Lost 3 inches off belly... but gained 8lbs?!

emilygoose33
emilygoose33 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hiya,

I've currently been exercising and healthy eating on the current programme I'm following for about 7 weeks now, in order to tone up for bikini season. In terms of exercise, I am following the '8 week HIIT running programme' which involves sprinting in intervals with shorter rest periods and more reps every 2 weeks, and I do this 5x a week. I hardly do any strength training as I have no weights and my uni room is too small to do anything more than a half-arsed sit-up or squat!
For my diet, I have cut out all red meat and processed sugary foods apart from a small treat on a Saturday or Sunday. My typically daily diet consists of yoghurt and fruit for brekkie, a wholemeal pita bread with hummus and rocket or spinach with a piece of fruit and a big handful of unsalted pistachios for lunch, and a hot meal for dinner like a chilli, curry or pasta dish.

I have resisted the urge to weigh myself until today, and have been ecstatic with my losses from my waist, navel, hips and thighs. But 8lbs since I last weighed myself around Easter at my parents house seems like a lot?! I know muscle weighs more per square inch or whatever than fat, but surely I can't be building that much when the bulk of my exercise is cardio?

This weight gain has caused my BMI to increase closer and closer to that 'overweight' stage, which is why I'm a bit worried.

Thanks!

Replies

  • kalbo798
    kalbo798 Posts: 58 Member
    recent increased sodium intake?, different scale? different clothing? IDK what it is but it isn't muscle.. Not even a guy would gain muscle that fast. Respectfully.
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
    Kind of obvious, but it sounds like at Easter you weighed yourself on a different scale than now (in your parents' house)? So one of them could very very easily be wrong. May be double-check elsewhere? By the reported loss in inches, I am assuming your parents' scale was lower than real. Add to that that if you weighed more dehydrated and with emptier stomach and bowels there, that alone can add up to 4 pounds easily.
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    edited May 2015
    As a start it doesn't really matter what you eat for losing fat. The days before you go out in something it may be worth staying away from sodium and salt to drop water weight but for fat loss it's calories in vs calories out. Track how many calories you are eating, a deficit will lose you lbs.

    As for the 8lb gain, you may be retaining more water to repair your muscles after exercising, you may also be retaining more water than usual depending on what you have been eating the past few days but my number one guess is the scales are different. You need to weigh yourself in the same conditions too see linear progress. For me, I usually weigh myself around mid day, fully fasted and wearing boxers. If I then weighed myself at 8pm I'd likely have a lot more water retention than when I was fasted, giving me a much higher reading.

    As you lost inches I doubt you have gained weight.
  • ObiWanJacoby_
    ObiWanJacoby_ Posts: 56 Member
    I agree with what everyone has mentioned. It's like when you're doing a study and you have controlled variables. Here the controls are the scale, time of day you weigh yourself, and what you're wearing. I personally weigh myself every morning naked and using the bathroom. Finding a consistent method will give you the most consistent numbers and then you can figure out from there what's going on.

    Good luck and keep going!!!
  • emilygoose33
    emilygoose33 Posts: 8 Member
    edited May 2015
    kalbo798 wrote: »
    recent increased sodium intake?, different scale? different clothing? IDK what it is but it isn't muscle.. Not even a guy would gain muscle that fast. Respectfully.

    I know it can't be muscle which is why I was wondering! I'm doing little to no strength training due to space and financial constraints haha
    Wiseandcurious wrote: »
    Kind of obvious, but it sounds like at Easter you weighed yourself on a different scale than now (in your parents' house)? So one of them could very very easily be wrong. May be double-check elsewhere? By the reported loss in inches, I am assuming your parents' scale was lower than real. Add to that that if you weighed more dehydrated and with emptier stomach and bowels there, that alone can add up to 4 pounds easily.

    It was a different scale, my parents' are digital and I've just purchased a mechanical one as I believe they are more accurate? The only other place I can get weighed is Boots or something but that would mean going in clothes and probably eating beforehand as the closest to me is in the city centre. I knew I put weight on in my first semester of uni but not that much haha!
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    As a start it doesn't really matter what you eat for losing fat. The days before you go out in something it may be worth staying away from sodium and salt to drop water weight but for fat loss it's calories in vs calories out. Track how many calories you are eating, a deficit will lose you lbs.

    As for the 8lb gain, you may be retaining more water to repair your muscles after exercising, you may also be retaining more water than usual depending on what you have been eating the past few days but my number one guess is the scales are different. You need to weigh yourself in the same conditions too see linear progress. For me, I usually weigh myself around mid day, fully fasted and wearing boxers. If I then weighed myself at 8pm I'd likely have a lot more water retention than when I was fasted, giving me a much higher reading.

    As you lost inches I doubt you have gained weight.

    Thank you for your detailed post. You said that calories are more important than what you are really eating... how do you know how many calories to consume? I haven't counted calories properly for ages as when I was younger and less informed I had a tendency to try and get under 1200 which isn't beneficial. I'm 5"11 and 168lbs, is 1600 a good value or should it be more/less? I'm pretty clueless!
  • emilygoose33
    emilygoose33 Posts: 8 Member
    ObiWanJacoby_ wrote: »
    I agree with what everyone has mentioned. It's like when you're doing a study and you have controlled variables. Here the controls are the scale, time of day you weigh yourself, and what you're wearing. I personally weigh myself every morning naked and using the bathroom. Finding a consistent method will give you the most consistent numbers and then you can figure out from there what's going on.

    Good luck and keep going!!!

    Thank you, I must have really been in denial about how much weight I put on whilst at uni! Because I'm tall I don't look physically fat, but clearly all the cider and chips have been going somewhere!
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    edited May 2015
    emilygoose33 wrote: »
    kalbo798 wrote: »
    recent increased sodium intake?, different scale? different clothing? IDK what it is but it isn't muscle.. Not even a guy would gain muscle that fast. Respectfully.

    I know it can't be muscle which is why I was wondering! I'm doing little to no strength training due to space and financial constraints haha
    Wiseandcurious wrote: »
    Kind of obvious, but it sounds like at Easter you weighed yourself on a different scale than now (in your parents' house)? So one of them could very very easily be wrong. May be double-check elsewhere? By the reported loss in inches, I am assuming your parents' scale was lower than real. Add to that that if you weighed more dehydrated and with emptier stomach and bowels there, that alone can add up to 4 pounds easily.

    It was a different scale, my parents' are digital and I've just purchased a mechanical one as I believe they are more accurate? The only other place I can get weighed is Boots or something but that would mean going in clothes and probably eating beforehand as the closest to me is in the city centre. I knew I put weight on in my first semester of uni but not that much haha!
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    As a start it doesn't really matter what you eat for losing fat. The days before you go out in something it may be worth staying away from sodium and salt to drop water weight but for fat loss it's calories in vs calories out. Track how many calories you are eating, a deficit will lose you lbs.

    As for the 8lb gain, you may be retaining more water to repair your muscles after exercising, you may also be retaining more water than usual depending on what you have been eating the past few days but my number one guess is the scales are different. You need to weigh yourself in the same conditions too see linear progress. For me, I usually weigh myself around mid day, fully fasted and wearing boxers. If I then weighed myself at 8pm I'd likely have a lot more water retention than when I was fasted, giving me a much higher reading.

    As you lost inches I doubt you have gained weight.

    Thank you for your detailed post. You said that calories are more important than what you are really eating... how do you know how many calories to consume? I haven't counted calories properly for ages as when I was younger and less informed I had a tendency to try and get under 1200 which isn't beneficial. I'm 5"11 and 168lbs, is 1600 a good value or should it be more/less? I'm pretty clueless!

    Use a TDEE calculator, input your stats accurately and to lose 1lb of fat per week minus 500 calories from the TDEE (make sure you don't eat below your BMR)

    At 5'11 I'd say if you are moderately active you should probably eat around 1700-1800ish, although it depends on your exercise level!

    http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
  • hutchy100
    hutchy100 Posts: 103 Member
    I wouldn't worry about the Bmi at all , it says I should be 12 Stone max , I'm 6'1 used to play rugby and keep myself fit and I'm fitter than ppl with a healthy Bmi and I'd never in this world get to 12 stone
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    ObiWanJacoby_ wrote: »
    I personally weigh myself every morning naked and using the bathroom.

    <---trying to picture that!> o:)
  • daaaaaanielle
    daaaaaanielle Posts: 114 Member
    edited May 2015
    The difference in weight is almost definitely down to the different scales. I measure myself with the same scales in the same location (I live in an old tenement so sometimes the floors can be mildly uneven), same time, same day and no clothes on. This totally elimates those as variables.

    I'm 5ft 10 and weigh about 163lbs. For me to lose 1lb a week, MFP gives me 1460 to eat a day with just shy of 2000 being maintenance for me.

    You'll be burning a fair amount of calories doing that exercise you mentioned. It's up to you if you want to bother trying to estimate the calories burned with that. If you don't want to bother measuring calories, you can definitely go with a higher goal.

    I initially tried 1200 but that wasn't working for me. I'm now on 1460 net as my goal and I eat back my exercise calories which means I average about 1700 calories eaten total each day. If I wasn't tracking them at all, I'd probably aim for about 1600 calories a day or so.

    It might be worth tracking your calories and aiming for something like 1600 or so and seeing how it goes for a few weeks. 1600 will definitely be a deficit if you're active so you will lose something. A loss of anything over 2lbs a week, other than inital water weight, is too quickly for anyone who isn't very heavy. If you find that you're losing too quickly (either in general or for your preference), adjust your calorie goal up, and conversely, if you're losing very slowly, adjust it down. You'll hopefuly find a calorie goal that still allows you to eat the way you want. If you don't, you'll have to make a decision about what's more important to you.

    I wanted to lose 2lbs a week initially but I found that 1200 calories was just too little for me to still eat the foods I like and I would routinely go over. Part of the going over came from big portions, being a bit lax in my logging, etc. I learned to control my portions a bit better and spread my calories out a little more evenly during the day to reduce the likelihood of binges/cravings but 1200 still felt too restrictive for me. I increased to 1460 so that even on days I don't exercise, I don't feel too restricted in what I can eat. This does mean my loss will be a bit slower than I originally had hoped, but I still have enough wiggle room for bigger portions of pasta, some ice cream, biscuits, etc. Often my net calories ends up underneath 1460 if I don't eat back all of my exercise calories but having that leeway has been a big help.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    emilygoose33 wrote: »
    ObiWanJacoby_ wrote: »
    Thank you, I must have really been in denial about how much weight I put on whilst at uni! Because I'm tall I don't look physically fat, but clearly all the cider and chips have been going somewhere!
    There's a reason it's called The Freshman Fifteen. ;)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    You said that calories are more important than what you are really eating... how do you know how many calories to consume? I haven't counted calories properly for ages as when I was younger and less informed I had a tendency to try and get under 1200 which isn't beneficial. I'm 5"11 and 168lbs, is 1600 a good value or should it be more/less? I'm pretty clueless!

    To set my calorie goals, I just go through the MFP setup: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    For me, what I eat IS important - the less flour and sugar I eat, the better I do. Eating more protein, fat and complex carbs keeps me satisfied and fuller longer and gives me more energy to exercise more.

    I have my macros set at 40% carbs, 35% fat, and 35% protein. At the end of the day, I've invariably gone over my fat a little, and have calories, carbs, and protein left over.

    I log exercise and eat some of those calories.

  • emilygoose33
    emilygoose33 Posts: 8 Member
    Hi all, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their posts. I guess I just freaked out by the number on the screen a little bit! But I went shopping yesterday and discovered I've dropped a dress size to become a 12 rather than a 12 on top and 14 on the bottom! Which means so much more to me than weight :)
  • ObiWanJacoby_
    ObiWanJacoby_ Posts: 56 Member
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    ObiWanJacoby_ wrote: »
    I personally weigh myself every morning naked and using the bathroom.

    <---trying to picture that!> o:)

    That's the worst typo ever in the history of MFP.... LOL

  • DeniseB0711
    DeniseB0711 Posts: 294 Member
    If it is an consolation. I lost 4 inches from my waist doing HipHop Abs and didn't lose one pound. Was it nice to know my pants fit again, Yes.
  • daaaaaanielle
    daaaaaanielle Posts: 114 Member
    emilygoose33 wrote: »
    Hi all, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their posts. I guess I just freaked out by the number on the screen a little bit! But I went shopping yesterday and discovered I've dropped a dress size to become a 12 rather than a 12 on top and 14 on the bottom! Which means so much more to me than weight :)

    I have a "benchmark" pair of trousers that I use for this hah. They're a size 12 and I used to fit into them. They disappeared into the back of my wardrobe and I found them again recently. I try them on every so often to see if they're getting any looser or any closer to buttoning up. Much better gauge of progress for me than my weight by far.

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