Under Calorie Goal, and ran 3.3 miles. Still gained, why?!

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  • UmmSqueaky
    UmmSqueaky Posts: 715 Member
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    If you eat too little, you lose fat and muscle. When you reach your goal weight, you end up skinny fat - thinner, but puny and weak.

    The goal isn't to eat as little as possible and lose weight as quickly as possible, cuz then you're shedding muscle. It's to find that magical middle ground where you're eating enough to sustain your daily activities while losing fat and as little muscle as possible. Otherwise we'd all be anorexic here, subsisting on a yogurt and a handful of grapes. Why not, we'd lose weight very quickly right? So why are we all plugging along here for months and years to get to our goal weight if not because we want to do it in a healthy way?
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    I appreciate all the advice, but I'm having a hard time understanding how increasing my calorie intake is going to help me lose weight. I understand it might be healthier, but is it actually going to help me lose weight, or is it going to slow down the weight loss? I assumed the larger the calorie deficit, the better the weight loss results. I am agressive at the goal because I was there once, and I hate that I let myself go back up way too high.
    why do you think you gained the weight back? Because you cut calories too drastically and couldn't stick with it.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    How tall are you? 150 is pretty low for a guy. I picture a really scrawny guy, and that's not really attractive.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    I appreciate all the advice, but I'm having a hard time understanding how increasing my calorie intake is going to help me lose weight. I understand it might be healthier, but is it actually going to help me lose weight, or is it going to slow down the weight loss? I assumed the larger the calorie deficit, the better the weight loss results. I am agressive at the goal because I was there once, and I hate that I let myself go back up way too high.
    \

    What's your end game though? Just to be at a magical number, or to be healthy and look good? If you work with a giant deficit, you will lose much more muscle mass so that when you do hit your "goal weight," you'll just be a flabbier, lighter version of yourself. Also you'll have to eat a lot less to maintain your flabbier, lighter frame because you will have burned through so much lean body mass in the process.

    Why do you think your current approach won't lead to you regaining all your weight like it did the last time?

    My end game is to feel better about how I look. When I hit 150-155, I felt I looked good, and felt good about it. I also planned on actually working on strength and muscle after I got to the weight I wanted to be, and be able to add on weight if necessary at that point. It always seems way easier to gain weight, than to lose it. I figure if I stop or slow my process of losing now, I am screwing that up.


    The thing is, if you lose the weight too quickly, by restricting your calories too much, you will have a proportionally high body fat % when you get to goal weight. Yes it is easy to gain back more weight, but it is NOT easy to gain back more muscle. So you are better off losing the weight more slowly and preserving that lean body mass.
  • wonderwoman234
    wonderwoman234 Posts: 551 Member
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    I agree with the others who are questioning why you are eating so few calories. especially when working out. All it does is slow your weight loss and make it hard to maintain for life.

    The VAST majority of people who lose weight on overly restrictive diets regain the weight plus extra....because you are losing muscle mass along with the fat...which slows your metabolism....as does overly restrictive dieting.
  • fireytiger
    fireytiger Posts: 236 Member
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    PLEASE listen to the people here giving you advice, and eat more! You may need to lose the weight, but if you ever want to make it a permanent change, it needs to be a change to your lifestyle, not a diet. As in, whatever you're doing to lose that weight, you need to be able to live with doing that or close to that the rest of your life. If you are exercising, you need to eat more, period. Your body burns fuel just by you being alive, as in breathing, sitting, going through your day to day activities. So if you exercise on top of that, your body is burning MORE fuel than if you just sat on your butt all day. So in order for your body to just do your day to day living AND the extra exercise, you need to eat more.

    Just to use myself as an example, I had been eating around 1650 calories a day whilst exercising three days a week for an hour of martial arts practice (which is most definitely moderate to high intensity, probably burns about as much as your 3 mile run). I was losing 1.5 to 2 pounds a week doing that and usually only felt hungry when it was time for a meal. Then I decided I wanted to add heavy lifting and running to my routine, because I wanted to get stronger and build up my endurance. So now I work out 6 days a week. I tried to keep my calorie intake at the same level at first, and I ended up STARVING. My weight loss also stalled out. I finally realized what the problem was, I wasn't eating enough to sustain my body. So I increased my calories and once again, I felt satisfied all day, felt good in my workouts, AND guess what? I'm once again losing the weight! :)

    Also, just as a side note, do watch your sodium too. The days where you eat a LOT of sodium (as in, significantly more than the recommended 2300mg a day or less), expect to see the scale to increase and/or stand still for 2-3 days afterwards while your body works out all the excess fluid retention. Drink a lot of water and eat potassium rich foods, and that will help.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    My end game is to feel better about how I look. When I hit 150-155, I felt I looked good, and felt good about it. I also planned on actually working on strength and muscle after I got to the weight I wanted to be, and be able to add on weight if necessary at that point. It always seems way easier to gain weight, than to lose it. I figure if I stop or slow my process of losing now, I am screwing that up.

    The reason I ended up regaining was plain and simple laziness. I stopped running, I stopped even attempting to be sensible on what I ate. When I originally got down to 150, I kept it off for almost a full year. Then my second daughter was born, I had quite a long period of little to no sleep or energy, and I fell into bad habits. At some point, I kept slipping further and further back into my old routine. I honestly don't have a huge problem sticking to my routine when I get it going... I just had a few months of really terrible lack of sleep, and I got really lazy. At my peak I was doing about 8 miles every night, or every other night, and sticking to about 1500 calories a day. I was 12.9% body fat (according to my scale), and I felt great. I never got the strength portion started though.

    I did have a few people say I did look a little too thin. Anyway, here is some reference:

    11 Aug 2012 - 150lbs, 13%BF - http://i.imgur.com/aI2gaAA.png
    29 Jul 2010 - Left Side 240lbs, ???%BF - 11 Nov 2010 Right Side ~175lbs, ???%BF - http://i.imgur.com/MSWnk.jpg

    I really liked how I felt and looked in 2012, and that is what I want to get back to. I got there following everything everyone is saying is wrong on here, and it worked. The only issue I had from 2012 was that I still had some excess stomach flab hanging around, and I had little to no strength anywhere. I could run like a madman, but I couldn't do any other exercises without a ton of effort.
    I understand its a hard to understand that you should eat more but even at the range I told you, you will still lose. The problem when you lose weight too quickly is that you lose lean body mass (muscle, tissue, bone density, water, etc..). When you suppress calories a lot, you will slow you metabolic functions and your total daily energy expenditure (maintenance calories). Now, it's natural that as you lose weight that you will end up lowering your total daily caloric requirements but as you suppress calories a lot, it will drop significantly. This is why it's very easy to gain back after "diets".

    Also, when you lose muscle, you don't lose as much fat. This is why you should work on maintaining your muscle mass with adequate protein and weight lifting. The more muscle you have, the leaner and tighter your body will be. You see much greater changes if your body shape through weight lifting as you would just running. Yes, your lose might slow a little but as least you won't be flabby at 150.
  • ExtremePhobia
    ExtremePhobia Posts: 40
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    Weighing yourself every day doesn't really give you any useful information. You're supposed to drink about a half gallon of water a day which averages about 4 lbs just in water. If you retain some of that water then your body weight can easily fluctuate a few pounds every day just because of this. And if you ran 3.3 miles then you probably drank even more water and had to replace electrolytes which can easily cause water retention.
  • emilyc1892
    emilyc1892 Posts: 11 Member
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    Upping the calories will mean you lose weight slower. However this is GOOD because you will be losing less muscle. If you lose weight too fast, you lose more muscle, and end up looking 'skinny-fat'.

    How tall are you? 150lb is very low for a guy. When you get to that weight, you should think about bulking - eat 200-500kcals above your TDEE and weight train three times a week. Follow a program like Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength. You will gain weight but it will be mostly muscle and a lot of strength :D
  • afortunatedragon
    afortunatedragon Posts: 329 Member
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    1. 1240 cals is too low.
    2. Weighing yourself daily is nonsense. There is a natural fluctuation and two cup of water difference change everything. A weekly weight is enough.
    3. Sounds stupid, but you need to eat to lose weight.
    4. Check what you eat. All Calories are not the same.
    5. As above: How tall are you?
    6. What is your goal? Weight loss, stability, muscle gain?
    7. Do you measure? Says sometimes more about weight loss than the scale.
    8. 1240 cals are too low.
  • RunBakeLove
    RunBakeLove Posts: 101 Member
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    I agree with most of the posters that it is sodium...but not that it is too much. It is because you ran. (Which is not to say you shouldn't run!!) Every time I run, I gain 2-3 lbs the next day. In fact, I started weighing myself every other day just to catch the days where I don't run. After a run, your muscles are trying to recover and hold on to that sodium and water for that reason. It is a necessary part of getting stronger.

    All I can say is water, water, water! It will flush everything correctly and keep you on the losing side. Also, I hope 1240 was net calories? Otherwise, that is probably too low.

    Good luck!
  • greengoddess0123
    greengoddess0123 Posts: 417 Member
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    You say you want to do what worked for you last time, but did that really work? You gained it all back. Maybe this time try something different? Like eating a normal amount of food for an active male human?

    Give it a try. A few months ago I was starving to death and plateau-ing on 1600 calories per day. Now I'm losing 1-2 pounds per week eating 2200-2400 calories per day. That's a diet that I'll be able to continue once I'm at my goal (with some tweaks for changes in body chemistry of course). I have a feeling you would benefit from making similar changes.

    Whatever you choose, good luck! :flowerforyou:

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