Calorie deficit but still gaining weight

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stephenmayall
stephenmayall Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I've been dieting and exercising for the past 6 weeks or so now. Since the start I have lost weight, I started at 92kg and the week before last I hit 88kg, great! but then last week I weighed in at 88kg again, so hadn't lost any last week and now I've just weighed myself and I'm back at 89 nearly 90kg. I do seem to have lost around 3cm to my waist but i do find that hard to measure with any accuracy.

I burn at least 600 calories 5 times in the gym by doing high intensity (heart rate is often over 160) for 40-45 mins. I change my exercises each week.

I'm aiming for a calories deficit in food alone of around 500 per day so on a calories in/ out theory i have to be loosing weight. I'm 41 have lost weight in a similar way before, I haven't stopped drinking coffee and drink a fair bit and whilst I've limited alcohol I haven't stopped that either.

What am I doing wrong?
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Replies

  • Colbyandsage
    Colbyandsage Posts: 751 Member
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    What r your stats? Weight height?
  • Jenni129
    Jenni129 Posts: 692 Member
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    I would eliminate the alcohol. It can have some negative affects on your metabolism. Alcohol also has a lot of calories.
  • Leeann1979
    Leeann1979 Posts: 1,090 Member
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    Get your thyroid checked!! i had the same problems last year. I was playing tennis 3 hours a day, 5-6 days a week after being very lazy for years, and I didnt lose a pound, and tennis burns mega calories!!! I had a check up and told her my symptoms, and sure enough, i have an underactive thyroid, which has caused me to be tired more often, slower metabolism which makes weight loss difficult. I am in the same boat. I have been pretty good for the last month and a half and havent lost anything. I feel better and I have lost a couple inches, but the scale will not go down. So frustrating!!
  • stephenmayall
    stephenmayall Posts: 4
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    6ft, 89kg 93cm waist
  • stephenmayall
    stephenmayall Posts: 4
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    I'm kind of guessing this is where the answer may lie, although i am adding the alcohol into my diary.
  • anifani4
    anifani4 Posts: 457 Member
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    Your are fine. These little stalls and gains are all part of the package. Be patient. Keep doing what you are doing and watch for a couple more weeks. Then if you see no change, ask again.
  • quiltingducky
    quiltingducky Posts: 103 Member
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    Right up my alley! There are so many factors that can affect weight loss. If you are eating at a deficit and exercising, the weight loss will eventually show up. I pretty much only lose about 2 weeks out of the month and actually for the last 3-1/2 weeks stayed the same, still eating at a deficit, and finally at my last weigh-in I lost weight again. Hormones, sodium, exercise, and stress can all play a role in weight loss and the lack of. Stick with it, and I would think your body will start responding again.
  • Sprmc47
    Sprmc47 Posts: 82 Member
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    Check out your sodium, that may be the culprit.:happy:
  • fsutony
    fsutony Posts: 12
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    yep the sodium can make you retain alot of water.
  • Colbyandsage
    Colbyandsage Posts: 751 Member
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    I don't think you are eating enough on your exercise days. Your BMR is around 1800, try to net around that.

    Other advice. Add more protein and clean the food up (aka no eating out!). Alcohol will do it as well, if u want to lose, really want it, then drink less.

    Also remember that if u haven't worked out for a while, you body needs to adjust, everything makes that scale go up... Sodium, muscle soreness. Ditch the scale, take measurements instead.

    Good luck!
  • asitshouldbe
    asitshouldbe Posts: 29
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    If you're eating below 1200 cals a day, you are in starvation mode. You just won't lose then. You need to get that at least everyday. I have the 1200 and a bit more per day, work out daily and I lose. Someone else said too that there will be stalls all along the way. We plateau and then lose again. If the inches are changing but not the weight, then you're putting on muscle and losing the fat. Muscle takes up less space than fat, but you may weigh the same. Numbers aren't the only thing here. The carbs in alcohol may be crimping you dieting style too.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    A 41 yr old man's budget should not be 1300 calories. Back off your loss per week goal or do some math and find your BMR & TDEE so you have an idea where you need to be eating for nourishment. I'm 55, 5'2" and 115 lbs and I eat more than that!
  • dr2k12
    dr2k12 Posts: 291 Member
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    Your body composition might be adjusting as well, less fat more muscle?
  • LifeIsNotADressRehearsal
    LifeIsNotADressRehearsal Posts: 745 Member
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    A 41 yr old man's budget should not be 1300 calories. Back off your loss per week goal or do some math and find your BMR & TDEE so you have an idea where you need to be eating for nourishment. I'm 55, 5'2" and 115 lbs and I eat more than that!

    I have to agree with this!
  • stephenmayall
    stephenmayall Posts: 4
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    I was aiming for 1300 in reality I'm eating around 1500 on some days 1800 according to online calculators my BMR is 1897 and TDEE is 2956
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
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    I was aiming for 1300 in reality I'm eating around 1500 on some days 1800 according to online calculators my BMR is 1897 and TDEE is 2956

    Eat between 1897 and 2956.

    And get more info here

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

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less
  • Blmarlborough
    Blmarlborough Posts: 28
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    If you're eating below 1200 cals a day, you are in starvation mode. You just won't lose then. You need to get that at least everyday. I have the 1200 and a bit more per day, work out daily and I lose. Someone else said too that there will be stalls all along the way. We plateau and then lose again. If the inches are changing but not the weight, then you're putting on muscle and losing the fat. Muscle takes up less space than fat, but you may weigh the same. Numbers aren't the only thing here. The carbs in alcohol may be crimping you dieting style too.
    Im sorry but starvation mode? My friend, people toss that term around much too often. You only enter starvation mode once most of your bodys fat has been oxidized. At about 4% BF, then you enter starvation mode, which begins the catabolization of lean muscle tissue.
  • SheenSZF
    SheenSZF Posts: 88
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    Increase your fiber. Instead of cereal, have oatmeal (steel cut is best), or choose a cereal with more fiber. Instead of the chocolate almond bars, have fresh fruit and raw nuts and seeds. Increase your vegetables.
    Reduce your high sugar carbs that don't have any nutrition in them, and try to make some days lower carb days. For example, have either Starbucks or Beer, but not both on the same day. Or better yet, on some days avoid both of them.
    When you exercise, don't eat those calories on some days, or eat only some of the calories.
    You appear to like chocolate, so try a chocolate whey protein shake (especially on days when you work out) and add fiber powder to it. There are lots of good choices that are designed to support lean muscle mass - you should be able to find whey protein with 140 cal, 8 carbs (of which only 2 are sugar), and 26 protein.
    Good luck!
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    If you're eating below 1200 cals a day, you are in starvation mode. You just won't lose then. You need to get that at least everyday. I have the 1200 and a bit more per day, work out daily and I lose. Someone else said too that there will be stalls all along the way. We plateau and then lose again. If the inches are changing but not the weight, then you're putting on muscle and losing the fat. Muscle takes up less space than fat, but you may weigh the same. Numbers aren't the only thing here. The carbs in alcohol may be crimping you dieting style too.

    I am sorry, but that is just not true. I do not disagree that large deficits are detrimental but 1,200 is not a magic number where you stop losing. Energy in - Energy out. Unless his metabolism has slowed so much that his TDEE is 1,200 (nigh on an impossibility) then he will lose weigh below that.

    OP: weight loss is not linear. We fluctuate quite a bit because if water retention that can be caused by sodium intake, increased carbs, exercise among other things. I do think you should be eating more however - a base of 1,300 is necessarily low and you will run the risk of suppressing your metabolism due to hormonal imbalances and of losing more LBM than you would on high calories.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Options
    If you're eating below 1200 cals a day, you are in starvation mode. You just won't lose then. You need to get that at least everyday. I have the 1200 and a bit more per day, work out daily and I lose. Someone else said too that there will be stalls all along the way. We plateau and then lose again. If the inches are changing but not the weight, then you're putting on muscle and losing the fat. Muscle takes up less space than fat, but you may weigh the same. Numbers aren't the only thing here. The carbs in alcohol may be crimping you dieting style too.
    Im sorry but starvation mode? My friend, people toss that term around much too often. You only enter starvation mode once most of your bodys fat has been oxidized. At about 4% BF, then you enter starvation mode, which begins the catabolization of lean muscle tissue.

    If you are referring to the ranger studies, it does not show that at only 4% you start catabolizing muscle - this happens at higher BF% - just not exclusively muscle. However, as you will see from the post I made above, I do not agree with the fact that you go into starvation mode below 1,200 calories.

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