SO frustrated!!! Think it's back to 1200 cals grr.

2-3 lb weights? I thought you were strength training, my mistake. All the same, exercise causes you to retain water. Hiking carrying no weight can still put me up 10lbs.

How much do you weigh and what is your height and age? 1400 is likely not your TDEE, I've never heard of anyone having a TDEE that low unless they were malnourished and had a eating disorder at which point you shouldn't be here. Your TDEE is your total daily expenditure. 1400 would be your TDEE minus a bunch. I suggest you pick up a book and start reading about weight loss so you have a better understanding and don't give yourself any more frights. The forums can be misleading. But weight is never going to be constant. You're always going to be fluctuating.

When your strength training it makes a huge difference. But the OP misused the word strength training. Hers consist of weights lighter then my purse (note to OP, this is not called strength training). She's not going to have the same effects unless she loses weight or picks up strength training that trains for strength and not endurance runs with purses (there's nothing wrong with that, it's great for cardio, but it's not strength training).

Geeeez, relax. She said she's only been doing this for a month. Starting off with smaller weights and a higher number of reps is a great way to go. "I suggest you pick up a book and start reading about" how to conduct yourself helpfully. This is not the "General Diet and Weight Loss Scrutiny/Attack" section. We're all doing the best we can, and if you're having a bad day and need to talk...

:flowerforyou:

I'm 5' 1", 56 years of age (on 6/27!) weigh 131 at the moment (about 2 pounds up due to water) and am fairly sedentary due to a connective tissue syndrome. Can't do heavy lifting or real strength training because my muscles and ligaments tear but can do the sorts of weights you're doing (2-5 pounds) and am building toward 10 (whoo-hoo! - sounds silly, I know!) . I have what my orthopedic surgeon referred to as one of the "tiniest bone structures" he's ever seen. I'm shooting to get down to 110 - or 105 - because I need to get strain off my joints in order to stay out of a wheelchair. My diet (the stuff I eat) is very good so all my blood work looks great.

Now, all that said, my TDEE sits right around 1700; less 20% it's around 1350-60. And in general that's what I eat - MFP had me at 1200, I bumped to 1250, but I generally burn an additional 100-150 exercise calories a day and I always eat them back. IF with all I've got going on I'm eating around 1350-1400, I cannot imagine you at your age (and higher metabolic rate) dropping down to 1200 and getting anything going. I'm with everyone else here...increase your lifting at a rate that feels right to you (but don't lollygag); eat at minimum around 1400, and be patient!!!

Yes, I actually did cry a little...I wasn't expecting to have lost a ton, I was going to be excited for even 1/2 a lb. This was the whole reason I waited a month before weighing myself again because I got so discouraged I was ready to give up so I said screw it I wont weigh myself for a while...& now Im up 2. I know muscles retain water to repair them..but do you think with just using 3 & 5 lb weights I can really retain that much? I plan on continuining to workout, discouraged or not because I feel great when I do, however I was thinking maybe I am eating too much? I rely on my fitbit for most of this which gives me the TDEE of about 1400 as well as other websites...I dont know. I havent been this heavy in almost 2 yrs and now instead of 10 lbs to lose, I have 12.
THANK YOU!! to everyone btw for all your input, I really appreciate it.

I gained (on the scale, not actual fat) when I was doing 30 Day Shred. It eventually went down, though. If you're working out as much as you say, and only eating 1400 calories, you aren't gaining fat.

In my opinion, 1400 is too low, too.

It has now been one month that I have been using the TDEE-20 method and have been eating 1400 calories and sometimes more depending on what my fitbit says. I did the 30ds and this week started strength training dvds (30 mins) and Im on my 2nd week of c25k ( I started on wk4 since I wasnt going straight from the couch) Anyway! I feel better, I've been working out nearly every day with rest days here and there and thought i was possibly looking better as well. Well today I got on the scale for the first time since starting all this (a month now) and I am up 2lbs! Wth?! Yes, I know muscle weighs more than fat but there is no way I put that much muscle on in such a short time and eating at a deficit. Im feeling really discouraged and upset. I think maybe I just need to go back to eating 1200 cals. It worked to begin with but then I plateaued which is why I switched to TDEE method. :ohwell: :sad:

Just for fun, let us math.

The difference between 1400 and 1200 is 200 calories. A pound is 3,500 calories.

200*30=6,000
2*3,500= 7,000

That is a difference of 1,000 calories. So gaining a full 2lbs of fat or muscle mass is not quite there.

So, OP, what is the more likely cause of your weight gain? Muscle or fat mass gain, or water/food waste retention?

2-3 lb weights? I thought you were strength training, my mistake. All the same, exercise causes you to retain water. Hiking carrying no weight can still put me up 10lbs.

How much do you weigh and what is your height and age? 1400 is likely not your TDEE, I've never heard of anyone having a TDEE that low unless they were malnourished and had a eating disorder at which point you shouldn't be here. Your TDEE is your total daily expenditure. 1400 would be your TDEE minus a bunch. I suggest you pick up a book and start reading about weight loss so you have a better understanding and don't give yourself any more frights. The forums can be misleading. But weight is never going to be constant. You're always going to be fluctuating.

When your strength training it makes a huge difference. But the OP misused the word strength training. Hers consist of weights lighter then my purse (note to OP, this is not called strength training). She's not going to have the same effects unless she loses weight or picks up strength training that trains for strength and not endurance runs with purses (there's nothing wrong with that, it's great for cardio, but it's not strength training).

Geeeez, relax. She said she's only been doing this for a month. Starting off with smaller weights and a higher number of reps is a great way to go. "I suggest you pick up a book and start reading about" how to conduct yourself helpfully. This is not the "General Diet and Weight Loss Scrutiny/Attack" section. We're all doing the best we can, and if you're having a bad day and need to talk...

:flowerforyou:

Suggesting someone educate themselves is scrutinizing. Riiiight.

And I didn't say that as a put down indicating they were stupid or something. It's one of those things that most people don't know when they first come here (myself included). And I wish someone pointed me in that direction because I had freak outs. I just mean if they read up on it they would know what's going on, they wouldn't have gotten upset because they would understand why, and asking the forums particularly when you don't use the right wording (which is so easy to mess up) can get you the wrong answer. A lot of people are going to be coming here and talking about retaining lean body mass which well, to be honest, 3 pounds isn't going to help a whole lot with that, because most of the people who are saying that are lifting over 100.

i've just got to point out that you're not doing TDEE-20% correctly. you are supposed to eat the same amount every day based on your general activity level, not go by a sedentary TDEE and then eat back calories. if your workout schedule isn't regular enough that you think you can trust your TDEE, then you need to go back to logging all exercise calories and eating them back (basically the MFP method). but either way, you definitely shouldn't go back to 1200.

i've just got to point out that you're not doing TDEE-20% correctly. you are supposed to eat the same amount every day based on your general activity level, not go by a sedentary TDEE and then eat back calories. if your workout schedule isn't regular enough that you think you can trust your TDEE, then you need to go back to logging all exercise calories and eating them back (basically the MFP method). but either way, you definitely shouldn't go back to 1200.

She stated she has a Fitbit that adjusts her calories throughout the day. So if she has her base set at 1400, she eats back whatever the Fitbit says she has done with extra activity to keep her below TDEE. That's how the Fitbit/MFP relationship works.

This is why the scale isn't the greatest at measuring success. You feel better and look better, but you are going to dismiss both those because the number on the scale didn't read what you wanted it to. Doesn't make much sense to me.

Keep doing what you are doing. When you do weigh yourself, do it after a rest day. Start taking other measurements, too. You may be losing inches which would completely offset your feeling of failure because of a scale reading.

i've just got to point out that you're not doing TDEE-20% correctly. you are supposed to eat the same amount every day based on your general activity level, not go by a sedentary TDEE and then eat back calories. if your workout schedule isn't regular enough that you think you can trust your TDEE, then you need to go back to logging all exercise calories and eating them back (basically the MFP method). but either way, you definitely shouldn't go back to 1200.

She stated she has a Fitbit that adjusts her calories throughout the day. So if she has her base set at 1400, she eats back whatever the Fitbit says she has done with extra activity to keep her below TDEE. That's how the Fitbit/MFP relationship works.

ok maybe that's just me not understanding the fitbit/mfp relationship

I have one and it took me FOREVER to figure it out lol.

I would urge you to weigh daily for a week or so. First thing in the morning. Do this to make sure you didn't just weigh on a high fluctuation day. You might be very pleasantly surprised.

I understand the camp of weighing once a week or even once a month but this can be highly upsetting if you weigh on a high peak day. Look at my chart below, let's say I weighed ONLY on the 2nd day of the month.

May 2 - 239.5
June 2 - 239.5

CRAP! I didn't lose anything this month!
(you be the judge of whether that statement is actually true)

IF you are eating at deficit, its scientifically impossible for you to gain 2 pounds of fat. I remember gaining 0.5 pounds by doing insanity.. I was eating at 1200. frustrated as hell. I was like screw this.. and I started eating around 1650..which is my bmr calories...3 days later..BAM 4 pound weight loss.

The problem with weighing only once in a while is that for all you know, you've lost weight in the mean time but only gained back temporarily because of water weight.

This is why I'm actually a proponent of daily weighing, at least for a few weeks. By weighing daily, you can actually see these volatile changes people are talking about. Once you accept those as "normal", a +2 on the scale won't seem like a big deal...because you will likely have seen several +2s along the way (and some just as seemingly random -2s).

And some people hate it, but for me it helps me get past those freak outs as well. I do it constantly now (mostly for data collection and not for concern at all). When you start constantly seeing yourself go up 10 lbs and over time you keep losing...you stop getting concerned when it happens and have more of a wicked! Haven't done that in a while I musta killed it approach...that first while can be concerning though. But so is the weekly and monthly weighing sometimes as you can tell by the chart above depending on when you weigh.

What is TDEE?

Dont' give up! I was on WW and I got off during the "Holidays," thinking I was going get back on; I lost my mojo. I have a co-worker who started encouraging me to try MFP and this is my 2nd day! I think if you keep up the way you are doing, you will see results. It took my co-worker about 2 months until she noticed any lbs and inches. Keep up the good work!