Weight gain after 2 months no work out but healthy diet with calory deficit

mariaeli93
mariaeli93 Posts: 42 Member
edited December 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys, ive been tracking calories and eating right for 3 years now and my weight loss was steady and even got to my perfect weight and mantained. About 3 months ago i had some medical problems that didnt allow for me to go to the gym or do any cardio for 2 months. During those 2 months i did 24k-30k steps per day and used my fitbit hr to help me track my calories and eat within my caloric spending but it seems that something has happened. Ive gained a lot of visible weight. About 6 pounds to be exact (about an inch and a half everywhere) Ive started going to the gym again (about a 3 weeks now) and the weight has not only not left, i seem to be gaining more. I know that when u begin to work out, you gain weight but i never stopped being active (hense the huge amount of steps) i only stopped doing intense cardio. Anyone know what could be going on?
Thanks so much for your help :)

Replies

  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    Six pounds?

    Do you have a food scale?
  • mariaeli93
    mariaeli93 Posts: 42 Member
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    Six pounds?

    Do you have a food scale?

    Yeah, i measure everything i eat always
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    What else might have changed since you stopped losing and began to gain? Do you stay under your calorie deficit? Oops....just reread and see you already mentioned that do! :wink: Get in plenty of water, fiber etc.?

    How do you measure your food currently? Solids on the food scale, liquid in cups/tablespoons etc. (or if out of the US-other means) ?

    I'm just tossing things out to see what we could do to help figure out what might be going on. :smiley:

    Can you think of any thing that you've wondered about that might be causing it? Bloating from excess salt/period, medicine you're on? It's true after you do weights your body hangs onto a bit of water for muscle repair but that wouldn't account for a 6 pound gain.

    On to the next person that'll pick your brain to help you figure this out. Good for you for posting so you can get down to the bottom of this! :drinker:
  • mariaeli93
    mariaeli93 Posts: 42 Member
    Hearts_2015 wrote: »
    What else might have changed since you stopped losing and began to gain? Do you stay under your calorie deficit? Oops....just reread and see you already mentioned that do! :wink: Get in plenty of water, fiber etc.?

    How do you measure your food currently? Solids on the food scale, liquid in cups/tablespoons etc. (or if out of the US-other means) ?

    I'm just tossing things out to see what we could do to help figure out what might be going on. :smiley:

    Can you think of any thing that you've wondered about that might be causing it? Bloating from excess salt/period, medicine you're on? It's true after you do weights your body hangs onto a bit of water for muscle repair but that wouldn't account for a 6 pound gain.

    On to the next person that'll pick your brain to help you figure this out. Good for you for posting so you can get down to the bottom of this! :drinker:

    Thanks! Well the only thing that has changed is my wrist activity tracker. I had a polar loop and during that time i got a fitbit HR2. my polar loop didnt have a heart rate sensor and this one does so im assuming the calories it shows me are more acurate? (i think this is one of the reasons for the weight gain)
    I measure everything all the time, my eating habits havent changed a bit. Nothing besides that has changed ☺
  • madameclaudy
    madameclaudy Posts: 5 Member
    Do you track your sodium intake? Is it that time of the month? Otherwise maybe you gained pounds because you didn't exercise as much as you used to and your body needed time to get used to that. I'm sure that now that you're back on track like before that you will lose the pounds again in a few weeks. Don't give up.
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
    Could your medical condition cause water retention? Have you been back to the Dr recently? How about only eating back 2/3 of calories for a couple f weeks and seeing what that does - maybe your new tracker is over-estimating calorie burn (for example if you naturally have a faster heartbeat it could do, I guess?) Good luck with finding out what is causing it, do share when you get to the bottom of it!
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
    Sounds like your new fit bit is over estimating your calories burned? Eat back fewer exercise calories maybe- and how about checking your diary and seeing how many calories you're eating now versus how many you were eating before?

    I do tend to gain weight when I'm sick or recovering from an injury so it could have been that that made you gain the weight and then not being in a deficit due to eating back too many calories is keeping you from losing the gained weight.

    Just because it measures your heart rate doesn't mean it's more accurate. I've seen some pretty ridiculous calorie estimations for exercise from my friends that have fit bits. Like a few thousand calories of exercise per day when all they did is walk and maybe go to the gym for an hour? I doubt that's correct. Also wouldn't your "steps" be part of your non-exercise calories? Like already be included in your activity calories that myfitnesspal gives you? So basically you're eating back calories for calories you already have as part of your base daily calorie goal?
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited December 2016
    Have up been up these 6lbs for the best part of two months?

    I can understand why you would see some inch gain, some of your muscle gains would have been lost and that would leave you feeling 'fluffier' beause of the lack of going to the gym but now you're back at that again, inch loss will follow.

    The Fitbit I've found to be accurate with its burn in general but I suppose it might not be for everyone.

    You say you've made no changes to your eating habits, so if that is the case then hopefully now this gain will disappear. At the minute because you are just back at the gym you will be experiencing some water weight gain which is temporary and could be masking any loss.

    What are you doing to achieve these huge steps? I ask because I've found when I have been in Fitbit challenges and needing high steps I do a lot of room pacing - the burn for that isn't as much as we'd like to think. Plus we are inclined to be more hungry and end up eating that bit more. Fitbit is inclined to give me too many cals for those sort of steps and if I were to eat them all back, I would gain. That's why I've stopped doing what I call 'silly steps' as they were doing me no favours. I do less (now average 15K) ...I eat less which is easier. :smile:
  • mariaeli93
    mariaeli93 Posts: 42 Member
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    Have up been up these 6lbs for the best part of two months?

    I can understand why you would see some inch gain, some of your muscle gains would have been lost and that would leave you feeling 'fluffier' beause of the lack of going to the gym but now you're back at that again, inch loss will follow.

    The Fitbit I've found to be accurate with its burn in general but I suppose it might not be for everyone.

    You say you've made no changes to your eating habits, so if that is the case then hopefully now this gain will disappear. At the minute because you are just back at the gym you will be experiencing some water weight gain which is temporary and could be masking any loss.

    What are you doing to achieve these huge steps? I ask because I've found when I have been in Fitbit challenges and needing high steps I do a lot of room pacing - the burn for that isn't as much as we'd like to think. Plus we are inclined to be more hungry and end up eating that bit more. Fitbit is inclined to give me too many cals for those sort of steps and if I were to eat them all back, I would gain. That's why I've stopped doing what I call 'silly steps' as they were doing me no favours. I do less (now average 15K) ...I eat less which is easier. :smile:

    Hello! Well, i go for long walks everyday and instead of taking the bus or train anywhere, i wall. So in total i end up walking around 3 and a half hours per day (and since the weather its getting chillier here in europe, im totally loving being outside) so im out and about very often and walking a lot. On the weekends i do have to pase back and forth for maybe 30 minutes but then i get bored and go for a hike. The 6 pounds have been going up gradually, it just now reached 6 pounds so im hoping its just because ive started going to the gym again. Fingers crossed:)
  • mariaeli93
    mariaeli93 Posts: 42 Member
    courtneyfabulous wrote: »
    Sounds like your new fit bit is over estimating your calories burned? Eat back fewer exercise calories maybe- and how about checking your diary and seeing how many calories you're eating now versus how many you were eating before?

    I do tend to gain weight when I'm sick or recovering from an injury so it could have been that that made you gain the weight and then not being in a deficit due to eating back too many calories is keeping you from losing the gained weight.

    Just because it measures your heart rate doesn't mean it's more accurate. I've seen some pretty ridiculous calorie estimations for exercise from my friends that have fit bits. Like a few thousand calories of exercise per day when all they did is walk and maybe go to the gym for an hour? I doubt that's correct. Also wouldn't your "steps" be part of your non-exercise calories? Like already be included in your activity calories that myfitnesspal gives you? So basically you're eating back calories for calories you already have as part of your base daily calorie goal?

    I have myfitnesspal and my fitness tracker app separate so i can make arrangements according to my activity per day and it doesnt get confusing so no, i dount im eating those calories back :) and i dont use the numbers my fitnesspal gives me, they arent very accurate for me. Ive had medical testing to find the calories i spend daily and how much i should and blah blah but i do absolutely think my fitbit is tripping. Some of the calories it gives me after my workouts are insane! As of now, im sort of winging it and doing what indid prior to having my fitbit and still keeping track of everything (except sodium so i will track that now to see if its maybe water retention)
    Its interesting you mention you gain weight when recovering from something, i think it may be my case as well. Thanks so much for your input!
  • Charlot4444
    Charlot4444 Posts: 170 Member
    I find my Fitbit also hugely over estimates. Most days it's at 3500+ calories. There's no way I can eat that much and lose (I have it set to lose weight). I do eat quite a bit though as I'm very active... Just not that much
  • janetennet
    janetennet Posts: 143 Member
    I think you're eating more than you think and that your fitbit is responsible for this.
    I have a fitbit surge which I wear for medical incentives but I also use a Polar FT4 heart rate monitor and chest strap as well, during a workout they are both started within 5 seconds of working out (and each other) and the difference between the two in terms of calorie burn is shocking. (for an hour work out there can be an excess of 100+ calories difference.
    I would rather manually input your calorie goal into MFP, and then add back a portion (not the whole amount) of the exercise calories that you burn.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    mariaeli93 wrote: »
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    Six pounds?

    Do you have a food scale?

    Yeah, i measure everything i eat always

    Wait, do you measure or weigh?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I would wear your old activity tracker and your new one at the same for at least a week or two and see what the difference (if any) is. I'd be curious to see the results.

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