Changed goal to TDEE but gained!

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ebgbjo
ebgbjo Posts: 821 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Last week I changed my MFP calorie goal to closer to TDEE. Previously my goal was 1200 and I would eat back my exercise calories, at least half of them anyway.

Well, last week I went and changed my goal to 1400 to get a little closer to TDEE. I am 4' 11, and 117lbs. I only do T25 workout and maybe once or twice a month will hop on treadmill for 15-30mins.

Anyway, since I changed my goal to 1400 to 1200, I have gained 1.4lbs! I was steadily losing about .5lb a week. This is so frustrating.
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Replies

  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
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    Give it time. Your body is adjusting to having more calories.
  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
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    One week is not enough to make a determination, and you only added 200 cals, it's not that big of a difference. Give it a month and relax.

    Rigger
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Pretty much proves how much you were undereating previously.

    Think and do the math.

    If you were losing 0.5 lb weekly, and we assume fat, that means a deficit daily of 250 calories.

    If you eat 200 more daily, you still have a deficit of 50 calories, so obviously not gaining fat.

    But what it proves is you were very depleted on glucose stores, your body finally got what it needed for the exercise type you do - and loaded up. Glucose stores with water, to the tune of 500 calories is 1 lb.

    But that is also LBM, and that means increased metabolism.

    And now you know one reason why metabolism drops quickly when you diet, almost instant less LBM.
  • jlahorn
    jlahorn Posts: 377 Member
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    Same here. 1200+ eating back some exercise calories is how I lose .5 - 1 lb per week.

    Eating TDEE-20% is actually maintenance for me, regardless of the fact that the math and physics there don't really make sense. if I raise my calories to my TDEE, I start gaining. C'est la vie, I guess.
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    I'm always surprised when I see someone who has been on MFP for a long time and lost a lot of weight get surprised/frustrated by what is completely normal weight fluctuation...? I "gain" and "lose" 1-3 lbs 3 times a week. Anyway, if you ate 1400 more calories this week than last week (200*7), that is not enough to cause a 1.4 lb gain. A 1.4 lb gain would need an extra almost 5000 calories. My guess is that you will "lose" 1.4 lbs in the next few days. :flowerforyou: good luck.

    ETA if you were losing 1/2 lb per week on your previous level, I would expect to lose maybe 1/2 per 2-3 weeks if you up your calories by 1400 per week
  • Stef2752
    Stef2752 Posts: 22 Member
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    I did the same thing. Went from 1240 calories to 1440. I didn't gain, but also didn't lose anything for an entire month. I was just looking at my weight graph/report on here and noticed the month of no loss and was wondering what that was about, then remembered that was when I upped my cals. Now I'm back to losing 1-1.5 pounds a week. AND it sure feels great to be able to eat a little more!
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    It's okay. I was undereating as well, and it took 3 or 4 weeks for my body to adjust to normal eating again. The weight started to slide back down again. Patience, Padawan. Patience. :)
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    1.4 lbs is probably water weight. Your body can fluctuate 3-5 lbs a day.

    Weight lose takes time. More than a week. Chill.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Same here. 1200+ eating back some exercise calories is how I lose .5 - 1 lb per week.

    Eating TDEE-20% is actually maintenance for me, regardless of the fact that the math and physics there don't really make sense. if I raise my calories to my TDEE, I start gaining. C'est la vie, I guess.

    Gain what exactly?

    And since TDEE means maintenance, if it really was fat being gained, then that means you guessed your activity level wrong and had TDEE wrong.

    Oh, it would take 250 calories daily over TDEE to gain 1 mere pound of fat or LBM in 2 weeks. Anything faster is water weight.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    That's normal when you're coming off overly-restricted calories. The best thing you can do is stay off the scale for the next month. It will work itself out by then.

    Nobody ever gained real weight at 1400 calories*, it's just a temporary adjustment.


    *without underlying medical problems.
  • lindustum
    lindustum Posts: 212 Member
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    I upped my calories from 1200 to nearly 1850 and I DID NOT GAIN. I initially gained a pound, and that one was gone after a week.
    It is scary and it seems so counter-intuitive at first, but if you are hungry and feel starved (as I did) your body is telling you something. Don't forget that if you're close to your bodyweight, you can't(shouldn't) loose as fast.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    This might be a beneficial read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/993576-why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut
  • autumndjones
    autumndjones Posts: 4
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    I also think I have been undereating. I have stuck to 1200 calories for 8 months and finally raised it to 1370 this month. If I go over, I gain "weight". If I go back to eating my normal 1370 or under, I lose it in just a couple of days. Lately I've taken a week off from MFP (for the first time since I started). I refuse to weigh myself more than once a week. It makes me a little less obsessive. Just give it time. :)

    Gaaah the body is odd. Haha
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    This might be a beneficial read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/993576-why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut

    Yes yes yes.
  • ebgbjo
    ebgbjo Posts: 821 Member
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    Sorry, I forgot to mention that I am hypothyroid (which isn't regulated properly as they can never get meds just right). This is the only time in my weight loss journey that I have put on weight on weigh in day. I have never felt underfed or anything before. This week has actually been hard getting in the calories to come even close to goal.

    I will plug at this another week, but I don't really want to gain. I should have just kept it at 1200 as a .5lb weight loss is a good weight loss range for someone close to goal.
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    I'm really confused by people suggesting that the OP is under-eating. She is a relatively small person and she says she was eating 1200 plus exercise calories and is now eating 1400 plus exercise calories. Her TDEE without exercise I'm guessing is around 1500 (using TDEE calculator and guessing age)? And it seems she was losing at the 1/2 lb per week level which makes sense to me. Maybe she was eating around 1500 (1200 plus exercise calories) and her TDEE was around 1800 with exercise?

    OP are you trying to lose or maintain?
  • lindustum
    lindustum Posts: 212 Member
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    I'm really confused by people suggesting that the OP is under-eating. She is a relatively small person and she says she was eating 1200 plus exercise calories and is now eating 1400 plus exercise calories. Her TDEE without exercise I'm guessing is around 1500 (using TDEE calculator and guessing age)? And it seems she was losing at the 1/2 lb per week level which makes sense to me. Maybe she was eating around 1500 (1200 plus exercise calories) and her TDEE was around 1800 with exercise?

    What? If the TDEE is 1500 and she is eating 1400 PLUS exercise calories then she is eating above the TDEE and thus gaining.
    I understood the OP to eat 1400 without exercise calories back, because that is the TDEE method.
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    Sorry, I forgot to mention that I am hypothyroid (which isn't regulated properly as they can never get meds just right). This is the only time in my weight loss journey that I have put on weight on weigh in day. I have never felt underfed or anything before. This week has actually been hard getting in the calories to come even close to goal.

    I will plug at this another week, but I don't really want to gain. I should have just kept it at 1200 as a .5lb weight loss is a good weight loss range for someone close to goal.

    I think it's really interesting that some people's weight will fluctuate a lot from day to day and others will stay relatively flat.

    Like I said in my previous post, I don't think 1200+ exercise calories seems low for a 4'1" female who is relatively light. I'm never a proponent of huge calorie deficits, especially close to goal, but it doesn't seem like a huge deficit for a 4'11" female. I'm 5'4" and if I want to cut, I would go below 1600 calories, which would be 1200+ exercise calories.

    Good luck OP! I really would expect that 1.4 to go even if you continue at your higher calorie level.
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    I'm really confused by people suggesting that the OP is under-eating. She is a relatively small person and she says she was eating 1200 plus exercise calories and is now eating 1400 plus exercise calories. Her TDEE without exercise I'm guessing is around 1500 (using TDEE calculator and guessing age)? And it seems she was losing at the 1/2 lb per week level which makes sense to me. Maybe she was eating around 1500 (1200 plus exercise calories) and her TDEE was around 1800 with exercise?

    What? If the TDEE is 1500 and she is eating 1400 PLUS exercise calories then she is eating above the TDEE and thus gaining.
    I understood the OP to eat 1400 without exercise calories back, because that is the TDEE method.

    LOL yes but she says eating exercise calories back with the 1200, so I assumed she meant with the 1400 too, or she'd be eating less now than before. Or maybe the same? (1200 plus exercise calories would be more than or equal to 1400 without adding exercise calories). And she never did say TDEE MINUS anything so I was just assuming that she wasn't speaking about the "TDEE method" the way most people do.
  • VorJoshigan
    VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
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    One week? Seriously?! You're going to derail a lifelong eating plan because one week didn't go your way? Your body is not a machine. You will have NO idea what a given input will do long-term until your body adjusts to it, which will almost always take longer than a week.

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