I started cutting back on calories two weeks ago and recording all my food but I gained 3lbs

limeysss
limeysss Posts: 28 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 23, female, 5'7 and 163 pounds. When I started two weeks ago I was 160. My calorie goal is 1380, and I've only gone over it a couple of days and not by very much. Since then I've also stopped drinking alcohol, and about four weeks ago I stopped eating fast food which I used to eat at least twice a week. I also am transitioning to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. I used to binge eat about 3-4 times a week and constantly snacked, and I haven't done any of that. I knows it's only been two weeks, but it makes no sense to me that I've actually gained weight after all of that. Is this normal?

Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,988 Member
    Have you added exercise? Also, are you accurately measuring or just eying your food? Many don't know what 6 oz looks like and are shocked when they actually weigh it out.
    Weight gain usually means you're in surplus not a calorie deficit.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
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    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • Chadxx
    Chadxx Posts: 1,199 Member
    +1 to both of those plus if it happens to be that tom, that can cause a big jump in water weight.
  • gabriellejayde
    gabriellejayde Posts: 607 Member
    Are you exercising? Lifting weights? did you just start doing either of these? Have you had a lot of sodium? Have you ever noticed if you retain water during certain times of the month? Are you drinking a lot of water?
  • limeysss
    limeysss Posts: 28 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Have you added exercise? Also, are you accurately measuring or just eying your food? Many don't know what 6 oz looks like and are shocked when they actually weigh it out.
    Weight gain usually means you're in surplus not a calorie deficit.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    That is a good point, but I've been adding most of calories based on their nutrition facts or by the whole product (I.e. 1 slice of whole wheat toast, half medium avocado, etc.) if my only option is ounces I do estimate based on "clues" I found on the Internet, but that's the minority of the food that I eat...
    Even if it is off a little bit, I am eating significantly less than I used to. I'll keep it up, I'm not going to give up because of this, but if I continue not to see results that's really weird.
  • limeysss
    limeysss Posts: 28 Member
    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    Your body is in a constant state of flux. Diet, exercise, hormones, and several other factors can impact the number on the scale... only 1 of those being your actual body mass.

    As such, it's normal to expect fluctuations in weight, sometimes 5lbs or more depending on the person. For this reason, I recommend focusing on trends in your weight, not the actual number. There are apps that do this, you can do it in Excel if you like to keep your own data, or you can just do it mentally if you're not overly invested in the actual number on the scale.

    Trends in weight over longer periods of time are MUCH better indicators of progress than are changes in weight on a daily or weekly basis.

    I've actually never thought of that! That's a good idea. Especially being female since our weight fluctuates a lot.
  • cyranda63
    cyranda63 Posts: 614 Member
    Are you weighing yourself at the same time each day? I'm off by up to 5 pounds just from morning to night. Are you weighing yourself on the same scale?
    Salt is a real culprit sometimes because it makes your body hold on to water. Really take notice of the amount of sodium you are eating and make sure you drink plenty of water each day.
    Another thing is really read the label if you are eating prepared foods. A package of noodles says 190 calories and 38% of your daily intake of salt but if you read more you realize that that is only for half of the package and 38% of salt is based on a 2000 calorie diet! Make sure you read the serving size because some things you look at and think that they are individually portioned because of the size of it are not.
    Good luck and tell us how you have done!
  • anniezmom425
    anniezmom425 Posts: 2 Member
    Take body measurements. My weight fluctuates, but when I record the inches I've lost on my arms and legs, I know my eating changes and exercise are working! My stomach is not losing inches, but I've read that's normal and could be the last to go. Also, I read that you gain as much as 7 pounds just before menstruation. Truthfully, I find the scale frustrates my progress. Taking my measurements once every two weeks and logging here keep me motivated.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Where are you in your menstrual cycle? I gain at ovulation and right before my TOM. Because of this (and because Lyle McDonald said to) I compare myself to last month, not last week.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6846ZTBu08k&index=4&list=PLUXvX9BaxgqG9yO5XWB3gA_QshvrrcjVr
  • limeysss
    limeysss Posts: 28 Member
    Lots of really helpful advice thanks you guys! I ordered a food scale that should get here tomorrow.

    My measurements fluctuate even more than my weight lol! My waist fluctuates up to 4" depending on the time of day and TOM. Thanks for the encouragement!

    I have an IUD so I don't get periods, so it's hard to know where I'm at in my cycle. I still ovulate and get some PMS symptoms sometimes, but it seems to happen at random. I could easily be at a weird point in my cycle right now? My skins also breaking out so that would make sense!

    I almost definitely eat too much sodium! I crave salty foods more than anything else and I've probably been eating more salty foods since I took meat out of my diet. I never thought it made too much of a difference, but that makes sense for water weight, I'll keep that in mind :)
  • Iamnotasenior
    Iamnotasenior Posts: 235 Member
    If you are craving salt, try adding either a Magnesium supplement or foods high in magnesium and iron like nuts, dark leafy greens, beans, etc. This has helped me in the past with salt cravings.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,253 Member
    I use trendweight.com connected to a freely available without a device fitbit.com account to generate pretty pictures of what my weight is doing.

    That said you can also use www.weightgrapher.com (manual entry, can superimpose user selectable previous period to visually compare weight at same point of monthly cycle. During setup tell it you want to maintain your weight to avoid annoying suggestions about your food and logging).

    Libra on Android.

    Happy Scale on iPhone.

    IF you don't have a lot to lose a smaller deficit (250 to 500 Cal a day) may be much more appropriate than a large deficit. IF you add exercise your progress may appear to be slower; however the end results may well be better!
  • limeysss
    limeysss Posts: 28 Member
    edited June 2017
    Update: I bought a food scale and I've been using it for all my foods since yesterday, and the foods I eat regularly actually have LESS calories than I thought. I eat pretty much the same thing everyday, with a few healthy substitutes to keep it interesting, but I purposely select easy foods with few ingredients to work around my busy schedule. It makes no sense that I've gained weight, and whenever I've lost weight by counting calories before, I've lost 3-5 pounds in the first two weeks. I'll still keep it up, but it doesn't make any sense to me that I could have possibly gained weight. I've never experienced this with this particular diet before.
    My end goal is to lose about 30lbs hopefully by the end of the year, since that's about how long it's taken me in the past to lose that much weight on the same diet. Not sure if that's a lot or a little bit. I hope to add exercise, however I go to school full time (summer classes are every day to fit all the information in a shorter period of time) and work at a hospital and volunteer in my free time, and I know some people can manage to work out on top of a similarly busy schedule, but I'm already exhausted and struggle to get 7 hours of sleep without adding exercise to that. I work in a big hospital and my job requires pretty much constant walking though, so I'm not completely inactive haha
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