Gained weight while dieting and exercising?

why would you think that going from 1200 calories to 1800 calories would help you lose weight?? that makes no sense?!?

Like others have said, jumping from 1200 to 1800 is the probable cause of your gain. When you increase your calories, you should start by adding 100 cal per day for a week or two and see how it goes. If you don't notice a gain, then you can add another 100 cal to your daily goal for the following week, and so on. Be patient. It's all about discovering how your body reacts and what's optimal for you.

Ibeachlover wrote: »

Well, first of all, you might have gained several pounds of muscles if you just started some type of weight training, especially for the first time. I always gained about 5 pounds of weight (muscle) when I started working out again, without losing weight, and, yes, within a month. You wouldn't have necessarily lost equivalent fat pounds because you increase calories; and this is even more dependent on what type of calories you added. If you are starting to do weight lifting exercises, and think you need more food to keep you going...make sure it is protein ! Your body will need it and often the extra protein will help with weight loss. Hey, don't sweat it, just rethink it and go for it again !

Um it's usually water weight you gain at first. As a female you need steroids to gain 5lbs of muscle in a month.

This is why you need to pay attention to the measuring tape too. As you lift and exercise with a proper diet you end up with a fair amount of glycogen in your muscles. One gram of glycogen is bound with water by a factor of 4-5.

So if you want to see what you are really dealing with then take a week off the gym, cut out carbs and drink a ton of water. Your body will flush the stores out of your muscles and you will see a noticeable weight loss.

Once you see that loss it will help put the gain in perspective and you will worry less about the scale and more about the ruler.

mirellaleite1 wrote: »

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

why would you think that going from 1200 calories to 1800 calories would help you lose weight?? that makes no sense?!?

I went to a dietitian last year. She said that a 1200 cal was way too low. She recommended changing to a 1800 cal diet. Then I decided to check my macros and the results was 1800 cal.
I am a 31 y, 5"3 and currently 135lbs.

I have a fit big and according to Fitbit I am burning 2400 cal/day. I weight everything I eat.

This is my workout from last week as an example...




Monday
30 min weight training
3 miles run - 30 min

Tuesday
Rest

Wednesday
30 weight training
5 miles run - 50 min

Thursday
30 min weight training
3 mile run - 30 min

Friday
Rest

Saturday
30 min weight training
5 mile run - 50 min

Sun
30 min weight training
5 mile run - 50 min

Your stats are very similar to mine. 5'2" and 134. (Although I am a bit older, so that does change things a bit) So I will comment on my experience.

For me, if I am working out 5-6 days a week (at least 3 days of cardio) for 45 minutes or so, then I will maintain at around 1700 calories. More, and I WILL gain, regardless of what the calculators, etc say. So I would say that 1800 could be too high, especially if you are trying to lose. Your results seem to have confirmed that.

Is the Fit Bug you are talking about like the Bodybug that was called BodyMedia in the US? If so, I used one for 18 months and it was about 1000 calories too high!! I gained like crazy, and I never even got close to what it said I burned. Many people love it. My thought is that it is highly inaccurate for people on the lower end of the weight scale (and 130 is lower, even though it doesn't feel lower to shorties like us!).

So don't trust it!

I purchased a Misfit activity tracker about a year ago, and it is much more accurate for me. It reports an average burn of about 1650-1750 depending on my activity (and it says 1450-1500 if I sit all day!). Results confirm those numbers.

So, practical advice:

Make sure you are logging accurately (don't be defensive here, we all make mistakes!! Just up your efforts in accuracy by weighing and measuring. Also, if I have a food that is "unknown"--like a casserole eaten at a potluck, etc, then I log on the high side.)

Drop your calories down a little each week until you stop gaining. Then stay there to verify your maintenance. After a few weeks, figure your deficit using that number.