I seem to have lost weight?

Gemstone290
Gemstone290 Posts: 19
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Argh, after weeks of doing well with my increased calorie consumption and hardly doing any exercise at all I appear to have lost weight rather than gain it like I want to. Not lost much thankfully but I have been eating more and working out less so I am not a happy bunny right now, the last few weeks have been a struggle to eat as much as I was aiming for and it seems to have had the opposite effect.

I set mfp food diary to gain 0.25 a week I always make sure to put in everything, food and exercise including work and have been doing quite well at hitting my daily net calorie goal, I definitely have been eating more than before and consuming more calories and have not been exercising much at all. I know I should be trying to gain muscle as well but surely I should have gained something and not lost by now? Even if I was just at the same weight I would understand.

Any thoughts/tips etc?

Replies

  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    Our maintainence is more of a range than a set number. When you're gaining the amount of calories you need to do so gradually creeps up.

    Wait a week or two and if you have another loss add a wee bit more calories.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    TDEE calculators and programmes like mfp, are just estimates.

    They give you a starting point. You then need to track for 2 weeks and see what you gained/lost.

    say you ate on av 2100 cals (based on a mfp recommendation) and over two weeks actually lost 1/2 a lb.

    1/2 a lb is 1750 cals roughly, divided by 14 days gives 125 cals/day.

    Therefore your actual maintenance was closer to 2250 in reality. To gain 1/2lb/week you'd have to eat something closer to 2500 based on the data you just gathered (1/2 lb/week = 250 cals surplus/day).

    You have to do something similar with your actual numbers and see how off the mfp set cals are. Then you can adjust and get rolling.

    You'll also notice that you have to keep doing this periodically, because as you gain weight your body will find ways to up your NEAT and burn more cals. I suggest a recalculation every two weeks going forward to keep you rate of gain where you want it.
  • Chrisparadise579
    Chrisparadise579 Posts: 411 Member
    If your current calorie level isnt working go up 100 calories for a week. If you still are not getting the results you want go up another 100 per week until you get the gain that you want tot achieve.
  • Janlo26
    Janlo26 Posts: 30 Member
    TDEE calculators and programmes like mfp, are just estimates.

    They give you a starting point. You then need to track for 2 weeks and see what you gained/lost.

    say you ate on av 2100 cals (based on a mfp recommendation) and over two weeks actually lost 1/2 a lb.

    1/2 a lb is 1750 cals roughly, divided by 14 days gives 125 cals/day.

    Therefore your actual maintenance was closer to 2250 in reality. To gain 1/2lb/week you'd have to eat something closer to 2500 based on the data you just gathered (1/2 lb/week = 250 cals surplus/day).

    You have to do something similar with your actual numbers and see how off the mfp set cals are. Then you can adjust and get rolling.

    You'll also notice that you have to keep doing this periodically, because as you gain weight your body will find ways to up your NEAT and burn more cals. I suggest a recalculation every two weeks going forward to keep you rate of gain where you want it.

    This^

    Keep at it! It took me more than a year to gain the few pounds I wanted and keep it on. You do need to excercise to keep and build muscle - it's the healthy weight you want. Don't forget - muscle weighs more than fat. :)

    All the best!
  • cwoyto123
    cwoyto123 Posts: 308
    Lol eat more, very simple answer!

Categories