Gained fat while at calorie deficit?

Options
anewell28
anewell28 Posts: 79 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
By the looks of my belly button and the scale, I believe I've gained some fat. I've been at a calorie deficit since Friday according to MFP and Fitbit. Does this mean that my Fitbit is overestimating my calories burned? I haven't had any issues with it doing that in the past five months since I've started this journey.

Thoughts?
«1

Replies

  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    Options
    Less than one week if far too short a time to reach any conclusions. Weight fluctuates naturally, through the day and across days, for a number of reasons. You won't lose weight on the scale every day, or even every week. Give it some time and the deficit will work.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,136 Member
    Options
    A week is not enough time to assess if you've gained fat. Going off the look of your belly button and the scale is not a good way to determine if it's fat or water weight, you need to know your trend over a longer time period.

    You cannot gain fat whilst you are eating at a deficit, so if your calories in and out are accurate then you're retaining water.

    With regard to your fitbit, they can overestimate if over a period of 4-6 weeks (this allows for hormonal water weight gain to average out) you find your weight loss is not as expected then adjust up/down the amount you're eating back.

    Check out the flowchart below - it might help in checking how accurate your loggging is:

    cobz8cz2gxmp.jpg
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    edited November 2017
    Options

    A week wouldn't be long enough to tell if you have actually gained as weight fluctuates a lot in general.

    are you new to using Fitbit?
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    edited November 2017
    Options
    So, good on you for actually tracking your Thanksgiving feast! That "fat" you think you are seeing is probably just water weight from that epic day.

    If you have been eating to your Fitbit for the last 5 months and have been successfully losing weight there is no reason to think that it suddenly became incorrect.

    Be patient. Drink lots of water. Eventually it will come off.
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    Options
    seriously? if the numbers posted above are correct, how do you figure you have been in a calorie deficit since Friday (6 whole days ago)??
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,136 Member
    Options
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    seriously? if the numbers posted above are correct, how do you figure you have been in a calorie deficit since Friday (6 whole days ago)??

    Because she has a high TDEE (burns in diary are 1000+) , I lose eating around 2400 gross on active days, so it's most likely water weight from the sodium and carbs, bearing in mind if you look through diary going back to beginning of November and October this is the OPs fairly standard calorie intake and in the 5 months previous has not been gaining.
  • anewell28
    anewell28 Posts: 79 Member
    Options
    I've been using my Fitbit for over a year now so it's nothing new. It's an Alta.
    I've been getting over 20,000 to 25,000 steps each day since Sunday along with weight training with my sports team so I've been burning close to 3,000 calories a day and sweating a crap ton. So even though I eat around 2500 calories a day, I'm still under my energy expenditure for the day.

    After reading through, it's probably the sodium but today feels different from the other days I know I'm carrying extra water weight.

    Thanks guys!

  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
    Options
    Not in 6 days. Not that you would actually be able to notice.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    Options
    anewell28 wrote: »
    By the looks of my belly button and the scale, I believe I've gained some fat. I've been at a calorie deficit since Friday according to MFP and Fitbit. Does this mean that my Fitbit is overestimating my calories burned? I haven't had any issues with it doing that in the past five months since I've started this journey.

    Thoughts?

    I think you have retained some water.


    scale weight isn't just fat....and that is why it's one number out of 10 or so that you need to look at.
  • anewell28
    anewell28 Posts: 79 Member
    Options
    gjzp4tv6dqku.png
    4qrpezl2ybky.png

    I've been at this since August. The start of November I transitioned to trying to maintain weight but absolutely do not want to gain weight.
    I've had about 3 or 4 bad food days this month but the other days have been below my calorie goal.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    Options
    I have burns that high, eat less than that on most days and have been experiencing a creeping gain. I occasionally have a 2500 calorie day which I call a binge. My Fitbit gives me 2500+ too but if I ate to that the gain would be even faster.

    Sounds like not enough of a deficit. Have you updated your stats recently?
  • anewell28
    anewell28 Posts: 79 Member
    Options
    Last weigh in I've logged was earlier this week. MFP gives me like 1740 calories to start to maintain but I've adjusted that to 1600 awhile ago. Maybe I am over eating, but I hadn't noticed a weight gain doing the same things before thanksgiving..?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Options
    anewell28 wrote: »
    gjzp4tv6dqku.png
    4qrpezl2ybky.png

    I've been at this since August. The start of November I transitioned to trying to maintain weight but absolutely do not want to gain weight.
    I've had about 3 or 4 bad food days this month but the other days have been below my calorie goal.

    Then you need to trend your weight over 4-6 weeks. Take your calorie intake, along side your weight gain/losses and exercise burns to come up with your real world results. In the end trackers and any other method you obtain your numbers from are not exacts, but you can get close by using calorie intake, scale weight trends to come up with your actual TDEE and maintain off that number, customize MFP calorie goal to use that as your maintain weight.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Options
    anewell28 wrote: »
    gjzp4tv6dqku.png
    4qrpezl2ybky.png

    I've been at this since August. The start of November I transitioned to trying to maintain weight but absolutely do not want to gain weight.
    I've had about 3 or 4 bad food days this month but the other days have been below my calorie goal.

    maintenance is a range not just one number.
  • MissMaggieMuffin
    MissMaggieMuffin Posts: 444 Member
    Options
    Your diary shows (recent) exercise calories earned ranging from 600-1500ish. That might be a bit high if it is based on number of steps and weight training, particularly if you are eating most of those back. For comparison, a hour of running earns me about 400 exercise calories and I rarely eat back more than 50% of those. Add in sodium, water retention, etc. etc.
  • anewell28
    anewell28 Posts: 79 Member
    Options
    For what it is worth, when I started in August on MFP I weighed 158lbs and now I am between 144-148 right now.
  • anewell28
    anewell28 Posts: 79 Member
    Options
    @RoxieDawn, I did that in October. I did the math old school, also compared it with two bod pods I did in September and October and found that the numbers are pretty consistent and correct within reason.

Categories