Gaining/Losing inches - but not weight

Koldnomore
Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For all the world I am trying to figure this out and it's driving me insane..

I eat roughly 1700 / day - hell I'll even say that maybe I eat 1900 just to make up for those things that I occasionally can't weigh (and there are NOT many) I don't eat back any exercise.

I work out 4-5 days a week. I do 15 - 30 on the treadmill on a hill setting walking 5.5-6 km/hr, my HR gets up to at least 150 so I AM 'working' not just meandering. After I get off the treadmill I lift heavy for another 30 - 45 minutes. Heavy for me is about 100 dead lift / 60 squat / 70 chest press/ 200 + leg press. I try to increase the weight by 5 lbs daily. I have been working out for at least 8 months, so it's by no means a 'new' thing.

Since November of last year I have been hovering up and down around the same weight. But it seems that I have GAINED inches on my neck, thigh, calf and abdomen. At the same time I have lost in other places but I still have a net GAIN of about half an inch in total.

I'm 5'6 weigh @ 147 about 30% body fat. Now... I can't possibly image that I MAINTAIN/GAIN at 1700-1900 calories /day..I'm not tiny by any means, I exercise and have good muscle mass, no medical issues..So WTF is going on. I shouldn't be gaining inches, I should be losing.

I have at least 10 lbs more that I'd like to lose but it seems I can't manage to figure out HOW to go about this. It's truly frustrating beyond all belief. Especially when I see other ladies that are similar size and have similar exercise patterns are losing weight at 2000+ calories.

Any Thoughts?

Replies

  • lindsey1979
    lindsey1979 Posts: 2,395 Member
    Two basic guesses:

    (1) You aren't creating the caloric deficit that you think you are -- either by overestimating exercise calories or underestimating food. When you get closer to your goal, you have less margin for error so need to be all the more precise if you're not losing.

    (2) You have a medical issue that you don't know about -- i.e. insulin resistance, thyroid, PCOS, etc. that is skewing the calculations (i.e. eating at a deficit but not seeing results due to this issue).

    Also, just random observation -- your lifting numbers seem sort of crazy. A 70 lb bench is pretty solid, but then your deadlift and squat seem shockingly low for such a bench. I bench 79, dead lift 175 and squat 144 (and am still increasing). Usually your leg and back numbers are much higher than your bench -- but yours are almost inverted (unless that was an error).
  • elisabeisme
    elisabeisme Posts: 308 Member
    I'm almost 43. I 5'4" and weigh 161-164 ish. My net equilibrium is ~1700-1800 net. Your numbers don't look unrealistic to me.

    I think there are much bigger differences in the energy people's bodies burn than folks realize. If you read any of the weight loss studies, you see graphs with individual results all over the place. Then, the summary calculates the average and everyone expects their results to follow that exactly. for example, I've read that a person can burn an extra 300 calories a day just by fidgeting. My doctor mentioned that low blood pressure may affect burn rate too.

    So, rather than being annoyed that you have a low metabolism, rejoice! People with low metabolisms tend to live longer! Just adjust your intake and move on. :)
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
    Two basic guesses:

    (1) You aren't creating the caloric deficit that you think you are -- either by overestimating exercise calories or underestimating food. When you get closer to your goal, you have less margin for error so need to be all the more precise if you're not losing.

    (2) You have a medical issue that you don't know about -- i.e. insulin resistance, thyroid, PCOS, etc. that is skewing the calculations (i.e. eating at a deficit but not seeing results due to this issue).

    Also, just random observation -- your lifting numbers seem sort of crazy. A 70 lb bench is pretty solid, but then your deadlift and squat seem shockingly low for such a bench. I bench 79, dead lift 175 and squat 144 (and am still increasing). Usually your leg and back numbers are much higher than your bench -- but yours are almost inverted (unless that was an error).

    No error. I have big biceps I guess, also I didn't say 'bench' I said chest press, it's pushing out not pushing up. Consider that I also don't really know what I am doing I have no trainer or anything so maybe I 'could' do more if I had someone to push me and correct my technique.

    It's just stupid that 'all of a sudden' I have a slow metabolism when I HAD been losing on 1800 just 10 lbs ago doing LESS (I wasn't even lifting anything) Now I'm eating 1000 LESS and not losing at all. 10 lbs can't make that big of a difference really?
  • lindsey1979
    lindsey1979 Posts: 2,395 Member
    Two basic guesses:

    (1) You aren't creating the caloric deficit that you think you are -- either by overestimating exercise calories or underestimating food. When you get closer to your goal, you have less margin for error so need to be all the more precise if you're not losing.

    (2) You have a medical issue that you don't know about -- i.e. insulin resistance, thyroid, PCOS, etc. that is skewing the calculations (i.e. eating at a deficit but not seeing results due to this issue).

    Also, just random observation -- your lifting numbers seem sort of crazy. A 70 lb bench is pretty solid, but then your deadlift and squat seem shockingly low for such a bench. I bench 79, dead lift 175 and squat 144 (and am still increasing). Usually your leg and back numbers are much higher than your bench -- but yours are almost inverted (unless that was an error).

    No error. I have big biceps I guess, also I didn't say 'bench' I said chest press, it's pushing out not pushing up. Consider that I also don't really know what I am doing I have no trainer or anything so maybe I 'could' do more if I had someone to push me and correct my technique.

    It's just stupid that 'all of a sudden' I have a slow metabolism when I HAD been losing on 1800 just 10 lbs ago doing LESS (I wasn't even lifting anything) Now I'm eating 1000 LESS and not losing at all. 10 lbs can't make that big of a difference really?

    Sorry for the confusion on chest/bench -- that makes much more sense now.

    I know that you do have to lower your calories as you lose weight as your BMR and exercise numbers go down as you don't have as much weight to carry/maintain. I wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference, so that's why my guess is that you may have an underlying medical issue.

    One that comes to mind is one I have -- Hashimoto's thyroiditis. It's an autoimmune issue that attacks the thyroid, so you can swing from regular to hypo to hyper depending on the circumstances. So, I could have seen this happen to me if I was in a normal or hyper state then something set off the Hashi's, I swing hypo and weight stops coming off or I start gaining. Do you have any other symptoms other than the weight not budging -- feel cold a lot, constipation, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, dry or brittle skin, hair or nails, etc. (common hypo symptoms)?
  • Squamation
    Squamation Posts: 522 Member
    For all the world I am trying to figure this out and it's driving me insane..

    I eat roughly 1700 / day - hell I'll even say that maybe I eat 1900 just to make up for those things that I occasionally can't weigh (and there are NOT many) I don't eat back any exercise.

    Weight EVERYTHING, Log EVERY THING. It's a pain and annoying but its worth it. If you don't know how to add it then don't eat it.
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
    Weight EVERYTHING, Log EVERY THING. It's a pain and annoying but its worth it. If you don't know how to add it then don't eat it.

    Thanks and now back to real life. Family dinners where I don't cook happen, My boyfriend also cooks from time to time (though normally I weigh out all the ingredients for him first) Your life isn't going to stop just because you want it to. That's why I added the extra 1400 calories a week to my estimates. I doubt HIGHLY that I am over by that much especially considering I have been doing this for almost 2 years I am quite adept at estimating quantities by now.

    There is NO farking WAY that I should be maintaining on 1900 calories and gaining inches when I have been 100% fine losing for the last 72 pounds. I increased exercise, I decreased calories and I don't have a medical issue - no symptoms of anything. I was tested for thyroid issues a few years ago. I am always cold because I lost 72 lbs and I have never slept well even when I was fat so that's not new. I have superfine hair and my nails have never grown so that's normal for me.

    Anyway, I guess I'll starve some more and see how that goes.

    Thanks.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Hi OP. I am in pretty much the exact same situation. Started at 28% bodyfat a month ago doing regular 45 min exercise 6 days a week with a calorie intake (carefully tracked and logged) of right around 1700 and an estimated TDEE of about 2500. At that 700 calorie average daily deficit (taking into account my rest day) I was expecting to lose about a pound to 1.5 pounds a week. Here is what my last month has looked like on the scale:

    "2/20/2014 188
    2/24/2014 186
    2/25/2014 187.4
    2/26/2014 187.4
    2/27/2014 187.6
    2/28/2014 188.6
    3/1/2014 188
    3/2/2014 186.6
    3/3/2014 186.6
    3/4/2014 186.6
    3/5/2014 185.4
    3/6/2014 188
    3/7/2014 188
    3/8/2014 187.6
    3/9/2014 186.2
    3/10/2014 186.2
    3/11/2014 185.4
    3/12/2014 185.4
    3/13/2014 186.6
    3/14/2014 186.6
    3/15/2014 188.6
    3/16/2014 189
    3/17/2014 186.4
    3/18/2014 187.4
    3/20/2014 185.6
    3/21/2014 187.6
    3/22/2014 187.6
    3/23/2014 189.4
    3/24/2014 187.6
    "

    So over a month I netted essentially no change in weight.

    That said what has happened is my abdomen has shrunk from 39'' to 37.5'' and I can pinch less on my body with calipers so my estimated bodyfat dropped from 28% to 25%. I'm guessing what is happening with me is that I with regular weight lifting and exercise my muscles began to start retaining more and more water and with shifts in my diet I may have had more sodium as well. In addition I was supplementing with creatine which is known to recruit something like 2% of your bodyweight as water if you regularly dose.

    Some parts of me gained girth, usually those parts with considerable muscle but little fat retention like bicep and calve while other parts lost girth such as my midsection.

    Honestly if your waist is shrinking I wouldn't worry to much about not losing weight unless that lack of weight loss continues over a long span of time.

    Cheers

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