time of my period. Easily.

My weight has stayed the same for awhile, but I've been dropping sizes. I walk every day. My Fitbit Flex goal is 5000 steps, but I tend to shoot for 7000 steps (to earn 60 points with Virgin Pulse). I REALLY like to get in 10,000 steps most days. (I know, why not just set my Fitbit goal for 10,000 steps? Well... I don't want to set myself up for failure. 5000 steps is still pretty darn good.) I also exercise to at least one DVD a day (Hip Hop Abs, Kettlenetics, Walk Away the Pounds).

maidentl

Well, I can tell you my story. I lost about seven pounds. Then the scale started to rise and hung out there for about 2+ weeks. And then finally, this week it just all fell off in one week. The three pounds I "regained" plus two more. Your weight does some crazy things. I'm a daily weigher, too. But if you're going to do it you have to be able to handle the wackiness of the numbers! Hang in there.

SLLRunner

Are you using a food scale? Cups and spoons for liquids? How are you calculating your calories burned through exercise?Gaining muscle is next to impossible if you are in a true deficit. I also agree that weighing every day is not a good way to track your progress because weight fluctuates so much.

This.

Emilyswillivan

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement guys! I'm not using a scale for food, I must admit. And while I might not be piling on pounds of muscle, I can totally see that might body might be retaining some water from getting more exercise than it's used to. I'm thinking that weighing twice a month is an excellent idea for me. Next week I'm leaving for a 6 week trip to North Dakota/ Oregon and I won't have my scale. I'm actually kinda looking forward to that :P