Why you gain weight if you eat more than your cut
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I need encouragement! I have been on the low cal high exercise wagon for a very long time. I have had it. I started a metabolism reset two months ago, no calorie counting. I just started to use MFP again and found your site. I have gained probably 10 maybe 15 pounds since I stopped dieting. I am still working out a lot because it's what brings me joy. I run marathons and do roller derby and I love it. I'm sick of this extra weight now and I don't know what to do. I'm scared that this weight gain is permanent. But, I didn't do this metabolism reset in order to go back to starvation and pushing myself through 12 mile runs with not enough fuel in the tank. Can you help me? I'm lost.0
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I need encouragement! I have been on the low cal high exercise wagon for a very long time. I have had it. I started a metabolism reset two months ago, no calorie counting. I just started to use MFP again and found your site. I have gained probably 10 maybe 15 pounds since I stopped dieting. I am still working out a lot because it's what brings me joy. I run marathons and do roller derby and I love it. I'm sick of this extra weight now and I don't know what to do. I'm scared that this weight gain is permanent. But, I didn't do this metabolism reset in order to go back to starvation and pushing myself through 12 mile runs with not enough fuel in the tank. Can you help me? I'm lost.
I'm sorry you're feeling stressed. What you're experiencing has nothing to do with glycogen specifically and it's a very different situation from the one I've outlined in this post.
What you need to do is go through all the stickies and read what to expect for your reset. This is a long process and no one can tell you how much weight you might gain doing it. The point, though, us you can't really have a healthy metabolism without going through it.
Did you increase to your supposed TDEE all at once or was it a gradual increase?0 -
I need encouragement! I have been on the low cal high exercise wagon for a very long time. I have had it. I started a metabolism reset two months ago, no calorie counting. I just started to use MFP again and found your site. I have gained probably 10 maybe 15 pounds since I stopped dieting. I am still working out a lot because it's what brings me joy. I run marathons and do roller derby and I love it. I'm sick of this extra weight now and I don't know what to do. I'm scared that this weight gain is permanent. But, I didn't do this metabolism reset in order to go back to starvation and pushing myself through 12 mile runs with not enough fuel in the tank. Can you help me? I'm lost.
Suggestion, log what you eat right now with no changes, for at least a week. Don't let the logging influence changing what you eat.
If you have been basically maintaining your weight, then you are eating at maintenance, right, otherwise called your TDEE. Rarely does someone have the opportunity to nail this figure so easily.
See what 15-20% of that would be. So if eating around 2300 on average, that would be 345-460 calories.
Find 345 calories in your daily foods to remove, don't change anything else that changes calories lower than that.
See what MFP says your BMR is with current weight.
That TDEE divided by that BMR is your activity factor for whatever your current level of activity is. If you are likely to keep it around that same level going forward, you'll need that activity factor after you lose 10 lbs.
New weight, new BMR x your activity factor = new TDEE.
Same 15% off, eat at that level now.
Repeat.0 -
Thanks so much for your response.
I am not maintaining my weight, I'm gaining. You're right though that I wasn't logging while I was trying to reset my metabolism. I just started logging again last week and I did all the math to figure out my TDEE and my BMR at my current weight and I set a calorie goal that is 15% off my TDEE. The problem is that just by logging I can tell I'm cutting. Even now I know I should eat more because I'm WAY under my calorie goal and I had a strenuous cardio workout this morning and I had 2.5 hours of roller derby practice tonight but I don't want to eat anything else. I just wanna go to bed. I'm just worried that I'm going to keep gaining weight....sorry to hijack this post. I'll look for another post to maybe thread this under. Or maybe you could suggest one.0 -
Okay I have a question. I got to my goal weight of 120 and thought I looked good and felt comfortable with my body. So then I lost about five more pounds to make room for glycogen restoration putting me at 115. But I like how I look at 115 more so than at 120. So to maintain how I look now at 115 will I need to lose five more pounds before moving to maintenance? Will the return of glycogen make a five pound difference in how I look or will it just change the scale but not my measurements/look?0
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Okay I have a question. I got to my goal weight of 120 and thought I looked good and felt comfortable with my body. So then I lost about five more pounds to make room for glycogen restoration putting me at 115. But I like how I look at 115 more so than at 120. So to maintain how I look now at 115 will I need to lose five more pounds before moving to maintenance? Will the return of glycogen make a five pound difference in how I look or will it just change the scale but not my measurements/look?
Depends on what muscles you use the most that the body wants to put it in. At least very rarely is that the stomach or back.
Unless you do those tons of situps at one time - that's endurance for that muscle.
So as muscle swells with water stored with glucose, something will get bigger. But unless you have a lot of fat over that muscle, losing more fat or weight won't stop that effect no matter when you do it.0 -
So basically I need to just accept that how I look while on a deficit is not going to be how I look while eating at maintenance regardless of how much I weigh?0
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So basically I need to just accept that how I look while on a deficit is not going to be how I look while eating at maintenance regardless of how much I weigh?
Somewhere. But it may not even be where you care or is noticeable. Won't know until you stop losing and eat at maintenance.0 -
Got it! Thanks! I think I am going to continue at a -250/day deficit (I have a Fitbit that is fairly accurate for me) until the new year and then begin maintenance. My weightloss has been sporadic anyway since I am in a healthy range and am too lazy to weigh. Thanks again for helping me understand this better!
eta... Weigh my food that is....0 -
BUMP0
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Bump for later ... Thanks !0
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This is great information. Can anyone suggest posts on how to accurately figure out my Maintance calorie number?0
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This is great information. Can anyone suggest posts on how to accurately figure out my Maintance calorie number?
Easiest is from what has happened to your body already, if you are pretty sure you haven't been eating at a big deficit already impacting your metabolism to be slower than possible.
Last thing you want to do is drive a slower metabolism right in to the ground.
But take a month where you were already doing a normal exercise and daily life routine you pretty much will continue with, but you did not introduce any new exercise (false water weight gain then).
Have valid weigh-in days, morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels, not sore from last workout.
Have a month where you didn't skip days or meal logging entirely, or go back and estimate as best you can.
2 meals rough estimate out of month isn't bad. 4 meals weekly out of a month really rough estimate is bad stats then. Several skipped meals because you binged or lost track, bad stats.
The worse your stats, the longer the time needs to be to lose the bad stats in the noise of more accurate stats.
Pounds lost in that month.
x 3500 (assuming all fat here, if undereating some was likely muscle mass and math won't work right, hence no steep deficit).
Total calorie deficit / days between weigh-ins (28?) = average daily deficit that must have been there to cause that weight loss.
Now for same days between those weigh-in's - what was amount eaten daily, not NET, gross or total eaten daily / days between weigh-ins (28?) = average daily eaten.
Average daily eaten + average daily deficit = average TDEE for whatever routine and daily life you had in there at that weight.
Take that TDEE / BMR for the average weight you were then = your personal activity factor for whatever you did.
Now as weight drops, BMR will drop (if using Mifflin which is fine) x your activity factor if your routine stays the same = new TDEE.
Take your deficit again.0 -
To read later0
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thanks!0
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Bump0
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bump for later0
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just joined and have just started my weight loss journey. I have a calorie start of 1,200 a day. 150 carbs, 40 fat and 60 protein. Any suggestions for how to start? Please message me. Also need some friends to make this easier
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just joined and have just started my weight loss journey. I have a calorie start of 1,200 a day. 150 carbs, 40 fat and 60 protein. Any suggestions for how to start? Please message me. Also need some friends to make this easier
Yes - read the stickies (like this topic, always at top) for this group.
Then stop eating minimal amount possible (which if short and sedentary could be reasonable too, but doubtful) and instead select a reasonable weight loss goal.
How much do you have to lose to get to healthy weight?
How much exercise do you do, and what type?
That increases what you burn each day, meaning you can eat more, and may adhere better.
Resistance training is only thing that will retain muscle mass too - you'll want that now and later, unless of course weight loss is so fun you want to repeat it through your life.0 -
Bump for later. Thanks for this great info!0
