Not losing, now i'm GAINING

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    water weight from an increase in exercise intensity. Your muscles require water for repair...the harder you work them, the more they need to repair.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 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.

    True, fair enough. She said she adds an estimated amount of exercise calories burned from her boot camp class. I only meant that she should use a HRM or something other than MFP estimates to measure calories burned.
  • born2drum
    born2drum Posts: 731 Member
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    at 264lbs and working out 4-5 days a week and you only eat 1200-1400 kcals? Are you serious? Please do yourself a favor and eat more. You are bordeline starving yourself and close to malnutrition. Your body needs energy to burn fat so eat closer to 1800kcals at your size heck you could probably eat as much as 2000
  • born2drum
    born2drum Posts: 731 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"

    I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

    I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min
  • NRSPAM
    NRSPAM Posts: 961 Member
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    I say, eat back about 1/2 your exercise calories, and get back walking. :) If you're going to eat too little and exercise more, your metabolism will slow down. Also, don't rely too much on the scale. Make sure you're taking measurements too. :)
  • dshalbert
    dshalbert Posts: 677 Member
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    Glad that you asked the question, Oceanreign! I've been wondering the the same thing myself, I just amped up to a to a higher excersize intensity and gained 2lbs. So, thanks everyone for your comments. Like you, I've not been eating back my calories and personally for me not getting enough water. Let's make some of those changes suggested and good luck to us!
  • rosellasweet
    rosellasweet Posts: 163 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"

    I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

    I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

    This is exactly what I would say. There's a reason you see tons of people who exercise a lot and eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight. I am 5' 3",155 pounds, eat 1600, and exercise about three times a week or less. I've been doing that since May and 31 pounds gone. You also need to recalculate your calorie intake about every 5 pounds lost or so.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    Your diary looks a whole lot like you might not be using a scale. If so, big mistake. You can't go measuring shredded cheese with a measuring cup and expect to get it right.


    Get yourself a digital food scale. I got mine cheap on Amazon and it folds up for travel
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 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"

    I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

    I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

    If you figure her BMR using the Katch Mccardle method, since her body fat % is so high, her BMR is only around 1400. Body composition makes a big difference for some people with very high or low BF%. A 500 calorie difference in her case.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 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"

    I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

    I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

    If you figure her BMR using the Katch Mccardle method, since her body fat % is so high, her BMR is only around 1400. Body composition makes a big difference for some people with very high or low BF%. A 500 calorie difference in her case.

    That's totally moot until she uses a food scale and figures out her real intake. Then she can estimate based on losses or gains.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 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"

    I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

    I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

    This is exactly what I would say. There's a reason you see tons of people who exercise a lot and eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight. I am 5' 3",155 pounds, eat 1600, and exercise about three times a week or less. I've been doing that since May and 31 pounds gone. You also need to recalculate your calorie intake about every 5 pounds lost or so.

    I strongly suspect that the people who "eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight" aren't actually eating those totals. Because if they were, they'd be losing weight. Unless they're children.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 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"

    I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

    I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

    This is exactly what I would say. There's a reason you see tons of people who exercise a lot and eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight. I am 5' 3",155 pounds, eat 1600, and exercise about three times a week or less. I've been doing that since May and 31 pounds gone. You also need to recalculate your calorie intake about every 5 pounds lost or so.

    I strongly suspect that the people who "eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight" aren't actually eating those totals. Because if they were, they'd be losing weight. Unless they're children.

    I have the same suspicion. I was helping one gal out who was being told to eat more to lose more, and when we finally got her weighing her meat, it ruined out she was underestimating her portions. By about 300%
  • oceanreign
    oceanreign Posts: 6
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    I'm figuring it is all diet, but I just can't hit 2000 calories of "good" food. I feel like I'm stuffing myself. But I know that part of the overall problem is diet. Thanks for the calculations.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    I'm figuring it is all diet, but I just can't hit 2000 calories of "good" food. I feel like I'm stuffing myself. But I know that part of the overall problem is diet. Thanks for the calculations.

    Peanut butter. Cheese. Avocados. Milk. Ground beef. Butter.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    I'm figuring it is all diet, but I just can't hit 2000 calories of "good" food. I feel like I'm stuffing myself. But I know that part of the overall problem is diet. Thanks for the calculations.
    If you are already gaining, then forcing yourself to eat more calories is not the answer.
  • born2drum
    born2drum Posts: 731 Member
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    I'm figuring it is all diet, but I just can't hit 2000 calories of "good" food. I feel like I'm stuffing myself. But I know that part of the overall problem is diet. Thanks for the calculations.

    I have a hard time staying under 2000kcals. Shoot. A weighed peanut butter sammy costs me 400kcals so honestly, who can't eat 3 of those plus 3 glasses of milk a day. BAM, 1600kcals
  • born2drum
    born2drum Posts: 731 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"

    I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

    I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

    If you figure her BMR using the Katch Mccardle method, since her body fat % is so high, her BMR is only around 1400. Body composition makes a big difference for some people with very high or low BF%. A 500 calorie difference in her case.

    I don;t know where the hell you got 1400 from but assuming she's 40% body fat would still render her TDEE at over 2600kcals with exercise at 3 days a week. Even at 50% bf her BMR would be 1645. Point is, she needs to weigh her food and eat at or above BMR to lose efficiently.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 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"

    I took your stats and came up with this: BMR 1916 (this is the amount of energy your body needs to function normally). Ideally, you want to eat slightly above your BMR for effecient fat burning/weightloss. Your TDEE based on 3 workouts a week is 2635 kcals. So if you want to lose 2lbs a week then you should be eating at the very least 2000kcals.

    I'm 5'8 and weigh 194 and I'm losing weight at 2000-2100calories per day training 5 days a week heavy weights and 2 days of cardio no more than 22min

    If you figure her BMR using the Katch Mccardle method, since her body fat % is so high, her BMR is only around 1400. Body composition makes a big difference for some people with very high or low BF%. A 500 calorie difference in her case.
    I don't see anywhere that she listed her body fat, so it's impossible to use the Katch-McArdle formula, unless you're just making up a number out of thin air for her.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    I strongly suspect that the people who "eat 1200-1300 calories constantly complaining on the boards about not being able to lose weight" aren't actually eating those totals. Because if they were, they'd be losing weight. Unless they're children.

    I think you're right. Plenty of studies indicate that people tend to seriously underestimate calorie intake. Here are a couple of references:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10500011
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18313427

    You can find more by searching PubMed for "doubly labeled water" (a technique for accurately gauging energy balance).
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    The average LBM for a 5'6" female is between 100-110 lbs. When I was at my highest wt of 237 I was around 55%. Since the OP is 265 lbs, I figured she must be closer to 60%. That is where I got the 1400 BMR number. She might have more muscle mass than average, so her number may not be that high.

    The point was, that she apparently is eating more than her TDEE to be gaining weight. People telling her that her TDEE is 2600 and she needs to eat more, are not helping her to lose. She needs to figure exactly how many calories she is actually eating, then she can adjust from there.

    It is possible to plateau after a prolonged time at a lower calorie, but you cannot create body mass while eating at a large deficit. If she was indeed eating at 1000 or more below her TDEE, she would NOT be gaining 5 pounds.

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