Is this possible?
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chaarlotte289
Posts: 84 Member
Is it possible to gain weight from not eating enough? I've been pretty active... Running 30 mins and elliptical 30 minutes 4x per week, plus I walk around 10,000 steps a day due to being a college kid.
I was eating around 2300-2400 calories and doing less excercise and maintaining/slowly loosing.
Now I'm eating around 2000-2200 and gaining? What gives and why is my body rebelling? Any idea on what I should do?
I was eating around 2300-2400 calories and doing less excercise and maintaining/slowly loosing.
Now I'm eating around 2000-2200 and gaining? What gives and why is my body rebelling? Any idea on what I should do?
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Replies
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It's just water and gut content2
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It's not possible no, either you're eating more than you think or for some reason your body is clinging to water/salt bloat or something diet based. Sorry but less cals means less weight there's not much else to it (but your body can fluctuate massively on the scale sometimes but be exactly the same when it comes to fat!)2
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It's not possible no, either you're eating more than you think or for some reason your body is clinging to water/salt bloat or something diet based. Sorry but less cals means less weight there's not much else to it (but your body can fluctuate massively on the scale sometimes but be exactly the same when it comes to fat!)
So is it or isn't it?0 -
chaarlotte289 wrote: »Is it possible to gain weight from not eating enough? I've been pretty active... Running 30 mins and elliptical 30 minutes 4x per week, plus I walk around 10,000 steps a day due to being a college kid.
I was eating around 2300-2400 calories and doing less excercise and maintaining/slowly loosing.
Now I'm eating around 2000-2200 and gaining? What gives and why is my body rebelling? Any idea on what I should do?
There are a lot of "around"s in your post.
Tighten up your logging. Use a digital food scale, and track your actual exercise.
I agree that scale weight fluctuates based on a lot of factors including glycogen storage, inflammation, hormonal swings, sleep, stress, salt, etc.
Carry on. Log accurately.5 -
chaarlotte289 wrote: »Is it possible to gain weight from not eating enough? I've been pretty active... Running 30 mins and elliptical 30 minutes 4x per week, plus I walk around 10,000 steps a day due to being a college kid.
I was eating around 2300-2400 calories and doing less excercise and maintaining/slowly loosing.
Now I'm eating around 2000-2200 and gaining? What gives and why is my body rebelling? Any idea on what I should do?
Yes you can gain weight not eating enough. Not fat, but weight.
I'll vote for the stress aspect - increased cortisol increases water retained.
Upwards of 20 lbs possible.
So perhaps that's too big a deficit for the amount you want to lose for all the other stresses going on in life, so pick a stress to reduce - if the diet is the only one you have control over - so be it, eat about 2200 and up. Sounds like 2300-2400 was already a small deficit.
Did you start eating less and exercising more? Small amounts both directions is fine - big amounts can be stressful to some.1 -
chaarlotte289 wrote: »Is it possible to gain weight from not eating enough? I've been pretty active... Running 30 mins and elliptical 30 minutes 4x per week, plus I walk around 10,000 steps a day due to being a college kid.
I was eating around 2300-2400 calories and doing less excercise and maintaining/slowly loosing.
Now I'm eating around 2000-2200 and gaining? What gives and why is my body rebelling? Any idea on what I should do?
Yes you can gain weight not eating enough. Not fat, but weight.
I'll vote for the stress aspect - increased cortisol increases water retained.
Upwards of 20 lbs possible.
So perhaps that's too big a deficit for the amount you want to lose for all the other stresses going on in life, so pick a stress to reduce - if the diet is the only one you have control over - so be it, eat about 2200 and up. Sounds like 2300-2400 was already a small deficit.
Did you start eating less and exercising more? Small amounts both directions is fine - big amounts can be stressful to some.
What? Cortisol can cause 20 lb of water retention?
If someone indeed retains that much water, I would think they'd have to go see their doctor immediately.
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It's not an immediate gain, slow and steady. Even big jumps don't stand out massively.
Shoot, even outside that hormone causing problems - I've lost 10-14 lbs on a long bike ride WHILE drinking 6 lbs worth of fluids. My measurements didn't change that much, but it shows how much the body can change water volume and weight just as normal course of workout functions.
Start storing water in other places too - there ya go.
You've probably heard of dieters getting whoosh effect, big water weight drop, and then weight is down a decent amount from some time in the past when they last lost weight?
Many times it's that - body got unstressed for some reason - dropped the water.
So fat was lost while water slowly gained, showing weight increase, or no change, or very slow loss. None of which the math for deficit would lead you to think is happening.
Then the water drops and you find you did lose fat.
Sadly when the body is that stressed out though, other negatives are usually happening, and for the math what you think should have happened ... still didn't, and workouts perhaps still not improving, ect.1 -
We could debate whether or not it's "possible". Bottom line, if you were doing well on more calories, why don't you go back to the plan you were on before?3
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NewMEEE2016 wrote: »We could debate whether or not it's "possible". Bottom line, if you were doing well on more calories, why don't you go back to the plan you were on before?
This sounds like a reasonable plan.1 -
It's not an immediate gain, slow and steady. Even big jumps don't stand out massively.
Shoot, even outside that hormone causing problems - I've lost 10-14 lbs on a long bike ride WHILE drinking 6 lbs worth of fluids. My measurements didn't change that much, but it shows how much the body can change water volume and weight just as normal course of workout functions.
Start storing water in other places too - there ya go.
You've probably heard of dieters getting whoosh effect, big water weight drop, and then weight is down a decent amount from some time in the past when they last lost weight?
Many times it's that - body got unstressed for some reason - dropped the water.
So fat was lost while water slowly gained, showing weight increase, or no change, or very slow loss. None of which the math for deficit would lead you to think is happening.
Then the water drops and you find you did lose fat.
Sadly when the body is that stressed out though, other negatives are usually happening, and for the math what you think should have happened ... still didn't, and workouts perhaps still not improving, ect.
I have retained up to 15lbs in water weight after working out. Then once I took a few days off I saw a whoosh and lost a ton and ended up losing a lot of weight (more than I was wanting to). The exercise was masking my loss for awhile. This happens all the time when I ramp up my exercise, I never lose until I take a break.
You are stressing your body. Why did you increase activity and lower calories if you were already losing OP?0 -
NewMEEE2016 wrote: »We could debate whether or not it's "possible". Bottom line, if you were doing well on more calories, why don't you go back to the plan you were on before?
Exactly, if she was doing well before, why did she change things? I would go back to what you know was working.2 -
There are factors other than CICO that affect weight gain/loss. For example, if a person doesn't get enough good quality sleep, cortisol levels rise, causing the body to hang on to fat and slowing metabolism. Individuals differ.0
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You can't gain from eating less, there must be logging inaccuracies....0
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chaarlotte289 wrote: »Is it possible to gain weight from not eating enough? I've been pretty active... Running 30 mins and elliptical 30 minutes 4x per week, plus I walk around 10,000 steps a day due to being a college kid.
I was eating around 2300-2400 calories and doing less excercise and maintaining/slowly loosing.
Now I'm eating around 2000-2200 and gaining? What gives and why is my body rebelling? Any idea on what I should do?chaarlotte289 wrote: »Is it possible to gain weight from not eating enough? I've been pretty active... Running 30 mins and elliptical 30 minutes 4x per week, plus I walk around 10,000 steps a day due to being a college kid.
I was eating around 2300-2400 calories and doing less excercise and maintaining/slowly loosing.
Now I'm eating around 2000-2200 and gaining? What gives and why is my body rebelling? Any idea on what I should do?chaarlotte289 wrote: »Is it possible to gain weight from not eating enough? I've been pretty active... Running 30 mins and elliptical 30 minutes 4x per week, plus I walk around 10,000 steps a day due to being a college kid.
I was eating around 2300-2400 calories and doing less excercise and maintaining/slowly loosing.
Now I'm eating around 2000-2200 and gaining? What gives and why is my body rebelling? Any idea on what I should do?Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »It's not an immediate gain, slow and steady. Even big jumps don't stand out massively.
Shoot, even outside that hormone causing problems - I've lost 10-14 lbs on a long bike ride WHILE drinking 6 lbs worth of fluids. My measurements didn't change that much, but it shows how much the body can change water volume and weight just as normal course of workout functions.
Start storing water in other places too - there ya go.
You've probably heard of dieters getting whoosh effect, big water weight drop, and then weight is down a decent amount from some time in the past when they last lost weight?
Many times it's that - body got unstressed for some reason - dropped the water.
So fat was lost while water slowly gained, showing weight increase, or no change, or very slow loss. None of which the math for deficit would lead you to think is happening.
Then the water drops and you find you did lose fat.
Sadly when the body is that stressed out though, other negatives are usually happening, and for the math what you think should have happened ... still didn't, and workouts perhaps still not improving, ect.
I have retained up to 15lbs in water weight after working out. Then once I took a few days off I saw a whoosh and lost a ton and ended up losing a lot of weight (more than I was wanting to). The exercise was masking my loss for awhile. This happens all the time when I ramp up my exercise, I never lose until I take a break.
You are stressing your body. Why did you increase activity and lower calories if you were already losing OP?
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You have to have a caloric deficit of 500 calories, eat every 2-3 hrs hungry or not, and this is possible from my experience. Make sure you measure your food strictly, do not estimate your intake. My calorie intake/day 1300, I start eating breakfast 6:30 within the hour I wake up to to activate my metabolism then 2-3 hrs afterwards, believe me, this is with satisfaction, I make my own food so I know whats in it. Count everything... Keep it up of being active!1
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You have to have a caloric deficit of 500 calories, eat every 2-3 hrs hungry or not, and this is possible from my experience. Make sure you measure your food strictly, do not estimate your intake. My calorie intake/day 1300, I start eating breakfast 6:30 within the hour I wake up to to activate my metabolism then 2-3 hrs afterwards, believe me, this is with satisfaction, I make my own food so I know whats in it. Count everything... Keep it up of being active!
Just so you are aware - your metabolism was going all night long. Didn't need to be "activated".
As soon as you woke up and used your brain more - metabolism increased. (RMR compared to BMR).
When you ate - processing the food increased your burn rate a little - but that's not really considered metabolism, but TEF - Thermic Effect of Food.
And as soon as done doing that - the burn went back to normal daily level.
And you'd burn the same calories processing that food in big chunks of a few meals or many meals through the day - doesn't matter except for personal preference.
Some people don't like eating constantly, keeping insulin elevated constantly, keeping fat release mode turned off constantly, potentially keeping low blood sugar constantly making themselves feel hungrier than needed constantly.6 -
@chaarlotte289 Did you ever figure it out? People always post stuff on here and then never come back to update and I always wonder.2
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KetoneKaren wrote: »There are factors other than CICO that affect weight gain/loss. For example, if a person doesn't get enough good quality sleep, cortisol levels rise, causing the body to hang on to fat and slowing metabolism. Individuals differ.
CICO....
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »@chaarlotte289 Did you ever figure it out? People always post stuff on here and then never come back to update and I always wonder.
Thanks everyone! And Noreen: I wish I could say I did
1
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