gaining weight on 1200 calories and gym 2-3 hours a day

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bpt54
bpt54 Posts: 17
in Health and Weight Loss
Four years ago I lost 120 pounds with diet and walking 60 miles per week. Now I eat between 1200-1300 calories per day and work out at the gym 2-3 hours everyday (spin, Zumba, kickboxing, power sculpting). I have gained 15 pounds. HELP! What am I doing wrong? I want to lose those 15 pounds and a few more. Any advice? I just started with MyFitnessPal today. I am 60 years old.
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  • AnnaMaus
    AnnaMaus Posts: 167 Member
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    Either you are not correctly counting your calories (most likely), or you have a severe metabolic disorder that requires medical attention (rarer but possible), or you have a large tumor growing somewhere inside you (much rarer, also possible).
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    Current weight? Are you during the same scales each time? How long have you been trying this?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Either you are not correctly counting your calories (most likely), or you have a severe metabolic disorder that requires medical attention (rarer but possible), or you have a large tumor growing somewhere inside you (much rarer, also possible).

    Pretty much. Or your metabolism is shot from eating nothing for years and now you're gaining even eating 1200 calories...
  • Denise4141
    Denise4141 Posts: 7
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    There is only one way we can help and that is you need to share with us everything you ate for the last week so we can see what's going on, at 60 you may be going through metabolic changes. Look toward to helping you figure this out!
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    Either you are not correctly counting your calories (most likely), or you have a severe metabolic disorder that requires medical attention (rarer but possible), or you have a large tumor growing somewhere inside you (much rarer, also possible).

    This is very well put.
  • robot_steve
    robot_steve Posts: 12
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    Are you sure you are gaining fat? Have your clothes started to fit differently? Beyond the possibility that you might have gained some muscle (not sure if that fits with your age), I would consider examining food choices and possibly cleaning any junk foods out of the diet.
  • ammadove
    ammadove Posts: 97 Member
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    I have had a similar experience and wonder if it has to do with my being 67 years old. Metabolism as well as caloric needs may differ for us when we are older. Just a thought.
  • ibd_din_gs
    ibd_din_gs Posts: 12
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    are you sure this isn't muscle gain?
  • robot_steve
    robot_steve Posts: 12
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    This is the first thing that comes to my mind, though I dont have much experience with 60 year old females. Unless the doctor says otherwise, my rule of thumb is that weight does not matter as much as body composition. Personally, I can tell whether I am fat or not by my pants size.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    are you sure this isn't muscle gain?

    Lol!
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
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    are you sure this isn't muscle gain?

    If it is, then someone needs to write up her case for publication.


    OP, did you gain this weight over a short time? It's normal to gain some weight from water retention after starting a new exercise program, but 15 pounds a lot for that. Have you experienced any swelling of your lower extremities, or any other signs of edema?
  • bpt54
    bpt54 Posts: 17
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    Thank you for your reply. I started my current gym regimen a year ago. I weighed 130 pounds at that time. Now I weigh 150. I am diabetic and I admit I do not do a good job drinking water. I think I only drink about six 8-oz. glasses a day (that includes the two bottles of water I drink while I am at the gym). I am on thyroid medication because I am hypothyroid. My diabetes is in good control. In fact, the doctor says now I am consistently low in blood sugar. I use a calorie counter to log in food. I drink 1-2 glasses of wine on the weekends.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    Are you preparing and weighing, with a digital scale, all of your food?

    Although your energy needs likely decreased greatly after dieting and losing 100 lbs over the span of a few years, I doubt it would lower that significantly to where you'd gain that much weight while legitimately consuming 1200 calories even with your medical history.

    Also, 2-3 hours of daily exercise is really excessive. One can experience a substantial amount of water retention due to the stress from over-exercising.
  • bpt54
    bpt54 Posts: 17
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    I am so grateful for all the replies on this message board. I started using the calorie counter for MyFitnessPal today. I will diligently chart it for the next week. I don't know how to allow you access to it, but I certainly will if somebody will tell me how to do that. I have been using the same scale for the last 10 years. I could buy a new one. I don't know if that would make a difference. As far as how my clothes fit, the arms of my t-shirts/blouses are a little tight. I can still wear most of my clothes that I have had since the big weight loss four years ago, but some of my smallest jeans are tight/not able to wear - it is not the legs, but in the midsection. My legs and thighs are now very muscular. I have very good endurance, energy and stamina and a pretty low resting heart rate. When I lost all of the weight, I had (and still have) a fairly large size "pocket" of loose skin in the lower abdominal area. I thought sit-ups would help that, but no. It's almost as if my upper abdomen has muscle underneath flab now (if that makes any sense). I am frustrated and don't know what to do. It seems the more I work out, the more I gain weight.
  • Dargealing
    Dargealing Posts: 58 Member
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    you can freind people and that will allow access to your food and exercise, unless you block it from viewing by them. Go to your personal home page and or those that have chosen to help guide you, send a friend request to them and then accept when you get it.. then they will be able to see and help you. Hope this helps.. And remember our hormones along with other factors make the weight gain, but that is along with other health issues that you are dealing with.. We are all here to help.. hope you have success..
    I am 55 now and started my journey in April 2011. I do a lot of reading on internet (self learning) and listening to what other have been through and written on these blogs.. YOU WILL GET THERE.. a lot to sift thru, but worth it..
    I wish you well on your journey. hope we all can be of assistance..
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
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    Yes, metabolism slows down with age, but not that much.

    Are you weighing all your food and measure all your liquids to get an exact calorie value? If not, you are probably eating more then you think. The difference in weighing my food and measuring it in cups or estimating it, in my case it was about 250 cal. It's not a lot, but if you don't have a large deficit, it can be the difference between losing and maintenance. My original counting was 1100 cal per day. Then I measured accurately and it all moved up to 1350. This article was actually what motivated me to do better http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

    If you are measuring, please double check you are actually using the correct values - I saw someone log 2 pieces of toast with butter and jam for 100 cal, so clearly not everything is correct in the database.

    Are you eating your exercise calories back? If so, are you perhaps over estimating those calories.

    today an article was posted on this sort of topic. It's not warm and fuzzy, but it gets to the point. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1108960-11-reasons-you-re-failing-to-lose-fat
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    Settings - diary sharing -gives you options:

    Private (only you can see it)
    Public (everyone can see it)
    Friends (only those on your friends list can see it)
    Key (locked with a password that you can choose to give to certain people)

    You can click the button beside which you want.
  • itsjustdawn
    itsjustdawn Posts: 1,073 Member
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    You need to eat more calories if you're working out that much everyday.
  • bpt54
    bpt54 Posts: 17
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    Thank you so much for the link to that very informative and helpful website. Really good explanations and tools for me. I will definitely be logging every little thing I put into my mouth (like my coffee creamer). Additionally, I never knew that I could/should include calories burned from exercise into my daily caloric intake. I now have a more accurate assessment of how many calories I need to eat on a daily basis.

    This "community" has been very helpful and very generous in your comments to me. I truly appreciate it. I look forward to incorporating your suggestions/recommendations and hopefully experiencing more weight loss success.

    I'll keep you posted.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    Are you sure you are gaining fat? Have your clothes started to fit differently? Beyond the possibility that you might have gained some muscle (not sure if that fits with your age), I would consider examining food choices and possibly cleaning any junk foods out of the diet.

    Highly doubtful muscle mass gain with little to no strength training, and as an extreme deficit the OP claims, along with being female.

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