Why'd I gain?

brooke800
brooke800 Posts: 94 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This past week I had a situation in which I was forced to alter my exercise/eating patterns. However, I expected this to be good for weight loss. I had to exercise less, but I still fit in at least an hour of cardio plus 2x of strength. I walked as much as I could (approx. 3 miles a day) in addition to the exercise. I was eating out every meal, but I packed high protein cereal with me and ate that for breakfast. Lunch and dinner were the salad bar (lettuce, cottage cheese, turkey, fresh veggies, balsamic vinegar or salsa for dressing). Snacks were fruit or greek yogurt, usually. I kept my calories a little lower than normal because i was exercising less than I usually do. Today I get on the scale expecting a little loss because of this, but nope. I gained! Why? I don't think it was too few calories, I had at least 1200 a day (I'm 5'10").

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Replies

  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Three things come to mind-
    1) an hour of cardio PLUS 3 miles walking is a lot of exercise for 1200 calories! Do you mean you Netted 1200 calories? If that was your total calories for that much exercise, I think you're still not eating enough.

    2) Restaurant portion sizes are really hard to estimate. Possibly you ate more than you intended without realizing it.

    3)Eating out you may have had a lot more sodium than normal. Actually, you probably did. Its probably water retention from high sodium you're seeing on the scale.

    How much weight did you gain?
  • lussya
    lussya Posts: 19
    maybe the problem is that you don't eat enough, but it's most likely just waterweight
  • mem50
    mem50 Posts: 1,384 Member
    Agreed.
  • brooke800
    brooke800 Posts: 94 Member
    I think you might be right about the sodium. I tried to eat from the salad bar as much as possible (hospital cafeteria) so I could regulate portion sizes. However, the chicken and turkey were probably very high in sodium and also I was eyeballing the portion. I might have been eating 6 oz of turkey, maybe 4...same goes for cottage cheese, fruit, etc.

    Because of this I can't be sure of how many calories I was eating, but I was getting between 1200-1600 each day. I was eating pretzels, and some snack mix...stuff I tried to avoid at home.

    Last- I had a tough time going to the bathroom and although I was able to as soon as I got home maybe that is part of the problem?

    I gained a pound, which might not be "real" weight, but it still really bothers me as I was expecting a loss!
  • Rosa1213
    Rosa1213 Posts: 456 Member
    I'm in agreement with the possibility that high sodium is to blame, since it causes you to retain more water.
    Also, it might just be your body reacting to you changing things up so much during this past week, as indicated by the digestive issues you say you had.
  • jtintx
    jtintx Posts: 445 Member
    A pound? Did you eat 3500 calories more than you burned? If not, don't worry it's not fat! It's water or bowel contents or both. Alert: Stop reading if you don't want TMI. :-) I experimented this morning. Just before I had to use the restroom I weighed myself. I weighed again afterward. I lost a pound. Was it a pound of fat? No!
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    There's one more possibility, which didn't strike me until you mentioned that it was a hospital- Stress can make a big difference in your weight loss- and it's different for each person how your body will react. The bathroom issues could be stress too.

    I bet your weight loss will go back to normal within a couple days of getting back to your regular schedule.
  • brooke800
    brooke800 Posts: 94 Member
    Thanks everyone! I feel a lot better :)
    MoreBean- You should do this for a profession. Why did I not think of that?! I was extremely stressed. I barely slept (3-4 hours a night) so if it effects my sleep, I'm sure stress can impact how my body digests and uses food during such times.

    Thanks again!
  • Chokis
    Chokis Posts: 131
    1 pound? Really? This thread is about 1 pound? Are you kidding me? Our body weight fluctuates within 1-3 pounds just within 1 day. Stop measuring yourself so often, and you'll have less stress.
  • brooke800
    brooke800 Posts: 94 Member
    Um, i weigh myself 1x a week. I wouldn't really say I'm overdoing it. And the reason I started this over 1 pound isn't because I'm worried that 1 pound is a big gain, it is because I'm concerned that my weight is doing the complete opposite of what I expected it to do.

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