Need a bit of help , I am in panic mode

tempest501

So I have been dieting for about 8 month ish. For the past 6-8 weeks hit a serious wall and just could not lose any weight. So asked around and ppl said take a cpl of weeks of diet and go to maintenance. So I changed setting in mfp and may cals for day went from 1660 to 2130. It is my 4 th day of getting on maintenance and I am really panicking as I have put 4 pound on.

Is this normal?

I am really worried I have messed my metabolism up as I heard that if you do it can take as long as you have been dieting to get it back to normal. I am gutted as want to get bodyfat down and start build a better physique but can't help think just gonna get fat again or have to stay at 1660 forever which is a depressing thought.

I don't if its relevant but I am 31 and 5ft 8 in and I let mfp work out my cals only thing I fiddle with is macros. I have them set at 40 carbs 30 protein and 30 fat.

Am I worrying too much?

pkw58

First, stand up and hop. I am 54 years old, and you can't stay "down or panicked" when you hop.

I am 5'8" and 54 years old. At age 31 I could gain 7 pounds in water weight in one day when it was that TOM....

You will not have to stay at 1660 Calories forever. It's the holiday season and we get stressed and don't get enough sleep and plateau's happen

I got down to 20% body fat b adding in a lot of walking ,yoga and barre3. Add walking, standing time as much as you can. Get a fit bit or nike fuel band and see if you are as active as you think you are. Don't give up.

freemanpeter

I would worry about weighing on daily basis. Weight goes up and down according to fuid levels, and probably if you are eating more food you might have more fuid in your body as alot of food is made up from water. Better stick to the 2130 and keep exercising, and you will probably find you will stabilise if thats your correct calorie level for maintenance.

TerryZak

Good Day Tempest,

I can certainly understand your feeling of panic. I think many of us have been there before. As for myself, anytime I was in such a free-fall, it was when I was knowingly not tracking my caloric intake, i.e. was cheating. I'm not accusing you of this, but I do know that sometimes it's easy to start finding "hidden calories" if one is not strict. Another possibility could be that you've been eating some high-sodium foods, which have caused you to retain water-weight.

As for myself, 5'-9" male, I've never been able to maintain around 2,200 calories per day.

Lastly, I'm new to mfp; how did you change the distribution between carbs, protein and fat?

Best of Luck,

Terry

mum2littledove

Definitely worrying too much! I have been on maintenance for 18 months and it is arguably harder than the actual weight loss because you don't have the positive reinforcement of seeing the numbers going down on the scale which keeps you motivated. However to put on 4 lbs in such a short time would have required you to overeat by14,000 calories or so in that short time - that is just the laws of physics. It is possible to do that if you have been bingeing, but if you haven't then that 4 lbs is probably all sitting in your intestines, or possibly in your muscles as water (along with glycogen) waiting to be burnt off at a gym session.

Well done for sticking to your diet for so long and try not to let the panicky feeling get a hold. It happens to lots of us, and it really isn't nice or helpful, but you are not alone and it will pass. Distraction, along with an underlying vigilance, is key to keeping it off. Setting fitness goals (mine was running my first marathon) instead of weight loss goals also helps for those last pounds and maintenance, and I found when I turned my attention to other things like that the last few pounds came off naturally to get me to my goal.

Hope this helps!

darrensurrey

I've done diet breaks twice before. I didn't weigh myself. :bigsmile:

Just to check as I wasn't sure from your post - you've already affected your metabolism if you've been dieting at seriously under so no need to worry about a diet break ruining things ie it's your diet that's can have ruined your metabolism. The diet break will fix it.

PS It's also my 4th day of my diet break.

PPS I don't have scales. The ticker below came about because I had access on a couple of occasions to hospital scales so had a go.

hendinerik

If you are generally eating healthy most of the time and exercising I would not worry about it too much, even if this time of year the balance is thrown a bit. This is my new attitude towards the holidays, and I maybe get in an extra workout here and there just to mentally make me feel more at ease.

Also, I am in maintenance mode (or at least in my goal weight range), and there have been days my weight has gained or lost 3-4 pounds...

Good luck! This is a lifetime health thing, right? So I would not panic - also judging how your clothes fit or how you feel to me is much more important. Sometimes the body needs breaks, and life comes up with events, etc... hopefully you'll enjoy them but at the same time keep moving forward with your fitness/health.

zombilishious

You can't gain 4lbs that quickly. My weight can fluctuate by as much as 7lbs on any given day. Water retention, hormones, undigested food, etc. can cause those fluctuations.

tempest501

Thanks guys maybe I will stop weighing till the two weeks is up. Just shocked me how quick scales moved up. I am still counting everything so I don't go ove maintence. Should I still eat excercises cals back while doing this?

mum2littledove

I find it helpful to think of this - a 2l bottle of water weighs 4.4lbs, which is your weight "gain". But if I simply drank a litre of water in half an hour then stood on the scales, they would have gone up by over 2 lbs in half an hour. But of course that wouldn't mean I'd laid down 2lbs of fat in an hour. I try to remember this logic whenever I panic at seeing a big rise in the scales over a short time. Another thing that I find helpful is to think of my weight as x plus or minus 2. Therefore if I am within that band, my weight is steady and I'm keeping to maintenance.

As for exercise calories, I always eat mine back and I have kept to goal over 18 months. Different people advise different things, but it works for me.

tempest501

I find it helpful to think of this - a 2l bottle of water weighs 4.4lbs, which is your weight "gain". But if I simply drank a litre of water in half an hour then stood on the scales, they would have gone up by over 2 lbs in half an hour. But of course that wouldn't mean I'd laid down 2lbs of fat in an hour. I try to remember this logic whenever I panic at seeing a big rise in the scales over a short time. Another thing that I find helpful is to think of my weight as x plus or minus 2. Therefore if I am within that band, my weight is steady and I'm keeping to maintenance.

As for exercise calories, I always eat mine back and I have kept to goal over 18 months. Different people advise different things, but it works for me.

Thank you I feel a ill better thing was I weighed my self first thing so had not eaten or drank anything. I will try not to panic and do the full 2 weeks at maintenance as advised.

hecham

I posted this exact same thing yesterday! I upped my calories to maintenance for the holidays and I've gained 5lbs in 2 weeks! eeek! Pretty much everyone was saying that it's water weight and muscle recovery from workouts. I am putting the scale away until after the holidays and not weighing again for a couple of weeks after that, just to give my body time to recover. I fully accept that I may gain an *actual* 1-2 lbs this holiday season, but not 5 lbs. I'm sure most of it will come off once I start cutting calories again. best of luck. Enjoy the holidays with friends and family, and yes, food is part of that too. I'm sending a friend request your way.

tempest501

I posted this exact same thing yesterday! I upped my calories to maintenance for the holidays and I've gained 5lbs in 2 weeks! eeek! Pretty much everyone was saying that it's water weight and muscle recovery from workouts. I am putting the scale away until after the holidays and not weighing again for a couple of weeks after that, just to give my body time to recover. I fully accept that I may gain an *actual* 1-2 lbs this holiday season, but not 5 lbs. I'm sure most of it will come off once I start cutting calories again. best of luck. Enjoy the holidays with friends and family, and yes, food is part of that too. I'm sending a friend request your way.

Scary isn't it, I am gonna try not weigh too. Just so worried that I have messed myself with the diet and now my maint cals are my diet cals. Just wanted to start losing again and was hoping to maintain not gain. Ty for request I accepted.

ironanimal

I put on 4lbs after a good meal. Your weight isn't a good measure of progress over a short period of time; measurements are. It's good to see an overall trend down, but there will be fluctuations.

csplatt

Part of it is the extra food in your digestive system. Are you netting 2100, or is that before workouts? Seems high for net calories on maintenance. I net about 1800 for maintenance (30 yo, 5'6'' woman)

tempest501

Part of it is the extra food in your digestive system. Are you netting 2100, or is that before workouts? Seems high for net calories on maintenance. I net about 1800 for maintenance (30 yo, 5'6'' woman)

I am 5ft 8in , male and when I set to maintenance it gave me 2130 without adding exercise . Shouldi reduce it manually then ? I just assumed mfp would be correct.