Upped my calories and upped my weight!

littleali · April 2012

Okay, so following good advice from the forums, for the past month I've been trying to up my net calories to around 1300-1400 (not masses but previously I was netting in the 900's-1200's and had been at a plateau for 3 months) well, I can say my plateau has been broken, just in the wrong way, and now I'm up 6lbs. I honestly don't understand. I know your body is supposed to freak out for a couple of weeks and gain a couple of lbs before it settles and starts losing again but I've been trying this for a month and I'm gaining?

How long before my body settles and starts losing again? I am feeling really, really low about this.

SusanMcAvoy · April 2012

I would never up my calories in order to lose weight. Conventional wisdom says if you want to lose weight eat less and exercise more. I don't know why some people on MFP say to eat more food. It makes no sense to me. I do eat some of my exercise calories on days I am extra hungry but I try not to. I'll agree we probably shouldn't eat below 1200 calories but even occasionally I'll do that. I don't believe in eating if you're not hungry. All my life this is what I have been taught and that is the way I've lost 47 pounds. If eating more food really works for some well good for them. I know it would never work for me. :flowerforyou:

liftingheavy · April 2012

Ditto

mfpcopine · April 2012

Agreed.

wftiger · April 2012

Don't get discouraged by 6lbs. Keep at it. Instead of upping calories trying doing more strength training. if you don't have a gym membership you can buy a kettleball or resistance bands and work with those at home. Muscle burns more calories then fat so if you increase your muscle then that will help break the plateau.

kalynn06 · April 2012

I'm guessing that all or most of that is water weight. Eating at those calorie levels, you should not put on 6 pounds of fat, or really any pounds of fat unless you are small and totally sedentary, in a month.

determinedhealthy · April 2012

I'm still learning....but I recently increased my net calories to 1200 because I wasn't losing. Now I am losing again. If you net 800-1000 calories for quite sometime and then changed to 1200 net your body will gain at first, but then it will start losing. If you aren't providing your body enought calories our bodies will "hold" onto every calories consumed, and then there is no energy to burn fat and lose weight. Too low is under 1200 net, so I've read, but everyone is different. It sounds crazy, but it does make sense and for me it's working.

ladyraven68 · April 2012

if you have only gone up by 200 cals a day, you haven't even eaten back your deficit to get to mainentance. you need to eat over maintenance to add fat.

Are you still gaining weekly?

What is your BMR and TDEE?

Helloitsdan · April 2012

No offense but dont listen to this advice.
Its a surefire way to drop hormones and maintain fat.
Yikes!

Continue eating at your rate and measure your progress.
The human body can fluctuate up to 5lbs or more daily.
If the body fat doesnt drop after a month then adjust macros.

NU2U · April 2012

Oh no...not another one!!
Conventional wisdom is what got us into this mess.

liftingheavy · April 2012

She's lost 47 lbs and I've dropped 6 sizes and gained muscle at the same time. Both schools of thought are present here, and the OP can choose the one that makes most sense to her.

I am stunned by how many people seem to get personally offended when people choose not to eat more. It's fine to disagree, but some of these "rebuttals" are unnecessarily rude.

Helloitsdan · April 2012

Depending on how obese you are will depend on if you can "build" lean mass while at a deficit.
These types of results are only seen in Obese 2 and Obese 3 people where ATP is concentrated enough in their muscles that they can stimulate growth.

If OP isnt fueling first her Basal Metabolic needs then she should just throw in the towel now.

You need fuel to live and work and play.
Without it youll eventually break down.

Now if OP is eating back all her cals and netting above BMR then she will do just fine.

I think people get confused about dieting and feel that its primarily working out then eating right.

Truth is its 70% diet, 20% sleep and 10% working out.
Without the first 2 in place you will increase your diet timeline longer than it really needs to be.

NU2U · April 2012

.........says the person who responds about "rude rebuttals"...with a "rude rebuttle"....

Ding, ding, ding..now back to your corner

NU2U · April 2012

Is this NOT an open FORUM?

THERE WILL BE DIFFERENT OPINIONS!!!
:grumble:

LorinaLynn · April 2012

One thing I noticed on your food diary is that some of the entries are missing sodium. I'm not sure if that would be enough to have water retention, but I know that all milks and cheese have at least some sodium, and the listings your using for your cheddar and oats with skim milk are listed as zero. Not pointing fingers or anything... it's something that some people leave off when they enter their foods.

Also, be sure to track your progress through measurements, how clothes fit and photos. The scale... sucks.

bluefox9er · April 2012

^^^^^^

THIS!!!

meerkat70 · April 2012

lost a fair bit myself, not following starvation advice...

meerkat70 · April 2012

true. and some will be ill-informed

Michelle650 · April 2012

What you should do is find out your BMR and eat that and above, no less!! Thats is the base amount your body needs to function!!

NU2U · April 2012

Omg!!! Congratulations..that is quite impressive :flowerforyou:

bluefox9er · April 2012

I did exactly THIS..ate around 1,300 calories a day and burnt 1,100 calories a day and not touch my exercise calories. result? I gained 4 lbs in 2 weeks.

Last 3 days I have started eating 500 extra calories ( approx half of my exercise calories) and guess what happened? I lost 1.3 lbs in 2 days.

meerkat70 · April 2012

Thank you. Still a long way to go, though. :-)

chachadiva150 · April 2012

I agree with you. People can choose to eat whatever they want to eat. I believe in playing around with calories. If it takes going a bit lower, then so be it.

I've stopped giving people that advice because MFP is all about eating and eating. It's in reaction to so many people legitimately starving themselves. However, a diet of 1200, 1500, 1800 is NOT starving yourself. People and their bodies are different.

Some people get great results on a lot of calories. Other people need more modest calories. :flowerforyou:

sunshine__angel · April 2012

Is it possible that your gain could be due to muscle, or water retention as opposed to fat? For me, increasing my calorie intake by 200 calories a day actually helped me lose weight. I'm not sure the same can be said for everyone - it's kind of trial and error until you find something that works for you. How are your sodium levels? Are you eating your exercise calories back too? Just try adjusting different things, something will work for you eventually. Good luck!!

kdeaux1959 · April 2012

Looks like you are pretty close to your goal weight and your profile pic appears to be really pretty thin... Kind of hard to tell for sure in the mirror. If you are trying to go too low, that may be the problem... It may be that you are actually over the necessary calories to lose but in that case, I would take a great deal of care going too low... Maybe increase some high intensity activity

That being said, another thing that may be necessary is to get a thyroid profile. In other words, you may want to get a check up and make sure that there is not an endocrine issue here.

NU2U · April 2012

My own experience while trying to follow a 1200 CPD plan......it made me feel sick, weak, and moody. I got terrible headaches, and the worst stomach pains. I was starving...and starvation is quite painful. I upped my calories, and I'm finally starting to lose weight...and I feel like my body is actually healing.

mfpcopine · April 2012

A 6-pound gain is a probable sign of the obvious: She's consuming too many calories for her activity level.

liftingheavy · April 2012

Did you intend to quote me? There is nothing rude about my reply. Read any of the threads about eating more and eating exercise calories and they turn into an all out brawl.

So my statement is absolutely true, and it's stunning. Statements about how people got fat ("conventiontional wisdom") and telling the OP to ignore anyones advice is rude.

meerkat70 · April 2012

Depends how much working out you're doing. If you're eating 1200 cals, and working out twice a day, burning 600 cals... well, that's en route to anorexia. Netting less than 600 cals per day over an extended period of time fits the dietary criterion for a diagnosis of anorexia.

It isn't just about what you put into your body. It's also about how much you burn off.

TMcD71 · April 2012

i have been told that under 1200 calories can put your body in starvation mode. i try to go around 1300 to 1500 do about 90 minutes of cardio and also strength training.

LoveyEstelle · April 2012

I enjoy conversations like this because there are so many misconceptions and confused people. I honestly do not know the correct answer (if there is just one since every body is different) so I am experimenting by following my trainers advice. He is having me eat no less than 1750 calories on my non-workout days and up to 2500, depending on the intensity, on my workout days. I am 5'3" and currently weigh 135lbs but my body is extremely muscular. He said that even at my goal weight of 120lbs that I should consume no less than 1650 calories to maintain, and that is if I was just sitting on the couch all day. Like I said, I don't know if he is right but I have ridden the roller coaster long enough on my own. I just started my first week and have committed to 8 weeks of doing it his way long enough to see it pay off. The bright side that if it does work then I will be able to enjoy eating the rest of my life instead of looking into a bleak future of 1200 calories. My diary & weight loss is public so feel free to check back in 8 weeks and see the results.

I would like to also put my opinion out there that flabby & skinny is not cute. I would rather be bigger and toned. And you need food to energize your workouts and live life!

Upped my calories and upped my weight!

Replies

Categories