900 calorie burn - up and down in weight

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requestion
requestion Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi!

I'm a 25 year old female who always struggled with my weight. 4 years ago I started eating Reductil when I reached a highest weight of 106 kilos (233 pounds) and managed to lose 23 kilos (50 pounds) in about half a year. I managed to keep all that weight off for about 1.5 year but have gained half of that weight back since, now weighing in at around 96 kilos (211 pounds).

I have lately had the time to work out twice per day at the gym, usually in form of either a 55 minute Zumba class or 45 minute Indoor Walking (crosstrainer) class which has a burn of 620 calories each. Then i usually add a class of 55 minute BodyBalance class which has a burn of 300-350 calories. That means I burn around 900 calories every day. I also try to stick to my goal of eating 1.300 calories per day. YET my weight fluctuates intensely. I can gain 3-4 pounds in a matter of 2 days and loose as much in the same amount of time. I don't understand how i can burn 900 calories a day and still GAIN weight.

If anyone could put light on this, I would be very grateful. Thank you.
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Replies

  • DirtyCurvesAhead
    DirtyCurvesAhead Posts: 121
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    Your body fluctuates in weight on a daily and even hourly basis. This can be caused by water retention, food in your gut, or if you are not in a cal deficit, fat gain.

    There are many reasons for water retention
    Working out hard makes muscles retain water for repair. This can hang around for weeks.
    Dehydration will make your body store any water you give it. This lasts till you properly hydrate.
    High sodium can cause water weight. There are 2 ways to fix this.
    1) decrease salt intake(only ness art if you have a medical condition)
    2) increase water consumption and your body will find a balance and flush out the excess salt
  • kaned_ferret
    kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
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    You're eating 1300, but you're exercising 900? Leaving you with a net calorie intake for the day of 400? That's not the way to do it, the defecit is too high for safe / sustainable weightloss in the long term if these numbers are correct. Are you weighing all food and using a hrm for calorie burns whilst exercising? These are the most accurate ways of getting your numbers, but really for your weight you should be eating way more calories I'd have thought. I'm losing netting around 1300 a day, and I'm 152lbs / 5ft3.
  • DirtyCurvesAhead
    DirtyCurvesAhead Posts: 121
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    You're eating 1300, but you're exercising 900? Leaving you with a net calorie intake for the day of 400? That's not the way to do it, the defecit is too high for safe / sustainable weightloss in the long term if these numbers are correct. Are you weighing all food and using a hrm for calorie burns whilst exercising? These are the most accurate ways of getting your numbers, but really for your weight you should be eating way more calories I'd have thought. I'm losing netting around 1300 a day, and I'm 152lbs / 5ft3.
    It's so nice how you answered the question she asked!:huh:
  • kaned_ferret
    kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
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    You're eating 1300, but you're exercising 900? Leaving you with a net calorie intake for the day of 400? That's not the way to do it, the defecit is too high for safe / sustainable weightloss in the long term if these numbers are correct. Are you weighing all food and using a hrm for calorie burns whilst exercising? These are the most accurate ways of getting your numbers, but really for your weight you should be eating way more calories I'd have thought. I'm losing netting around 1300 a day, and I'm 152lbs / 5ft3.
    It's so nice how you answered the question she asked!:huh:

    My apologies. The fluctuations are most likely to do with water retention and whilst daily weighing is fine, a more accurate indicator is to watch the trend of weight gain and loss over time. It's not unusual for these fluctuations but if in the long run things are going down you're on the right track.
  • requestion
    requestion Posts: 14 Member
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    Thank you! I must admit, I'm quite bad with hydrating. I drink water during my work outs but other than that most of my liquid intake comes from 3 litres of tea per day which contains caffeine so it makes sense.
  • requestion
    requestion Posts: 14 Member
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    I'm not hungrier than that though. I eat 3 full meals and snacks on top of that which all fits in to 1300-1400. The only reason I've been able to exercise this much and hard is because I'm unemployed at the moment after having lived abroad for many years and the gym keeps me occupied during the days. But thank you, i do appreciate your reply and concern, and will keep that in mind.
  • lucylousmummy
    lucylousmummy Posts: 348 Member
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    i used to drive myself insane with weight fluctuations, what i did was get a phone app and weigh in every day, over the month you get an average weight, i now tend to look at that more than a daily/weekly loss, if you did this it might also help you pinpoint when and why your weight is spiking, although as somebody has already pointed out, it is probably water from muscle repair
    try not to drive yourself to crazy with it
    good luck x
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
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    I know it is early but am I missing something here?? Why are we talking water retention when I have read that the OP is netting 400 calories a day??? Now chances are that she is probably is netting more but the question begs, OP are you weighing and measuring your food intake and logging, and how are you gauging your calorie burns? A HRM even though just an estimate will give you a better number of calories burned during steady state cardio.... But if you are truly doing the above then you either need to cut back on the exercise or increase your food intake to increase your net calories. I too exercise twice a day 3 days a week and increase my intake accordingly. Unless I am missing the premise of this post that is where I would start......
  • DirtyCurvesAhead
    DirtyCurvesAhead Posts: 121
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    I know it is early but am I missing something here?? Why are we talking water retention when I have read that the OP is netting 400 calories a day??? Now chances are that she is probably is netting more but the question begs, OP are you weighing and measuring your food intake and logging, and how are you gauging your calorie burns? A HRM even though just an estimate will give you a better number of calories burned during steady state cardio.... But if you are truly doing the above then you either need to cut back on the exercise or increase your food intake to increase your net calories. I too exercise twice a day 3 days a week and increase my intake accordingly. Unless I am missing the premise of this post that is where I would start......
    The reason for the post was to ask about weight fluctuations not about her caloric deficit or her net cal intake.:wink:
  • errorist
    errorist Posts: 142 Member
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    I know it is early but am I missing something here?? Why are we talking water retention when I have read that the OP is netting 400 calories a day??? Now chances are that she is probably is netting more but the question begs, OP are you weighing and measuring your food intake and logging, and how are you gauging your calorie burns? A HRM even though just an estimate will give you a better number of calories burned during steady state cardio.... But if you are truly doing the above then you either need to cut back on the exercise or increase your food intake to increase your net calories. I too exercise twice a day 3 days a week and increase my intake accordingly. Unless I am missing the premise of this post that is where I would start......
    The reason for the post was to ask about weight fluctuations not about her caloric deficit or her net cal intake.:wink:
    Yeah! You tell that moderator!!
  • DirtyCurvesAhead
    DirtyCurvesAhead Posts: 121
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    I know it is early but am I missing something here?? Why are we talking water retention when I have read that the OP is netting 400 calories a day??? Now chances are that she is probably is netting more but the question begs, OP are you weighing and measuring your food intake and logging, and how are you gauging your calorie burns? A HRM even though just an estimate will give you a better number of calories burned during steady state cardio.... But if you are truly doing the above then you either need to cut back on the exercise or increase your food intake to increase your net calories. I too exercise twice a day 3 days a week and increase my intake accordingly. Unless I am missing the premise of this post that is where I would start......
    The reason for the post was to ask about weight fluctuations not about her caloric deficit or her net cal intake.:wink:
    Yeah! You tell that moderator!!
    :bigsmile:
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    Yeah, so everyone keep quiet about the fact she's basically starving herself, because that's not what she asked, and this isn't a support forum on a website that promotes safe and sustainable weightloss. :huh:

    So yeah, anyway. Weight fluctuations are normal.
  • DirtyCurvesAhead
    DirtyCurvesAhead Posts: 121
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    Yeah, so everyone keep quiet about the fact she's basically starving herself, because that's not what she asked, and this isn't a support forum on a website that promotes safe and sustainable weightloss. :huh:

    So yeah, anyway. Weight fluctuations are normal.
    She is over 200lbs she has the stored energy to fuel her body for a long time still. She is eating 1300 cals and this gives her the micros she needs to stay healthy(this is the true reason behind the 1200min for weight loss).
  • errorist
    errorist Posts: 142 Member
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    The fact is, something is up with these numbers if OP isn't losing weight. Assuming an average height of 5'7'', she has a TDEE (couch potato) of 2084, so a daily burn of 2984, against a daily intake of 1300, giving a daily deficit of 1684 and a weekly deficit of 11,788 calories. This should equate to 3.4 pounds of weight loss a week. So, and this does answer OP's question, intake is being under estimated, or burn is being over estimated. Almost definitely both.

    EDIT: Just realised that the average woman isn't actually 5'7''. Assuming a height of 5'4'' the TDEE would be 2027. It makes little difference to the calculation.
  • DirtyCurvesAhead
    DirtyCurvesAhead Posts: 121
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    The fact is, something is up with these numbers if OP isn't losing weight. Assuming an average height of 5'7'', she has a TDEE (couch potato) of 2084, so a daily burn of 2984, against a daily intake of 1300, giving a daily deficit of 1684 and a weekly deficit of 11,788 calories. This should equate to 3.4 pounds of weight loss a week. So, and this does answer OP's question, intake is being under estimated, or burn is being over estimated. Almost definitely both.
    She just introduced exercise which causes water weight fluctuations. She says it goes up and 2days later it is back down. This is classic water and glycogen fluctuations for muscle repair. Also if it is her eating that is causing this she would have to be eating over maintenance to do that. She may be off bit I doubt she is 7000 over maintenance which is what it would take to gain 2 lbs.:wink:
  • kristy6ward
    kristy6ward Posts: 332 Member
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    Why does she need to ask a forum when she has you, DirtyCurves? Obviously, you're the only one she needs to listen to.
  • DirtyCurvesAhead
    DirtyCurvesAhead Posts: 121
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    Why does she need to ask a forum when she has you, DirtyCurves? Obviously, you're the only one she needs to listen to.
    I'm glad someone acknowledges my importance!:flowerforyou:
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
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    I would guess you are eating more than you think. Make sure you are weighing EVERYTHING. No guesttimates. Also are you using a HRM? I teach Bodybalance and typically burn 100-150 calories. Usually less than if I'm hopping around my house doing errands since It's yoga based. 300-350 sounds way too high.

    The flux can definitely be water weight. It's the worst...that can cause the bounce in weight. Lots of water. Lots and lots of water. :-)
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
    Options
    Yeah, so everyone keep quiet about the fact she's basically starving herself, because that's not what she asked, and this isn't a support forum on a website that promotes safe and sustainable weightloss. :huh:

    So yeah, anyway. Weight fluctuations are normal.
    She is over 200lbs she has the stored energy to fuel her body for a long time still. She is eating 1300 cals and this gives her the micros she needs to stay healthy(this is the true reason behind the 1200min for weight loss).

    How do you know 1300 cals is giving her everything she needs? 1200 is actually a minimum to net on MFP, not eat in total. So actually, she's netting 400 cals a day, which is 800 less than your idea of a healthy minimum.

    People with a lot to lose can follow VLCD for a limited time (normally under medical supervision), but this is meant to be a lifestyle change, and MFP promotes healthy weight loss. It's all well and good telling her she can eat this way, but when she eventually gets shaky and tired and miserable and cannot workout properly and plateaus and starts binging, as so many on here that eat too little do, then that would have been some terrible advice.
  • DirtyCurvesAhead
    DirtyCurvesAhead Posts: 121
    Options
    Yeah, so everyone keep quiet about the fact she's basically starving herself, because that's not what she asked, and this isn't a support forum on a website that promotes safe and sustainable weightloss. :huh:

    So yeah, anyway. Weight fluctuations are normal.
    She is over 200lbs she has the stored energy to fuel her body for a long time still. She is eating 1300 cals and this gives her the micros she needs to stay healthy(this is the true reason behind the 1200min for weight loss).

    How do you know 1300 cals is giving her everything she needs? 1200 is actually a minimum to net on MFP, not eat in total. So actually, she's netting 400 cals a day, which is 800 less than your idea of a healthy minimum.

    People with a lot to lose can follow VLCD for a limited time (normally under medical supervision), but this is meant to be a lifestyle change, and MFP promotes healthy weight loss. It's all well and good telling her she can eat this way, but when she eventually gets shaky and tired and miserable and cannot workout properly and plateaus and starts binging, as so many on here that eat too little do, then that would have been some terrible advice.
    MFP won't put you below 1200 this is correct. And yes eventually she won't have the excessive fat stores and have to increase her cals to support her energy needs, but for now that is not the case.

    Again the reason for cal minimums for people losing weight is to make sure they are getting enough micros to support health. A person regardless of cal intake can be micro deficient so to say increasing cals will ensure a healthy diet is silly.

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