More Protein/More Calories = Weight GAIN??

00trayn

Recently I realized that I was in a plateau (stuck right around 150 lbs) for a good 2 months. I also started working with a personal trainer once a week after Christmas and he told me I wasn't eating enough AT ALL for the workouts I was doing and that I really needed to increase protein and calories. I was eating around 1300 before, rarely hitting my 25% protein goal, and working out 6 days a week.

So, I changed things up. I increased my calories to 1530 by changing my activity level to "Active" and set it to 1 lb a week loss. I reduced my workouts to 4 days a week, but they are good intense workouts with cardio and some strength training lasting at least an hour and burning minimum 600 calories. I also started eating more protein and hitting my calorie goal every day within +/- 100 calories.

The scale jumped to 153.8 lbs last week from being 149.5 lbs the week before I started all this! And now a week later it's still at 152.4 lbs. Is this temporary/common for when you add more protein and workout intensity? I'm still eating quite healthy with the occasional treat within calories (and one date night with my boyfriend a week when I have 2-3 beers). I'm not sure if I should stay the course and I'll drop this weight quickly once my body adjusts, or maybe I did too much too fast and I need to fix something.

So, oh wise MFP friends, any advice or input for me? Thanks!

PS - My food diary is open to the public temporarily so you can have a better idea of what I'm eating/how much I'm eating.

luv2ash

Personally, if it were my diary---my first thing I would do is decrease the carbs.

ajbeans

Sometimes if your body is in starvation mode and then you suddenly increase the calories you're taking in to a normal amount, you'll gain at first because your body is still in the mode of hoarding calories. But then as it realizes you're going to keep feeding it, you'll start losing. The fact that you lost over a pound in the past week tells you that your body is evening out, and this should start working.

chuckanderson

I would say about 10 more grams of fat and 10 more of protein - BUT that being said you will see weight loss at your current level


Realize that you are getting down to a much different range than you were... things will be much slower now. You could probably do 1.5 a week until you hit about 140 then go down to 1.0.

RMinVA

Saw lots of refined carbs, but not a lot of fruits and veggies. And the veggies I did see, were high carb. Maybe sub Wegmans roasted spinach and squash for the mashed sweet potatoes. Or hit their sushi bar for some edamame.

kaityray

Sounds like you're building muscle to me! Protein is the building block of muscle. Put your calorie goal back to 1.5 lbs per week, and set your custom goals to 40%/40%/20%, Protein, Carbs, Fats. You should be getting 1g of protein for lb of body weight as a general rule of thumb. Protein is low calorie for the most part, a 4oz chicken breast should be hitting anywhere between 120-150 calories. You can always suppliment with Protein Poweders, that are very low carb and low calorie, & also are metabolized differently than solid protein. You should be consuming 300 cal. pre work out and always do cardio after weights, that way your body uses the food you had for breakfast (or whatever meal you ate before the workout) as fuel for your strength work out and it will have burned thru that by the time you hit cardio, forcing the body to use stored fat and glycogen as fuel to burn.

jc2488

Looks like you are eating too much sodium.

dawnfichter

I went a bit and didn't lose, until I measured myself. make sure you are keeping track of measurements, sometime inches are as incouraging as pounds!

chuckanderson

Kaity is a smart lady. She said what I couldn't put into words clearly

00trayn

I suspected I was still eating too many carbs, they are delicious and easier to prepare... lol. I'll try to get that number down and add in some better fruits and veggies. I have a thing for sweet potatoes and they are easy to cook, lol. I'll change my protein ratio so it's a bit more, I already drink a protein shake once a day to get some extra in, I'm not really a big meat eater but I'll work on it. Everyone had good input, thanks! Now that I've started to shift things to more protein, I just need to take it further and adjust to eating like that. I still want to grab the carbs (like yesterday's lunch...)

RMinVA

I suspected I was still eating too many carbs, they are delicious and easier to prepare... lol. I'll try to get that number down and add in some better fruits and veggies. I have a thing for sweet potatoes and they are easy to cook, lol. I'll change my protein ratio so it's a bit more, I already drink a protein shake once a day to get some extra in, I'm not really a big meat eater but I'll work on it. Everyone had good input, thanks! Now that I've started to shift things to more protein, I just need to take it further and adjust to eating like that. I still want to grab the carbs (like yesterday's lunch...)

Don't feel like you have to completely give up sweet potatoes...but maybe just eat them baked. Or make "oven fries" instead of the sweet potato mashers. Although Wegmans recipes are usually as healthy as you can expect for most food items, there is probably still some room to improve if you do it yourself.

Quite frankly, I'm not a big meat eater either. But I do love eggs and a good protein smoothie.