Weight Gain after 4 weeks of exercise/acai berry pills/calor

SELottie

Hi,

I am so discouraged right now! I began going to the gym at the beginning of the month, going 3 times a week for 90-120minutes each time, burning on average, 500-800 calories, depending on my mood or how much time I have.

I also started using the Acai with Green Tea soft gel pills from Holland & Barrett - these were recommended by my friend who has lost 3 stone in 6months through diet, exercise & these pills (supposedly).

I am consuming 1300 calories per day but some days, not many, I will eat over this but still within my RDA.

I drink more than 8 glasses of water a day. I always drink before, during & after exercsise, although not loads, just enough to make up for what I'm losing through exercise (I sweat LOADS).

I eat quite healthy, a lot of fruit & I eat low fat foods ie: weight watchers mainly.

So, after this whole new regime I have introduced, I have managed to put on 6 pounds in the space of 3 weeks - where am I going wrong?

I feel like everything I am doing is for nothing

estjames

Are you eating a net of 1300 or total 1300. You body needs a minimum of 1200 net calories (calories in-calories out).

If you are only eating 1300 calories and then burning 500-800 calories, your body is only getting 500-800 net calories a day which is putting your body into starvation mode. This means that your body holds on to all the nutrients it can and you do not lose weight because your body is trying to survive.

When you develop your MFP goals and it outputs a calorie goal for each day, that is the number of net calories that you should have for the day to lose your goal weight per week.

Also, being that you are only interested in losing a small amount of weight, you should set your goal to be to lose no more than 1 lb per week.

Best of luck on your weight loss.

SELottie

I guess that would be my total caloriue amount then - so after my exercise I am leaving it at 800 calories or less in total

Last week I was quite slack & after exercise, I was still definitely over 1200 cals & if anything, I found this is when I put on the weight.

I set my weight loss goal for 1/2 pound a week.

it seems like when I watch what I eat, I lose weight, when I do as you have said, making sure afte exercise I have still got 1200 calories left, I gain weight.

I did some research on the Acai berry thingsa & some people reported weight gain - this & exercise has been the only change to my everyday regime/diet

chaitrex

It sounds like you're doing everything right. The only thing that I can think is that since these changes have occurred over three weeks, that the weight gain is probably not fat. It's probably a combination of muscle gain and water retention to due monthly hormonal changes.
Also, weight watchers has a TON of sodium in that, which could be contributing to bloating.

estjames

From what I have read on many MFP threads, people who are eating too few calories and report a gain after they eat at least 1200 initially. This is because your body is starving, so it is holding on to the additional nutrients that you gave your body next week. If it were me, i would continue with trying to net 1200 calories for a few weeks before giving up.

Everyone's body is different, but what I have suggested has seem to work for many people on this site.

estjames

Below is a link for another person who has posted a similar question


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/498064-is-it-overkill

SELottie

Thanks for everyone's contributions - I think it was water retention because over these last 2/3 days I have gradually lost 4 of the 6 pounds I had gained in those 2weeks. Very strange

RachelRedwood16

I agree with the muscle/ water weight thing, do you measure yourself? If you're getting slimmer but slightly heavier then ot doesn't matter but this is coming from someone who judges by scales too! Measure yourself, you'll feel better with the results!

sandown12

I lose 3 stone (42lbs) in 5 months with no pills etc just healthy eating and moderate exercise,dont take pills weightloss works if you can find the right plan xx

jarrodc

Stop buying acai berry pills, they won't do anything, it's all marketing. Whoever told you it is working is likely attributing her success to the wrong thing.

Also don't be discouraged, if you're spending that much time at the gym, you're doing great! The thing is... Weight loss is a bloody slow process, so slow that it's discouraging at the best of times.

How slow? well... If your daily requirement for calories is 2000 and you're consuming 1500, this puts you in a caloric deficit of 500... A good goal... Now let's say you stick to this diet flawlessly for 1 month, after this month (let's assume 30 days) you will have burned roughly 15,000 calories... Sounds like you would be ready for the beach by this point right? Well... No. Turns out there's 7700 calories per kilogram of fat (that's 3500 per pound) meaning after a month of slugging it out in the gym and starving yourself you've burned roughly 1.9kg (4.2lb) of fat...

So after that month of hard work what do you have to show for it?
- A barely noticeable change on the scales (because your body will fluctuate by about 5 pounds)
- If you're lucky you will barely be able to notice a tiny tiny tiny change when looking at yourself in the mirror
- Some of your pants may be a tiny bit looser if you're really lucky!

I'm not writing this to discourage you, I'm writing this to try and help, I've been through it myself, and it's downright demoralising, the best thing you can do is understand how long it's going to take, and have realistic expectations about how long it takes... It's like taking a leap of faith, you just have to put in the hard yards by dieting and going to gym all whilst not being able to see any difference. But you know, because you understand now, that you are changing your body, things are happening, you're making progress, your mirror just scales just dont show it yet.

Just don't give up, make manageable changes, and stick to them.

Feel free to add me if you want some help, I've done it all before, like many on these forums

P.S Don't get caught up on television ads selling weight loss pills, none of them work like they say. Even the supplements that do work, have such a small effect, it will probably be more of a placebo than anything else (or maybe more of a waste of money, that you could spend buying new clothes or something to look nice)

jarrodc

1 more thing. Eating fatty foods doesn't make you fat. Eating the wrong fats and unhealthy foods makes you fat... Eat avocados, eggs (whole), nuts, peanut butter... They're all good fats, and they'll even aid fat loss in a small way most likely.