What's happening here?

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NotSoPerfectPam
NotSoPerfectPam Posts: 114 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have my own theory, but I'd like to hear some other opinions about why I might be gaining weight.

I previously lost about 40 pounds, and have been off the wagon since last June. While I have been exercising, I have not been watching what I eat and gained back 15 since then.

About two weeks ago, I started counting calories, and gave up alcohol. Since then, I've averaged about an 1100 daily "net" of calories because of exercise. My actual intake has varied from 1500 calories to 2100 calories a day - with two 2,000 calories yesterday and today because I was starving/recovering/still fatigued from an epic 30 mile bike ride on Saturday and a 20-miler on Thursday.

I lost two pounds the first week, but this morning I was up three pounds. I am eight days from my expected period.

Is it my period, is it my intense bike rides, or am I just eating too much?

Thanks!

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Probably the bike rides. I think it's too early to see weight gain related to your period (mine goes up about 4-5 days out). It could be you're eating too much, but one week gain is too early to tell if that's the case.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    Well, it can be part TOM, however you started 2 weeks ago and I would give it another week but with that said you could be over estimating your exercise calorie burns and dipping into the deficit by eating back too many calories.

    I would say eating back 500 - 600 calories a day in exercise calories is a lot if you are not 100% sure that those calorie burns are 100% accurate.
  • NotSoPerfectPam
    NotSoPerfectPam Posts: 114 Member
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    I wear a heart monitor to estimate calorie burn when I work out
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited February 2016
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    NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »
    I wear a heart monitor to estimate calorie burn when I work out
    NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »
    I wear a heart monitor to estimate calorie burn when I work out

    I personally would wait it out until after your TOM. If no trend down, I would only use a portion of the HRM calories (it not 100% accurate).

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/hrms-cannot-count-calories-during-strength-training-17698 (I know this link has strength training in it but read the first part of the blog).

  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
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    No reason to take HRM calorie estimates as gospel, even if you are doing steady state exercise.
    • All the HRMs just do estimates based on proprietary algorithms (i.e., Polar's algorithm is different from Garmin's is different from ...) which is a pretty good hint that nobody really knows for sure.
    • Even if calorie estimation based on heart rate were a totally /known/ science, there'd still be variation among individuals that goes beyond gender, age, weight, height, body composition, and VO2 max.
    • Finaly, very few people manage to get their personal settings fine-tuned for maximum accuracy on those things. For instance, if your HRM allows you to input your VO2 max -- and not all of them do -- most people either don't enter it, guess it, use a very back-of-the-envelope fitness test (not a professionally administered one) that's not super-accurate to get a meaningful VO2 max read, or they use the results of a professionally administered VO2 max test but geez your VO2 max changes with your fitness level and health so it's only accurate for a couple of weeks anyway, etc. etc.

    They can be fine directionally for estimates but they are not the actual factual honest-to-goodness TRUTH.
  • NotSoPerfectPam
    NotSoPerfectPam Posts: 114 Member
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    So then how should you calculate calorie burn?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »
    So then how should you calculate calorie burn?

    Depending on your energy level after the exercise I would eat back what you need to refuel. I personally do not eat back many of mine only what I need but a best guess could be 50% a little more or less. You have to decide if you need more or less after the activity.
  • NotSoPerfectPam
    NotSoPerfectPam Posts: 114 Member
    edited February 2016
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    I'm a little concerned about cutting calories further- I'm getting fatigued/sometimes dizzy right now. I work out intensely most days - 80-90 % of my max HR for an hour


    I just had my blood work done and it was excellent
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »
    I'm a little concerned about cutting calories further- I'm getting fatigued/sometimes dizzy right now. I work out intensely most days - 80-90 % of my max HR for an hour

    Well you have what I think is wrong with out digging further into you diary and it looking like you are eating into your deficit through not accurately logging your food.

    To be honest, it is one or the other. Not logging food properly or eating back to many over inflated exercise calories.

    The flow chart is popular to pass around just for your case in question. It deals with logging food and logging it accurately, exercise calories, waiting for three week or more to see a trend, etc..

    jfgzwqy7ejdc.jpg
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    It's two weeks. Far too early to make assumptions about eating too much. Give it a good 4-6 weeks then reassess.

    I just had 5/6 weeks without a loss then whooooosh, 4lbs in two weeks.
  • CaptainJoy
    CaptainJoy Posts: 257 Member
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    You gave up alcohol. It's probably not your period, but water retention from giving up alcohol. Don't fret, you're just not dehydrated like you probably were before because you stopped drinking alcohol.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited February 2016
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    I did state to wait in my previous post to wait it out until after your TOM is over.

    OP I am going to add this, you have previously lost weight in the past, I do not know if it was with or without and exercise of the caliber you are doing now.

    It is important to note that the body is going to go through issues with dealing with less calories to loose weight and it is particularly harder IMHO to throw exercise in the mix and coming up with the exact needed calories to eat back when you feel exhausted, tired, etc.. It will come, you find the right balance and once some more time has passed you will figure out what your body needs in order to keep with the deficit so that you start loosing and keep loosing.

    But keep in mind it weight is not linear and you may have some weeks when you do not loose weight at all. In fact you may have some fluctuations due to what you have eaten in your diet, sodium, TOM and exercising causing water retention, etc.

    edited to add: what vintagefeline says, the whooooooosh can happen to when you think you have stalled. Patience is your friend... :)
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    Right now your weight will be up from the extra food you ate, too. Like the food literally weighs more, lol. I'd guess that plus the muscle water weight from those 50 miles, yeah. It wasn't bad at all to eat more after that, but it won't digest quickly enough to not see it on the scale the next day or two. It's not real weight (other than the calories in it), but it will show on the scale for a bit. Then your ToM will, so you'll have to be patient. I wouldn't cut calories yet at all.
  • Rosyone
    Rosyone Posts: 74 Member
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    Three pounds in one week on what should be a calorie deficit? Water weight, and I wouldn't worry too much about the cause unless you think it may be due to an underlying health problem. Otherwise it's a problem that tends to be self-correcting.
  • NotSoPerfectPam
    NotSoPerfectPam Posts: 114 Member
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    Thanks all very much. Some good things to keep in mind. I am logging and weighing food religiously - though honestly for today I'm calling it quits and starting again tomorrow. I will just sit tight and wait for another week or so :)
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
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    NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »
    So then how should you calculate calorie burn?

    Step 1: Accept that you can't "calculate" your burn from specific workouts, you can only estimate it.
    Step 2: Accept that for most people, for most exercise, a conservative estimate is good enough to get the job done and relax.

    The "most people" caveat above is not for special snowflakes or people who workout "hard" but really simple a matter of magnitude. If exercise makes up a very large proportion of your TDEE, than miscalculations in exercise burn can end up making a bigger difference as a proportion of what you're eating.

    Let's say one woman exercises for 30 minutes 3x a week, and her HRM says she burned an incremental 800 calories (over the week) for it. If the HRM is off by 20%, then that's 160 calories variance. Not a big deal really -- 160 calories over a week is not enough to lose or gain significantly more weight.

    Now let's say that woman exercises for 2 hours 3x a week on loooooong bike rides, and her HRM says she burned an incremental 3200 calories that week. 20% wrong of that is 640 calories. It's still 20%, but it's a bigger margin for error in terms of the total calories she's eating that week. 640 calories a week isn't super huge either (less than a quarter pound of weight gain or loss a week, right?), but it's significant and just something to be aware of.

    The best thing you can do, IMO, is be relatively consistent in your workout routine, measure and log your food accurately and just monitor your weight to get a sense of your total TDEE. For a woman, I'd say you have to look at rolling 6-8 week trends, not 2 week ones (you really need to encompass at least one menstrual cycle, and I think 2 is preferable). And for what it's worth, if you are not measuring and logging your food accurately, what's the point anyhow. No sense getting all bothered about exercise calorie estimates at all, because it's a lot easier to accidentally ingest several hundred calories a week from measurement error than it is to make the same difference from exercise.
  • NotSoPerfectPam
    NotSoPerfectPam Posts: 114 Member
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    sympha01 wrote: »
    NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »
    So then how should you calculate calorie burn?

    Step 1: Accept that you can't "calculate" your burn from specific workouts, you can only estimate it.
    Step 2: Accept that for most people, for most exercise, a conservative estimate is good enough to get the job done and relax.

    Thanks Sympha01 - I am have been thinking of ditching the eating back calories and simply focus on meeting a calorie goal
  • thunder1982
    thunder1982 Posts: 280 Member
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    I would also go with water weight from exercise.I did a long run in the heat last night, smashed water after I got home (and had also drunk alot during the day). When I got up this morning I noticed a) I hadnt needed to get up during the night which is unusual considering I was drinking heaps of fluid late and b) when I went this morning it wasn't much either. I have sore legs from the run so no suprise I have no weight movement.

    I have often found that I weigh heavier after a big workout and it usually takes as long as the soreness lasts for the fluid retention to disappear.

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