I've gained 7 lbs and I don't know why!!!
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bnmoyler
Posts: 133 Member
So, I'd gotten down to 138. I was happy knew that I wasn't far from my goal. In order to reach the goal, I ran 2 miles per day four days per week and did a little light lifting. I ate around 1200 calories and stuck to it. After the year was up, I realized that I had low metabolism and just couldn't run anymore. I felt miserable. I started doing other things in the gym like the elliptical and so on to keep the weekly burn going. About six months later, I missed running so figured I would start doing it outside since there was a gorgeous trail down the street. I started doing an 8 miler 2-3 days per week. I started alternating this with the elliptical. As time went on, I knew I had to increase my calorie intake because 1200 wasn't enough to make it through these longer workouts. I ended up logging an average of 1450 per week which I figured was fair enough. I was eating to my satisfaction and that's where I landed. Not enough to gain so I figured it was cool. Every now and then I'd eat maintenance, but not often. And FYI, I eat a very clean diet although I have to admit, I'm vegan and a veggie/carb person. So as time goes on, I get a little bored and joined a gym to take group classes. I take body pump, strength training, Pilates, and Zumba every week. I also take gymnastics once a week as well and still do a nice run as a find time. My real focus has been building muscle for I see that I'm terribly lacking in this area. Well, it's been about 3.5 months and I can visually see a difference. My body looks quite muscular and look much more shapely and put together. I've gotten stronger and increased flexibility. However, I hopped on the scale and I've gained a whopping 7 lbs!!! WTH???? I'm tripping and totally discouraged. I still keep my calories on the low side so there is no chance Ive eaten a surplus to cause me to gain 7 lbs! Can someone please put my mind to rest because I'm puzzled, frantic, and upset....All that hard work!!!
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Replies
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So besides you telling us the scale weight - who else sees you naked on the scale in the morning?
Do you wear a sign around your neck with current weight on it, along with desired goal weight?
Why does the scale weight even matter when it most obviously was not noticeable to you purely by the way you looked and functioned?
Hard workouts increase water weight for many different reasons - and those will be metabolism increases of LBM too, even if not muscle, though I'm betting some was over that longish time eating at maintenance.
7 lbs is rather much though for just that effect, so you may have been sloppy with food logging too, and actually been eating in surplus a tad.
But a good resistance program would have made that muscle increases - not just or maybe not at all fat.
But I'm betting some is also stress water weight, which isn't good.
Eating too low while doing too much for what you eat - is just plain stress on the body - increases cortisol - increases water retained.
And makes your workouts not as good as they really could be.
You likely have no idea how well you could be performing and increasing in performance.
Are you about 5 ft for those 1450 calories and that weekly routine to have a chance of being reasonable?
Probably a super sedentary daily activity level outside of exercise too.4 -
Well, I never at a phase ate at maintenance... I may have a maintenance day twice a month. Even if logging was sloppy, I would have to be like 700 calories off daily in the surplus- a couple hundred is possible but 700 is not likely. The scale doesn't really matter- I just don't know why I'm seeing an increase. If anything, I should be maintaining. However, I have been really really stressed out and having anxiety attacks for a while. It's very hard to sleep at night and I can't seem to get it together. So maybe an increase in cortisol is quite possible. I'm 5'4 so maintenance is around 2100 or so.0
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Can you might think that some of that might be muscle and not fat or a little bit of both?
Have you been tracking measurements as well as scale weight and taking photos the past several months of your body flexed and non flexed..
An increase in volume and intensity of workouts can bring on water weight.. In some cases for me several pounds. This too can be accompanied by the two times a month that I put on water (around ovulation and the actual menses) also carbs tend to make me fluffy and put on water weight if I eat a good bit like over the weekend, also sodium is huge one as well as hydration and dehydration...
There could be a mix of water retention, some muscle gain, and some fat gain.. It is necessary to mark all the trends in your weight as above and moreoever measurements and photos even your clothes can tell a story.
edited to add: I am confused by your statement that maintenance is 2100 or so, but you eat 1450 or so (maintenance twice a month) with no gain? Something about this seems off in the numbers and you did not say if you weighed your food using a food scale or if you eat back exercise calories... So outside of what I laid out is there a possibility that you do eat more than you might be logging? You could still have gainz in muscle, water rentention, but maybe some fat gainz are there more than realized?
Just a question I had..1 -
You said you feel stronger and you're more toned. You could be getting muscle growth, hince the weight gain. Are you drinking a boat-load of water, it could be something simple as water weight (can happen with those who lift weights since the muscle will hold onto the water.)1
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Can you might think that some of that might be muscle and not fat or a little bit of both?
Have you been tracking measurements as well as scale weight and taking photos the past several months of your body flexed and non flexed..
An increase in volume and intensity of workouts can bring on water weight.. In some cases for me several pounds. This too can be accompanied by the two times a month that I put on water (around ovulation and the actual menses) also carbs tend to make me fluffy and put on water weight if I eat a good bit like over the weekend, also sodium is huge one as well as hydration and dehydration...
There could be a mix of water retention, some muscle gain, and some fat gain.. It is necessary to mark all the trends in your weight as above and moreoever measurements and photos even your clothes can tell a story.
edited to add: I am confused by your statement that maintenance is 2100 or so, but you eat 1450 or so (maintenance twice a month) with no gain? Something about this seems off in the numbers and you did not say if you weighed your food using a food scale or if you eat back exercise calories... So outside of what I laid out is there a possibility that you do eat more than you might be logging? You could still have gainz in muscle, water rentention, but maybe some fat gainz are there more than realized?
Just a question I had..
What I was saying is that maintenance for me is around 2100 calories per day. On an average, I've been eating around 1450 per day so it's quite far from where I would need to be to pack on lbs even if my logging was slightly off. However, my clothes are not fitting tighter; in fact are looser especially around the waist so it seems as though inches are being lost. Hopefully it is a bit of muscle gain and not fat. I can live with that.0 -
the biggest problem with us is, once we decide to lose weight we rush after it and don't even think about if we could carry it on or not, it makes us tired, our metabolism gets weaker, and finally we get to the position we started from. never get your weight lost at the risk of your health, be calm and persistent, I have lost you wont believe 46 lbs and still healthy without any cut in my food intake but increased my liquid intake. i walk regularly and use beyond weight management tea,you need to find something for you.0
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Can you might think that some of that might be muscle and not fat or a little bit of both?
Have you been tracking measurements as well as scale weight and taking photos the past several months of your body flexed and non flexed..
An increase in volume and intensity of workouts can bring on water weight.. In some cases for me several pounds. This too can be accompanied by the two times a month that I put on water (around ovulation and the actual menses) also carbs tend to make me fluffy and put on water weight if I eat a good bit like over the weekend, also sodium is huge one as well as hydration and dehydration...
There could be a mix of water retention, some muscle gain, and some fat gain.. It is necessary to mark all the trends in your weight as above and moreoever measurements and photos even your clothes can tell a story.
edited to add: I am confused by your statement that maintenance is 2100 or so, but you eat 1450 or so (maintenance twice a month) with no gain? Something about this seems off in the numbers and you did not say if you weighed your food using a food scale or if you eat back exercise calories... So outside of what I laid out is there a possibility that you do eat more than you might be logging? You could still have gainz in muscle, water rentention, but maybe some fat gainz are there more than realized?
Just a question I had..
What I was saying is that maintenance for me is around 2100 calories per day. On an average, I've been eating around 1450 per day so it's quite far from where I would need to be to pack on lbs even if my logging was slightly off. However, my clothes are not fitting tighter; in fact are looser especially around the waist so it seems as though inches are being lost. Hopefully it is a bit of muscle gain and not fat. I can live with that.
Ok, I get what the 2100 calories is, but 1450 is a deficit for you according to what you stated, so I still think that the 2100 is off base if you are not loosing weight.. Perhaps the 1450 plus inaccuracies in logging you could be closer to maintenance. However the clothes and inches are a huge sign that you have gained muscle, BUT with the exceptin of very early newbie gainz these taper off around 6 - 7 weeks in a new lifting program.. so when you put on additional muscle fibers you have to be eating at maintenance and a wee bit over possibly because to put on new msucle fibers you have to be eating a little more than maintenance.. eating a deficit does not put on muscle. I am clean bulking now and I eat 200 to 250 over maintenance.
Recheck you logging, keep up with the measurments, etc.. good job on the gainz .. you may have been mini bulking this time and did not really know it (or maybe a recomp, but with out knowing if you had almost 100% precision in your diet structure, protein intake and actual lifting program you follow,, hard to say).2 -
At first, I was losing like crazy and at 138, I plateaued. I should have still been loosing because nothing changed diet wise. That's why I'm confused. I have been on a deficit for a couple years now. My logging has to be pretty accurate because I cook and prepare everything and I weigh my food on a scale. But hopefully it is a mini bulk or something. I think it's in my best interest to focus on my fitness and ditch the scale.1
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Have you seen this chart? There are a lot of good tips to help you get those 7 pounds back off and help you figure out what might have caused the gain in the first place. That said, if you are happy with the way you look, I wouldn't get too hung up on the scale numbers. If that is you in your profile pic, I think you look very healthy and fit just as you are now.
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At first, I was losing like crazy and at 138, I plateaued. I should have still been loosing because nothing changed diet wise. That's why I'm confused. I have been on a deficit for a couple years now. My logging has to be pretty accurate because I cook and prepare everything and I weigh my food on a scale. But hopefully it is a mini bulk or something. I think it's in my best interest to focus on my fitness and ditch the scale.
Why on a a deficit for a couple of years? yikes..
I really really beleive that unless you use a food scale and weigh and log every single morsel that you consume, you were eating more than you think you were..
I know it is a hard pill to swallow, but a deficit always means weight loss.. I hate for you keep meandering around thinking you should loose weight on this 1450 calories and a reassessment if you care about going forward with weight loss or what ever the goal is..
I am 5'4" and 112 and my maintenance if I did nothing but lay on the couch and take three trips to the bathroom would be 1450. I eat way more than that, I run some during the week and lift weights. I do not like to compare calories for one person to another one, but the numbers do not add up to me after reviewing the info you disclosed.
Again, best of luck with the journey and enjoy them gaiz..
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I have been on a deficit for a couple years now.
You clearly haven't or you would have lost more weight. The numbers tell you that the way you are counting right now you are actually slightly above your body's maintenance.
If you like what you see, just continue doing what you are doing, and if you want to cut work on logging better.
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I'd say it's probably just water retention from the extra exercise (and is your TOM due soon?).1
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So to sum everything up, I tried on a pair or shorts from last summer that were super tight. Today, they were very loose. I was shocked so my conclusion is that I've gained some muscle weight and yea, some water. It's that time. Yikes! I normally would never weigh myself around this time because I know I will be sent on a frenzy.I'd say it's probably just water retention from the extra exercise (and is your TOM due soon?).1 -
Well, it's impossible to tell you why you've gained 7 lbs because your diary is locked. But I've gained 10 lbs since yesterday because I'm bloated because I ate too much junk today. And tomorrow I'm going to eat healthy and try to drink way more water and on Thursday morning I'll be down 10 lbs again. It's like magic, but it's not. It's science.3
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So besides you telling us the scale weight - who else sees you naked on the scale in the morning?
Do you wear a sign around your neck with current weight on it, along with desired goal weight?
Why does the scale weight even matter when it most obviously was not noticeable to you purely by the way you looked and functioned?
Hard workouts increase water weight for many different reasons - and those will be metabolism increases of LBM too, even if not muscle, though I'm betting some was over that longish time eating at maintenance.
7 lbs is rather much though for just that effect, so you may have been sloppy with food logging too, and actually been eating in surplus a tad.
But a good resistance program would have made that muscle increases - not just or maybe not at all fat.
But I'm betting some is also stress water weight, which isn't good.
Eating too low while doing too much for what you eat - is just plain stress on the body - increases cortisol - increases water retained.
And makes your workouts not as good as they really could be.
You likely have no idea how well you could be performing and increasing in performance.
Are you about 5 ft for those 1450 calories and that weekly routine to have a chance of being reasonable?
Probably a super sedentary daily activity level outside of exercise too.
I think you may be on to something- initially, I was losing like crazy. After about six months, the deficit wasn't working anymore. I didn't gain, but I also didn't loose. I was just stuck. I knew my intake was rather low, so I figured my body just stopped responding because I wasn't getting enough. I bumped up a bit because I was working out more and needed it to keep going. I actually think it's the reverse of what most are assuming. I think my intake is actually too low. Low intake slows metabolism which will cause you not to lose. Stress has been out of control for several months now and a light bulb went off when you said cortisol. I did some research and found an herbal supplement that should help. I just started it so we'll see how that goes. On the days that I eat more, I feel better and have a lot more energy. I'm pretty accurate at logging though because I weigh my portions and rarely eat out because there's no way to track. I also noticed that I never reach my protein goals. I recently started a superfood protein shake to help with that. Thanks for your input. It's been so helpful.0 -
So besides you telling us the scale weight - who else sees you naked on the scale in the morning?
Do you wear a sign around your neck with current weight on it, along with desired goal weight?
Why does the scale weight even matter when it most obviously was not noticeable to you purely by the way you looked and functioned?
Hard workouts increase water weight for many different reasons - and those will be metabolism increases of LBM too, even if not muscle, though I'm betting some was over that longish time eating at maintenance.
7 lbs is rather much though for just that effect, so you may have been sloppy with food logging too, and actually been eating in surplus a tad.
But a good resistance program would have made that muscle increases - not just or maybe not at all fat.
But I'm betting some is also stress water weight, which isn't good.
Eating too low while doing too much for what you eat - is just plain stress on the body - increases cortisol - increases water retained.
And makes your workouts not as good as they really could be.
You likely have no idea how well you could be performing and increasing in performance.
Are you about 5 ft for those 1450 calories and that weekly routine to have a chance of being reasonable?
Probably a super sedentary daily activity level outside of exercise too.
I think you may be on to something- initially, I was losing like crazy. After about six months, the deficit wasn't working anymore. I didn't gain, but I also didn't loose. I was just stuck. I knew my intake was rather low, so I figured my body just stopped responding because I wasn't getting enough. I bumped up a bit because I was working out more and needed it to keep going. I actually think it's the reverse of what most are assuming. I think my intake is actually too low. Low intake slows metabolism which will cause you not to lose. Stress has been out of control for several months now and a light bulb went off when you said cortisol. I did some research and found an herbal supplement that should help. I just started it so we'll see how that goes. On the days that I eat more, I feel better and have a lot more energy. I'm pretty accurate at logging though because I weigh my portions and rarely eat out because there's no way to track. I also noticed that I never reach my protein goals. I recently started a superfood protein shake to help with that. Thanks for your input. It's been so helpful.
Yeah none of this is correct. I don't mean to sound rude, but I see you've fallen for a lot of the common weight loss myths.
1) You are not gaining weight because you are eating too little. I'm not going to go into why the 'starvation mode' is a myth, there are plenty of other threads that go much more (arguably too much more) in depth. If you're running a 700 calorie deficit a day, you should be losing approximately 1.4lbs a week. That's how the laws of thermodynamics work, end of story. Running a 700 calorie daily deficit for six months means you should of lost around 35lbs. Which means there is a 42lb discrepancy between your numbers and the laws of physics. Eating more is only going to cause you to gain.
2) What exactly is this magical herbal supplement you're taking. And what exactly are you hoping it's going to do? If you're hoping it will boost your metabolism, it won't. The only healthy way I know how to boost your metabolism is to build muscle, but even then for every pound of muscle you add you're only increasing your TDEE by 6-12 calories. Don't waste your money. Also superfood protein shake sounds very gimmicky. If you need it for the protein, so be it. But don't expect any magical health benefits from the title 'superfood'.
OP if you truly are weighing everything you're eating, then you must be overestimating your burn. Your TDEE is probably lower than you think and your exercise is probably much lower than you're logging. If you honestly believe that you are eating 1450 calories, but burning 2150, then you need to see your doctor.2 -
So to sum everything up, I tried on a pair or shorts from last summer that were super tight. Today, they were very loose. I was shocked so my conclusion is that I've gained some muscle weight and yea, some water. It's that time. Yikes! I normally would never weigh myself around this time because I know I will be sent on a frenzy.I'd say it's probably just water retention from the extra exercise (and is your TOM due soon?).
So that's your answer! Don't sweat it.
I'm 4 pounds heavier than last year but clothes are looser too.1 -
Ok let me see if I've got all the pertinent facts:
OP is 5'4 and 138 but recently spiked to 145.
Doesn't weigh regularly.
Believes TDEE to be 2100 but eats 1450.
Works out strenuously on a regular basis.
Has seen major improvements in body composition.
It is TOM.
Has been at this for about 2 years.
Now some questions...
Is all that right above?
What is your goal weight, or goals in general?
Do you use a food scale for logging?
How did you determine your TDEE?
Do you ever eat back exercise cals?
Can you open your diary?
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WinoGelato wrote: »Ok let me see if I've got all the pertinent facts:
OP is 5'4 and 138 but recently spiked to 145.
Doesn't weigh regularly.
Believes TDEE to be 2100 but eats 1450.
Works out strenuously on a regular basis.
Has seen major improvements in body composition.
It is TOM.
Has been at this for about 2 years.
Now some questions...
Is all that right above?
What is your goal weight, or goals in general?
Do you use a food scale for logging?
How did you determine your TDEE?
Do you ever eat back exercise cals?
Can you open your diary?
My initial goal was 135. Yes I use a food scale. Through a calculator. Sometimes I eat back, sometimes I don't.0 -
Thanks guys. I really appreciate your foodback. On to a new chapter and thanks to those with encouraging words. Peace and blessings!0
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