Under daily count, but gaining weight?

demonyca

Hi all,

I downloaded the app for this site about 3-4 weeks ago and filled it in every single day with everything I ate or drank. I added exercise and water consumption as well. As I eat mostly vegetables in most meals, the calorie count is often very low. Yet, I eat well, I don't eat any junk food, snack food or processed food. I look for items in the menu that are the same or similar to what I eat, but where the description says from a particular take-out store, I'm making these things myself at home.

If you look at my diary, you'll see that I was on vacation in another country for two weeks, so could only enter when I had wi-fi access. Eating in Thailand consists of almost all vegetables, fruits and very little seafood/chicken. Breakfast is always a tiny sliver of bacon with baked beans. I also went hiking, walking, swimming, snorkelling, kayaking and roaming around ruins for multiple hours each day, so I even have days with negatives in them.

Now I've returned from my vacation, I find that I've GAINED 2kgs (about 5 pounds). WTF??

fetchfury

hey, you need to make your diary public

demonyca

oh. Silly me. I'm still figuring this thing out : /

Nicola0000

It could be water retention. As you were away, you have no idea what was in the food. EG I was eating porridge from Crush in London, which is advertised as a healthy food place, then looked on their website and the porridge was about 500 cals!! (cant remember the exact amount, but was HUGE!!!!) So theres me thinking I was being good, when it was terrible!!

Dont worry about any gain. If you cant enjoy yourself on holiday, then when can you?? Just start again. Gain isnt failure.x

demonyca

I tried to be really careful about what and where I was eating. No western fast-food options for me. I don't eat cakes or chocolate at any time anyway. I chose Thai restaurants where the kitchen was visible and fresh produce/seafood was readily visible. I chose dishes that contain primarily vegetables or seafood or chicken whenever I could. Breakfast was supplied by the resort, so the choice was limited, but I did my best.

Yes, being an Aussie means we have a drink with dinner most nights, but I was also honest about logging exactly what we drank and double checked the calorie count of our drinks on other sites to make sure I was logging enough.

Thanks for the encouragement about just enjoying my vacation. I'll just start again from today (I flew back into the country only this morning) and I'll just keep at it

Nicola0000

It could be high salt? Travelling always makes me heavier being on a plane. Maybe weigh again tomorrow and see what happens?

she_the

I was going to suggest salt as well.. there is a lot in sauces and things.. as well as a lot of calories.

I'd truly forget it and start fresh...

Just make sure you are eating enough... or you'll screw yourself up in the long run!

MelanieAG05

I see your daily goal is 1500 calories - great! Eat them all!! The lower the number in green the better! If you do exercise, log it and eat about half of these calories if not all of them. MFP gives you a deficit without factoring in exercise so when you do exercise you need to eat some of those calories too to refuel your body. There is a lot of debate on here about exercise calories but in the main most people seem to eat some if not all of them back.

Also, check you BMR (go to Tools). You should really be eating at least this amount of calories everyday. Go easy on the alcohol - I used to be a big wine drinker and this does have a big effect on trying to lose weight however, I do like to have a few drinks at the weekend and wasn't prepared to compromise on this so I have changed to white spirits - Gin, Vodka, Bacardi etc and always have them with a diet mixer like diet tonic, lemonade or cola. A Gin(25ml measure) and Slim line tonic is only 52 cals - better than 300 plus for a beer or glass of wine!

feel free to add me as a friend if you like.

Mel x

Smuterella

I don't think you are eating quite enough, try and always be within 50 or so calories of your target.

demonyca

Thanks for your supportive comments, everyone. I'm really hoping it was just travel and fluid retention from staying in a country with 80% humidity every day. I checked my BMR and it's 1,477. I'll keep my eye on that number. I'll also order my other half to stop pouring me an automatic wine or beer with dinner and switch to something lighter as you suggested (or just water...)

Thanks again

Di3012

OP no matter how careful or active I am when I go on holiday, apart from one time in the last 16 years, I have always, without fail, put on weight during the time away.

Your best bet is, that now you are home, start again. Stick to your calories, do your exercise and weigh and measure once per week. See how you go now that you are back into the routine.

If the weight went on whilst on holiday, it is highly likely it will shift very quickly if you immediately start again.

Thailand are very high in their salt on their food by the way, that could make a big difference.

TwinMumCork

I gain weight by just getting on a plane so take that into account too, especially such a long flight.

Just start afresh.

I would suggest you maybe eat small meals more often this is supposed to speed up your metabolism as far as I know.

Good luck and hope you had a great holiday.

dharakrat

Don't forget to up your water intake by double when traveling. I end up drinking at least a liter of water on the plane ride. I can be up almost 5 lbs from just the plane ride plus the sodium in foods eaten out. Good Luck!

caroline_g

I've lived in Thailand so I know all about what Thai food does to the scales! There are a lot of hidden calories in a lot of Thai food, you'd be surprised. I don't know exactly what you ate but Thai people like sugar and plenty of it, so most sauces, especially in tourist places, are quite high sugar. Then there's all the rice and noodles. And they put egg in or on almost everything. Rice, stick a fried egg on top. Noodles, stick a fried egg on top. And like someone else said, there's plenty of salt too. It's easy in Thailand to not eat as well as you think you are when you're not cooing for yourself and to underestimate portion sizes. So my advice now is just to forget about it and get on track now you're home and those 5lbs will soon be off. Most of it probably isn't proper weight gain anyway but your glycogen stores refilling and water retention from salt.

demonyca

LOL I just showed my other half this thread to show him that it's (hopefully) a result of more salt/MSG than we're used to, plus travelling. He was moaning about putting on 3kg in the same amount of time that I put on 2kg and he was quite down about it too.

His solution to make me feel better? He just poured me a Bacardi with diet soda.

Not helping!!!

jenniebean1680

i am trying to eat less than about 600 calories a day and have been for a few weeks, lost a bit of weight but not as much as i want to. i feel your pain!! though just stick at it and hopefully we will both see the results! xox

Less than 600? Why are you on MFP if you're going to completely ignore their recommendations?
You're stalling your metabolism. You will harm your body's ability to maintain healthy processes and you will stop losing at all. This kind of a deficit is dangerous and counterproductive.

Eat, people. Good grief.

I keep saying I'm going to stay off the boards because of posts like this but it's like watching a train wreck... I can't look away...

(Edited to add missing comma between "eat" and "people". I don't advocate cannibalism.)

citygirltkv

First, big kudos to your for having so many healthy foods in your daily diet! Try hitting your suggested daily calorie intake for a while and see it that makes a difference. This might be the key, being that a lack of calories can "confuse" your metabolism, causing it not to function as well as it's supposed to. Think about the "grazing" idea of smaller portions more frequently - it keeps the metabolism working more frequently and consistently. It's a similar idea. Also, be sure you're getting a good balance of proteins and the veggies, especially in check with your exercise. Your muscles need all that good protein to keep strong, which then, in turn, gives your body better fat-burning ability. If you're trying to stay away from whole grains/glutens, try quinoa (or even if you're not!). It's a great source of protein and it's gluten-free! It's categorized with the whole grains, but it's actually not even a grain. Check out Wegmans.com for some yummy recipes to use it in. Its has a nutty flavor, but is light and fluffy and really versatile. It's really good mixed with many other foods, especially fruits and/or veggies.

caroline_g

Just taken a look at your diary, just a few things.

Firstly, you've used the best things you can find that are closest to what you've had but one, doesn't mean it's the same calories so could be underestimating and secondly, you could be way out with your portion size guesses. Often their foods aren't steamed. I personally wouldn't trust those calories, I make pad thai myself (one of the best things I did in thailand was to get thai friends to teach me to cook things!) and it's most definitely not only 440 calories.

Secondly, you drank a fair bit on holiday, as you'd expect. That'll definitely have had an effect, especially if you don't normally drink much.

So I think your calorie estimations on here are probably a fair bit out and you were drinking alcohol, both of those will probably be to blame of the gain. But you were on holiday so I really wouldn't worry about it, Thailand's an amazing country and it should be enjoyed rather than worrying about food/calories etc.

mszcheon

Asian food is typically high in sodium. Whether it be in the form of salt, seasoned salts, soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and miso; they tend to make me bloat and retain a lot of water. I'm Korean and I only eat Asian food when I have to.

Siannah

(Edited to add missing comma between "eat" and "people". I don't advocate cannibalism.)

:laugh:

Smuterella

i am trying to eat less than about 600 calories a day and have been for a few weeks, lost a bit of weight but not as much as i want to. i feel your pain!! though just stick at it and hopefully we will both see the results! xox

Less than 600? Why are you on MFP if you're going to completely ignore their recommendations?
You're stalling your metabolism. You will harm your body's ability to maintain healthy processes and you will stop losing at all. This kind of a deficit is dangerous and counterproductive.

Eat, people. Good grief.

I keep saying I'm going to stay off the boards because of posts like this but it's like watching a train wreck... I can't look away...

(Edited to add missing comma between "eat" and "people". I don't advocate cannibalism.)

^ this

danagisana

Not sure if this helps because I don't know when you got back from your trip, but I went to Cambodia awhile ago and was eating very healthy (veggies, rice, fruit, etc) and I kept gaining weight. Halfway through the trip I realized everything was cooked with a ton of salt and MSG! So after a couple of days on a strictly fruit and plain rice diet the weight came off and it was just water.

demonyca

I weighed up again this morning because my brand new clothes suddenly felt different than they did while I was touring around Thailand and Cambodia. Of course, this is after waking up every hour last night to go to the toilet. I must have gotten rid of 2 litres of just water in those toilet-visits.

So I woke up this morning and weighed in - I'm at PRECISELY the same weight I was before I left for my trip!! Those scary extra 2kg are just gone!

I am so relieved! I thought I'd really messed up something somewhere, but it's not all bad after all. Thank you all for your helpful, kind responses. I really appreciate it.

Taking the dog for a walk now