Should I be gaining weight when I start dieting?

Claire00175

I am slightly confused. I am doing a lot of exercise and I am eating just about my daily calorie allowance ( always under not over) and eating some of my exercise calories too but I seemed to have gained about 1.5lbs in a week!! Is it normal for my body to gain a little weight before I loose any?

Am I doing this right? Any help would be appreciated!

ChristinaR720

Without seeing what you're eating, it's difficult to really figure out what is going on, but there are a few things to consider:

1. If you are not using measuring cups, spoons, and a food scale, you may be underestimating how much you are actually eating.
2. When you start exercising (or change up your routine), there is always a possibility that you will retain water, as your body uses the water to help heal your muscles.
3. Your sodium intake may be too high. Sodium contributes to water retention, which will cause you to gain weight temporarily. If this is the case, you should try to decrease your sodium intake and increase your water intake. NOTE: Many processed foods, deli meats, frozen dinners (Lean Cuisines, etc.), and restaurant foods contain loads of sodium.

Andrea_Alexis_1980

You could be gaining muscle that weighs more then fat , that's exactly what happened to me good luck

cburky911

Just one week may be too early to really tell. 1.5 lbs could be the result of gaining more weight in muscle than you've lost in fat, It could be just the natural fluctuation of your weight. It could be the clothes you were wearing when you weighed yourself each time. It could be a combination of several things.

If you weigh yourself once a week I would encourage you to weigh in the same time of day (I usually weigh in first thing in the morning on Sunday) wearing the same basic clothes and prior ot having eaten breakfast. This way you can remove some of those variables and have a more accurate picture over the long term.

lindenanne

Agree with Christina. And, depending on your age, that could play a factor as well. I added several tabs to my Food Diary, which in turn, made me give up Light Yogurt because of how much sugar it has! I am almost 49, 6 feet tall and weigh 164, which is the heaviest I've ever been in my life - for the past 4 years I've been trying to get back to about 158 and can only seem to lose about 2 lbs. and then I gain it back...but I'm maintaining my weight - and I go to the gym religiously 4 times a week. What has been working for me lately is more functional training - doing 2 work outs at once - for example, lunges with a band while doing shoulder push ups. I also started taking a supplement - C LA - did lots of research and oddly enough, started taking it on Thursday and have lost almost a half pound by Sunday. Combine lifting weights and cardio

JesterMFP

The most likely explanation is that you are retaining water from starting a new exercise programme (or increasing intensity). Your muscles are holding onto water as they repair themselves. This is noting to worry about and will go away (but probably come and go as you increase intensity etc).

Assuming you have cut calories from what you were eating before, you have probably lost some fat, but this loss is being masked on the scale by the water retention. Just keep at it, and you should see a loss soon.

Just to give some perspective... the number of calories you would need to eat to maintain your weight is called your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). The goal MFP has given you is less than that (to allow you to lose weight) - maybe 500 or 1000 calories less, depending on how much you said you want to lose a week. 1 lb of fat equates to approx. 3,500 calories. Therefore, to have gained 1.5 lbs of fat over the week, you would need to have eaten over your goal, all the way up to your TDEE, and then an additional (approx) 5,250 calories. I'm thinking that's not what happened.

In the meantime, make sure you are weighing/measuring/logging all your food intake accurately.

Exercise calories are there to be eaten (otherwise your calorie deficit may be too large). If you are using the MFP database to estimate calorie burn, it makes sense to eat maybe two thirds of them back, as the database can be inaccurate for some people. According to your ticker, you have quite a bit to lose, so you could get away with not eating all your exercise calories for a while, as you currently have the fat stores to support a larger deficit. Long-term though, it's better to have a smaller calorie deficit to avoid losing too much lean mass, and to avoid stalling.

mmapags

You could be gaining muscle that weighs more then fat , that's exactly what happened to me good luck

If the best possible estimate for a woman to gain muscle is about 1/2 lb to 1 lb per month, and that is while doing weight training and eating in a calorie surplus, please do explain how what you are suggesting could be humanly possible in one week at a calorie deficit? the physiology would say it would be pretty much humanly impossible.

OP, you are retaining water from starting an exercise program.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

You could be gaining muscle that weighs more then fat , that's exactly what happened to me good luck

LOL! C'mon now, don't troll poor OP. Or if you're not trolling, what kind of stack are you cycling?

Claire00175

Thanks for all your advice. Hopefully it will be water weight, fingers crossed!

I will certainly keep an eye on my sodium levels so thanks for the tip!

kellyscomeback

You could be gaining muscle that weighs more then fat , that's exactly what happened to me good luck

Muscle does not weight more tha fat, a pound is a pound. A pound of apples weighs the same as a pound of cotton balls.
Muscle does take up less room compared to fat.

Claire00175, you are retaining water in your muscles, which is completely normal. When you start working out for the first time, or start a new program your muscles are being worked in new ways. To repair and grow they hold onto water. You can retain water for the first 4 weeks.

For example, when I started Insanity I gained 4 lbs during the first month BUT I lost 1 pant size, 3 inches and 4% body fat. So the scale does lie.

Just hide the scale for the first month.

Claire00175

Thanks for all your advice. Hopefully it will be water weight, fingers crossed!

I will certainly keep an eye on my sodium levels so thanks for the tip!

Claire00175

Great idea about the scales, think if I see increase on them it is just going to demotivate me. Scales are well and truly hidden!