Disappointed and demotivated -- weight gain after new routine

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  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    thefuzz1290 wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    You don't gain fat in a caloric deficit.

    Never said gain, but you retain it longer.

    You didn't? Let's see:
    Don't drop your calories too low, or you won't lose fat. The buzzword is "starvation mode," but essentially your body wants to keep hold of your fat stores for emergency energy and you could gain fat.

    Looks to me like that's exactly what you said. You don't gain fat or "hold on to it longer" in a caloric deficit. If that was the case, there would be a lot of fat anorexics and obese people in third world countries with food scarcity problems.
  • thefuzz1290
    thefuzz1290 Posts: 777 Member
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    Then I mistyped: "and you could gain fat." And you're going to the extremes with anorexics and legitimate starvation, not someone on an extreme caloric deficit. Someone eating 900 calories isn't anorexic or starving, but they're eat much less than they should.
  • myztic
    myztic Posts: 37 Member
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    So I need to swap it up and add protein instead of as many carbs... Ok I can do that. Do I need to change anything in my food log settings for that or just find more protein rich foods.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
    edited May 2016
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    thefuzz1290 wrote: »
    Then I mistyped: "and you could gain fat." And you're going to the extremes with anorexics and legitimate starvation, not someone on an extreme caloric deficit. Someone eating 900 calories isn't anorexic or starving, but they're eat much less than they should.
    Sure they are. And there are a lot of potential problems with that including malnutrition, loss of lean body mass, hair loss, fatigue/inability to support workouts, organ damage (in extreme cases), etc.

    But fat gain is not one of the potential problems. Again, you do not gain fat while in a caloric deficit. That's not how energy balance works.

    OP's issue is most likely that she just started exercising (a video workout routine and C25K), and she's retaining water/glycogen in her muscles as her body adapts to the new demands imposed upon it. It has nothing to do with "starvation mode" (which, again, isn't a real thing). She's also not gaining any appreciable amount of muscle on a 1200 calorie diet and doing a bunch of cardio, so muscle gain is not the culprit. That's not how energy balance works either.
  • thefuzz1290
    thefuzz1290 Posts: 777 Member
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    myztic wrote: »
    So I need to swap it up and add protein instead of as many carbs... Ok I can do that. Do I need to change anything in my food log settings for that or just find more protein rich foods.

    A high protein diet helps lean people out, in most cases, but I'd slowly up your protein to carb ratio until you get used to it.
  • myztic
    myztic Posts: 37 Member
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    Should I be using a protein powder?

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