Calories not increasing but the scale is!!

chelseaparton
chelseaparton Posts: 18 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm currently at 137lbs. My lowest weight was 126lbs but I don't really want to get that low anymore. Just to around 128/132lbs, my aim is for my body fat (now 21%) to get to around 18% before I begin bulking and gaining muscle.
I'm a Female, 137lbs, 5 foot 8, 20 years old. Currently eating between 1350-1500 calories a day and lightly active. I count my steps using Pacer and log it to make sure my Net calories do not drop below 1200 but I don't eat over 1500 if I can help it.
When I work out, around 2-3 times a week, I usually do about 15-30 minutes cardio burning around 100-150 calories then do some weight training for 30 minutes. On workout days I eat an additional protein shake at around 100calories.
My diet consists of:
Breakfast:
Alpro soya yoghurt with grapes and flaxseed
Lunch:
Wholemeal chicken breast and spinach (sometimes chorizo) sandwich, a banana, sticks of celery and occasionally a packet of crisps
Dinner:
Marinated chicken breast with roasted vegetables and sweet potato (roasted in 20 sprays of 1 cal spray olive oil)
And a protein shake somewhere in the middle
This comes to an intake of just under 1400 calories. I scan and weigh all my food.

When I started to lose weight again I was at 136lbs. After two weeks my weight dropped by 1lb. I thought that the dramatic diet change might have slowed my metabolism and read that eating one cheat meal a week can help keep it boosted. So I decided to have one (chicken and lentil curry with paneer and steamed rice). The next day I returned to my diet and now I have weighed myself and put on 2lbs? Maybe it's just water weight as it's practically impossible to have gained that much 'fat'. It's just annoying that I seem to be getting nowhere.
I have checked several calculators that suggest my TDEE is around 1800-1900 calories per day, so netting around 1300-1400 should be resulting in 1-1.5lbs a week loss but I'm now higher than when I started a month ago.
Can anyone offer advice?
Should I increase my calories to 1500-1600?

Thank you in advance! And good luck to you all! :)

Replies

  • scottacular
    scottacular Posts: 597 Member
    If you want advice, you'll need to open up your diary for public viewing. More often than not, people are able to tell you where you're going wrong just by that. If you're doing anything wrong at all and this isn't just a natural fluctuation.
  • chelseaparton
    chelseaparton Posts: 18 Member
    Thanks for replying. It's open for public viewing now. Just adding that it's only really been the last week or so that I've religiously logged everything. But it should help people get more of an idea I guess
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    You ate a curry .. after low carb / low cal dieting?

    Yup water weight from sodium and re-intro of carbs

    increase your calories 100 a day for a week - then do it again until you find the sweet spot

    How your TDEE can be that low at 5'8 and that activity rate is beyond me though
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    edited March 2015
    It'll just be fluid retention from the curry meal, no need to panic :). Seriously, I had pizza last weekend, took 5 days for the water weight to come off.

    Also 1 lb per week is the most you should be aiming for, more like 0.5. You don't have a lot to lose.

    Just keep plodding on and the weight will shift. It's just stubborn when there's not much to lose. Painfully, painfully stubborn, but you will get there.
  • chelseaparton
    chelseaparton Posts: 18 Member
    Yup I know, regretting the curry right now haha.
    Thanks for the replies, I'll add 100 calories and see how that works out! :)
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