Exercising but gaining weight - help please

jacque8119 · February 2015

I need some advice please. I am 5’3, 221 lbs and I have been counting calories and exercising for the last month and I have not lost weight.
I had originally set my goal to lose 1.5 lbs per week so my calorie goal was 1600 and I indicated my activity level was “Lightly Active” because I have a desk job but I exercise 4-5 times a week doing an hour of cardio on the elliptical machine at moderate speed. I like to use the 4-3 interval training, 4 minutes of hill, 3 minutes of rest. I have not really incorporated any strength training which might be my issue. I do admit to having a few cheat days so I may not be logging in my calories correctly/accurately. We have eaten out quite a bit recently so who knows how many calories I am actually consuming. Anyway, I realize eating at home, drinking lots of water and adding strength training will be beneficial. I am wondering if I my calorie goal is correct. I just changed it today so I will lose 2 pounds a week. Now my calorie goal is 1350. Is this the right way to go?

deksgrl · February 2015

jacque8119 wrote: »

I do admit to having a few cheat days so I may not be logging in my calories correctly/accurately. We have eaten out quite a bit recently so who knows how many calories I am actually consuming.

This is the problem right here. Tighten up on the logging and you will see results. I would keep it at 1.5 pounds a week. Because this gives you a little bit more you can eat, you are less likely to go off the wagon than if you restrict too much.

wkwebby · February 2015

deksgrl wrote: »

jacque8119 wrote: »

I do admit to having a few cheat days so I may not be logging in my calories correctly/accurately. We have eaten out quite a bit recently so who knows how many calories I am actually consuming.

This is the problem right here. Tighten up on the logging and you will see results. I would keep it at 1.5 pounds a week. Because this gives you a little bit more you can eat, you are less likely to go off the wagon than if you restrict too much.

+1

Buy a food scale and use it every chance you get. The times that you eat out a lot, you won't see a change on the scale, because as you can't get an accurate read on the calories going in. If you only eat out on occasion (1X per week), you should still be seeing some kind of weight loss as long as you are honest and accurate the rest of the week and aren't going completely overboard the one day you eat out.

Water weight retention is a big problem with prepared foods and foods that you find in chain restaurants, so sodium is something you might want to watch as well. Preparing your own food at home is a way to control all of that in order to see your results. Besides, it will save you money in the long run to cook at home instead of eating out.

4legsRbetterthan2 · February 2015

deksgrl wrote: »

jacque8119 wrote: »

I do admit to having a few cheat days so I may not be logging in my calories correctly/accurately. We have eaten out quite a bit recently so who knows how many calories I am actually consuming.

This is the problem right here. Tighten up on the logging and you will see results. I would keep it at 1.5 pounds a week. Because this gives you a little bit more you can eat, you are less likely to go off the wagon than if you restrict too much.

+2

get good at logging and worry about the rest once you have that down

MinnieInMaine · February 2015

You could try the lower calories per day method but why go that route when you haven't really given the previous method a try? Work on making better choices first and after at least 4 weeks, see how you're doing and make changes again if needed. Restaurant food is also loaded with sodium so even if you're staying in your calorie goal, you'll be retaining water.

jacque8119 · February 2015

Thanks for the advise. We did recently buy a food scale so I know that will come in handy. Regarding eating out recently I'm talking just in the last week. Previously, since Jan 1st 2015 I was dieting and not exercising. I had lost 3 pounds. Then I added exercise as of Jan 20th starting with 30 min and progressing to 1 hour and my weight loss stalled.

Nice2BFitAgain · February 2015

Starting a new activity can cause a small bit of weight gain but it should pass as you continue.

Don't change your calorie allotment yet, work on meeting that 1600 kcals as closely as possible. If you go out to a restaurant (most people do) make the best choices possible and try putting 1/2 in a take out container and have the leftovers for another meal. A lot of times when we go to a restaurant my husband and I will split a bacon cheeseburger instead of blowing our goal on 1 each. Every little thing helps you work toward your goal.

Use that scale, log. You will have success.

jacque8119 · February 2015

Thank you!

4legsRbetterthan2 · February 2015

I eat out alot, even durring the periods I was successfully losing. Just try to have a plan before you walk through the door, that way you don't get distracted by the yummy stuff that isn't within your goal. Most places you can find nutrition info for so its not too hard to find a way to make it work.

bwogilvie · February 2015

jacque8119 wrote: »

I had originally set my goal to lose 1.5 lbs per week so my calorie goal was 1600 and I indicated my activity level was “Lightly Active” because I have a desk job but I exercise 4-5 times a week doing an hour of cardio on the elliptical machine at moderate speed.

Do you also log your exercise in MFP? If the answer is yes, and you set your activity level including exercise (as the boldfaced passage implies), you're double-counting exercise calories, once in activity level and then a second time by logging them.

If you don't log exercise separately, then you can include it in your activity level. If you do, then the activity level should exclude exercise. I exercise an hour a day on average, but I set my activity level to "sedentary" because I log exercise separately, and outside of exercise I'm a desk jockey.

jacque8119 · February 2015

Thank you, I didn't realize that. Yes I have been logging in my exercise. I can stop doing that and see if that helps as well.

Pandapotato · February 2015

Yeah, change it back to sedentary and then log your exercise. You can choose whether to eat those calories back or not. If you set it as "lightly active" you're getting a higher daily allotment of calories.

Nice2BFitAgain · February 2015

OR when you log your exercise change calories burned to 1 - that's what I do. That way you aren't thinking you have those extra calories to eat when in fact you don't.

squirrlt · February 2015

" I exercise 4-5 times a week doing an hour of cardio on the elliptical machine at moderate speed. I like to use the 4-3 interval training, 4 minutes of hill, 3 minutes of rest. I have not really incorporated any strength training which might be my issue. "

Depending on your intensity level (you mention moderate speed, but I don't know how intense that is for YOU), after 45 mins of cardio, you run the risk losing muscle mass and raising cortisol levels, which can get in the way of weight loss. Not doing strength training isn't helping preserve your muscle mass either. In addition to double checking yourself on calories as a lot of folks are mentioning, you may want to shorten your cardio sessions and incorporate some strength training. Make sure you eat enough protein too. Hope that helps :-)

cebreisch · February 2015

I'm 5'4", and right at 300. While I think I'm lightly active, I put on MFP "Sedentary." I didn't want to overestimate my activity level according to whatever parameters it thinks is lightly active.

Tighten up on your logging, and become a "food journal Nazi". I have found that when I'm not losing, it's usually because I'm not logging very well.

jacque8119 · February 2015

Thank you everyone for your input! I really appreciate it and plan to make some of the suggested changes. :-)

SueInAz · February 2015

jacque8119 wrote: »

Thank you, I didn't realize that. Yes I have been logging in my exercise. I can stop doing that and see if that helps as well.

This plus the logging inaccuracies are your problem. You're eating at maintenance and not at a deficit. Keep your goals the same and with the adjustments you're about to make you should start to see a loss.

grandmothercharlie · February 2015

I think your calculations are kind of far off, too. Besides not accurately logging, for you at your weight and height, it would be difficult to maintain a 1000 calorie a day deficit and eat 1350 calories.

I am considerably older than you and only 5'1". But I weigh 30 pounds more than you. I have a fairly active job AND do cardio workouts 6-7 days a week from 60-120 minutes a day (I would say at moderate level 3.5-4 mph for walking, stationary bike at 12-14 mph at a little over mid-level, etc.). Even with all that, it is very difficult for me to maintain 1000 calories a day deficit according to my tracker and MFP, too. I have accepted that for me to eat reasonably, I need to accept that my two pounds a week weight loss when I had 115 pounds to lose is now a thing of the past and I can only hope for .5 a week, if that. And that is only if I stick strictly to plan and no screw-ups! Let's face it, 250 calories a day isn't a lot of leeway for error. I like this calculator: weightloss-calculator.net/activity-level-guide/

If I put your stats in the calculator I get that you could only eat about 830 calories a day for a 2 lb. per week loss ( I'm guessing you might be 30 years old.) It shows that at 1330, you could only hope for 1 pound a week. I think your 1350 a day is way off for two pounds a week.

jacque8119 · February 2015

Interesting. I was just going off MFP. I wasnt manually entering how many calories to eat lol. So it's not really ME that's way off, it's MFP. I did also do some calculations from other websites as well that said for me to maintain my current weight I'd have to eat 2623 and my BMR is 1748. So based on those calculations to lose 2 lbs a week I'd need to eat 1623 and that's figuring in the exercise. The website showed a math calculation step by step. It was on www.shape.com. I do know from going to nutritional classes when I was in the military that when you exercise a lot your body needs more energy otherwise you enter a plateau. This happened to me while in the military and I had to lose weight to make rank. I'm just trying to figure in weight loss goal and make sure I'm eating the right amount of calories. I'm 34 btw.

Nice2BFitAgain · February 2015

Are aren't off on calories - I put in 30y.o. / 5'3" / 221# and got a TDEE of 2403; if you take a 20% cut from that you are at 1922 calories to lose.

You need to track food better and not eat back burned calories and you will succeed.

Good luck!!

hamoncan · February 2015

If I was you, I'd just cut out the cheat days for a while until you get a better handle on how things work for you on calorie levels and rate of weight loss. You'll be better able to judge how much you can cheat down the road.

Exercising but gaining weight - help please

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