Not losing, now i'm GAINING

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oceanreign
oceanreign Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
Here's my story, in a nutshell. . .back in August I joined a gym. I started walking (slowly) almost every day. I got a trainer. I got a meal plan. I started tracking food. I gave up all caloric beverages, save the random unsweetened iced tea. I used to sit on my butt day in and day out and drink copious amounts of regular soda. Anyway, after a month or so, I was able to walk a little faster, on an incline, etc. In 2 months, I lost 15 pounds. I was eating between 1200-1400 calories. walking min 5/7 days ,with 2 half hour personal training sessions a week.

Fast Forward to October. I added bootcamps to my regime. Now I'm doing 4 bootcamps a week. I'm not walking anymore (other than normal day to day stuff). Still doing the personal training. Same calories. And now I've GAINED 5 pounds. I don't get it. Calories the same. Water the same (gallon a day, basically). I'm not eating back any of my burned calories, even though I do add an estimate of bootcamp burned calories to my fitbit/ MFP. I do that mainly to track days I exercised then anything. I have a feeling my problem is diet but I don't know what else to do. . .help?

If my diary isn't open, I am not sure how to do that. . .Thanks. Oh, and I'm 35, 264(ish, what with the gain), and 5'6"
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Replies

  • QuincyChick
    QuincyChick Posts: 269 Member
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    Hi!

    How tall are you//current weight? This info will help re: calories.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Am I understanding right - the net change is replacing 5-7x walking with 4x "bootcamp"?
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    A) You may need more than 12-1400 calories a day. Especially if you're exercising.

    B) Weight loss isn't linear. Weight fluctuates.

    C) You added a new/more intense workout regimen. The body will retain water for repair until it adapts to the new workout/intensity.

    D) If you think it's diet, it would be beneficial to open your diary.
  • Vaisaxena
    Vaisaxena Posts: 109 Member
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    1200 sounds like a crash diet - those never work.

    You played all your cards at once... calorie reduction and exercise... all at once!

    Exercise is a poor way to lose weight - calorie reduction is probably the best way... but you slammed your calories to 1200 from the get-go... lost a bunch of weight (initially mostly from water)... and then weight loss stopped.... classic crash diet.

    You have to reverse diet out of the crash (which sadly involves gaining weight) and then cut calories gradually... don't attempt to "burn calories" from exercise. That is the fundamental mistake people make.

    As a trainer I can tell you that I never recommend more than 1 hr of exercise 3x / week... with up to 15 mins cardio for any of my clients.
  • theoriginaljayne
    theoriginaljayne Posts: 562 Member
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    C) You added a new/more intense workout regimen. The body will retain water for repair until it adapts to the new workout/intensity.

    ^^^
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    Here's my story, in a nutshell. . .back in August I joined a gym. I started walking (slowly) almost every day. I got a trainer. I got a meal plan. I started tracking food. I gave up all caloric beverages, save the random unsweetened iced tea. I used to sit on my butt day in and day out and drink copious amounts of regular soda. Anyway, after a month or so, I was able to walk a little faster, on an incline, etc. In 2 months, I lost 15 pounds. I was eating between 1200-1400 calories. walking min 5/7 days ,with 2 half hour personal training sessions a week.

    Fast Forward to October. I added bootcamps to my regime. Now I'm doing 4 bootcamps a week. I'm not walking anymore (other than normal day to day stuff). Still doing the personal training. Same calories. And now I've GAINED 5 pounds. I don't get it. Calories the same. Water the same (gallon a day, basically). I'm not eating back any of my burned calories, even though I do add an estimate of bootcamp burned calories to my fitbit/ MFP. I do that mainly to track days I exercised then anything. I have a feeling my problem is diet but I don't know what else to do. . .help?

    If my diary isn't open, I am not sure how to do that. . .Thanks. Oh, and I'm 35, 264(ish, what with the gain), and 5'6"

    Never estimate your calories burned. Eat your exercise calories back. At least half of them.
  • 89nunu
    89nunu Posts: 1,082 Member
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    A) You may need more than 12-1400 calories a day. Especially if you're exercising.

    B) Weight loss isn't linear. Weight fluctuates.

    C) You added a new/more intense workout regimen. The body will retain water for repair until it adapts to the new workout/intensity.

    D) If you think it's diet, it would be beneficial to open your diary.

    ^^this!

    Pretty sure you should eat more! At least net 1200-1500
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    Here's my story, in a nutshell. . .back in August I joined a gym. I started walking (slowly) almost every day. I got a trainer. I got a meal plan. I started tracking food. I gave up all caloric beverages, save the random unsweetened iced tea. I used to sit on my butt day in and day out and drink copious amounts of regular soda. Anyway, after a month or so, I was able to walk a little faster, on an incline, etc. In 2 months, I lost 15 pounds. I was eating between 1200-1400 calories. walking min 5/7 days ,with 2 half hour personal training sessions a week.

    Fast Forward to October. I added bootcamps to my regime. Now I'm doing 4 bootcamps a week. I'm not walking anymore (other than normal day to day stuff). Still doing the personal training. Same calories. And now I've GAINED 5 pounds. I don't get it. Calories the same. Water the same (gallon a day, basically). I'm not eating back any of my burned calories, even though I do add an estimate of bootcamp burned calories to my fitbit/ MFP. I do that mainly to track days I exercised then anything. I have a feeling my problem is diet but I don't know what else to do. . .help?

    If my diary isn't open, I am not sure how to do that. . .Thanks. Oh, and I'm 35, 264(ish, what with the gain), and 5'6"

    Short-term weight gain as a result of intensified/changed workout program is expected, as muscles retain water while they repair themselves.

    To open diary, go to Food -> Settings, then scroll to the bottom and select public.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Some good advice above. Opening your diary would really help here. Are you logging everything you eat accurately? Are you weighing/measuring your food or estimating your portions? Are you double/checking the accuracy of MFP's entries (some foods get added to the database with very inaccurate information, unfortunately).
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    Never estimate your calories burned.

    I'm sure you mean something intelligent by this, but I can't figure out what. The statement as quoted is meaningless since estimate is all you can do.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    If you are gaining you are not in a deficit, unless it is water weight to due a change or increase in intensity of exercise.

    If you have been doing this for a while then you are either under estimating cals eaten (weigh solids and measure liquids to be sure you know what you are actually eating), or over estimating cals burned, or both.
  • oceanreign
    oceanreign Posts: 6
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    I opened my diary if that helps.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I opened my diary if that helps.

    Only if you have weighed and measured everything, otherwise just guesstimates anyway

    Could also be water retention due to the high level of sodium consumption you seem to have. One day said 2600 which isn't too high, but one item said 0, but was probably well over 1000 mg.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    I think you're vastly overestimating calorie burns, for one thing. You're not burning 800-1000 calories an hour in "bootcamp."

    But you're not eating those calories back anyway. I think you should eat more to fuel these workouts.

    I'd say your weight gain is expected based on your workout changes. How long ago did you start bootcamp, and over what time have you noticed the weight gain?
  • teamnevergoingback
    teamnevergoingback Posts: 368 Member
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    You're exercising harder than you were when you began, yet your calories are the same. You need to up your calories when you up the exercise.. also, muscle weighs more than fat by volume. Your fat could be turning into muscles since you are working out.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    You're exercising harder than you were when you began, yet your calories are the same. You need to up your calories when you up the exercise.. also, muscle weighs more than fat by volume. Your fat could be turning into muscles since you are working out.

    Nope, not in a caloric deficit. and if the deficit is too large you will actually lose quite a bit of lean muscle along with the fat.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    It's probably water weight. It's normal to gain water weight when you add a new exercise regimen. That being said, are you weighing your food properly? If not, you might be eating more than you think.

    But frankly 1400 calories with all that exercise at your weight way too little. I'm 115 lbs lighter than you and I've been losing with 1600 calories with about the same amount of exercise (I'm 5'5" and 35).
  • oceanreign
    oceanreign Posts: 6
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    How do I figure out the best amount of calories to eat? And as far as measuring bootcamp calories burned, I'm going with online estimators, but that's why I'm afraid to eat it back---I know it's only a range.
  • oceanreign
    oceanreign Posts: 6
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    I am measuring food, as well. A lot of what I eat is prepackaged (cheese sticks, soup, microwave lunches, etc). But if it's not, I measure.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    How do I figure out the best amount of calories to eat? And as far as measuring bootcamp calories burned, I'm going with online estimators, but that's why I'm afraid to eat it back---I know it's only a range.

    You need to mess around and see what works. I only go with 50% because MFP is so far off.

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