HELP - weight gain after eating better and exercise

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kellybigbelly19
kellybigbelly19 Posts: 6
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

So, I started eating better just over a week ago now, by better i mean less bread, no takeaways, no goodies - more veggies and fruit and drinking 2 litres of water a day. I also started exercising again on Friday spending about an hour in the gym 200-300 calories and then a 20 minute walk home afterwards. I started off weighing 76 kg/ 11 stone.13 lbs when i weighed myself on Friday and then i weighed myself last night with the same scales and they told me i have gained a 1kg so i am now 77kg/12 stone 2lbs. I dont understand how i have put on weight, i understand the weight isnt going to drop off instantly, but i would have hoped to atleast stay the same instead of gaining. Is there anything i can do differently? I have read things on water retention - could this be the case? Also if so, how can i stop my body from retaining the water?

Any help would be really really appreciated as im already feeling demotivated - but i know i need to keep it up!!

Feel free to add me also if you have any advice!!
Thank you

Kelly

Replies

  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    1) Weight fluctuates so a bit less or more over a week, it is normal.
    2) Eating "better" is great for your health, but not enough to lose weight. Use a scale, measure everythign and count calories, at least unless you get really good at estimating.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
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    First it's been a week! Now eating better as you call it does not mean you are in a calorie deficit. You also do not need to give up any foods you just need to log them accurately maintain a reasonable deficit and have patience.

    Your diary isn't open so can't see how your logging is but you might want to read this step by step guide:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide?hl=logging+accurately

    And here's 2 more links that have great information:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here

    Good luck
  • kellybigbelly19
    kellybigbelly19 Posts: 6
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    Thank your for yor response !

    What should I be eating to lose weight?
  • Frood42
    Frood42 Posts: 245 Member
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    Try to avoid weighing yourself too often, try once a week on the same day at most, as weight can fluctuate quite a bit each day.

    Its only been a week, and you have decided to make a shake up in both your diet and activity level, the first couple of weeks are normally mostly water weight loss anyway so you will need to learn some patience.

    If your body is retaining water, it is doing it for a reason, like for muscle repair.

    Give it a month, making sure you log your food properly, and if at the end of the month you are maintaining or gaining then you will want to re-evaluate the number of calories you are consuming.
    .
  • Phill2488
    Phill2488 Posts: 97 Member
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    The weight gain is temporary - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/128737-temporary-weight-gain-explained
  • silburnl
    silburnl Posts: 2 Member
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    Two weighings one week apart isn't enough to establish a reliable baseline.

    Like aggelikik says, your weight fluctuates around a central point both within the day and across longer time periods as well. It's easily possible to be 1kg out depending on whether you weighed yourself first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Plus there's obvious stuff (in hindsight at least) like undressed vs dressed or just drunk a glass of water vs just taken a pee.

    By all means weigh yourself regularly - you can log your weigh-ins on this web-site and then graph your weight over time using the 'Reports' tab, but understand that the sawtooth zig-zags you will see on the graphs are the noise introduced by these daily/weekly/monthly cycles; what is most useful and relevant is the trend line that emerges once you build up a decent number of data points.

    Also if you are serious about bumping up your activity levels, then you will likely gain weight (or at least lose weight more slowly) as you swap fatty tissue for lean muscle. While a lot of people focus on body weight (understandable because it is easily measured) it's a secondary attribute really, the desired end state is a toned, athletic body and a healthy routine that permits you to keep that toned athletic body in good condition. If in a year's time you have dropped three sizes and can run 5k in 25 minutes will you really care if you still weigh >70kg?
  • GillianMcK
    GillianMcK Posts: 401 Member
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    You need to calculate you TDEE to get a better idea of how many calories you should be looking to eat (deduct 20% for weight loss), program that into MFP as your calorie goal and then weigh and log everything so that you know you're within your calorie goal.
    Just because the food is healthy doesn't mean that you aren't still over eating (i.e. pine nuts are good for you because of the fat they contain, however eating 100g of them is still massive amounts of calories and most of it from fat, eating 10g would be better assuming it still fits into your calorie goal).

    The average woman needs 2000cal a day, if you don't want to calculate your TDEE (I got a body fat analysis done instead and it told me my BMR and how many calories I need to take to maintain that so I could calculate from there how many I needed to cut) try taking your calorie intake to 1800 calories for a month (my macros are 45% carbs, 25% protein and and 30% fat).

    Log your exercise as well and make sure you eat back some of the calories burned by exercise and allow a month (at least 2 weeks) before you decide if you need to cut again.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
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    Thank your for yor response !

    What should I be eating to lose weight?

    To lose weight you can eat all the foods you were eating just smaller amounts of them. You don't have to eliminate any types of food, learn portion control, weigh your food, log your food, and enjoy every delicious bite of it.

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