Frustration over weight gain

sburkindine
Posts: 3
I'm a 5'3", 37 yr old female who has been on medifast, a ketogenic diet, until this past January. I started at 165lbs last May and had gotten down to 151, but bounced back up to around 153. When I started this program, I was doing a lot of walking, mostly speedwalking, but started doing a lot more running last fall. I was also doing more HIIT work on the treadmill doing sprints. I was told by my counselor on the medifast diet, that I was not eating enough calories (~1000 cal/day) and with the moderate exercise that I was doing, I wasn't eating enough. I increased by about 200 cal/day but had started to gain weight. At that time, I found out I was pregnant and came off of the medifast plan to avoid ketosis during pregnancy. I started my fitness pal again and decreased my exercise to just speedwalking (~9-12miles/wk). I ended up having a miscarriage ~10wks and began trying to lose weigh again with my fitness pal. I started running (trying to work up to 10mi run) and continuing my speedwalking. My goal was to lose 1lb/week and so my diary suggested 1390cal/day. I religiously counted my calories and bought a food scale. I average ~15-20miles/week running and ~4miles/week walking. I have started to gain weight and inches and so I changed my goals to losing 2lbs/week, which dropped my calories down to 1200cal/day. I have been eating calories back when I exercise to avoid eating too little for my activity on any particular day, but I don't tend to go over the allotted amount. I drink more than 64oz of water per day. I'm very frustrated as I'd like to see results after all of my hardwork. I don't understand why I'm gaining weight and inches at 1200cal/day despite my exercise. With all of this, why am I gaining and not at the very least just maintaining? How can I get this situation turned around?
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Replies
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Sorry to hear about your miscarriage...
How long ago did you change to 1200 cal/day?
Where do you get the numbers for calorie burns? (MFP, treadmill, FitBit, HRM?)0 -
I got my calorie numbers from MFP, which are lower than the treadmill that I run on and lower than the nike app that I use during my speedwalks. I just read an article that said that if you run/walk on the treadmill, it decreases the amount of energy your body uses by about 10-15% compared to running outside. So, this week, I just started editing my calorie numbers on MFP to correct to 85% of what the treadmill says (which is lower than MFP). I lowered to 1200 cal/day 2 wks ago and since then, I've gained 1.8lbs. I've spoken with my doctor and had blood work performed. All was normal including my thyroid level. He told me that I'm probably underestimating my calories/proportions, but I've been using my food scale for at least 6 months now.
I only add the miscarriage note because I'm not sure if this adds to the picture because of hormonal fluctuations, but thank you for your kind words. Again, I'm frustrated and the only high note about this whole escapade of weight loss (as I've been losing weight and gaining weight since I was in high school) is that I'm so proud of myself that I've getting closer to my goal of being able to run 10miles at once (albeit at a slower pace). Just ran 8miles and walked 1 mile this morning. This is seriously the only thing that is motivating me right now.0 -
You mentioned using a food scale so I won't pester you on that.
For the 2 weeks, 1.8 pound weight 'gain' its not certain that its a real gain. High sodium, hormones, etc. can wreak havoc on the scale and show temporary water weight. Either a 1 pound per week goal & eat some exercise calories, or 2 pounds per week goal and eat ALL exercise calories. (End result is probably about the same.)
If its only been 2 weeks, I'd say to keep at it. Give it 2-3 weeks more. Keep weighing foods, but also be careful of MFP database entries (watch out for user errors) and portion sizes on packaged foods. Such as when they say 1 serving = 100g, servings per package approx. 1. If the package is 125g enter it as 1.25 servings.0 -
That's a good thought. I really don't weigh pre-packaged items as I'm assuming that the portions are accurate. I guess I should know better!:) I will work on that and try to keep my head up on this whole issue and give it some time. Thanks for the encouragement!0
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So sorry to hear about your miscarriage. Maybe your body just needs some time to adjust to all the changes it's been going through. Between the medifast diet and miscarriage...that's a lot of stress on your body. I would just be patient and continue to log everything the way you have been doing. Eat healthy, drink lot's of water, sensible exercise and plenty of rest. Take care!0
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When you say that you eat back exercise calories, are you using the MFP calculations for exercise? Or are you using a heart rate monitor? I notice that MFP tends to over estimate the calories burned during exercise. I would only eat back half. I also think hormones could be at play here.
I'm very sorry for your loss.0
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