Weight gain and confused why. Please explain.

mnmoon
mnmoon Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It has never been a struggle for me to lose or maintain my weight until this past year. I am 5'8 and weigh 143. I like to be around 130. I have recently started working out again and eating much healthier. Yesterday I consumed 600 calories and was totally full. I ate a granola bar for breakfast, egg whites and salsa for lunch and dinner and a cup of popcorn for a snack. I worked out for almost an hour and half combining cardio and weightlifting. I somehow went from 141 to 143. I do not understand why. Now 600 calories I know is not a lot, I was not aiming for that little but I was honestly full and not hungry at all. I have been active in sports my entire life. I do not know if my age is startin to catch me or what. I am 26 with a 2 year old. Can someone please advise me
On what I am doing wrong and how I can correct this. I just want to lose about 10lbs and get my muscle tone and definition back. Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks so much!

Replies

  • Moxylein
    Moxylein Posts: 52
    Weight fluctuates up to 5lbs a day! It could be various reasons, hormons, salt, not having enough water...
    Just try to switch to a healthy lifestyle, have a lot of protein when you want to built up muscles nad stick to it. It takes up to weeks for your body to truly show changes in diet, so be patient.
  • teez52
    teez52 Posts: 104 Member
    Please tell me you are joking...You ate 600 calories and then you worked out on top of barely eating anything? 600 calories is not only "not a lot" but it's not even close to enough! Here is the math for you:

    9.99*64.9(kg)+6.25*172.7(cm)-4.29*26-161=1455.19 - This is your BMR
    1455.19*1.2 =1746.22 - This is your TDEE

    1746.22*.8=1396.98 - This is your calorie goal for a 20% calorie deficit, easy to figure out 15% and 10% if you so choose.

    If you eat below your TDEE you will lose weight. I know this sounds like the opposite advice, but you need to eat more. I would shoot for around 1400-1500 calories a day, that will be "healthy weightloss".

    Also you need to not be concerned with day to day weightloss/weight gain because I've seen mine fluctuate 5lbs in a day. It's all based on how much water you drank the day before (more is better) and how much salt you ate the day before (can cause water retention). Track your weight week to week, not day to day. Feel free to weigh yourself every day, but make sure your "official weigh in" is at the same time (preferably in the morning after using the bathroom) on the same day of the week. That will be more of a telling factor for you.

    If you are new to lifting weights, expect your weight to not drop as much as you would like because you will be building muscle during the first few months due to noob gains.
  • lillypadstudio
    lillypadstudio Posts: 31 Member
    Hi there, Im not an expert but i do agree with the guy/ girl who posted about more water and lifting weight. I have also heard that food is like a fire in your body. If yo do not consume enough calories with working out, your internal fire dies and then your body goes into feast/famine mode. Your body will hold onto fat and eat up your muscle. Be careful that you dont jack up your metabolism. At 5'8 143 I bet you look fabulous. Sometimes it isnt about weight but how you feel in your clothes. God bless your fitness journey.
  • teez52
    teez52 Posts: 104 Member
    Hi there, Im not an expert but i do agree with the guy/ girl who posted about more water and lifting weight. I have also heard that food is like a fire in your body. If yo do not consume enough calories with working out, your internal fire dies and then your body goes into feast/famine mode. Your body will hold onto fat and eat up your muscle. Be careful that you dont jack up your metabolism. At 5'8 143 I bet you look fabulous. Sometimes it isnt about weight but how you feel in your clothes. God bless your fitness journey.

    It is very doubtful that she is into "Starvation Mode", as that is actually VERY VERY VERY difficult to reach. Check out this study they did on some military guys to see when the body would actually go into "Starvation Mode". I know that the popular opinion is that if you don't eat enough for one day that you'll hit this magical point where your body will just shut down and start storing fat like the end of the world is coming, but that doesn't seem to be the case the more I read about it.

    http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/

    It's actually a pretty quick read and there's a TON of good information int here. Enjoy!
  • mnmoon
    mnmoon Posts: 22 Member
    Thank you all for the advice. I will put it to use. I am not quite sure I understand the bmr but I will research it. The 600 calories I ate was not to starve myself or do some crazy crash diet.. I honestly felt full at that point. I
    Going to try to weigh weekly instead of daily. That will probably help with my frustration considering I'm working my butt off!! Thanks for all the input.
  • DLKeeble
    DLKeeble Posts: 200 Member
    Bump for the starvation link
  • teez52
    teez52 Posts: 104 Member
    Thank you all for the advice. I will put it to use. I am not quite sure I understand the bmr but I will research it. The 600 calories I ate was not to starve myself or do some crazy crash diet.. I honestly felt full at that point. I
    Going to try to weigh weekly instead of daily. That will probably help with my frustration considering I'm working my butt off!! Thanks for all the input.

    That's fine if you felt full, I can get that. Some days I don't really feel like eating dinner, but as a guy at 219, I know my body will not enjoy trying to run on 1000-1200 calories when I work out and coach football after work so I make sure to eat dinner.

    Your BMR is your Base Metabolic Rate which is what your body would use if you literally did nothing all day (i.e. no movements at all), your TDEE is the amount of kcal your body uses to get through your daily activities, I multiplied your BMR by 1.2 since that's the lowest activity factor you can use, however as you research you may up it to 1.3 or 1.4 depending on your job and how often you exercise. Obviously those are the simplified forms of the real definitions so feel free to research.

    Knowledge is power in this and until I understood that there was math and science behind weightloss it never really worked out for me. As I researched more deeply into it and actually saw the math, that's when it all clicked for me since that's how my mind usually works.

    The equation I used was the Mifflin-St. Jeor formula so you can look into that as well. There are others out there which are more accurate, but for most people that one will get you close enough to lose weight.

    There are a TON of studies out there that have proven that you have to eat to lose weight so even if you have to eat a bunch of small meals through the day to get to your calorie goal, then that's what it takes. If you get close say 1100-1200 calories and you can't eat anymore, then that's that. But your body needs quite a bit more than 600 calories a day to function properly (as the math shows above). There are also a TON of studies out there that refute the "nutrient timing is SO important" that you'll read about as you get deeper into the subject so just remember that too.
  • mnmoon
    mnmoon Posts: 22 Member
    Thank you all for the advice. I will put it to use. I am not quite sure I understand the bmr but I will research it. The 600 calories I ate was not to starve myself or do some crazy crash diet.. I honestly felt full at that point. I
    Going to try to weigh weekly instead of daily. That will probably help with my frustration considering I'm working my butt off!! Thanks for all the input.

    That's fine if you felt full, I can get that. Some days I don't really feel like eating dinner, but as a guy at 219, I know my body will not enjoy trying to run on 1000-1200 calories when I work out and coach football after work so I make sure to eat dinner.

    Your BMR is your Base Metabolic Rate which is what your body would use if you literally did nothing all day (i.e. no movements at all), your TDEE is the amount of kcal your body uses to get through your daily activities, I multiplied your BMR by 1.2 since that's the lowest activity factor you can use, however as you research you may up it to 1.3 or 1.4 depending on your job and how often you exercise. Obviously those are the simplified forms of the real definitions so feel free to research.

    Knowledge is power in this and until I understood that there was math and science behind weightloss it never really worked out for me. As I researched more deeply into it and actually saw the math, that's when it all clicked for me since that's how my mind usually works.

    The equation I used was the Mifflin-St. Jeor formula so you can look into that as well. There are others out there which are more accurate, but for most people that one will get you close enough to lose weight.

    There are a TON of studies out there that have proven that you have to eat to lose weight so even if you have to eat a bunch of small meals through the day to get to your calorie goal, then that's what it takes. If you get close say 1100-1200 calories and you can't eat anymore, then that's that. But your body needs quite a bit more than 600 calories a day to function properly (as the math shows above). There are also a TON of studies out there that refute the "nutrient timing is SO important" that you'll read about as you get deeper into the subject so just remember that too.

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