Gaining weight eating maintenance...

alyfrancis582
alyfrancis582 Posts: 38 Member
edited November 22 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
so myfitnesspal gave me 1660 calories per day for maintaining. I figured it was too much so I've been focusing on staying at/under 1500. Most days I have and yet I went from 122-124. So 2 questions: do you have any tips on efficiently/quickly dialing in on my true maintenance calories? And do you think I can attribute 2lbs to water weight?

Replies

  • PinkDeerBoy
    PinkDeerBoy Posts: 89 Member
    You could attribute 2lbs to water weight easily.
    How often to do you weigh yourself? It might be a better idea to weigh yourself a few times a week, record it, and pay attention to the overall average. If you are continually gaining, then try lowering your intake a little at a time until you find where you maintain.
    Also the age old question, do you weigh your food with a digital scale? If not, you may be eating more than you think.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Remember when you started MFP, and lost a whole lot of water & glycogen? You gain it all back once you stop eating at a deficit. And your weight will continue to fluctuate throughout maintenance, so it's important to choose a goal range rather than a goal weight.

    Don't change anything yet. It'll take some trial & error to find your maintenance calories—there is no "quick fix." If you gain again next week, cut your calories by 100, then give it another week. Rinse & repeat as needed.
  • accidentalpancake
    accidentalpancake Posts: 484 Member
    Fluctuations.

    Give it more time. Also realize that while you can track intake more or less accurately, energy expenditure (calories out) is never more than an educated guess.
  • CandyMonster160
    CandyMonster160 Posts: 153 Member
    I can fluctuate by 2 or more pounds from morning to night.
    Don't stress yourself out over 2 pounds. If it continues to go up, switch it up. Finding what works for your own body will take some time. MFP isn't the be all to end all for estimating maintenance calories.. don't believe everything you read on the internet. :wink:
  • griffinca2
    griffinca2 Posts: 672 Member
    I agree w/CandyMonster160; you may have to experiment w/the MFP calorie/macro recommendations. I just started maintenance a few weeks ago and slowly creeping up to what MFP recommends (I'm also eating less carb then their recommended 50%). Lost a little more than I wanted to so I'm still trying to readjust. Takes time. B)
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
    I have found trendweight.com very useful. It averages out over time and lets you know whether you're truly gaining, losing, or staying the same.
  • alyfrancis582
    alyfrancis582 Posts: 38 Member
    PinkDeerBoy wrote: »
    You could attribute 2lbs to water weight easily.
    How often to do you weigh yourself? It might be a better idea to weigh yourself a few times a week, record it, and pay attention to the overall average. If you are continually gaining, then try lowering your intake a little at a time until you find where you maintain.
    Also the age old question, do you weigh your food with a digital scale? If not, you may be eating more than you think.

    I weight myself just about every day, although I'm trying to cut back to every other day. I'm lowering to around 1400 so hopefully that'll help. And yes, I use a digital food scale. All food input is as accurate as I can make them or an overestimate. I'm not someone who will lie to myself about intake. I'd rather see results! Hopefully it's just water weight. I'll keep messing around with it.
  • alyfrancis582
    alyfrancis582 Posts: 38 Member
    scrittrice wrote: »
    I have found trendweight.com very useful. It averages out over time and lets you know whether you're truly gaining, losing, or staying the same.
    This looks awesome but I don't have a wifi scale...ugh!
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    You don't need a wi-fi scale to use Trendweight.com—just a Fitbit or Withings account. You can set up a Fitbit account (even without a tracker), then sync it with your MFP account at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit

    MFP sends your weight to Fitbit, then Fitbit sends it to Trendweight. TW plots a moving average of your weight without the "noise" of water weight. Unlike MFP's "in five weeks" nonsense, TW accurately predicted when I'd reach goal, and it's helped me successfully maintain ever since.
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  • alyfrancis582
    alyfrancis582 Posts: 38 Member
    shell1005 wrote: »
    You actually think your maintenance calories are 1400 per day. I find that highly doubtful.

    It probably isn't my maintenance. That's why I'm messing around and trying new things each week until I narrow it down. If you have a suggestion other than what I'm doing, I'd love to hear it. But I gained (maybe only water) weight eating 1500 calories so this is the next step. If my weight drops again, and isn't clearly just water weight, then I'll raise it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    alyfrancis582 wrote: »
    so myfitnesspal gave me 1660 calories per day for maintaining. I figured it was too much so I've been focusing on staying at/under 1500. Most days I have and yet I went from 122-124. So 2 questions: do you have any tips on efficiently/quickly dialing in on my true maintenance calories? And do you think I can attribute 2lbs to water weight?

    you're making the mistake of thinking your body weight is some static number...you're always going to have fluctuations up and down...nobody weighs exactly XXX Lbs. you're always going to have water retention/release and varying degrees of waste in your system. add to that, when you start eating maintenance, you're going to put some scale weight on...you're eating more...so obviously you're going to have more inherent waste in your system...you're also going to replenish glycogen stores that are chronically depleted when you diet...glycogen is basically fluid...it has mass, and thus weight.

    you need to look at trends and averages, not the actual number.
  • alyfrancis582
    alyfrancis582 Posts: 38 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    alyfrancis582 wrote: »
    so myfitnesspal gave me 1660 calories per day for maintaining. I figured it was too much so I've been focusing on staying at/under 1500. Most days I have and yet I went from 122-124. So 2 questions: do you have any tips on efficiently/quickly dialing in on my true maintenance calories? And do you think I can attribute 2lbs to water weight?

    you're making the mistake of thinking your body weight is some static number...you're always going to have fluctuations up and down...nobody weighs exactly XXX Lbs. you're always going to have water retention/release and varying degrees of waste in your system. add to that, when you start eating maintenance, you're going to put some scale weight on...you're eating more...so obviously you're going to have more inherent waste in your system...you're also going to replenish glycogen stores that are chronically depleted when you diet...glycogen is basically fluid...it has mass, and thus weight.

    you need to look at trends and averages, not the actual number.

    I understand what you're saying. I've just been consistently weighing 124 every day, expect the first day, that I began maintenance. The "trends and averages" show me as having gained 2lbs.
  • mirrim52
    mirrim52 Posts: 763 Member
    alyfrancis582 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    alyfrancis582 wrote: »
    so myfitnesspal gave me 1660 calories per day for maintaining. I figured it was too much so I've been focusing on staying at/under 1500. Most days I have and yet I went from 122-124. So 2 questions: do you have any tips on efficiently/quickly dialing in on my true maintenance calories? And do you think I can attribute 2lbs to water weight?

    you're making the mistake of thinking your body weight is some static number...you're always going to have fluctuations up and down...nobody weighs exactly XXX Lbs. you're always going to have water retention/release and varying degrees of waste in your system. add to that, when you start eating maintenance, you're going to put some scale weight on...you're eating more...so obviously you're going to have more inherent waste in your system...you're also going to replenish glycogen stores that are chronically depleted when you diet...glycogen is basically fluid...it has mass, and thus weight.

    you need to look at trends and averages, not the actual number.

    I understand what you're saying. I've just been consistently weighing 124 every day, expect the first day, that I began maintenance. The "trends and averages" show me as having gained 2lbs.

    Over how long of a length of time? A week? A month? Two months?
    What were you eating before and how quickly were you losing?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    alyfrancis582 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    alyfrancis582 wrote: »
    so myfitnesspal gave me 1660 calories per day for maintaining. I figured it was too much so I've been focusing on staying at/under 1500. Most days I have and yet I went from 122-124. So 2 questions: do you have any tips on efficiently/quickly dialing in on my true maintenance calories? And do you think I can attribute 2lbs to water weight?

    you're making the mistake of thinking your body weight is some static number...you're always going to have fluctuations up and down...nobody weighs exactly XXX Lbs. you're always going to have water retention/release and varying degrees of waste in your system. add to that, when you start eating maintenance, you're going to put some scale weight on...you're eating more...so obviously you're going to have more inherent waste in your system...you're also going to replenish glycogen stores that are chronically depleted when you diet...glycogen is basically fluid...it has mass, and thus weight.

    you need to look at trends and averages, not the actual number.

    I understand what you're saying. I've just been consistently weighing 124 every day, expect the first day, that I began maintenance. The "trends and averages" show me as having gained 2lbs.

    yeah, glycogen and water just like I stated...also, a couple of weigh ins do not make a trend...trend analysis requires more data points.

    you're obsessing about an arbitrary number...if you can't wrap your head around this, you're going to go bat *kitten* crazy trying to maintain.
  • SunnyPacheco
    SunnyPacheco Posts: 142 Member
    alyfrancis582 wrote: »
    shell1005 wrote: »
    You actually think your maintenance calories are 1400 per day. I find that highly doubtful.

    It probably isn't my maintenance. That's why I'm messing around and trying new things each week until I narrow it down. If you have a suggestion other than what I'm doing, I'd love to hear it. But I gained (maybe only water) weight eating 1500 calories so this is the next step. If my weight drops again, and isn't clearly just water weight, then I'll raise it.

    This doesn't make sense though. If you drop your calories to 1400 then you're eating in a deficit again so of course you will lose the water weight/waste/glycogen stores/actual weight again. Then you'll try to eat to maintenance once you're back down and gain that water weight/waste/glycogen stores back and you'll be back where you started. That 2 lbs is highly unlikely to be actual fat since you're still eating below your maintenance anyway. Like cwolfman13 said, if you're going to focus on staying at one particular number weight forever you'll drive yourself crazy.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    You shouldn't have a goal weight, you should have a range. So if your goal is 122, then your range may be 120-125, you don't need to worry till you're consistently over 125 for a few weeks in a row.
  • besee_2000
    besee_2000 Posts: 365 Member
    What were you eating at before? Reverse dieting I've read about but have never gotten the chance to play around with it. (Too many binge rewards...) If you were at 1200 before, 1300-1400 seem good for the next 2 weeks and build from there. Also, watch your weekly banking. Not every day you'll hit on the money so you can see if maybe you went over 5 days vs the 3 you thought you did. I know I like to forget my failures and the extra 100+ calories.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    You're going to fluctuate between 5 lbs naturally! I doubt your maintenance is 1400. Weigh yourself throughout the week, it will probably go back down.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    2 pounds could be natural fluctuation. What is the timeframe for your 'gain'? If under 30 days, I'd say to keep what you're doing and reassess in 3-4 weeks.

    I'd suggest settle on a weight range. Such as 120-125. Accept that you don't have a single true weight but it will vary. As for discovering your maintenance range - it takes trial and error. Eat at 1500 for 6-8 weeks, track your results. If you stay in range: good. If you go to the bottom of the range or dip low, add 100-150 calories. If you drift to the top or go over, cut back 100-150.
    alyfrancis582 wrote: »
    so myfitnesspal gave me 1660 calories per day for maintaining. I figured it was too much so I've been focusing on staying at/under 1500. Most days I have and yet I went from 122-124. So 2 questions: do you have any tips on efficiently/quickly dialing in on my true maintenance calories? And do you think I can attribute 2lbs to water weight?

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