Exercising & counting calories but gaining weight

Everybody needs to stop telling her to eat more.


What is up with this forum? As soon as someone ask for help, 100 people jumps in and tells them to eat more.

Because from many of our personal experiences and those of fellow member and the thousands of countless "I am plateaued, I eat 1200 calories and do tons of cardio threads" the results generally have come by providing more food to their bodies. Now this doesn't mean she needs to eat 1000 more calories, but increasing to a level where she is supplying her body with enough food that her body isn't fighting her with hormones to prevent weight loss. I can tell you I lost a lot more weight at 2600 calories than I did with 1800. I still measured the same.


OP, at this point, I would suggest trying to eat more. Since you are looking at more of a vanity weight number, why don't you up your calories to around 1600-1700 (from my experience, most women I know eat 1700-2100 calories daily when working out 5-6 days a week during weight loss). I would also suggest adjusting macro's to around 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% fats. This should help you achieve 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass. In fact, you could even lower protein 10% and increase fats 10% and still hit the numbers. I do agree with other posters, that adding weight training and cutting cardio will significantly help with your definition and body recomposition. Additionally, I would suggest not worrying about a nominal number on a scale and start looking at pictures for results.

Also, if you want to see what other women do, below is a thread with over 500 women eating 1800+ calories. It's not eating more, it's finding a balance between exercise and fueling your body.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day

^This.

Ok looked at your food log for the past month.

It looks like you definitely log everything.

You do need to get a food scale if you want to be precious though.
Measuring cups is fine if you are measuring liquids but everything else should be weighed.
Would like you to see more protein in your diet but, that's another subject and has very little to do with not losing weight.

Some stuff I forgot to ask

1. Do you weigh yourself everyday?
2. Since you are a female, is it that time of month were you might be bloated?


There is a possibility that you are just retaining water.

Look up the "Swoosh" effect:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html

I personally have stalled for around 3 weeks before and then lose 3 lbs overnight (after a binge no less).

You tend to exercise A LOT. This could contribute to a rise in cortisol that may result in water retention.
Also, I see no "Cheat" days what so ever on your diary. A day of indulging in some extra food my do you good. It will reduce cortisol levels and may tell your body to drop the water weight.

If you read the article on Swoosh, One of the "signs" that you might be retaining water in your fat cell, is that your skin feel like there are little marble underneath it. I did not experience this but, I know of some people who did.

I am not trying to attack or be condescending here, but isn't adding a cheat day or a binge day/meal, the same thing as increasing your daily intake? Realistically, we look at calories over a week not a specific day. Do a binge meal can essentially but viewed as raising your daily intake.

Yes, in effect I am suggesting her to up the calories. But, only after analyzing her diet / exercise regime.

The problem I have with everyone telling people to up their calories is that 90% of the time, they are not even tracking their calories intake. People here are constantly preaching the danger of "metabolic damage" when it is very rare. Less than 1% of the population actually has some type of metabolic damage.

When trouble shooting a stall in weight loss you have to start with the most common cause (not counting calories correctly or water retention) first. All people do here is blindly tell people to eat more without even closely looking at the person diet/exercise regime. They spew off a bunch of link and studies about the danger of "starvation mode" and "metabolic damage" when it doesn't even closely resemble the problem of the dieter.


Now in the case of Tigerfan14:

1. She is not weighing her food. I don't think she is drastically off on her calorie intake but, she could easily be under estimating by 300-400 calories a day. She is definitely in a overall deficit but maybe not as much as she thinks.

2. She said she lost 18 pound since January. Around 3 to 4 lbs a month. That's a very reasonable rate of loss. She is in no danger what so ever of damaging her metabolism.

3. She "says" she is eating around 1200-1300 calories a day. It's a little bit low but if she weighed her food she might find that she is actually eating around 1500-1600 a day. Not a a dangerously low calorie intake even with her exercising. (Just for reference, I am 5' 9" 183 lbs and I eat around 1350 calories a day (I do eat back all my exercise calories though so I average around 1700 calories a day).

4. My advice is that she needs to do a re-feed is based her not ever having a "maintenance" or "cheat day". I don't see any type of binge or even eat at maintenance for the last 3 months of her food log. Dieting for that long without any break does "stress" the body (Along with excesses exercising) and can lead the body to hold on to water.

The problem I have with everyone telling people to up their calories is that 90% of the time, they are not even tracking their calories intake. People here are constantly preaching the danger of "metabolic damage" when it is very rare. Less than 1% of the population actually has some type of metabolic damage.

When trouble shooting a stall in weight loss you have to start with the most common cause (not counting calories correctly or water retention) first. All people do here is blindly tell people to eat more without even closely looking at the person diet/exercise regime. They spew off a bunch of link and studies about the danger of "starvation mode" and "metabolic damage" when it doesn't even closely resemble the problem of the dieter.

Yep.

The problem I have with everyone telling people to up their calories is that 90% of the time, they are not even tracking their calories intake. People here are constantly preaching the danger of "metabolic damage" when it is very rare. Less than 1% of the population actually has some type of metabolic damage.

When trouble shooting a stall in weight loss you have to start with the most common cause (not counting calories correctly or water retention) first. All people do here is blindly tell people to eat more without even closely looking at the person diet/exercise regime. They spew off a bunch of link and studies about the danger of "starvation mode" and "metabolic damage" when it doesn't even closely resemble the problem of the dieter.

Yep.

Nope. Anyone who thinks this isn't a "big" problem does not work in the fitness world. Guaranteed.

Nope. Anyone who thinks this isn't a "big" problem does not work in the fitness world. Guaranteed.

Anyone who thinks people always enter their calories correctly lives in a fantasy world. Guaranteed.

This problem likely exists, but you do a big disservice to people in not giving them credit for knowing what they're talking about and assuming they're just bad at counting calories... and not focusing on a solution. Simply ask "are you sure you're counting calories right?". Most people have math 101 down.. and they need real help. That's why saying this problem is only true of 1% is the real fantasy.

This problem likely exists, but you do a big disservice to people in not giving them credit for knowing what they're talking about and assuming they're just bad at counting calories... and not focusing on a solution. Simply ask "are you sure you're counting calories right?". Most people have math 101 down.. and they need real help. That's why saying this problem is only true of 1% is the real fantasy.

In this case, and most similar cases people post about, the poster is not using a food scale.

Time after time we see people posting highly improbable scenarios. Yesterday someone was supposedly eating at -7000/week, and not losing anything for a month.

The first answer on these forums is nearly always "eat more". Eat more eat more eat more. Without knowing anything else.

So you weigh 280 and you're eating 1200 calories a day and not losing any weight? Eat more! It's insane. There's something else going on.

The target calories probably shouldn't be so low. But intake or exercise calories are probably horribly wrong for some reason as well. Just adding more calories won't help if the person is not tracking alcohol, underestimating food weight, or guessing their light jog was an 800-calorie burn.

i would have a wee protein shake before bed if i was you ,no expert by the way but ,extra cals extra protein feed the muscle cant be bad ??, i love choc whey protein with water loads of ice and table of peanut butter ,but you could add milk ?? xx

What is your advice broscientist? :happy:

In general, you are on the right track, I think you just need some fine tuning. You got Information overload (some good some bad) with all the advice here so, I'll try to narrow it down best I can.

Calorie intake and Macros:

1300 calories is a good starting point. Provided that you accurately count your calories AND eat your exercise calories back.
Macro break down: 125 grams of protein; 100 grams of Carbs; 45 grams of fat.
If you add in exercise for the day (thus needing to up your calorie intake), keep the 125 grams of protein constant and up your calories from Carbs and Fat.

^^ This is calculated base on the following link:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

You're definitely going to have to up the protein. MFP is a great site but, I does fall short on the protein recommendation for people who lift weights.

Once a week do a "ReFeed". The emphasis should be to increase your Carbohydrate intake. For that day, eat up to your Maintenance calorie or even a little more (~1800 calories; more if you exercise on that day). Go ahead and eat 200-300 grams of Carbs for that day. Indulge in some ice cream or other sweets of your choice. Adding a Carb up day will hopefully reduce your cortisol level as well as increase you Leptin (A super important fat loss hormone) levels. The refeeds become more and more important the leaner you get.



Aerobic and Weight Lifting:

Weight Lifting 3x a week like you do is awesome. Follow a program like Starting Strength or Stronglift 5x5 is what I would recommend. Don't be afraid to lift heavy weights.

Aerobic exercise - Aerobic for the sole purpose of losing weight is completely optional. If you enjoy doing it, by all means do it. If you are feeling lethargic or constantly sore, I would suggest cutting down on it. Keep weight lifting as a priority, don't skip out on that. If you got enough energy after that, you can added on the Aerobic exercise (but like I said, its completely optional).



Supplements:

Protein powder: Generally, I discourage the use of protein powder. I'd rather you eat real food. However, since you are a vegetarian, you might find it difficult to hitting that 125 grams of protein per day. If you can do it with real food, by all means you can skip this recommendation.

Fish Oil: This is the only supplement that I universally recommend to everyone. DHA/EPA in fish oil has too much benefits to ignore. Some of the benefits includes increase insulin sensitivity which is critical to loss fat and maintain muscle.

Multi Vitamin: Ideally, you should just get your micro nutrient from your food and it's an optional thing. Because you are a vegetarian, you may be lacking in some vitamins and mineral that is found mostly in meat. Find a Multi - Vitamin specifically made for vegetarian might be a good idea.



Metabolic Damage:
I seriously seriously doubt you have this. A metabolic slowdown, maybe (pretty much standard in all diets). But, you probably don't have to worry about it. A weekly refeed will also help any chance of this happening.
I don't want to total disregard this. I just think people here in general are way too paranoid of this problem. You can read the many link others have posted here and make your on judgement.


Try this out for a few week and make some small adjustment as needed.