Following MFP Diet, fat/ weight yo-yoing

fnyman628
fnyman628 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 10 in Health and Weight Loss
So when I first joined and followed MFP, I never went over my calories, worked out 6 days a week and lost 5 pounds after 2 weeks. In week 3 I noticed my weight stayed the same or went up. I thought I wasn't taking in enough calories, MFP suggested 1540 calories. Week 4 I redid my profile with more specifics. I entered 5'10" 173 lbs, very active, and lowered weight loss goal from 2 pounds down to .5 pounds lost a week. Working out 6 days a week, MFP now says I need about 2210 calories a day.

I have followed that latest diet and eat back all the calories I burn through exercise. I always try to come in with in 80-100 calories of my goal with out going over. I weighed in today and went from 173 to 174.6. Not sure why I gained and am a little disappointed.

The only thing I have been over on is sodium maybe 3 or 4 days a week, coming in around 3100mg. Is it possible the offset in weight is the lean muscle I have definitely gained taking the place of the fat I was burning? Or is the sodium making me hang on to that last bit of belly fat?

My shoulders and arms have definitely gotten bigger and more muscular after 5 weeks of circuit training. I am just having a hard time getting the belly fat off. Should I reduce to 1900 calories a day or is there anything else I can do???

Confused and discouraged...

Replies

  • _Kitten_Kate
    _Kitten_Kate Posts: 520 Member
    From what I have been told by others on here is that yes muscle weighs more than fat. Also that when you are working with wts the muscles get tiny tears in them(helps them rebuild) but those tears hold water while rebuilding.
    If you have more sodium than usual....then it could be retention... but if that is your normal sodium in take... you probably won't see it in the scale.
    I have had the same thing... Lost five lbs in a month... but stalled.... changed my goal.... changed my cals.... up'd them to spur my metabolism... but...?? who knows what the right answer is.

    Best of luck to you!
  • tltate
    tltate Posts: 20 Member
    I read an article recently that says that belly fat is the last to go for men. The body has to use up it's fat stores, and no amount of sit-ups or crunches will make it go any faster.

    You can check it out: http://www.naturalnews.com/006981_abdominal_fat_body.html

    I'm just starting so I have a way to go. Hopefully the article will encourage you. It did for me.

    Tony
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    I would suggest changing your activity status from "very active" to "active" or less. Unless you are a hard laborer for work, putting very active plus exercise in is probably overestimating your burn calories. I walk 10k steps a day and only use "lightly active".
  • hmadrone
    hmadrone Posts: 129 Member
    If the plateau isn't very long, consider it your and your body's chance to catch its breath before the next downswing. Take a deep breath and give your current program a week or two to start moving again.

    Meanwhile, you can check what you're doing to make sure that your numbers match reality.

    It's really easy to overestimate the calories we burn and underestimate the calories we consume. Weighing portions before consuming them can put a reality check on the input side. Are you really logging everything you put in your mouth?

    The MFP calorie burn estimates have always seemed unbelievably high to me. I cross-check my calorie numbers at:

    http://www.everydayhealth.com/food-fitness/calories-burned

    Our bodies do adapt to new regimens. They are marvelous machines that can adjust their burn rates to our inputs. When we do the same kind of exercise over and over, our bodies get more efficient at it.

    Mixing things up, both in terms of calorie consumption and in terms of types and amounts of exercise, can help shake our bodies up. After you've checked your numbers, you might want to swap out habitual meals or types of exercise for something new.

    If you are close to maintenance weight, you might want to toss in a re-feed day every 4-10 days. On that day, you consume 300-500 more calories than you do on your calorie deficit days. You aim for TDEE or a little higher to reassure your body that there's plenty of food out there and it doesn't need to hang onto the fat quite so hard.

    Muscle is denser than fat, but most people on deficit diets lose muscle as fast or faster than they lose fat. Strength training with a deficit diet helps slow down the muscle loss, but it doesn't usually stop it. Even most serious bodybuilders have building phases for building muscle and cutting phases for cutting fat. Mesomorphs can lose fat at the same time they build muscle (I've done so myself during serious training), but it's not what's going on when you hit a weight loss plateau.

    You can also make sure you're doing the 1%ers -- the things that won't make you lose weight all by themselves but that help support your body in its efforts. Drinking your water, getting plenty of sleep, taking time for relaxation, breathing deep, fresh air, sunshine. You can also play with your macros to find the best balance for your body. There's been a fair amount of research on how the timing of your meals can assist with fat loss, so you can look into that.
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    A two week timeframe is not long enough to freak out because bowels, hormones, sodium, water retention, exercise, etc., effect the rate at which your body burns fat calories. Drink plenty of water to flush the sodium and have patience and give yourself and your body the time it needs to do its job. Your original way was working and you should stick to it. This link is long but well worth the time to read:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
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