Eating right, exercising more, drinking less, gaining weight?!

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KatLeSueur
KatLeSueur Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My weight has always fluctuated drastically, even from morning to night, for as long as I've been obsessing over it (about 15 years now). It used to be that my weight could be 7 lbs different from morning to night or day to day. I recently turned 30, and it's fluctuating less... just steadily creeping up. It also used to be that if I took a week or two off alcohol I could drop 5-10 lbs easy peasy... recently did that and it had no effect whatsoever.

I'm about 5'9'' and very active (heavy lifting and crossfit style cardio 2x/week, boot camp style workouts 3x/week, walking at least 5 miles every day, usually outdoor recreation like skiing, snowshoeing, biking or hiking once a week). The lightest I've been in the last five years was on my wedding day, July 2012, at 139.5 lbs (lots of restriction to get to that weight). The heaviest I've ever been was in college at 165 (also very unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle). Right now I'm 158, but eat very consciously and monitor alcohol intake. I want to be around 145, realistically, consistently.

Right before I turned 30 I sold my restaurant, beginning an indeterminate break from day-to-day work. Over the past five years of this job, I was always prioritizing my business over my health, though I have been consistently working with a personal trainer for almost ten years now. The only things that have changed are taking me in a more healthful direction, so I don't understand why my weight is going up so much.

I've calculated my BMR to be 1525.6, BMI 23.33, Body fat% 34. I have been aiming for 30-40% lean protein, 20-30% fat, and 40-50% carbs. I've tried tweaking these macros, but nothing seems to help. I'm aiming for 1864.68 daily caloric intake to lose 1lb a week, and I'm typically hitting that number (occasionally a little over, occasionally a little under) but my weight is NOT going down, it's going up.

Does anyone see any red flags? I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here, and it's extremely frustrating. For how diligent and health-focused I'm being, I feel like I should be at my ideal weight.

Side note: I take lots of fish oil, turmeric, protein and probiotic supplements. I generally stay away from dairy and wheat, with the exception of yogurt and whole/ancient grains, oats etc.. I eat lots of chicken, grassfed steak, fish, leafy greens, chickpeas/lentils, healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, and nuts.


Thanks - at my wit's end.

Replies

  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
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    Are you weighing your food? Overestimating your calorie burn? Is your calorie count net or gross? And with how close you are to your goal, I think the goal is supposed to be 1/2 pound per week.
  • Nicklebee93
    Nicklebee93 Posts: 316 Member
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    Red flags:

    Nuts. Are you weighing this? I ask that because even going over just a little can cause you to be eating extra calories. It might not seem like a big issue, but if you're eating them daily it can add up very quickly.

    Meats. Are you weighing this also? Make a fist, are you meats normally bigger than that? If so you're probably underestimating how much you're eating.

    Avocados. Again, not a bad thing. But very high in calories. Eating them daily you could be going way over again in calories.

    -- Personally it sounds like you need to purchase a food scale. You're going over in calories in some area just not exactly sure where because in a calories deficit you'll lose weight. There's no way you can't.

    ** Have you measured?? Now i could be completely wrong from everything i said if you're losing inches. People have been known to lose many inches and the scale not budge. But if you're going up in terms of the scale i can't see how it's possible. **
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
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    You don't mention weighing everything you eat and drink. If you're not, I'd try that. Buy a digital scale, you may be surprised at what you're eating. PS--eating healthy doesn't= weight loss.
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
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    To be blunt, if you're not losing, you are EATING MORE THAN YOU BURN. Period.

    Grab a kitchen scale and start weighing everything if you haven't already. If you are, tweak your numbers. 1864 may be too high.

    Second, are you eating back exercise calories? How do you calculate your burns?
  • KatLeSueur
    KatLeSueur Posts: 7 Member
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    I weigh everything I eat...
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Would you consider opening your diary? It's hard to diagnose common logging errors without seeing it.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    edited April 2016
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    I'm 5'9, and shoot for 1930 calories per day, so your numbers seem about right. I weigh 178 and my goal is 165, so you are shooting for a much lower goal weight than I am. If you are honestly weighing and logging everything you put in your mouth, not skipping days or fudging the numbers, my only guess is that you are in that super hard "last 10 pounds" mode. It's going to be slow and you're going to have to be patient and on point.

    I assume, also, based on what you said, that you do not eat back exercise calories. If you do, are you overestimating your calorie burns?

    ETA: Also, it would be easier to give suggestions if your diary was public.
  • orion_81
    orion_81 Posts: 9 Member
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    You sound just like me! Only difference is that I managed to solve the problem. What I did:
    Sleep at least 7 hours daily
    Try to reduce stress as much as possible - running works for me but no other workout. But other workouts fortify my stress resistance.
    I almost match a diabetic's diet plan
    I eat 40% protein 40% carbs 20% fat
    I try to push my heart rate up
    I take a fat burner (Grenade Black Ops and Now Thermo because my body is used to black ops)
    I take supplements to boost my metabolism (Vitamin B6, 12)
    I do a calorie deficit of 500 calories (BMR + workout - 500)
    I spread my food over 7-8 meals
    Avoid sugar (including fizzy drinks and alcohol)
    Avoid white carbs
    avoid saturated fat
    Eat almonds (10-15)
    eat berries (strawberry, blackberry, blueberry)
    Now if you are lifting, chances are you are building muscle and losing fat at the same time? this can happen initially.
    My workouts are HIIT and usually full body.
    Taking high quality protein will increase weight loss so go for something like dymatize iso 100. If you can buy it off the shelf then its not good
  • KatLeSueur
    KatLeSueur Posts: 7 Member
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    I track calories with MFP using my scale to weigh everything out. Until recently MFP was doing a calorie adjustment using my fitbit but I usually still had a deficit. I just turned that feature off, so maybe that will help?
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
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    The only thing I'd ask you to consider is that maybe you are at a healthier weight for you now? If you've added heavier workouts, then you would not be as light as before. Are you physically bigger than you want to be (in inches) or just heavier than you think you should be?

    I love being skinny but believe that if you are eating healthy and the right amounts, and staying active, you probably are at a healthy weight for you, your body weighs what it should based on what you are doing. To get it to change from here you might have to have a less healthy life...
  • KatLeSueur
    KatLeSueur Posts: 7 Member
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    robininfl wrote: »
    The only thing I'd ask you to consider is that maybe you are at a healthier weight for you now? If you've added heavier workouts, then you would not be as light as before. Are you physically bigger than you want to be (in inches) or just heavier than you think you should be?

    I love being skinny but believe that if you are eating healthy and the right amounts, and staying active, you probably are at a healthy weight for you, your body weighs what it should based on what you are doing. To get it to change from here you might have to have a less healthy life...

    Thanks, I have considered that. At points in my life I was skinner/lighter but it was only thanks to eating disorders, which I've overcome for the most part.

    I think it's probably a combination of working out harder and therefore being hungrier and not realizing if I was eating back burned calories... maybe I need to work on satiety bang for the buck to avoid doing that, now that the fitbit is not attached any longer and I won't be adding in exercise to MFP.
  • KatLeSueur
    KatLeSueur Posts: 7 Member
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    ASKyle wrote: »
    To be blunt, if you're not losing, you are EATING MORE THAN YOU BURN. Period.

    Grab a kitchen scale and start weighing everything if you haven't already. If you are, tweak your numbers. 1864 may be too high.

    Second, are you eating back exercise calories? How do you calculate your burns?

    Yeah I think I didn't realize I was eating back more exercise calories than I realized, even if I still had a deficit it would usually not be 500... just turned off the fitbit adjustment and am not going to track exercise anymore. I also just noticed that MFP was adjusting my daily caloric goal based on exercise, which sucks, I had no idea it was doing that :-/
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited April 2016
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    KatLeSueur wrote: »
    ASKyle wrote: »
    To be blunt, if you're not losing, you are EATING MORE THAN YOU BURN. Period.

    Grab a kitchen scale and start weighing everything if you haven't already. If you are, tweak your numbers. 1864 may be too high.

    Second, are you eating back exercise calories? How do you calculate your burns?

    Yeah I think I didn't realize I was eating back more exercise calories than I realized, even if I still had a deficit it would usually not be 500... just turned off the fitbit adjustment and am not going to track exercise anymore. I also just noticed that MFP was adjusting my daily caloric goal based on exercise, which sucks, I had no idea it was doing that :-/

    If you set your goal on MFP to lose weight, it will give you a goal that will have you at a deficit even after eating back exercise calories. The trick is making sure that the estimate for calories burned through exercise is correct (some methods over-estimate).
  • liftzilla16
    liftzilla16 Posts: 59 Member
    edited April 2016
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    "Drinking less" - first red flag I see... :D

    All jokes aside, ASKyle nailed it above. Make sure you're burning more than you eat.
  • KatLeSueur
    KatLeSueur Posts: 7 Member
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    Janejellyroll, totally makes sense. Probably just safest to keep the daily calorie goal constant and not risk over estimating calories burned, then, right?
  • KatLeSueur
    KatLeSueur Posts: 7 Member
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    Colemathews16, I like my wine, it's true. And being in the restaurant industry, frequently forgetting to eat during my shift, prob too many of my calories were in wine. So yes, drinking a lot less, and eating more and paying attention to nutrients.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    KatLeSueur wrote: »
    Janejellyroll, totally makes sense. Probably just safest to keep the daily calorie goal constant and not risk over estimating calories burned, then, right?

    No, I think it makes sense to fuel your activity -- especially if one works out a lot. A larger deficit isn't always a good thing. And if I wasn't losing weight when I should be at a deficit, I would want to understand why.

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    Report your food accurately. Report your exercise accurately. Although I understand it's somewhat inaccurate to report exercise, just try. Eat, or don't eat, back your exercise calories. Just report it accurately. Record your weight consistently. I don't care if you record your weight daily, weekly or monthly, but do it at least monthly.
    After a month, there is a wonderful thing you can do. It's called a self-check. You are going to check the accuracy of your records. Here's how you do it. Go to the MFP Reports tool and sum your net calorie deficit or surplus for every single day of the preceding month. Divide that number by 3500. The result of that math is the weight in lb you should have lost or gained on the basis of your reporting of food and exercise. Then use the Reports tool to find your weight one month ago and your weight today. Subtract today's weight from the month ago, and that gives you the amount of weight you've actually lost or gained. Are the numbers the same?

    Does your reporting predict a greater weight loss than you measured? Your reporting is wrong. Either you eat more than you record or you burn less exercising than you record or you err in both.
    Does your reporting predict a lesser weight loss than you measured? Your reporting is still wrong. Either you eat less than you record or you burn more exercising than you record or you err in both. Don't change a thing, though.
    Does your reporting exactly predict the same weight loss you measured? Congratulations, you've reported accurately. Don' t change a thing.
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
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    KatLeSueur wrote: »
    robininfl wrote: »
    The only thing I'd ask you to consider is that maybe you are at a healthier weight for you now? If you've added heavier workouts, then you would not be as light as before. Are you physically bigger than you want to be (in inches) or just heavier than you think you should be?

    I love being skinny but believe that if you are eating healthy and the right amounts, and staying active, you probably are at a healthy weight for you, your body weighs what it should based on what you are doing. To get it to change from here you might have to have a less healthy life...

    Thanks, I have considered that. At points in my life I was skinner/lighter but it was only thanks to eating disorders, which I've overcome for the most part.

    I think it's probably a combination of working out harder and therefore being hungrier and not realizing if I was eating back burned calories... maybe I need to work on satiety bang for the buck to avoid doing that, now that the fitbit is not attached any longer and I won't be adding in exercise to MFP.

    Ha! I am your future. 5'9", 48, 135lb. Eating disordered when young, lightest around 95lb. Recovered and stayed north of 125lb (the bottom of my healthy range) since early twenties. Be aware that getting too obsessive about controlling your eating may not be the right path for you if your mind works like that (which is probably why in the past you just stopped drinking to drop pounds, right?), and try not to get freaked out about the weight if you are feeling good, eating moderately, and working out vigorously and regularly. Might want to ask your doctor if it's more healthy to lose or maintain, and maybe get body fat tested accurately to see if you are overestimating that.



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