Why am I gaining weight on 1200 calories?
Options
nikkibay8
Posts: 23 Member
I'm 26. 5'4" and began at 131lbs one month ago. I work a sedentary job. For the past month, I have been eating 1200 calories per day (weighing/measuring all food with my scale and pre-packing all food for work). In the past two weeks, I have been to the gym 7 times lifting heavy weights with 4 times doing cardio, not changing my caloric intake. I just weighted myself at 139lbs!!! I have NEVER weighed this much before! What is the deal?!
2
Replies
-
1. Are you eating back at least half of your exercise calories?
2. What is your goal weight?
3 -
Water retention from the new exercise routine?19
-
How are your clothes fitting? Is it close to your period or ovulation? Are you constipated? I would bet it's water retention and/or food bulk still in your system.
Also, only weigh first thing in the morning right after you go to the bathroom. Your weight naturally goes up and down over the course of the day as you eat, drink, go to the bathroom and sweat. You even lose some weight when you exhale due to water & CO2 loss.11 -
Ready2Rock206 wrote: »Water retention from the new exercise routine?
Ding Ding Ding!
Also OP, how much weight are you trying to lose and what rate of loss did you select? You should be aiming for no more than 0.5 lb/week since you're already at a healthy weight, and potentially even consider not losing but doing recoup with strength training while eating at maintenance. You likely do not need to be eating 1200 to lose, and once you push back the initial water retention from the new exercise, the weight will be dropping rapidly if you're logging accurately.5 -
You're probably not eating enough for the amount of excercise you're getting. Your body will think you're starving and go into a starvation mode to protect you. 1,200 calories is low for a young woman. I am 62 and that is the area I am in to create a deficit.
I would up my calories to at least 1,400 to 1,600 and still do all of the things you're doing to be accountable for your intake each day.
As someone above stated, pay attention to your clothing. Weight can vary based on many factors. As you've already heard weight lifting produces more muscle mass and muscle is more dense than fat. This is good because additional muscle burns more calories in everything we do.
Make sure you weigh yourself in the morning on the same with your clothes off and before you eat breakfast.3 -
I understand...I experienced the same issue. I have been cutting back and changing my eating habits as well as staying just under my calorie count and I gained a pound. I just started my new regimen about a week ago so, we'll see hoq it goes1
-
You're probably not eating enough for the amount of excercise you're getting. Your body will think you're starving and go into a starvation mode to protect you. 1,200 calories is low for a young woman. I am 62 and that is the area I am in to create a deficit.
I would up my calories to at least 1,400 to 1,600 and still do all of the things you're doing to be accountable for your intake each day.
As someone above stated, pay attention to your clothing. Weight can vary based on many factors. As you've already heard weight lifting produces more muscle mass and muscle is more dense than fat. This is good because additional muscle burns more calories in everything we do.
Make sure you weigh yourself in the morning on the same with your clothes off and before you eat breakfast.
NO NO NO - starvation mode DO NOT EXIST! there are long term effects of low calorie consumption and changes to metabolism - but hoping onto fat because of lack of calories isn't it24 -
Starvation mode is a myth.
Your body needs to burn energy to survive. Whether it gets it from food, fat or muscle. Its basically an engine. If you aren't burning fuel, the engine dies. The engine needs a base amount of fuel to keep running even when not doing any real work. You make the engine smaller(lose weight), it burns less fuel. You work the engine harder, it burns more fuel.
You cannot make the engine work, fill up the gas tank and not burn fuel all at the same time... if you could, our fuel issue would have been solved a long time ago.15 -
Clothes are fitting fine, I start my inactive birth control pills tmrw, not constipated at all.
My goal weight is 124lbs.
I did heavy lifting with lower body today and ran 3 miles (300 burned calories). I drank 100 ounces of water today.
That's a lot of water retention if that's the reason for my weight 'gain'!!0 -
I have a goal of losing one pound per week.0
-
Clothes are fitting fine, I start my inactive birth control pills tmrw, not constipated at all.
My goal weight is 124lbs.
I did heavy lifting with lower body today and ran 3 miles (300 burned calories). I drank 100 ounces of water today.
That's a lot of water retention if that's the reason for my weight 'gain'!!
... The water you have drank alone today is over 6lbs, to put this in perspective. xD It'll go away.
Or is this weight from when you measured this morning?6 -
I measured it this evening (bad girl, I know. Now my mind is spinning). But I would think that I sweat out and urinated a lot of it... guess not!0
-
-
A) what time of day were the weigh ins? From morning to night on the same day I can gain 5 pounds in food and liquid etc.
B)how are your sodium levels? Did you have Chinese or a lot of prepared foods recently?
Sometimes it looks like one big number change but it's really a perfect storm of food backed up in the intestines, too much salt, a new work out causing water retention for muscle repair, ovulation, menstruation, blah, blah, blah.
This is why I weigh every morning after the bathroom before the tea so I can average it all out and get an idea of the general trend.6 -
I bloat like crazy 10ish lbs of water right before my inactive pills. I went from 126lbs to 135 lbs this month before TOM. Once I start bleeding the weight falls off and I see a huge loss and usually lower than before my bloat! Exercise can cause retention too. Give it a bit more time and don't weigh the week before your cycle, it's depressing.5
-
I agree with the perfect storm anology. I would still up my intake to 1,500 and see what it looks like over time. Weigh yourself everyday right after you get up and go the bathroom with no clothes on. You will eventually drop weight. So much of weight loss is based on what we ingest.1
-
Sounds like you are gaining muscle weight- which is a good thing. If lifting is a key part of your routine I would focus on body composition rather than the weigjt on the scale. Are your clothes looser? That is a good sign you are losing fat weight but gaining muscle which will help you torch more calories moving forwards.1
-
I agree with the perfect storm anology. I would still up my intake to 1,500 and see what it looks like over time. Weigh yourself everyday right after you get up and go the bathroom with no clothes on. You will eventually drop weight. So much of weight loss is based on what we ingest.
Why would she up her calories to 1500 if she's not losing weight on 1200?11 -
I would give it 4-5 days and weigh again.3
-
I measured it this evening (bad girl, I know. Now my mind is spinning). But I would think that I sweat out and urinated a lot of it... guess not!
You also have the weight of any food that is still being digested in your system. Add to that water retention from your new exercise routine and possible retention from the time of the month you happen to be at. Then there is any fluids you drank that are still in your system.
Give it a few days and weigh first thing in the morning.5
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.5K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 392 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 926 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions