Gaining weight despite being under allotment?
tapdancr2192
Posts: 54
My daily calorie intake is pretty consistent, but there are some days where I eat more calories than I normally do. However, I'm always very careful to not go over my daily allotment. I've noticed several times on my MFP journey that even if I'm under my allotment for the day, I will either not lose any weight, or gain some back on one of those "more than normal" days. Any advice for why this is happening and/or how to stop it, would be greatly appreciated!
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Replies
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Are you weighing and measuring all your food? Using a food scale? Use a HRM for exercise?
Your intake is likely more than you think and your exercise burn is likely less than you think. Opening your food diary will guarantee more answers.0 -
most likely water weight and undigested food in your system, assuming you are being accurate with cals consumed and burned0
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Daily weight fluctuations up or down are totally normal and can be for various reasons - sodium, not enough water, hormones, new exercise, etc.
What is your daily goal, and by how much are you usually under? Making your diary public would make it easier for us to offer advice.
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Maria, I am measuring all of my food, but I do not have a food scale, and I do not use a HRM during exercise. My food intake is very static though (the calories are listed right there on the slim fast meal bar, or on the side of the juice bottle). The only meal that I would say I wouldn't be willing to bet my paycheck on knowing exactly how many calories I'm eating is dinner. But usually by dinner, I'm still 1,000 under my allotment, so I can't imagine I'm that far off on knowing my calories.0
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Are you weighing all food with a kitchen scale? Or do you eyeball portions or use measuring cups/spoons? If you do anything but use a kitchen scale for food, get one and start using it. Measuring cups/spoons are not accurate for measuring food... just for liquids. Are you counting all your food, liquids, creams, sugar, dressings, sauces, oils used in cooking, etc?
Also, don't weigh everyday especially on those days you may of had extra sodium, not enough water or a bit of extra food. Your weight will go up. Your weight can go up depending on your exercise as well when your muscles retain water.0 -
Amy, sorry, I should I have provided that information from the beginning LOL!
My allotment is 1,860 (which I feel is really high...I don't think I ever eat that many calories!). At the end of the day when I finish logging everything, I'm usually under anywhere from 500-700 calories.0 -
1tbsp of salad dressing - anywhere between 30-150 calories...I can't imagine I'm that far off on knowing my calories.
1tbsp of peanut butter - 100 calories
1tbsp of mayonnaise - 100 calories
Etc
And yes the package says tbsp, but the way I scoop peanut butter, it's a tsp for me...
It's oh so easy to underestimate how much you scoop onto a plate.
And that's not even getting into the exercise calories. MFP regularly gives me double of what the HRM tells me...
Log consistently, adjust calories as needed.0 -
Until you open your diary, everything is speculative. And may your diary be honest....0
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And that's not even getting into the exercise calories. MFP regularly gives me double of what the HRM tells me...
I exercise on the Wii, and it tells me how many calories I burn, so I always adjust the ones that MFP fills in. Are the Wii calories accurate?0 -
Do you know your BMR and TDEE?? If not it's time to learn. In order to be healthier you need to eat closer to TDEE. Check out the group "Eat More To Weight Less".0
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Until you open your diary, everything is speculative. And may your diary be honest....
This.0 -
And do you eat back exercise cals? If you're under by that much, that leaves your intake at 1100-1300 cals....waaaay under goal. That daily calorie number already has a deficit built in, eating well below it is leaving you with a huge deficit, which can stall progress and cause more problems than progress in the long run.Amy, sorry, I should I have provided that information from the beginning LOL!
My allotment is 1,860 (which I feel is really high...I don't think I ever eat that many calories!). At the end of the day when I finish logging everything, I'm usually under anywhere from 500-700 calories.
By your ticker, it looks like you don't have a lot to lose, and the closer you get to goal, the smaller your calorie deficit should be. I keep reading more and more, and by my own experience, that a small deficit is best for fat loss. So coming in well below goal on a daily basis could be part of your problem. Sounds counter intuitive, but eat too little for too long, and your body is getting a message to store fat rather than burn it.
To get closer to goal without eating junk or huge quantities of food, add more calorie dense foods to your day - snack on nuts and nut butters, full fat dairy, avocados, use olive and coconut oils in dressings and cooking - these foods pack a lot of calories in small portions, easily moving you closer to your daily intake goal.
I've had my best success eating 1800+ cals a day - lost my last 10lbs, plenty of fat and inches and a full pants size.
Remember, goal means GOAL! Not several hundred calories below.0 -
Maria, I am measuring all of my food, but I do not have a food scale, and I do not use a HRM during exercise. My food intake is very static though (the calories are listed right there on the slim fast meal bar, or on the side of the juice bottle). The only meal that I would say I wouldn't be willing to bet my paycheck on knowing exactly how many calories I'm eating is dinner. But usually by dinner, I'm still 1,000 under my allotment, so I can't imagine I'm that far off on knowing my calories.
You would be surprised at how many calories can be in such small portions of food.
I would suggest picking up a kitchen scale. You can get them for pretty cheap at places like walmart. That's the only way to be accurate with your counting. You are pretty much just guessing if you aren't weighing food.
A HRM is a great investment. It helps you to properly record your exercise calories. Get one when you can and ensure it has a chest strap and lets you enter your age, sex, height and weight.
I would suggest finding something other than a bottle of juice or a slim fast bar to eat. They are just processed food that lack nutrition for the calories and sodium (and added sugars in the juice) that comes with them.0 -
Amy, sorry, I should I have provided that information from the beginning LOL!
My allotment is 1,860 (which I feel is really high...I don't think I ever eat that many calories!). At the end of the day when I finish logging everything, I'm usually under anywhere from 500-700 calories.
If you are 500-700 calories under your allotment, you are slowing your metabolism. You need to eat more to lose more, believe it or not. I would suggest upping your calorie intake by 100 calories a week at a time until you start losing again. Eat more calorie dense foods if it seems like too much food. Nuts, avocados, whole grain pastas, lean proteins, etc. are great additions to add calories without adding a whole lot more food.0 -
And do you eat back exercise cals? If you're under by that much, that leaves your intake at 1100-1300 cals....waaaay under goal. That daily calorie number already has a deficit built in, eating well below it is leaving you with a huge deficit, which can stall progress and cause more problems than progress in the long run.Amy, sorry, I should I have provided that information from the beginning LOL!
My allotment is 1,860 (which I feel is really high...I don't think I ever eat that many calories!). At the end of the day when I finish logging everything, I'm usually under anywhere from 500-700 calories.
By your ticker, it looks like you don't have a lot to lose, and the closer you get to goal, the smaller your calorie deficit should be. I keep reading more and more, and by my own experience, that a small deficit is best for fat loss. So coming in well below goal on a daily basis could be part of your problem. Sounds counter intuitive, but eat too little for too long, and your body is getting a message to store fat rather than burn it.
To get closer to goal without eating junk or huge quantities of food, add more calorie dense foods to your day - snack on nuts and nut butters, full fat dairy, avocados, use olive and coconut oils in dressings and cooking - these foods pack a lot of calories in small portions, easily moving you closer to your daily intake goal.
I've had my best success eating 1800+ cals a day - lost my last 10lbs, plenty of fat and inches and a full pants size.
Remember, goal means GOAL! Not several hundred calories below.
This. 200 or so cals under isn't so bad, but too much really is.0 -
Amy, sorry, I should I have provided that information from the beginning LOL!
My allotment is 1,860 (which I feel is really high...I don't think I ever eat that many calories!). At the end of the day when I finish logging everything, I'm usually under anywhere from 500-700 calories.
There's your problem - not meeting your goals. it is an eating goal.
So you are usually missing your goal by 30% about.
How would you feel about missing your goal weight by 30%?
You've already done that actually, just stop your weight loss attempt right now, you're within 30% of goal!
So no, bad food logging isn't making up a 500-700 calorie deficit to your eating goal, which is also probably a 250-500 calories deficit to maintenance level - on paper.
But you under-eating by that much means you are going to have huge fluctuations in water weight that stores with carbs.
And sadly that is reduced metabolism, because that water weight is part of LBM, which determines your metabolism.
In addition to that reduction, if you have been under-eating by that much for a while, and because of that low stored carb level - you have likely burned off some muscle mass. It's gone, bye.
That also reduces your metabolism.
So now you don't actually have that 500-700 and 250-500 deficit in place, you may have next to nothing, and so now these bad food loggings do add up enough to kill the small deficit you have in place.
So, you wanna keep eating less and less, and see where your metabolism goes?
Feel like having a super small margin for error and being able to see any success?
Those things you use the labels for, you ever seen what the weight of the package is, and the actual weight of the serving? Sometimes you divide, and the about 3.5 servings per container becomes 3.75 or more, and there's an extra 100 calories. Several times a day, and your suppressed deficit is gone.
And are you even following MFP method to eat back your exercise, or are you making the whole deficit a lot worse by failing that goal too?
Might try this to get some best estimates of your numbers and realistic eating goal to retain muscle mass and only burn fat.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones0 -
Alright, sorry everyone....just joined MFP in March and didn't even know there was a public option for the diaries! Thank you all for being so helpful!! :flowerforyou:
I'm starting to lose track as to who suggested what, but here goes everything!
My diary is now set to public. I do not know what BMR and TDEE even stand for, so any info on that would be great. I will definitely check out the group.
I do not eat back exercise calories, because I thought that would defeat the purpose of burning all the calories. I thought MFP's goal for me was overall? Maybe not...I don't know, I'm so confused now lol!0 -
Maria, I am measuring all of my food, but I do not have a food scale, and I do not use a HRM during exercise. My food intake is very static though (the calories are listed right there on the slim fast meal bar, or on the side of the juice bottle). The only meal that I would say I wouldn't be willing to bet my paycheck on knowing exactly how many calories I'm eating is dinner. But usually by dinner, I'm still 1,000 under my allotment, so I can't imagine I'm that far off on knowing my calories.
Watch the video I linked above re: measuring but not weighing your food.
You do not need to use an HRM to track your exercise calories, but it is very easy to overestimate your exercise calories nonetheless. You see it all the time around here--people claim to have burned 1,000 calories on a 40-minute walk, or 600 calories in an hour-long yoga class. According to the Science of Yoga, the real caloric expenditure in a 55 minute Power yoga class is 144 calories (which will vary from person to person, but not so much as to quadruple). So yeah, the Occamite explanation for your problem is inaccurate tracking.0 -
most likely water weight and undigested food in your system, assuming you are being accurate with cals consumed and burned
That sounds like a good answer. However, tapdancr, you mentioned that by dinner you're "still 1,000 under"...perhaps you're eating too little? I don't know what your calories are, but if your first two meals consist of a SlimFast meal bar and/or juice, then the first 2/3 of your meals are only about 600 calories (and that's just a guess - it could be more or less). If you don't eat enough, your body may feel like it's not getting what it needs and try to hold on to any fat that you've got, which may make it harder for you to lose weight. Just a thought.
Also, it depends how long you've been sticking to this routine. If you've been doing it for a week - or maybe even a few weeks - you may not be seeing any results YET, but as long as your logging is accurate, you should start to see some.0 -
Invest in a food scale, even if it is a cheap one, weigh and measure EVERYTHING. eat closer to your suggested calories, eat at least part of your exercise calories and up your water intake. Sometimes it also takes your body some time to get used to the new lifestyle, most importantly, do not give up, you are doing great!!! 0
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Wii exercise doesn't burn a lot of calories unless you are really killing yourself. I started out doing Wii Fit in January because I was rehabbing after an injury and it's all I could do. MFP would say I burned something like 279 for half an hour, the Wii would credit me for 240, and my heart rate monitor would tell me I burned anywhere from 80 (doing the exercises with no modification) to 130 (using a riser for the step and wrist and ankle weights).0
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Alright, sorry everyone....just joined MFP in March and didn't even know there was a public option for the diaries! Thank you all for being so helpful!! :flowerforyou:
I'm starting to lose track as to who suggested what, but here goes everything!
My diary is now set to public. I do not know what BMR and TDEE even stand for, so any info on that would be great. I will definitely check out the group.
I do not eat back exercise calories, because I thought that would defeat the purpose of burning all the calories. I thought MFP's goal for me was overall? Maybe not...I don't know, I'm so confused now lol!
BMR and TDEE - read this. use the spreadsheet to track your progress after getting good numbers.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones
In case you missed it above.0 -
You have a very large deficit most days. Again, since you aren't weighing your food the deficit probably isn't *that* big, but still. MFP expects you to eat your exercise calories too. And unless you truly like the taste, apple cider vinegar does nothing for weight loss.0
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I would suggest finding more calorie dense food and some more nutrient rich foods to fill your day. Quite often (three times in one day even) a chunk of your meal calories are from grapefruit juice and apple cider vinegar. I would switch out the cereal bar (a glorified candy bar) that you seem to have for two meals a day for some real food. Increase your fruits, veggies, lean meats... decrease all the processed foods.0
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It doesn't look like you eat a lot of fresh fruit or vegetables? And lots of nutragrain bars, which don't offer a whole lot nutritionally. Try more unprocessed foods.0
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I lost all my weight eating pretty much all of my exercise calories. There really is no need to starve, just make sure you log accurately. I would also recommend eating more veg, lean protein and trying to cut down on sugar and 'white' carbs. Switch to wholemeal everything, bread, pasta, brown rice etc. Good luck!0
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Ok, so more calories? I love fruits and veggies, so I wouldn't mind eating more of them I guess. And I shouldn't exercise more to accommodate for them?
I'm really sorry if I sound like a complete idiot with this whole thing...it's much more complicated than "burning more calories than you eat=weight loss" like everyone in my life told me!0 -
I'm having the same problem! It's very frustrating.
Thanks for posting this! 0 -
Ok, so more calories? I love fruits and veggies, so I wouldn't mind eating more of them I guess. And I shouldn't exercise more to accommodate for them?
I'm really sorry if I sound like a complete idiot with this whole thing...it's much more complicated than "burning more calories than you eat=weight loss" like everyone in my life told me!
Start with getting a food scale. Seriously. It was a real eye opener for me.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
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