6 weeks into boot camp and weights: I gained 10 pounds AND inches

Do you weigh everything you put in your mouth using a food scale? The occasional pizza is fine as long as it fits in your calorie intake for the day you can eat WHAT YOU WANT in your calorie goal for the day as long as you are sticking to it and logging accurately using a food scale

I gained 15 lbs in boot camp, but I started out at only 145 and 5'11"

I don't remember having internet access until after I graduated. And the TI's made sure we ate appropriately.

Option one: You're eating more than 2,000 calories a day because you're not logging accurately.

Option two: You're logging some days accurately, but the "pizza cheat nights" contain enough extra calories to cause weight gain.

Either one is possible. Your diary is closed. If you open it, we can help you troubleshoot your daily logging.

janejellyroll wrote: »

Option one: You're eating more than 2,000 calories a day because you're not logging accurately.

Option two: You're logging some days accurately, but the "pizza cheat nights" contain enough extra calories to cause weight gain.

Either one is possible. Your diary is closed. If you open it, we can help you troubleshoot your daily logging.

This - plus I think people greatly overestimate the cals burned in these boot camps/CrossFit workouts.

roncyrier wrote: »

I am 48. I joined a gym to lose weight and get trim. I am 5 ft 10. When I started 6 weeks ago, I weighed 225 pounds. After doing boot camp consistently 3x/week, and weights 1 - 2x per week I am gaining mass. I am eating 2000 calories a day with lots of fish, eggs, protein shakes, vegetables, etc with the occasional pizza cheat nights. I know muscle weighs more than fat and that it takes time for it to start burning the fat, but 6 weeks? How long is it going to take for my weight to start dropping? What can I change do get the fat burning off?

Muscle doesn't burn fat, you burn fat by eating in calorie deficit.

Some minimal muscle gain in a calorie deficit is possible, but the question is are you really in a calorie deficit? You can be retaining some water weight as well, recovery is important if you are doing intense bouts of exercise.

Cheat days can derail your weight loss efforts, how are you handling these?

So first need to rule out food intake issues by asking if you are weighing and logging your food intake? To support your diet and exercise are you getting in adequate protein?

I think if you open your diary this will tell a lot about what is happening and not happening.

How MUCH weight gain? How tall/old are you.

Look. If you're up 1 to 5lbs from 225 and have gone from zero exercise to a metric **kitten** ton (i.e. tonne ) of exercise a good part of your weight fluctuation is probably water weight for muscle repairs. I would assume in that situation that it hurts to move, right?

Now. If your hour of exercise a day means you are so unable to move that you're doing less instead of more throughout the day, from an energy perspective... you've done nothing to lose weight! Don't get me wrong: you've done great things for strength and that's very important too. But if you reduce your activity during 14 hours that can outcompensate one hour of frantic exercise.

If at 225lbs, you really are eating 2000 Cal on average, even as a sedentary average male you will lose weight over time. (BMR for randomly sized and aged 5ft 7" 50 yo 225lb male is about 1950 and even sedentary people expend 1.2 to 1.3x their BMR amount).

However chances are real good when first starting out that your calorie in counting is way off.

Condiments (mayo, of course, but I can easily lay 70 Cal worth of ketchup on my plate!), coffee and coffee cream or other drinks, little bites here and there, a package logged as a portion when the fine print says it is 3, weighing a cooked amount of rice and logging based on pre cooked weight nutritional values, and choosing wrong entries in the database can all lead to underestimates

Log your weight at least 2-3 weeks if male, 4-6 weeks if female using a trending weight application. Compare to what you would expect to lose based on your logging (and yes I would expect slower weight loss if seriously strength training, but I wouldn't expect zero unless at 225 you're not even overweight) and then adjust eating and general activity based on personal results.

In your case this would mean consume less calories and move a little bit more throughout the day. But before reducing my goal I would make sure that I was logging accurately.

And, by the way, is you're 6ft 6" the above advice sort of changes, which is why knowing people's full stats makes a difference.

A lot of people seem to think weight loss goes like this:

Too many calories: no weight loss
Appropriate sized calorie deficit: weight loss
Too few calories: no weight loss

But it actually goes
Too many calories: no weight loss
Appropriate sized calorie deficit: weight loss
Too few calories: too rapid weight loss

If you're not losing weight you're not eating too few calories. Certainly 1200-1500 calories would be too few calories for a guy (particularly your size and activity) but that would be because you would *lose weight too quickly*. Since you weren't, your numbers are way off.