how is this possible????

dncr8707

eating 1300 calories a day
exercising at least 5-6x a week and burning 4000 cal a week
and gaining 10 lbs
and 10% body fat!

I dont mind the weight b/c it could be muscle but what the hell is up with gaining and extra 10% body fat!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm so frustrated!!!!

dncr8707

eating 1300 calories a day
exercising at least 5-6x a week and burning 4000 cal a week
and gaining 10 lbs
and 10% body fat!

I dont mind the weight b/c it could be muscle but what the hell is up with gaining and extra 10% body fat!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm so frustrated!!!!

kerridwen

How long have these changes been in place? Your body can do some interesting things for a little while after a big eating/lifestyle change, depending on what it was like before.

dncr8707

ive been exercising and eating like this for 6 months. I dont understand. I was down to 20% on christmas.

Eliyan

You should probably be eating more; your body might have gone into starvation mode.

4000 calories divided by 5-6 times a week is at least 700 calories burned each day you work out. If you subtract that 700 from the 1300 you're eating, that's only a net calories of 600. That's half of what your body needs just to run your organs.

If your body goes into starvation mode, it'll hold on to every thing you eat, which can cause you to gain weight and fat.

I would suggest eating back at least the majority of the calories you burn, to make sure your body's getting what it needs, and will be more likely to let go of that extra fat.

dncr8707

so should i eat an extra 600-700 more calories a day? i'm just so scared of it going up!

briblue72

I think you should try eating about 400-500 more and see what happens after a couple weeks. I started this website trying to save as many calories as I could every day. I saw results, but when i started really eating all of my calories - even the ones gained from exercise, I started losing 3-4 lbs/week! Try it!

Eliyan

Yeah, you don't need to eat them all, but try to eat most of them. Days you don't work out, 1300 would be fine, but if you're burning off 700, you need a lot more than that.

Try adding some almonds, which are healthy and full of protein, but should help get your calories up. Just look for healthy snacks that won't make you feel like you're eating too much, but will help your body get what it needs.

Your weight may go up by a couple lbs at the beginning, but what can you lose if it's going up anyway? If you ignore it and consistently give your body what it needs for a little while, it will realize it doesn't need to hold onto everything anymore and it should start dropping off.

banks1850

so should i eat an extra 600-700 more calories a day? i'm just so scared of it going up!

what are your numbers?

height, weight, age, activity level (besides working out what do you do daily, job, sports...etc)

We can tell you right away without a doubt whether you are eating too few calories if you give us those numbers.

Also, how did you find your body fat. If you used 2 different methods, throw them out, because different techniques have different margins for error. I.E. calipers could have a 3% and a body fat % scale could have a 7%.

But, if you ARE eating too few calories, I can totally see body fat % going up, because your body is feeding on lean tissue instead of fat (muscle, organs, skin...etc).

dncr8707

well i'm 6 feet i weigh 157 and 21 years old. I am a hairdresser and work 5-6 days a week. Im also a dancer and dance one a week and teach once a week. I dont mind my weight i'm more concerned of my fat %. I go to the gym and get it done. The have me stand on thins scale thing and it gives me a paper readout with a whole bunch of info on it. Thanks for everyones help, I just dont know what to do and am so scared of putting on more.

yoginimary

Those scales are crap. The amount of water in your body effects the read-outs. If you want to keep track of your body fat, measure your waist. If your waist goes down, you are successful - IMHO.

A note on the scales. I foolishly bought one (and wisely returned it). I entered height info, got on scale - got body fat reading. I entered new height info, go on scale (seconds later), got different fat reading. If the stupid things worked, my height shouldn't matter! If I wanted a height and weight chart, I would use BMI!

Hope this makes you feel better.

NurseBarb

You might try getting a metabolic assesment. I"m getting one tomorrow and it tells you exactly where you should be calorie wise to either lose, mantain or stay out of starvation mode. You may have to call around to find where you can get it done. I'm getting it done at my college. You might try a local college if you have one or maybe a gym or some type of wellness center.

banks1850

yeah, your maintenance calories is somewhere around 2300. That's without exercise. You should be eating atleast 1700 to 2000 calories IF YOUR NOT EXERCISING. If you exercise for say 800 calories in a day, on that day you should be eating somewhere around 2500 to 2800 calories.

Most people agree that 1000 calories less then your maintenance is about the max you should do, but if you don't want to lose weight, and just want to change your body type, you should be feeding your muscles. I would make a relatively large wager on the fact that your body is storing fat because it thinks it's not getting enough energy. If you slowly boost your calories, say by about 100/day extra for a week, then 100/day extra more then that for the next week...etc you will start reducing your body fat and gaining muscle within a month or so. Just be aware, your weight might go up slightly with the gain of muscle, that's ok though, you will be healthier, and your body will have more tone.

I know this sounds counter intuitive, but I assure you, it's the straight facts about a healthy body. You need to feed your body to help it build muscle, also, if your interested in muscle (by default losing body fat means gaining muscle if you just want to maintain weight) 10 to 20 extra grams of protein wouldn't hurt either, on days you are working out.