Help, I've gained 3kg in weight but I am trying to lose not gain!
kellylouisa10
Posts: 9 Member
I have been eating clean around 90% of the time and working out for the past 4 weeks 5 times a week.
Some days I go slightly over and some days under my calorie goal
However I stepped on the scales yesterday and weigh 3kg heavier than what I did before I started.
I feel absolutely gutted. I was wanted to be at least 1 kg lighter but was hoping for more.
SW: 67 kg (147 lbs)
CW: 69.9 (154 lbs)
GW: 57kg (125lbs)
I am 5ft 4 and a size 10-12 UK/AU
But I have little to no muscle, it is all mostly wobbly bits and I think my body fat must be quite high.
I know I may have gained some muscle etc, which is why I would have been happy with just 1kg loss. But a 3kg + gain just seems too much.
I have been doing a combination of Jillian Michaels 30 day shred & 6 week 6 pack, sometimes both workouts in one day to try and shift the weight quicker.
I thought this was the best plan for me as she combines fat loss with muscle toning.
My clothes do feel maybe a little better but I am not sure now if that is just wishful thinking on my part.
Yesterday was my birthday and because I felt so bad about my gain I ate 1000 calories in chocolate, now I feel even worse.
I am not going to give up but I was wondering if someone could help and maybe suggest what I might be doing wrong?
Most of my meals are made up of salads, vegetables and lean protein and I eat mainly unprocessed foods apart from cheese and yoghurt and a little bread when I start to crave starchy foods
A typical day is made up of this
Quick oats sachet with skimmed milk and sultanas
Salad with chicken or fish
Homemade date & walnut muffin for afternoon snack
Stir fry with chicken or fish for dinner
I haven't eaten any red meat and I try to steer clear of gluten although I have had sandwiches on a couple of occasions.
Would love to hear from people that have experienced this or anyone who has any recommendations.
Thank you so much!
Some days I go slightly over and some days under my calorie goal
However I stepped on the scales yesterday and weigh 3kg heavier than what I did before I started.
I feel absolutely gutted. I was wanted to be at least 1 kg lighter but was hoping for more.
SW: 67 kg (147 lbs)
CW: 69.9 (154 lbs)
GW: 57kg (125lbs)
I am 5ft 4 and a size 10-12 UK/AU
But I have little to no muscle, it is all mostly wobbly bits and I think my body fat must be quite high.
I know I may have gained some muscle etc, which is why I would have been happy with just 1kg loss. But a 3kg + gain just seems too much.
I have been doing a combination of Jillian Michaels 30 day shred & 6 week 6 pack, sometimes both workouts in one day to try and shift the weight quicker.
I thought this was the best plan for me as she combines fat loss with muscle toning.
My clothes do feel maybe a little better but I am not sure now if that is just wishful thinking on my part.
Yesterday was my birthday and because I felt so bad about my gain I ate 1000 calories in chocolate, now I feel even worse.
I am not going to give up but I was wondering if someone could help and maybe suggest what I might be doing wrong?
Most of my meals are made up of salads, vegetables and lean protein and I eat mainly unprocessed foods apart from cheese and yoghurt and a little bread when I start to crave starchy foods
A typical day is made up of this
Quick oats sachet with skimmed milk and sultanas
Salad with chicken or fish
Homemade date & walnut muffin for afternoon snack
Stir fry with chicken or fish for dinner
I haven't eaten any red meat and I try to steer clear of gluten although I have had sandwiches on a couple of occasions.
Would love to hear from people that have experienced this or anyone who has any recommendations.
Thank you so much!
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Replies
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How accurate is your logging? do you use a food scale? How do you track your calorie burns?0
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Eating "clean" doesn't matter; eating at a deficit does. If you don't weigh your food on a scale and if your burns don't come from a heart rate monitor and you eat your exercise calories back, you're probably eating more than you think.0
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Eating "clean" doesn't matter; eating at a deficit does. If you don't weigh your food on a scale and if your burns don't come from a heart rate monitor and you eat your exercise calories back, you're probably eating more than you think.
Agreed. There's plenty of overweight people who "eat clean".
Get a food scale and meticulously and honestly weigh and log all your food, and you should see the scale start going back down
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Thank you for your help!
I have been weighing as accurately as I can as I try to make my own foods so I have been adding in my own recipes into Fitness Pal but maybe I am not as accurate as I should be.
I am not using a HR rate monitor so my exercises have been added using the Fitness Pal calculator, which I wasn't sure if they were that accurate.
For instance if I do a 50 min Jillian Michaels workout then I have been adding that in under general circuit training. Do you think this could be the problem?
Regarding the HR monitor. Is the best way to use a FitBit? or something else?
Sorry for all the questions I just really want to get it right!0 -
Weight loss doesn't come from "clean" eating, whatever that means. It comes from a caloric deficit.0
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Setting your diary to public might help get you more specific advice. Until then, these are my really general tips. I realize you've already addressed some of these, but I want to go ahead and include them for any lurkers who happen upon this thread with the same question.
1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.
2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.
3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.
4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.
5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.
6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.
7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.
8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.
9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.0 -
kellylouisa10 wrote: »Thank you for your help!
I have been weighing as accurately as I can as I try to make my own foods so I have been adding in my own recipes into Fitness Pal but maybe I am not as accurate as I should be.
I am not using a HR rate monitor so my exercises have been added using the Fitness Pal calculator, which I wasn't sure if they were that accurate.
For instance if I do a 50 min Jillian Michaels workout then I have been adding that in under general circuit training. Do you think this could be the problem?
Regarding the HR monitor. Is the best way to use a FitBit? or something else?
Sorry for all the questions I just really want to get it right!
MFP often has inflated numbers for exercise. The general consensus around here is to eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories. You can always tweak this depending on your results
I highly recommend a fitbit, though I cant advise re; the HR monitor ones. I have the zip as the only exercise I do is walking.
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queenliz99 wrote: »
Crap! This is me!!!
I only ever use cups and spoons and rarely do I use the scales only when a recipe calls for grams instead of cups.
WOW!!
Do I lick this spoon, yep, fingers in bowls too sometimes to see if I got the taste right.
Thank you! I never even considered this.
I think its time to throw out the cups and get the scales out!0 -
I'm still confounded about the peanut butter I had yesterday. I used a TBS and guestimated it was around 10g, but then I weighed it on the scale and it was 30g!!! That's a huge difference in calories right there just for that one little thing.. Imagine doing that with a few things everyday, how quickly those extra calories can sneak in.0
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diannethegeek wrote: »Setting your diary to public might help get you more specific advice. Until then, these are my really general tips. I realize you've already addressed some of these, but I want to go ahead and include them for any lurkers who happen upon this thread with the same question.
1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.
2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.
3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.
4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.
5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.
6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.
7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.
8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.
9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.
Brilliant! Thank you so much. I have just figured out my measurements regarding my recipes are probably way off!.
I am going to meticulously weigh everything and log it accurately.
I will also make sure I choose entries wisely instead of guestimating. I often click a food entry and thing to myself "that sounds about right"/ Probably not very wise!
I really appreciate you taking the time to write me out some tips. I will definitely heed everyone's advice and hopefully I can report back soon with a small success!0 -
christinev297 wrote: »kellylouisa10 wrote: »Thank you for your help!
I have been weighing as accurately as I can as I try to make my own foods so I have been adding in my own recipes into Fitness Pal but maybe I am not as accurate as I should be.
I am not using a HR rate monitor so my exercises have been added using the Fitness Pal calculator, which I wasn't sure if they were that accurate.
For instance if I do a 50 min Jillian Michaels workout then I have been adding that in under general circuit training. Do you think this could be the problem?
Regarding the HR monitor. Is the best way to use a FitBit? or something else?
Sorry for all the questions I just really want to get it right!
MFP often has inflated numbers for exercise. The general consensus around here is to eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories. You can always tweak this depending on your results
I highly recommend a fitbit, though I cant advise re; the HR monitor ones. I have the zip as the only exercise I do is walking.
Thank you! I am currently looking at heart rate monitors and in the meantime I will take the advice about only eating back 50 - 75 % of calories!0 -
Even though I'm in Australia, I always add USDA when I'm searching for fresh foods. They usually come in grams and are more than likely correct.
"Banana usda"
"chicken breast raw usda"
It's still best to double check, but once you get a good database of your regular foods, then it's easy to click on it instead of searching for it every single time.0 -
queenliz99 wrote: »
Everytime I see this I love it more. When I saw it before my weight loss journey began, I felt like it was condescending and rude...
Today, I bought a digital food scale.0 -
christinev297 wrote: »Even though I'm in Australia, I always add USDA when I'm searching for fresh foods. They usually come in grams and are more than likely correct.
"Banana usda"
"chicken breast raw usda"
It's still best to double check, but once you get a good database of your regular foods, then it's easy to click on it instead of searching for it every single time.
I am in Australia, thank you for the tip!
Also, I just found my old Polar HR monitor. What should my target heart rate be for fatloss? I looked online but I am confused!
I just read this
"Working out at about 60% to 75% of your maximum heart rate (the so-called "fat-burning zone") burns fewer calories than working out at 75% to 85% of your maximum heart rate (the so-called "aerobic" or "cardio" zone).
But caloric burn depends on a workout's duration as well as its intensity -- and it's easier to work out longer when exercising at a lower intensity."0 -
queenliz99 wrote: »How accurate is your logging? do you use a food scale? How do you track your calorie burns?
This.
If you are gaining weight, OP, you are eating too much. Dietary style has nil to do with weight loss, it's all about calories in/calories out.0 -
kellylouisa10 wrote: »Thank you for your help!
I have been weighing as accurately as I can as I try to make my own foods so I have been adding in my own recipes into Fitness Pal but maybe I am not as accurate as I should be.
I am not using a HR rate monitor so my exercises have been added using the Fitness Pal calculator, which I wasn't sure if they were that accurate.
For instance if I do a 50 min Jillian Michaels workout then I have been adding that in under general circuit training. Do you think this could be the problem?
Regarding the HR monitor. Is the best way to use a FitBit? or something else?
Sorry for all the questions I just really want to get it right!
Please open your diary.0 -
kellylouisa10 wrote: »Thank you for your help!
I have been weighing as accurately as I can as I try to make my own foods so I have been adding in my own recipes into Fitness Pal but maybe I am not as accurate as I should be.
I am not using a HR rate monitor so my exercises have been added using the Fitness Pal calculator, which I wasn't sure if they were that accurate.
For instance if I do a 50 min Jillian Michaels workout then I have been adding that in under general circuit training. Do you think this could be the problem?
Regarding the HR monitor. Is the best way to use a FitBit? or something else?
Sorry for all the questions I just really want to get it right!
Please open your diary.
Sorry for my ignorance, but how do I do that?0 -
Just figured it out! It is open:)0
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Also, how often do you weigh yourself, and is it always very consistent in terms of time of the day? Your weight will easily fluctuate within a few kilograms over the course of a day. You have to be consistent.
I also recommend weighing daily. Yes, I know the arguments against that, but really, it allows you to see trends, and while the stretches of days with little net movement on the scale aren't great, weighing less frequently makes your trending less reliable, and it's really the trend that matters, not the individual reading which has a lot of "noise".0 -
rankinsect wrote: »Also, how often do you weigh yourself, and is it always very consistent in terms of time of the day? Your weight will easily fluctuate within a few kilograms over the course of a day. You have to be consistent.
I also recommend weighing daily. Yes, I know the arguments against that, but really, it allows you to see trends, and while the stretches of days with little net movement on the scale aren't great, weighing less frequently makes your trending less reliable, and it's really the trend that matters, not the individual reading which has a lot of "noise".
I hadn't weighed myself in 15 years until this year. My partner purchased a set of weighing scales this year which I used intermittently. However I thought I would take my health and weight seriously this past couple of months after noticing my clothes were not fitting properly and a general feeling of sluggishness. I weighed about a month ago on his scales which weighed me at 67kg. I have now purchased a new set of scales which measures body fat etc and I stepped on them yesterday and weighed in at 69.9kg. I know different scales have different accuracies etc so this could be part of the problem.
I get what you are saying about the weighing everyday. My friend does this and I always laughed at her but she has lost over 30kg so I guess she is the one that should be laughing.....
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Hi - just to add to the great advice above, please take measurements and photos of yourself, so that your weight on the scale is not your only method of assessing progress. There are lots of reasons why you might retain water here and there during your weight loss journey, but seeing a bad number on the scale can be devastating. I did not take measurements or photos before losing about 25-30 lbs, but I wish that I had, because I've become a bit of a slave to the scale. Don't make my mistake. Good luck!0
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kellylouisa10 wrote: »kellylouisa10 wrote: »Thank you for your help!
I have been weighing as accurately as I can as I try to make my own foods so I have been adding in my own recipes into Fitness Pal but maybe I am not as accurate as I should be.
I am not using a HR rate monitor so my exercises have been added using the Fitness Pal calculator, which I wasn't sure if they were that accurate.
For instance if I do a 50 min Jillian Michaels workout then I have been adding that in under general circuit training. Do you think this could be the problem?
Regarding the HR monitor. Is the best way to use a FitBit? or something else?
Sorry for all the questions I just really want to get it right!
Please open your diary.
Sorry for my ignorance, but how do I do that?
LOL, you're not ignorant.
In settings, then to diary settings, scroll to the bottom of the page and choose public.
0
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