Gaining weight on 1200 calorie diet
mayerss2
Posts: 3 Member
So I've been following the MyFitnessPal plan for 3 weeks now and I'm not seeing any progress. I am vegan and eat pretty healthy on a daily basis. I've only had about 2-3 slip ups where I went way over my calorie goal for the day. I also run 2-3 times a week for about 20 minutes. I track my runs on the app and eat more to compensate for them. But even after doing all of these things I've managed to not lose a single pound and instead gain 4 pounds. I don't understand where the problem is. This is quite frustrating and makes me just want to quit and eat whatever I want if I'm just gonna gain weight anyway.
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How do you determine you are eating/drinking 1200 cals? Are you weighing/measuring everything, and using accurate database entries?9
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Most of the food I eat is scanable except for my veggies. So I am picking the right products but I do not own a food scale and just guess most of the time2
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Scanned entries aren't always accurate, and you still need to weigh them...
Get a food scale. Weigh all solids and measure all liquids, check your database entries for accuracy. You're likely eating more than you think17 -
What is your normal weight range? Everyone has a range of a few pounds (at least) and your weight fluctuates up and down constantly in response to a ton of factors. Of that 4 pounds, how much can be accounted for by your normal fluctuation range?2
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@livingleanlivingclean - That's a good idea. And if I shouldn't scan the food, what should I use?
@AliceDark - I'm not sure because I don't weigh myself often and over the year my weight has fluctuated a lot, from 150 to 120 to 100 and now to 1351 -
If you truly are gaining weight while only eating 1200 calories it is best to seek medical attention. My guess is that you are eating much more than you think you are. Weight every solid food that enters your mouth, including prepackaged food, with digital kitchen scales and use measuring cups and spoons for all liquids.0
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That's what I suspected
@AliceDark - I'm not sure because I don't weigh myself often and over the year my weight has fluctuated a lot, from 150 to 120 to 100 and now to 135
People usually don't realize how much their weight fluctuates until they start trying to lose weight, and then they panic when they see the scale going up and down. Don't freak out yet, and give it more than 3 weeks. Get a food scale or, at least, measure your food using measuring cups and spoons. Also, watch the days when you go over your goal. As long as your weekly average puts you in a deficit, you'll lose weight, by you have to make sure you don't eat through your deficit on those high-calorie days.
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@livingleanlivingclean - That's a good idea. And if I shouldn't scan the food, what should I use?
@AliceDark - I'm not sure because I don't weigh myself often and over the year my weight has fluctuated a lot, from 150 to 120 to 100 and now to 135
Scanning the food is ok, but you still need to check that the entry is correct, and weigh the food to see how much you're actually eating. Let's say you had a single serving of a scannable product that should be 50g. You may find that it's more or less when you weigh it - you need to adjust the serve you have to reflect this difference3 -
You have to weigh even the packages with calories. They're horribly inaccurate.
For example my bag of popcorn says 1 package 270 calories for 50 grams.
After weighing the bag contained 67 grams.
So 1 package was actually 362 calories.
Bread and other items premade and prepackaged this happens soon much with!
You eat 4 things and BAM over 400 calories more than what you think.
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The bread i use NEVER weighs what it says on the package! It's supposed to weigh 85g for 2 slices, but it's usually closer to 103g. Do this a few times a day with different products and you could easily erase any deficit you thought you had..
Do not trust food labels..7 -
You are eating more than 1,200 calories. You said you scan all your food. Do you do any cooking or is it all prepackaged / pre made? I cook most my food and have lost a fair amount I. A month.
What exactly are you eating over past two days?1 -
@livingleanlivingclean - That's a good idea. And if I shouldn't scan the food, what should I use?
@AliceDark - I'm not sure because I don't weigh myself often and over the year my weight has fluctuated a lot, from 150 to 120 to 100 and now to 135
Get a kitchen scale. You can find decent ones starting around $10.
I was having the same issue until I started weighing everything, and realized I was more than double what I thought I was eating.4 -
The thing is even if the OP is scanning the food and using the measurements something is off.
20 mins running 2-3 days is a good little workout.
And 1200 cals is very low, especially for a runner.
And on top of that, you're a vegan?
OP, I think you need to see a doctor.1 -
The thing is even if the OP is scanning the food and using the measurements something is off.
20 mins running 2-3 days is a good little workout.
And 1200 cals is very low, especially for a runner.
And on top of that, you're a vegan?
OP, I think you need to see a doctor.
Packaged food can be really inaccurate as has been displayed in a couple of posts above. Entries are likely incorrect also. The OP doesn't use a scale. Eating too many calories is easy, even for vegans.5 -
The thing is even if the OP is scanning the food and using the measurements something is off.
20 mins running 2-3 days is a good little workout.
And 1200 cals is very low, especially for a runner.
And on top of that, you're a vegan?
OP, I think you need to see a doctor.
she admitted she is guessing the weight of a lot of her food - that is what is off!4 -
not sure why folks think scanning is a guarantee of accuracy.
You can scan the food and based on a serving it will log it for you but how do you know you are eating 1 serving.
You still need to measure it in some way.6 -
Also, start using a trending app to track your weight over time.5
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not sure why folks think scanning is a guarantee of accuracy.
You can scan the food and based on a serving it will log it for you but how do you know you are eating 1 serving.
You still need to measure it in some way.
Because common sense tells you to trust that it is pre-weighed along with being pre-packaged. It really shouldn't be unreasonable to expect the package to actually contain what it says it does. That's why people trust it. It is a shame that we can't trust the package - it should say exactly what is in the package....I know it doesn't but it should. Most people would assume that it's accurate.12 -
I've always found scanning my food as inaccurate. I try to weight everything. When I do, I also try to weight in Grams since Ounces are can also be off by a little2
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not sure why folks think scanning is a guarantee of accuracy.
You can scan the food and based on a serving it will log it for you but how do you know you are eating 1 serving.
You still need to measure it in some way.
Because common sense tells you to trust that it is pre-weighed along with being pre-packaged. It really shouldn't be unreasonable to expect the package to actually contain what it says it does. That's why people trust it. It is a shame that we can't trust the package - it should say exactly what is in the package....I know it doesn't but it should. Most people would assume that it's accurate.
I trust nothing. I double and triple check everything!5 -
ladyhusker39 wrote: »Also, start using a trending app to track your weight over time.
This! I use Happy Scale and it's so useful for watching trends.1 -
A lot of things could be off, it's a bit tough to say with so little detail
- portion guesstimation does not help
- Inaccurate entries (even scanned) do not help
- The tools: have you aside from fitnesspal calculated your BMR/TDEE
- The goals: have you double checked your goal entries
- Your expectations, related to the above if you are realizing only 100Cal deficit a day you will not lose a pound of fat a week
- Increased activity, building of muscle
- (normal) fluctuations
- Increased sodium/salt intake
- Any medications ?
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You have to try and paint the full picture for yourself, and also give it some time, (healthy) weight gain/loss is not an overnight thing, try to pay attention and get all the details, set realistic goals and expectations and definitely give it more than 3 weeks.
Since you are already (assumed) on low intake, try to sneak in a little activity, which does not necessarily mean hardcore exercise, but can be as little as 15 minutes of extra walking a day.
Anyways good luck , and do check in how you are progressing
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I'd also like to point out the '2 or 3 slip ups' mentioned in the OP. Nothing wrong with going over calories occasionally, but it does have an impact.3
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not sure why folks think scanning is a guarantee of accuracy.
You can scan the food and based on a serving it will log it for you but how do you know you are eating 1 serving.
You still need to measure it in some way.
Because common sense tells you to trust that it is pre-weighed along with being pre-packaged. It really shouldn't be unreasonable to expect the package to actually contain what it says it does. That's why people trust it. It is a shame that we can't trust the package - it should say exactly what is in the package....I know it doesn't but it should. Most people would assume that it's accurate.
but common sense also tells us that if the package says serving is 50 grams and the package is 340 grams then it needs portioned out...aka weigh out a serving.
And it often is exactly what it says on the package...but we aren't just talking about single servings.
For example...I scanned in my cheese sticks yesterday cause it was easy..but I still weighed out my serving as the box contained about 10 servings...my yogurt I have weighed it and now trust that the weight is within reason so I don't anymore.
This is what people don't get.
ETA: another thing I have scanned in items and it wasn't even close to waht I was eating...so yah user entered errors too2 -
Did you recently start running? Are you doing any other training along with the running? It could be that you are gaining muscle which does weigh more than fat. 4lbs isn't that drastic and could very well just be toned muscle being added. Physically how do you look? Have you compared some before and after pics?12
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dudasd1973 wrote: »Did you recently start running? Are you doing any other training along with the running? It could be that you are gaining muscle which does weigh more than fat. 4lbs isn't that drastic and could very well just be toned muscle being added. Physically how do you look? Have you compared some before and after pics?
Not going to be gaining 4lbs muscle in 3 weeks eating in a deficit.8 -
dudasd1973 wrote: »Did you recently start running? Are you doing any other training along with the running? It could be that you are gaining muscle which does weigh more than fat. 4lbs isn't that drastic and could very well just be toned muscle being added. Physically how do you look? Have you compared some before and after pics?
No.
No gaining muscle on 1200, without a progressive load lifting program or obese etc.
and not it doesn't...it takes up less space...it is more dense.
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I'm vegan and I eat around 1400 and I'm losing weight so if you are having issues you are probably eating more than you think. Also it's only been 3 weeks.0
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@mayerss2 in addition to also voting food scale and you're probably eating more than you think. You say you're eating back the calories from your running - if they are from the app they may be overestimated. Are you eating all of them back?0
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There were a couple of things I noticed in the original post.
1. You say you slipped and went way over. This could have an impact as someone else stated we all do it but it does cost you something.
2. You say you are eating back your exercise calories, this often is overestimated by MFP and most websites. Most of us only use 1/3 to 1/2 of what the program allots us for exercise.
3. You are guessing the weight of your food. This can often get you into trouble as others have explained.
4. You say you went as low as 100 lbs. That is very low unless you are extremely short. Your weight goals may be unreasonable. When you are close to goal weight it is very hard to lose because the deficit is so small. I'm only losing half a pound a week now because I only have 10 lbs left to go. You need to be patient.
You may be eating too many calories for the exercise you have done. Try cutting to 1/3 or 1/2 of what the program gives you.0
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