Feeling like I'm gaining weight nearing maintenance

nickyfm

Ahh I'm so frustrated. Last Friday I weighed in at my goal of 111 pounds at 5"5 (sounds little, but I have an extremely petite build,and have sat comfortably at this weight before, and was actually underweight for the first 18.5 years of my life). And I started the slow change from eating at a deficit into maintenance. I was eating at around 1,350 while losing the last few pounds, and was easing out of the deficit 100 calories at a time every 5 days. I had only been eating at 1,600 for the last 2 days, and my hips ALREADY look meatier, and my legs look thicker!! I still work out 5-6 days a week.

What gives?! Will this go away, or have I permanently slowed my metabolism?

jenniejengin

interested to know as well

Trail_Addict

a "look" isn't a unit of measurement. Inches and pounds are.

It takes 3500 calories to build a pound of fat (generally speaking). I doubt a small increase of calories has made you gain any weight. Give it more time, and take measurements.

Awkward30

That is either mental, as in you're so scared of getting fat that you're seeing it, or maybe increased muscle glycogen and water if you are eating more carbs. Has your weight changed? Use weight and measurements to gauge progress. Also at such a low weight, maintenance will be low. Probably 1700-1800ish? I'm ball parking based on knowing mine and I'm 30 lbs heavier... Calculate at fat2fitradio.com to make sure you actually know what maintenance should be. And your metabolism, if slowed, shouldn't be slowed by a ton. I think the largest measured was a 40% reduction in the minnesota starvation experiment where they ate half their tdee and got to essential fat levels. I feel like I read 20% is a more realistic max. Just experiment till you find what works and change as needed!

nickyfm

a "look" isn't a unit of measurement. Inches and pounds are.

I could tell by the way my pole dancing shorts fit today, which had a bit of hip and belly sticking over them, but didn't have that before I increased to 1,600 cals. However, that was literally on Thursday...so it is probably water weight.

I also forgot to mention that I have PCOS, so maybe that's not helping either?

TheFunBun

If you had been losing weight at your reduced calories, it's definitely safe to go up. I figure the lbs of water from your glycogen stores suddenly having some excess cals to deal with have to go somewhere, and it's right in those sassy pole shorts.

Why not measure and weigh just for a bit to keep an eye on it?