Weight GAIN? WTF???

AskTracyAnnK28
AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
edited September 23 in Motivation and Support
I've been 100% on track since I started on 1/2/11...staying at 1200 calories every day and doing pilates 5 times a week. I step on the scale last night and it showed a 3 pound gain since my last weigh in on 1/15

I don't understand where I'm going wrong. I weigh and measure every bit a food and beverage I consume. If I'm going to gain weight, I might as well have a slice of cheesecake and a burger and fries and stop depriving myself.

:-(
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Replies

  • iheartmemories
    iheartmemories Posts: 42
    You are probably gaining muscle, which weighs more than fat!
  • ktbug1186
    ktbug1186 Posts: 266
    Are you making sure to eat back your excercise calories? I'm at 1200 also and i found that if i dont eat all my 1200 my weight stalls!
  • tessb84
    tessb84 Posts: 98 Member
    May just be your sodium intake, try lowering it and see if that helps and drink LOTS of water
  • majikal6
    majikal6 Posts: 72
    As iheartmemories says it could be muscle and for those women who still experience menstration a 2 - 3 lb gain nearing the end of the cycle is very common.

    :flowerforyou:
  • MomsDaily140
    MomsDaily140 Posts: 116
    I've been 100% on track since I started on 1/2/11...staying at 1200 calories every day and doing pilates 5 times a week. I step on the scale last night and it showed a 3 pound gain since my last weigh in on 1/15

    I don't understand where I'm going wrong. I weigh and measure every bit a food and beverage I consume. If I'm going to gain weight, I might as well have a slice of cheesecake and a burger and fries and stop depriving myself.

    :-(

    Are you taking measurements, as well? Don't get frustrated, I have done that, when I start any new form of routine, that is why I HATE the scale. Go by inches also and how your clothes fit.

    ... and as above mentioned - Muscle out weighs fat.... :flowerforyou:
  • MrX8503
    MrX8503 Posts: 67
    That is odd, try this.

    -Weigh yourself the same time of day everytime
    -Apply another form cardio instead of or alongside of pilates.
    -Apply some strength training
  • renaconnor
    renaconnor Posts: 38 Member
    I've gained weight too!!! 2 lbs...I think I'm under-eating, burning about 550 calories a day from exercise and only eating around 1100 calories...I'm trying to up my cals to 1400. Are you adding exercise calories?!
  • Gary6030
    Gary6030 Posts: 593 Member
    check out a post I posted on Fight Water with Water! Hope it helps.
  • TiniTurtle
    TiniTurtle Posts: 595 Member
    due for your period or need to poop? :o/ or are you weighing after eating or in the evening? i find i weigh the least in the mornings before i've eaten or drank anything.
  • taykel810
    taykel810 Posts: 2
    You shouldn't rely totally on your weight to track your progress. You should also measure your neck, waist and hips. Sometimes you may weight more, but your body is getting smaller and more compact. There is a place on here to also track your measurements. :happy:
  • acknan
    acknan Posts: 261 Member
    Reweigh yourself, pay attention to the time of day that you weigh yourself and watch your sodium and water intake. If you just guzzled water and are retaining water from the sodium, it could throw you off. Definitely don't bail on the program. It might take longer for the positive aspects to take effect, but that junk food will 100% set you back! Best of luck!
  • StarryEyedGirl
    StarryEyedGirl Posts: 585
    Eating enough? If you're burning calories you need to eat a bit more! 1200 cals is not a lot!
  • Enigmatica
    Enigmatica Posts: 879 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/160943-why-the-scale-lies =)
  • taletreader
    taletreader Posts: 377 Member
    Frankly, if you're depriving yourself you are doing something wrong and should re-think if this is just a temporary "diet" or a change to a more sustainable life style. If it's the former, you're very likely to gain back your weight and enter the vicious circle of yo-yo dieting.

    You wrote only a few days ago:
    I did too!!! I lost 7 pounds so far (its been 2 weeks) and went to a party Saturday night in Manhattan - I did drink lots (vodka & club soda - which is pretty low in calories) but yesterday I was so hungover I ate very, very poorly. I've been beating myself up over it - hoping I didn't undo all the hard work I've been putting in :-(

    So you already were 7 pounds down in 2 weeks. Some of that was doubtlessly water weight. Then you made a few poor choices, which probably dindn't actually bring back any lost fat, but just caused your body to hold on to some more water. Also, within 3 weeks... where are you in your period?

    Last, before posting, it's always a good idea to search the forums for posts that may give you ideas how to address your problem. "Weight gain" is a good search term. Or just browse. There are multiple similar posts every week.
  • bullmastifflover
    bullmastifflover Posts: 128 Member
    I might as well have a slice of cheesecake and a burger and fries and stop depriving myself.

    Noooooo! I had that attitutde when I needed to only lose 5lbs, and now I need to lose 70lb. I remember feeling the same way...Please learn from my mistakes and keep with it. You won't be sorry. Your period may be coming up or you're retaining too much water...who knows, who cares. You will see results, just be patient.
  • grouch201
    grouch201 Posts: 404 Member
    If you're only eating 1,200 calroies and doing that much exercise, you're not eating enough. You should be at 1,200 calories NET each day. This means either eating back your exercise calories, or eating more to compensate for the calorie burn.

    See this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/161602-why-eat-your-calories-back
  • Jessica_Lo
    Jessica_Lo Posts: 199 Member
    Did you work out before?

    Same thing happened to me. I started xmas week hard core. Had never worked out before. Ever...not every day like I do now. Maybe a step class now and again but here I was running, doing weights, pilates...you name it. I ended up gaining 2 lbs, my clothes were getting tighter, and was like WHOA. My husband kept saying it was muscle but that just didn't make sense. How much muscle and how is it not netting out to some fat loss? No way muscle builds that quickly. Anyway, I did some research and it turns out that when your body does a drastic change like that and your muscles are changing and growing, they end up retaining a lot of water. Extra then normal but after a few weeks they will release it once you keep it up and it realizes this isn't short term. Here I am a month into it finally and losing inches and I'm back down to where I was before. No drastic change but I don't have that much to lose to begin with and am small so it's harder.

    Give it time...keep it up. Don't get discouraged.
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member

    So you already were 7 pounds down in 2 weeks. Some of that was doubtlessly water weight. Then you made a few poor choices, which probably dindn't actually bring back any lost fat, but just caused your body to hold on to some more water. Also, within 3 weeks... where are you in your period?

    My T.O.M. is due on 2/2...so its close
  • jaded_rose
    jaded_rose Posts: 298 Member
    You can put on muscle weight and still loose mass. i would keep track of your measurements and see what happens there.
  • 305muscle
    305muscle Posts: 97 Member
    you gotta watch sugars and sodium very carefully that might just be your problem and maybe you're eating more than what you're burning
  • onehicchic
    onehicchic Posts: 21
    If your body thinks it's not getting enough, it will store fat. Not to mention its not used to the new eating habits and it could do the same.....store fat. I always seem to gain before I lose. I didn't this time, it took a bit to lose 2 pounds. I'm sure hormones can be a factor or too much salt. OR You could be gaining muscle. Muscle is good.
  • StarryEyedGirl
    StarryEyedGirl Posts: 585
    Frankly, if you're depriving yourself you are doing something wrong and should re-think if this is just a temporary "diet" or a change to a more sustainable life style. If it's the former, you're very likely to gain back your weight and enter the vicious circle of yo-yo dieting.

    You wrote only a few days ago:
    I did too!!! I lost 7 pounds so far (its been 2 weeks) and went to a party Saturday night in Manhattan - I did drink lots (vodka & club soda - which is pretty low in calories) but yesterday I was so hungover I ate very, very poorly. I've been beating myself up over it - hoping I didn't undo all the hard work I've been putting in :-(

    So you already were 7 pounds down in 2 weeks. Some of that was doubtlessly water weight. Then you made a few poor choices, which probably dindn't actually bring back any lost fat, but just caused your body to hold on to some more water. Also, within 3 weeks... where are you in your period?

    Last, before posting, it's always a good idea to search the forums for posts that may give you ideas how to address your problem. "Weight gain" is a good search term. Or just browse. There are multiple similar posts every week.

    WHOA!
  • TMR001
    TMR001 Posts: 37
    Don't get discouraged.

    Couple things to think about. I may repeat what others have stated.

    Take your measurements. Pilates is extremely effective at toning and developing muscle so you will definitely want to track your measurements. 1 pound of muscle takes up less space then 1 pound of fat. So you might lose inches and still not show a dramatic change on the scale.

    Water retention: Are you drinking a minimum of the 8 glasses. You may even want to drink 10 or more on your workout days. From all my past experience with losing weight... if I don't drink at least 8 glasses of water a day I will retain a disgusting amount of water weight. The more you workout the more important it is. Don't forget about the time of the month.

    Eating back your calories. Are you eating 1200 calories NET for the day or are you eating 1200 calories period. 1200 is considered by just about every expert to be the bare minimum to support daily sedentary activities NOT including any exercise. So if you are burning 300 calories in an exercise class you should be eating at least 1500 calories on MOST days. If your not your body may decide that there is a massive famine and it better hold onto every ounce of energy it can. Your body stores energy as fat. It seems counter intuitive but eating less really can prevent you from losing weight efficiently.

    Just some thoughts that may or may not apply. But whatever you do hang in there b/c if you keep at it you will lose weight and more importantly INCHES !!!!!

    Good Luck.
  • taletreader
    taletreader Posts: 377 Member
    My T.O.M. is due on 2/2...so its close

    See, it's all good. Just soldier on.

    Maybe don't cut down TOO much. It's a good idea to figure out how many calories you'd have to eat to maintain at your current weight. Or at your goal weight (shhh: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ ... good link). "Fluctuation" is another good search term. It looks to me as if we women fluctuate even more. I've been up 4 pounds in a day after a particularly strenuous *workout*.
  • hotonice
    hotonice Posts: 28 Member
    I'm in the same boat! I was just about to post a topic on this I gained 2 lbs grrr
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
    I do make sure I eat-back the calories I burn from working out...but only eat healthy calories (un-sweetened apple sauce, 2% milk string cheese - stuff like that)

    Since my T.O.M. is due next week, I'll wait until it's over before weighing myself again.

    Sorry for not doing a forum search on the topic. I'm still kinda new here....
  • aggi3guy
    aggi3guy Posts: 5
    Please stop telling her it is muscle people! There is no way that you can gain 3 pounds of muscle in ten days while eating 1200 calories and only doing pilates....not happening! Bodybuilders dont even see those kinds of gains after the initial starting period. Lean muscle gain is normally between 1.5 - 5 pounds per MONTH for a bodybuilder.

    Thats not to say she's doing anything wrong, more than likely she is not weighing in at the same time every weigh-in, she is getting ready to start her period, or is stalling out weight loss by not eating enough. But pure lean muscle, this weight gain is not!
  • MrX8503
    MrX8503 Posts: 67
    Please stop telling her it is muscle people! There is no way that you can gain 3 pounds of muscle in ten days while eating 1200 calories and only doing pilates....not happening! Bodybuilders dont even see those kinds of gains after the initial starting period. Lean muscle gain is normally between 1.5 - 5 pounds per MONTH for a bodybuilder.

    Thats not to say she's doing anything wrong, more than likely she is not weighing in at the same time every weigh-in, she is getting ready to start her period, or is stalling out weight loss by not eating enough. But pure lean muscle, this weight gain is not!
    lol, I was thinking the same thing.
  • 305muscle
    305muscle Posts: 97 Member
    Please stop telling her it is muscle people! There is no way that you can gain 3 pounds of muscle in ten days while eating 1200 calories and only doing pilates....not happening! Bodybuilders dont even see those kinds of gains after the initial starting period. Lean muscle gain is normally between 1.5 - 5 pounds per MONTH for a bodybuilder.

    Thats not to say she's doing anything wrong, more than likely she is not weighing in at the same time every weigh-in, she is getting ready to start her period, or is stalling out weight loss by not eating enough. But pure lean muscle, this weight gain is not!
    THANK YOU
  • meganroseD
    meganroseD Posts: 12
    I too have gained a little weight this week. It is so disheartening. However, I am spending some time reading over everything people have written on here and I have come to the conclusion that I need to measure myself, drink more water and eat more!! I think it is the eating more I will struggle with, although this may actually kick start my weight loss again, which has not really progressed in the last year!

    Good luck.
    Megan
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