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

And your sodium is over every day. Have you considered eating a real filling breakfast rather than a 100 cal processed granola bar? It would add some much needed calories and give you fuel/energy to get through your day. For example: some eggs or an omelet with veggies and cheese, oatmeal, Greek yogurt with fruit. You could stand to add 400 cal to your breakfast and still lose weight easily.

I'm certain he could stand to add more than 400 cals and still lose weight.

SODIUM. Your diary even shows you're way over, and it's not even accurate because several items with 0 mg of sodium are actually much higher.

Olive garden breadstick (.5 breadstick): Diary- 0 mg. Reality- (370 mg/2) 185 mg.
Wendys - Ultimate Chicken Grilled Sandwhich (No Bun), 1 sandwich : Diary- 0 mg. Reality: (880 mg burger-330 mg bun) 550 mg.
Quick added calories: Diary- 0 mg. Reality- probably some sodium.

ETA: Just looked at your calories. You are netting way too little. You will lose muscle and your loss will not be sustainable/maintainable unless you add more food. What are your settings on MFP? It tells me to eat 1410 calories a day, net. Usually I net around 1300-1400. If you net under 1200, you're going to have a bad time.

I'm going by the MFP recommendations. I am ~180, wanting to get to 150. I have been there before, but gained it all back over the last year when I stopped exercising and being at all concious of my eating. MFP recommends 1240/day to lose 2 lbs/week currently.

You will gain it all back again unless you start working with net calories. Many people believe that, as you approach your goal, it's better to ease back from a 2 lb a week loss goal to a 1 or .5 lb loss per week goal. At the least, you have to use net calories on exercise days. If you are a bump on a log all day, sure, eat 1240 calories. But if you burn 300 calories, you should be eating 1240 calories + 300 calories. Exercise's function is not to create a larger deficit. You have to feed those muscles.

Also, there's NO WAY you're set to lose 2 lbs per week. Are you rounding? I calculated for a 5'1 male who is your age and 180 lbs, you'd have 1300-1500 to lose 1-2 lbs per week. I picked 5'1 because I have no idea how tall you are, but you're probably not shorter than that.

Also, to reiterate, MFP has set your goal calories if you were SEDENTARY. That means, if you eat back calories burned through exercise, you will still lose 2lbs by netting MFP's number (in theory).

Your body has to have a certain amount of calories to maintain basic functions. Your BMR is is what you burn doing absolutely nothing. You should not eat under that number.

You see you are not killing fat, you are destroying muscle. Your heart is a muscle. That is why eating disorders are so dangerous.

You do not have to starve your body to lose weight.

My mom did what you are doing a lost her hair and destroyed her metabolism. That is a hard thing to recover from.

Do more research.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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: