why am I gaining weight??

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I am getting very frustrated. I started my diet in Jan. 2013 and lost 100lbs. I was doing the visalus shakes and my calorie consumption was 1200 a day. I exercised 5 days a week and burned 800n
calories per workout. I hit my goal weight in feb. 2014 and decided to stop the shakes and increase calories to 1450 a day eating completely clean with a low sodium diet and still burning 800 calories per workout 5 days week . Since this change the scale says i have gained 13lbs!! I dont see how. I thought at first it was the adjustment from shakes to real food but its been 2 months and i dont see how the extra 250 calories could do it since i was trying to maintain now. Someone please help!!!
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Replies

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    Are you weighing your solids and measuring your liquids???

    How many shakes a day were you consuming?

    How do you measure you calorie burns? and what kind of exercise is it?
  • jazlmay
    jazlmay Posts: 7 Member
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    I had one shake for breakfast and one shake for lunch. I only drink water which i measure and all my food is measured so i know exact calorie consumption. For exercise i do 400 calories on elliptical 5 days a week and im also doing the p90x 5 days a week a i wear a polar watch to show calories burned
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    Just to clarify, have you not seen any loss from the increased 13lbs when you changed over, or are losing from there?

    ETA if you open your diary it might help too
  • debr1126
    debr1126 Posts: 28 Member
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    Sorry if this is a dumb question, but did you adjust your stats on the Polar watch to reflect your current weight?
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    If you have dropped 100 pounds in weight then your BMR has changed substantially and any workouts you do are burning likely less calories as well unless you have increased their intensity.

    That said it does seem unlikely that you would put on fat weight (if that's where that weight comes from) at just 1450 cal a day while also working out.
  • CariS001
    CariS001 Posts: 169 Member
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    What did you do for dinners for that year?

    My immediate thought is that a full year on that diet with no diet breaks, you may have torched your metabolism.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    I don't know how long it took you to put on 13 pounds but its possible by eating more and eating solid foods you stopped from burning up both fat and muscle on your shake diet to actually putting on some muscle on the new diet.

    So have you noticed any change in your waist size when you put on this 13 pounds?

    Also...800 calories in a single workout? That seems really...really...really high. I do 55 min of heavy aerobic cardio as a 6' tall man and I think I burn about 400 cal doing that.
  • jazlmay
    jazlmay Posts: 7 Member
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    I have gained 13 pounds in the last 2 months and its not going back down. For dinners I eat chicken and veggies and lean meat which I always have. Yes my settings on my polar watch match my current weight. For exercise i exercise twice a day 5 days a week and burn 400 calories per work out to equal the 800 a day
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    You mean you eat 1450 calories NET right, taking into account the amount you burn during workout. You aren't just eating 1450 calories AND working out hard on top of that without eating it back right because really that is just going to hurt you.

    Also I'm pretty sure anything that measures calories burned like polar watches do it on top of your BMR. Meaning if you work out for an hour and it reads 400 cal burned but then you wear it for an hour sitting on the couch and it reads you burned 200 cal then really your workout only burned 200 calories extra past your BMR level.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Cuz, netting only 550 calories.
  • jazlmay
    jazlmay Posts: 7 Member
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    Sadly I dont eat back my calories I am on the fence with that debate. Also I only wear my polar watch while I work out
  • jazlmay
    jazlmay Posts: 7 Member
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    Correct im only netting 550 but I still dont understand the weight gain
  • ladykaisa
    ladykaisa Posts: 236 Member
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    Have your measurements changed? Are your cloths tighter?
  • jazlmay
    jazlmay Posts: 7 Member
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    No measurements are the same but pants feel a little tighter which I dont get either but I think Im being paranoid on that issue
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    I don't mean to alarm or be rude but if you ate only 1200 calories a day for 1 year while simultaneously burning ~800 calories a day with exercise for 5 days a week that means that in a week you net just 3400 calories or an average of 486 calories a day. That is starving yourself plain and simple. You will lose weight rapidly doing that sure but that weight will be both fat AND muscle AND bone density. You will drop weight but you will also become weaker, your metabolism will slow, you will have less energy (although that loss of energy might be somewhat masked by being lighter from the weight loss). Eventually you are going to burn yourself down to your essential muscle at which point your body will start to suffer from malnutrition and you can really harm yourself. Your body will literally start shutting down you will be extremely tired and your metabolism will drop through the floor as your body does what it can to hold onto any bit of fuel it can.

    You aren't going to like this advice but really what you need to do is throw away the scale, eat more food, continue with light exercise and build a little muscle back...get back energy. You will put on weight but eventually that weight loss will slow as your metabolism revives and you put some muscle back and eventually you will resume weight loss once more at that elevated calorie level while having energy. Upping your calories and switching to whole foods is heading the right direction but really if you are only eating 1450 and working out that much you need to eat even more.

    If I misunderstood and you mean you net 1200 a day and now net 1450 a day then that's okay.

    How is your energy level though? Are you getting stronger from your workouts? Do you find yourself tired throughout the day?
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    At this point I would suggest going to see a Dr. You have been eating well below BMR for a good long while. There is no way you are putting on fat or muscle which means your body is retaining large amounts of water and that is not a good thing. Go see a Dr. or nutritionist, or both.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    At this point I would suggest going to see a Dr. You have been eating well below BMR for a good long while. There is no way you are putting on fat or muscle which means your body is retaining large amounts of water and that is not a good thing. Go see a Dr. or nutritionist, or both.

    Yeah I agree with this. I had only suggested putting on muscle when I thought you were netting 1450 and that that was above your BMR. I don't think what you are doing is particularly healthy and you might want to consult your doctor on it if you haven't already. Get a physical, find out what your levels are and if you are malnourished.
  • ladykaisa
    ladykaisa Posts: 236 Member
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    I don't mean to alarm or be rude but if you ate only 1200 calories a day for 1 year while simultaneously burning ~800 calories a day with exercise for 5 days a week that means that in a week you net just 3400 calories or an average of 486 calories a day. That is starving yourself plain and simple.

    I must have read the original post wrong....


    THIS. Please
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    You were under eating for 13 months, and then you raised calories, but still not enough to sustain the amount of energy you need. Maintenance should be more that 1450 calories. For an active young woman it should be over 2,000.

    When you put stress on your body (including stress from diet and exercise) your body produces excess Cortisol which is a hormone. Raised cortisol levels over time can cause you to gain weight.

    You may need to take a diet break to try to reset your body and get the hormones balanced, then take a reasonable deficit (to lose half a pound a week) to take off the 13 pounds you gained.
  • claptrap_beepboop
    claptrap_beepboop Posts: 11 Member
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    This is something I did when I was diagnosed with an eating disorder. This is not normal dieting, and you will gain back all your weight plus more when you start eating normally again.