WTF Just put ON weight??

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calumstevens
calumstevens Posts: 3 Member
edited September 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, So I've been doing myfitness pal for a month now in an effort to go from 85.45kg (my heaviest ever) to approx 77kg.
all my body fat is round my belly, midrif fat. I'm 5ft10

I put myself down as sedentary (because I was) and it gave me 1720 calories a day.

On top of dieting I've started going swimming. Intense swimming for an hour, 4x a week. (mon, wed, fri and sun)

Week 1 85.45kg
Week 2 83.40kg
Week 3 82.20kg
week 4 82.30kg

I hear that people slow down but to actually gain weight?? I know it's not much but whats going on? Yes I am STRICTLY sticking to my cal intake. adding cals for when I swim.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

Replies

  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,767 Member
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    It's called water weight and normal fluctuation.

    How is it that you've lost 3kg in four weeks, which is impressive, yet you choose to lose your mind over 0.1kg, for flip's sake?!
  • VykkDraygoVPR
    VykkDraygoVPR Posts: 465 Member
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    I put on two pounds this morning over my weigh-in from yesterday. That's water retention from exercise, and alcohol. Expecting a similar reading tomorrow, since I did the same thing today. An hour of cardio, followed by four ounces of liquor after dinner.

    I know when to expect water retention, so I tend to ignore it, and wait for my weight to normalize.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
    edited September 2015
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    You put on 100g. That's the weight of a small chocolate bar. Seriously, this does not count as 'putting on weight'.

    In the course of every day, your apparent weight will fluctuate by 6-11lb (3-6 kg) due to your intake and output of water. That's why it is very important to weigh at the same time of day - but even so, there will be fluctuations, for all sorts of reasons.

    For example, if you eat slightly more carbs, you will take on more water as it is needed to digest them. If you do more exercise than you are used to, you will retain water for a few days as your muscles recover. If you hurt yourself, or are ill, you will retain water for various repair processes.

    Weight loss is a long game. You are trying to affect your actual body mass and gradually reduce it, but monitoring this is tricky, as you are trying to track maybe half a kilo of weight loss a week in a system which naturally fluctuates by as much as 12 times that amount.

    Be patient, take the long view, and look for overall trends rather than worrying aboutindividual weigh-ins. Try plotting your weights on a chart - that can help you to see the trend, which may not show clearly for a month or two.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Last week I was 69kgs, this morning I was 71kgs. In a couple days it will probably go back down.
    It's just the nature of weight loss. It never goes down in perfect symmetry each and every week.
  • calumstevens
    calumstevens Posts: 3 Member
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    Just surprised, I expected my weight loss to slow, or even stall. And yes I know its only 100g. But it's still weight gain when (according to my cal intake vs burn I should be loosing). Maybe I need to drop my cal intake a bit? Am I putting on muscle from swimming? I do weight myself same time of day everyweek. I don't drink Alcohol. I just kind of expected to still be loosing weight. I'm doing a ton more exercise than I used to (walks too) and eating far far far less crap and cals than I used to. I kind of expected the weight to still be flying off.
  • JohnWarby
    JohnWarby Posts: 7 Member
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    Yes muscle from swimming would add weight. Try not to look at the scales and look at the mirror to see if you look better.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    If you opened your mouth and swallowed a bit of water, then how much do you think that weighs? If you have your dinner, then how much does that weigh?

    Weight loss is not an exact science amd ypur bpdy will flictiate naturally 1-5lbs in a day. Weight loss is not linear and it will soemtimes go fast or not at all. Look at the overall trend. Why get yourself worked up over 100g?
  • G33K_G1RL
    G33K_G1RL Posts: 283 Member
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    What all the people above are trying to tell you, is that you may have lost some amount of fat in the last week, but it is masked because of water fluctuations. You may be retaining more water then last week for so many reasons. STOP PANICKING! Keep doing exactly what your are doing and track the trend for AT LEAST 2 more weeks, before you decide to change. If you keep changing everything around you won't ever figure out what really works and what doesn't.

  • calumstevens
    calumstevens Posts: 3 Member
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    Well I am due to take my waist measurement tonight so will see if that is still going down. I've lost 5cm so far there (as accurately as I can tell).
    I did have a glass of water this morning that I don't always have so I guess thats more than 100g anyway.

    One thing, when I've been swimming it adds like 700cals to my plan and I find myself eating just for the sake of eating my remaining cals for the day when I don't really feel like I have to. I could cut some of them out, or even just put in a 30min swim to MFP even though I am swimming for 60mins. I find it weird that I've got say 400cals left at the end of the day and im not hungry but I think "oh I can have 2 kitkat's". This only happens on my swim days. so I could easily drop cals by putting in a lesser swim and I wont be starving or deprived.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    eat half of them and adjust accordingly. If you only have 7lbs to lose then expect your weight loss to slow down to .5lbs a week and some weeks you may not lose at all as the last weight is stubborn.
  • happyfeetrebel1
    happyfeetrebel1 Posts: 1,005 Member
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    JohnWarby wrote: »
    Yes muscle from swimming would add weight. Try not to look at the scales and look at the mirror to see if you look better.

    No, it isn't muscle from swimming. You won't gain a bunch of muscle eating in a deficit. However, it's probably just water weight. Don't stress about it, you're doing absolutely fabulous!

  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    calumstevens wrote: »
    I'm doing a ton more exercise than I used to (walks too) and eating far far far less crap and cals than I used to. I kind of expected the weight to still be flying off.

    A bout of strenuous exercise will add water weight. It's called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    calumstevens wrote: »
    Just surprised... I kind of expected the weight to still be flying off.

    Your big loss in week one was probably... guess what? Water.

    I drop 3-5lb (1.5-2.5kg) of water in week 1 of any weight-loss effort, due to the sudden reduction in food intake.

    It can't carry on at that rate. Sorry!

  • BlackPup
    BlackPup Posts: 242 Member
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    I use an app called happy scale. It takes out the normal fluctuations of your weight and gives you a nice pretty line. (Hopefully going downward)
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    calumstevens wrote: »
    I did have a glass of water this morning that I don't always have so I guess thats more than 100g anyway.

    At least 250g. Water is HEAVY.

    I always weigh myself in the morning, after peeing and before eating or drinking anything. This reduces fluctuations, but you will still see some.

    Seriously, take on board this message about water weight. It is coming and going all the time. If the scale stalls for a month or more, consider changing strategy. A blip like this? Carry right on with what you're doing, and don't sweat it.

    It's water. Just water. Let it go.

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