Exercising but gaining weight and getting bigger! HELP!

purplishryn
purplishryn Posts: 6
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I am 5'6" and was 154lbs. I wanted to lose around 44lbs. After about a year I finally lost 28lbs without any exercise. I realized I couldn't lose anymore if I only watch out the food I eat. So I started go to the gym for about a month now. I roughly going for 4 - 5 times a week. I mostly take classes like RPM, body pump, and yoga 3 times a week, time varies. I notice my weight was gaining. I did some research and since there's a probability of muscle weight I still continue doing what I do.

But this week is entirely different! I feel I get bigger. I did some measurement even, and yes, my arms and thigh are getting bigger and from how both look, it's definitely not muscle. I also gain 5 lbs! I don't change my eating habits. I eat proteins a lot more than I eat carb. I don't eat a lot of sugary intake, since I'm not a big fan of sweet anyway.

What's happening with me???

Replies

  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    1. You're overestimating the amount of calories you burn from exercise.
    2. You're underestimating the amount of calories you're consuming.

    Buy a quality heart rate monitor to track calories burned during exercise.

    Buy a digital food scale and measure everything that goes into your mouth. You'll be shocked.

    Log everything that you eat, drink, and use to cook with (butter, oils, etc.)

    Double check your settings. Do not include dedicated workouts in your Activity/Lifestyle setting. Log those using the Exercise tab. Eat back your extra earned calories.

    Do not eat less than 1,200 NET calories.
  • Kelley528
    Kelley528 Posts: 319 Member
    I was worried about this happening to me when I start to up my exercise to maintain weight.

    How do your clothes fit? Are they tighter? If not, dont worry about gaining 5 lbs. You may gain a few lbs in the beginning until your body gets used to a new routine. Did you completely stop watching what you eat? Just because you are exercising doesnt mean you can eat whatever you want. If you are still paying attention to what you are eating while you are exercising I think its normal for your body to adjust. I plan on losing 5 extra pounds past my goal weight to account for the probale weight gain once I adjust my food intake and fitness routine once I reach maintenance time.

    Were you undereating in order to lose weight? Are you still undereating and exercising now? If so, your body could be in starvation mode. If you added all this exercise you need to be eating more calories than you were while you were dieting.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    At 5'6" and 154 pounds losing 44 pounds would have put you into an unhealthy weight range at 110 pounds, so your body will definitely fight you all the way on trying to get that low.

    At 126pounds you're at a really healthy weight for your height, so again, your body isn't really going to want to lose much more than that. In order to lose those last few pounds you should be eating at a minimal deficit, somewhere around only a 250-300 calorie deficit per day and looking to lose maybe only .5lbs a week.

    So, make sure that you are tracking food as closely as possible, weigh and measure everything. Also make sure that you are tracking your exercise calories well so you aren't getting inflated burn totals. Then make sure that you are eating enough to fuel your body and your workouts.

    You will gain muscle, but not that much, that quickly, especially not as a woman. We just don't gain muscle like that without supplementing (and I don't mean protein shakes). I speak from experience that when you get in your healthy range and then add exercise without adding calories, you'll gain. I did the same exact thing to myself and had to learn from my own mistake.

    So my advice is to:
    1. Track everything as closely as possible
    2. Reduce your daily deficit to about 250 cal
    3. Don't try to go much below 120-125 for your height, weight-wise
    4. Once you hit that weight, work on strength training to reduce body fat - focus on tape measures from here out and ignore the scale.
  • SJCon
    SJCon Posts: 224
    If you keep your exercise low intensity eg. HR at 60-65% you will burn more fat than carbohydrates. This should also build the minimum of lean mass during that process.

    here is a link to an article on a feature of some of the polar HRM about a research study.

    http://www.howtobefit.com/polar-owncal-feature.htm
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    -There's NO way you've gained 5 lbs of muscle in a month
    -My guess is you need to reevaluate your diet.
  • purplishryn
    purplishryn Posts: 6
    It's true that I don't use heart rate monitor and so on. When I put in my calorie intake in the diary I actually always pick the biggest calorie possible from the food I eat but choosing the lowest calorie burn possible from my exercises. But may be I need to watch even more..... Thank you for your advice!
  • purplishryn
    purplishryn Posts: 6
    I was worried about this happening to me when I start to up my exercise to maintain weight.

    How do your clothes fit? Are they tighter? If not, dont worry about gaining 5 lbs. You may gain a few lbs in the beginning until your body gets used to a new routine. Did you completely stop watching what you eat? Just because you are exercising doesnt mean you can eat whatever you want. If you are still paying attention to what you are eating while you are exercising I think its normal for your body to adjust. I plan on losing 5 extra pounds past my goal weight to account for the probale weight gain once I adjust my food intake and fitness routine once I reach maintenance time.

    Were you undereating in order to lose weight? Are you still undereating and exercising now? If so, your body could be in starvation mode. If you added all this exercise you need to be eating more calories than you were while you were dieting.

    Yes, my clothes are tighter....... That's why I kinda freak out.... Actually I also quite happy with my weight before I went to the gym. I was intended to lose a just a few more, like you said, to account probable weight gain. But instead I gain more before I can lose any :(

    I think I,m not undereating since I don't feel starving. But my calorie intake was usually always lower than what the diary say I can take each day... Roughly about 500 calories each day. Is it undereating? What exactly is starvation mode?
  • purplishryn
    purplishryn Posts: 6
    -There's NO way you've gained 5 lbs of muscle in a month
    -My guess is you need to reevaluate your diet.

    Yes, I know that... I know it can't be muscle so the fact that I'm gaining is freaking me out...
  • purplishryn
    purplishryn Posts: 6
    At 5'6" and 154 pounds losing 44 pounds would have put you into an unhealthy weight range at 110 pounds, so your body will definitely fight you all the way on trying to get that low.

    At 126pounds you're at a really healthy weight for your height, so again, your body isn't really going to want to lose much more than that. In order to lose those last few pounds you should be eating at a minimal deficit, somewhere around only a 250-300 calorie deficit per day and looking to lose maybe only .5lbs a week.

    So, make sure that you are tracking food as closely as possible, weigh and measure everything. Also make sure that you are tracking your exercise calories well so you aren't getting inflated burn totals. Then make sure that you are eating enough to fuel your body and your workouts.

    You will gain muscle, but not that much, that quickly, especially not as a woman. We just don't gain muscle like that without supplementing (and I don't mean protein shakes). I speak from experience that when you get in your healthy range and then add exercise without adding calories, you'll gain. I did the same exact thing to myself and had to learn from my own mistake.

    So my advice is to:
    1. Track everything as closely as possible
    2. Reduce your daily deficit to about 250 cal
    3. Don't try to go much below 120-125 for your height, weight-wise
    4. Once you hit that weight, work on strength training to reduce body fat - focus on tape measures from here out and ignore the scale.

    Are you saying I should concentrate more on calorie burn exercise for now, to lose weight first?
    And about the 250-300 cal deficit per day, do you mean I should eat no more than 250 or I should reduce 250 more than I normally eat?
  • herrytews
    herrytews Posts: 38
    With me, when I exercise it makes me far more hungry afterwards (I have tracked this fairly accurately). The other day I did 1000 calories of exercising but I was far more hungry the next day. I just thought I would point that out.
  • leomom72
    leomom72 Posts: 1,797 Member
    why do you want to weight 110 @ 5'6'' ?? thats under weight..buy a hrm and measure your foods
  • nixirain
    nixirain Posts: 448 Member
    I was worried about this happening to me when I start to up my exercise to maintain weight.

    How do your clothes fit? Are they tighter? If not, dont worry about gaining 5 lbs. You may gain a few lbs in the beginning until your body gets used to a new routine. Did you completely stop watching what you eat? Just because you are exercising doesnt mean you can eat whatever you want. If you are still paying attention to what you are eating while you are exercising I think its normal for your body to adjust. I plan on losing 5 extra pounds past my goal weight to account for the probale weight gain once I adjust my food intake and fitness routine once I reach maintenance time.

    Were you undereating in order to lose weight? Are you still undereating and exercising now? If so, your body could be in starvation mode. If you added all this exercise you need to be eating more calories than you were while you were dieting.

    Yes, my clothes are tighter....... That's why I kinda freak out.... Actually I also quite happy with my weight before I went to the gym. I was intended to lose a just a few more, like you said, to account probable weight gain. But instead I gain more before I can lose any :(

    I think I,m not undereating since I don't feel starving. But my calorie intake was usually always lower than what the diary say I can take each day... Roughly about 500 calories each day. Is it undereating? What exactly is starvation mode?

    Wait, you are eating 500 calories a day or you have a deficit of 500 caloires? 500 calories a day is probably about how much a new born should be eating and yes you probably are in starvation mode.

    go here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    follow these instructions, rinse and repeat.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    Are you saying I should concentrate more on calorie burn exercise for now, to lose weight first?
    And about the 250-300 cal deficit per day, do you mean I should eat no more than 250 or I should reduce 250 more than I normally eat?

    I’m saying that you should focus on strength training and forget about the scale. Right now you are already at 126-131 pounds which is really healthy weight for someone that is 5’6”. That means your body is going to be resistant to weight loss. But you can focus on your body composition. Meaning do minimal cardio and focus on the strength aspect of your workout. At this point you should be looking at dropping body fat and strengthening your lean muscle mass. You may end up skinnier at 135 pounds than you were at 126, meaning that your clothes and the tape measure are what you should be looking at when focusing on strength. You don’t need to lose any more weight at this point.

    When I say a 250 calorie deficit, that means to go into the MFP settings and change it so that it ups your calories and you are only eating about 250 calories less than what you burn in a day. So if your TDEE (how many calories you burn in a day) is 2000 calories, you should be eating 1750 calories. If you then exercise and burn another 500 calories off, eat about 400 of those (to allow for margin of error of HRM and calories counted). So on those days you would be eating 2150 calories.
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