Dieting and exercising hard everyday. Gained 5 pounds and still gaining!

FatPixiee wrote: »

I am probably going to let myself have more calories. Especially if I work out hard I will have 1500. No workout or little just 1200. But I do want to continue to work out hard because it feels like an escape. I want to become someone who only has to eat a little bit each day. Otherwise I will binge. It's so much harder to eat a healthy amount of calories and not end up binging. And whenever I feel sad because of how I look or anxious it's like, oh well I can feel the pain of this diet. At least there's that.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

I was in like Flynn till we started to talk about pain of diet.

I realise we're all different, happy unicorns, rainbows, all that; but, honestly? If I have a choice I would rather minimize pain, not maximise it!

Is losing weight easy? No, it won't always be easy, far from it.

But going out of my way to make it harder to remind me/punish me for needing to lose weight?

No. Just no.

Finding joy in making better and healthier choices... try that instead!

By the way, from what I've heard from others and observed in my self: the more restrictive you are and the harder you push the more likely you are to "crack" and binge.

But I guess we're all different!

Barring a medical issue, it's all a basic math problem. Calories in - calories out = weight gain/loss.

Either
1. Calories in is wrong. This can happen if you're not weighing your food and you're relying on measuring cups/spoons, or worse, eyeballing. If you're not weighing food on a digital scale, you don't actually know how much you're eating.

2. Calories out are wrong. This can happen if you put incorrect info into MFP or a TDEE calculator by accident, so check your numbers. Also, this can happen if you eat back your exercise calories, and those were calculated incorrectly. Get a good heart rate monitor if you want to eat back exercise calories. The calculations on MFP are notoriously high. Or do what many people do and only eat back half.

3. Everything is fine and you're retaining water. This can happen if you changed or increased exercise, increased carbs or sodium, or with normal hormonal fluctuations.

Check out all those things first. If you're positive everything is correct and the water retention doesn't seem to fit the bill, make a doctor's appointment to test your thyroid and blood sugar.

While I am at my goal weight now, I distinctly remember those times during my weight loss journey when I ramped things up a bit liked you described. I, too, suffered setbacks and weight gain. When I do too much, my body rebels by retaining fluids. My muscles became inflamed and retained the fluid as a healing measure. There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself but you have to be smart about it. AND you need adequate calories to fuel everything you are doing. From what you described, I don't think you are.

My philosophy is to work smarter, not harder. I go for the biggest bang for my time where I can lose weight (or at this stage, maintain) and still reach goals. Right now, I do a least 45 minutes of cardio, six days a week and two days of weight training a week and give myself a day off. However, I also keep moving. Wearing my fitbit, I ensure that I always log at least 10, 000 steps beyond what I get in at the gym. So instead of a hard workout for hours a day, I work smart for my 1 to 1.5 hours in the gym and then keep moving for the rest of the day. I talk on the phone while marching in place or pacing; I step in place while standing in line; I eat a snack at the counter while doing toe touches, I watch TV and do high step marches at commercial break. I save my email reading to try and do it in blocks of time so I can march in place while I do it. I take advantage of those stagnant times and I often log 13,000 to 18,000 steps a day.

WinoGelato wrote: »

FatPixiee wrote: »

I am probably going to let myself have more calories. Especially if I work out hard I will have 1500. No workout or little just 1200. But I do want to continue to work out hard because it feels like an escape. I want to become someone who only has to eat a little bit each day. Otherwise I will binge. It's so much harder to eat a healthy amount of calories and not end up binging. And whenever I feel sad because of how I look or anxious it's like, oh well I can feel the pain of this diet. At least there's that.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

To be honest with you, some of the comments you are making (bolded) above are a bit concerning.

Have you ever talked to a doctor about your eating habits? If you have struggled with disordered eating in the past, bingeing, etc; and feel like it is a success to work out hard or feel the pain of a diet to help you keep in control - that seems like you are trading one set of disordered thoughts for another.

I really don't have any experience in this area, and maybe I am reading too much into your words, but it seems like maybe you could benefit from talking to a doctor/psychologist that has expertise and can help you feel more in control of your diet and health.

Good luck.

And since I've participated in this thread... Co-Signed and Amplified.

This does not sound like a good headspace to be in.

CaptBligh001 wrote: »

The reason we are so fat as a nation is because people no longer need to walk, they sit on their fat *kitten*'s at work all day and drive everywhere they go..

Other than the utter falsity that activity level is the significant driver here, that's a strong argument.

I agree with water weight, Water weight 8.33 #/gal. Depending on your hydration levels one can easily fluctuate 5 or more pounds.