Why did I gain weight?

tomato915

So from March 30th, I've been to the gym 4 times and ran 2 times when I didn't go to the gym that day. I haven't been eating as much and I stopped eating junk food. But why did I gain 2 lbs?

feistymoon

Have you been logging what you eat? If you open up your diary we can take a look and offer suggestions?

JessHealthKick

It has been a week, your body is adjusting. Please please be patient. I didn't see any loss for 2 months!

Be sure you are logging correctly though, don't forget what you drink counts as well! Open your diary if you want advice

twelfty

so.... i make that 9 days, i'd say water weight, maybe even muscle growth or a combination of the two, keep at it, make sure your calories are right for your activity level and eat back what you burn, do this for the next............ month then weigh again and you'll see results

TavistockToad

you exercised 6 times, your muscles are probably sore and retaining water

liesevanlingen

You could be retaining fluid if you're not drinking enough, or eating really high-sodium food, or if TOM is around the corner--2 lbs isn't exactly a massive amount. One thing, make sure you weigh yourself at the same time of day (early morning after you've been to the bathroom is best) and wearing the same clothes (or nothing at all).

lmpowell21fla

Praise the Lord for your comment. I didn't lose until after 2 months either and really wanted to give up there for awhile. But now I'm seeing results and am encouraged to keep on losing.

AnneU93

Are you new to MFP, many new people only eat 1200 calories and also exercise a lot and they don't lose because the body react well to basiccally not eating since you can burn of those 1200 calories fairly easy when you are a runner. eating 1200 calories and then burning 1200 calories in exercising = not haven eaten the entire day, therefore, making the body think it is starving which means the body will hold on to everything.

If you are not one of these beginners and you eat properly according to your height weight, activity level and exercise and you just started exercising, it is most probably water weight which means your body is holding onto water to not dehydrate and this will pass on its own when the body gets used to the exercise, A little tip is to drink more water, drinking more water can help the body to let go of the water.

1tiamat

It's kindof the same thing I've been going through. My weight moves up and down about 2 lbs give or take during the day. It is advisable to measure your progress in other things too. I know the weight bugs you like it does me, but when you are just starting don't expect a ton of change right away. It will come with hard work and a little dedication.

Best of luck to you!

salsera_barbie

It's only been 8 days. Be patient.

tomato915

Thank you so much for the replies! I appreciate it.

Are you new to MFP, many new people only eat 1200 calories and also exercise a lot and they don't lose because the body react well to basiccally not eating since you can burn of those 1200 calories fairly easy when you are a runner. eating 1200 calories and then burning 1200 calories in exercising = not haven eaten the entire day, therefore, making the body think it is starving which means the body will hold on to everything.

If you are not one of these beginners and you eat properly according to your height weight, activity level and exercise and you just started exercising, it is most probably water weight which means your body is holding onto water to not dehydrate and this will pass on its own when the body gets used to the exercise, A little tip is to drink more water, drinking more water can help the body to let go of the water.

Yes, I am new. I just registered last night. I tried the diary today, and it says I ate less than 1200 calories. I havent been eating much for the past few months. I use to eat rice in every meal (I'm asian) and I don't anymore. I think my body got used to eating less than 1200 calories a day? I don't really feel like starving myself because I don't feel hungry. I eat before and after the gym tho, and eat bananas when I feel like munching on something.

Does it have to be 1200 calories everyday? I'm a short person... I think I'm around 4'9" or 4'10" and I'm 120lbs now. Or it doesn't matter?

holothuroidea

It's hard to say where that 2lbs came from without seeing your diary, but it's probably not fat. It could be water retention from eating a really salty dinner or drinking alcohol the night before, starting new exercise or from hormonal reasons related to your menstrual cycle. It might even be that you just need to spend some quality time in the bathroom. Make sure you weigh yourself at the same time of day, in the morning after using the bathroom is the best time.

Because you are petite, MFP is going to grossly underestimate the calories you need. Many of us do TDEE-20 or 15% according to the advice in this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0

I put your stats into this BMI calculator,

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

At your activity level (moderately active based on what you described), you should be eating about 1700 calories per day to loose weight.

salsera_barbie

Thank you so much for the replies! I appreciate it.

Are you new to MFP, many new people only eat 1200 calories and also exercise a lot and they don't lose because the body react well to basiccally not eating since you can burn of those 1200 calories fairly easy when you are a runner. eating 1200 calories and then burning 1200 calories in exercising = not haven eaten the entire day, therefore, making the body think it is starving which means the body will hold on to everything.

If you are not one of these beginners and you eat properly according to your height weight, activity level and exercise and you just started exercising, it is most probably water weight which means your body is holding onto water to not dehydrate and this will pass on its own when the body gets used to the exercise, A little tip is to drink more water, drinking more water can help the body to let go of the water.

Yes, I am new. I just registered last night. I tried the diary today, and it says I ate less than 1200 calories. I havent been eating much for the past few months. I use to eat rice in every meal (I'm asian) and I don't anymore. I think my body got used to eating less than 1200 calories a day? I don't really feel like starving myself because I don't feel hungry. I eat before and after the gym tho, and eat bananas when I feel like munching on something.

Does it have to be 1200 calories everyday? I'm a short person... I think I'm around 4'9" or 4'10" and I'm 120lbs now. Or it doesn't matter?

I guess it depends on what you want to accomplish. 1200 calories is the minimum recommended amount. Are you asking if you be consuming less than 1200 calories because your not hungry?

At your current weight and height it doesn't seem like your overweight.

Shanel0916

Are getting enough sleep? Sometimes that can cause an issue with weightloss.

AnneU93

Thank you so much for the replies! I appreciate it.

Are you new to MFP, many new people only eat 1200 calories and also exercise a lot and they don't lose because the body react well to basiccally not eating since you can burn of those 1200 calories fairly easy when you are a runner. eating 1200 calories and then burning 1200 calories in exercising = not haven eaten the entire day, therefore, making the body think it is starving which means the body will hold on to everything.

If you are not one of these beginners and you eat properly according to your height weight, activity level and exercise and you just started exercising, it is most probably water weight which means your body is holding onto water to not dehydrate and this will pass on its own when the body gets used to the exercise, A little tip is to drink more water, drinking more water can help the body to let go of the water.

Yes, I am new. I just registered last night. I tried the diary today, and it says I ate less than 1200 calories. I havent been eating much for the past few months. I use to eat rice in every meal (I'm asian) and I don't anymore. I think my body got used to eating less than 1200 calories a day? I don't really feel like starving myself because I don't feel hungry. I eat before and after the gym tho, and eat bananas when I feel like munching on something.

Does it have to be 1200 calories everyday? I'm a short person... I think I'm around 4'9" or 4'10" and I'm 120lbs now. Or it doesn't matter?

Because you are new you should definitly read this post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

This everybody turns to when they have been doing this for half a year to a year and has been stalling on the scale for months, and when they start what this tells you -which everyone actually should have been doing from the beginning, they start losing or gain muscle or whatever they are trying to do starts working.

And I think you should read this one too, just to save you some downs and give you more ups:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521728-upping-cals-what-to-expect-why-you-need-patience

Haven just quickly done your BMR calculations (basal metabolic rate) which is the least amount of food you should eat, it comes out to 1342, this is what they would feed you at the hospital if you were lying in a coma (that is doing absolutely nothing.

Then if you were awake, but really not doing anything other than sitting only getting up to go to the bathroom or to make food you would be sedentary and you should eat at least 1610.

Now here is the rest of the list calculated with your age of 22, height of 4'9" and weight of 120


Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1610
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1845
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2080
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2315
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2550

This is what you should eat depending on activity level to stay the same weight, then you would eat in a deficit of these numbers to lose weight, but you should under no circustances eat under your BMR, because this is the energy that you body needs to keep you organs going and you hair and nails growing, and when the body doesn't get enough to eat it will start breaking down your muscle for energy and remember that the heart is pure muscle, and you pretty much need your heart right? Also eating you BMR 1342 and then exercising burning 300 calories and then not eating back those used calories means that you have only eaten 1042 calories so on the homepage of MFP you should keep an eye on the box that says goal, food, exercise and net, the "net" should always be at least 1342 :flowerforyou:

tomato915

Thank you so much for the replies! I appreciate it.

Are you new to MFP, many new people only eat 1200 calories and also exercise a lot and they don't lose because the body react well to basiccally not eating since you can burn of those 1200 calories fairly easy when you are a runner. eating 1200 calories and then burning 1200 calories in exercising = not haven eaten the entire day, therefore, making the body think it is starving which means the body will hold on to everything.

If you are not one of these beginners and you eat properly according to your height weight, activity level and exercise and you just started exercising, it is most probably water weight which means your body is holding onto water to not dehydrate and this will pass on its own when the body gets used to the exercise, A little tip is to drink more water, drinking more water can help the body to let go of the water.

Yes, I am new. I just registered last night. I tried the diary today, and it says I ate less than 1200 calories. I havent been eating much for the past few months. I use to eat rice in every meal (I'm asian) and I don't anymore. I think my body got used to eating less than 1200 calories a day? I don't really feel like starving myself because I don't feel hungry. I eat before and after the gym tho, and eat bananas when I feel like munching on something.

Does it have to be 1200 calories everyday? I'm a short person... I think I'm around 4'9" or 4'10" and I'm 120lbs now. Or it doesn't matter?

Because you are new you should definitly read this post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

This everybody turns to when they have been doing this for half a year to a year and has been stalling on the scale for months, and when they start what this tells you -which everyone actually should have been doing from the beginning, they start losing or gain muscle or whatever they are trying to do starts working.

And I think you should read this one too, just to save you some downs and give you more ups:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521728-upping-cals-what-to-expect-why-you-need-patience

Haven just quickly done your BMR calculations (basal metabolic rate) which is the least amount of food you should eat, it comes out to 1342, this is what they would feed you at the hospital if you were lying in a coma (that is doing absolutely nothing.

Then if you were awake, but really not doing anything other than sitting only getting up to go to the bathroom or to make food you would be sedentary and you should eat at least 1610.

Now here is the rest of the list calculated with your age of 22, height of 4'9" and weight of 120


Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1610
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1845
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2080
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2315
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2550

This is what you should eat depending on activity level to stay the same weight, then you would eat in a deficit of these numbers to lose weight, but you should under no circustances eat under your BMR, because this is the energy that you body needs to keep you organs going and you hair and nails growing, and when the body doesn't get enough to eat it will start breaking down your muscle for energy and remember that the heart is pure muscle, and you pretty much need your heart right? Also eating you BMR 1342 and then exercising burning 300 calories and then not eating back those used calories means that you have only eaten 1042 calories so on the homepage of MFP you should keep an eye on the box that says goal, food, exercise and net, the "net" should always be at least 1342 :flowerforyou:

Wow, this is very informative, thank you so much! I'll check out the links you posted.