Unexpected weight gain?

glittersandsparklesx · March 2018

Hello there. Firstly I hope I am posting in the correct place! If not, I'm sorry!

Second of all, I need help. I have been on a diet & exercise plan for 3 weeks now. I am a 26 year old female. 5foot 5 inches. Weighed 280lbs starting. The first week I lost 10lbs. The second week I lost 3lbs. And this week I have gained 3lbs? I am eating well below my recommended calorie intake daily and I am exercising everyday. 6/7 days I am burning around 3000 calories. How is it possible to be gaining weight if I am burning more than I am eating? I am strictly making sure I am eating under. For example. I weigh around 266lbs now. my daily calorie goal is 1250. I am eating at max 1000 calories a day. My bodies metabolism burns around 2400 calories naturally and I am burning around 600 calories through exercise, (DDP Yoga & Treadmill). But I have still gained 3lbs? How is this possible? The first week I lost 10lbs I was so happy. I was a bit gutted last week after only having lost 3lbs. And now I've gained? Even though I know for a fact I am still working hard while exercising and eating less than I'm burning off. It's making me just want to pack the whole thing in and carry on being fat and unhappy because even when I'm trying my best it's not working! Please can anyone help?

L1zardQueen · March 2018

You lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks, sounds great! Losing weight takes time. Keep going!

ceiswyn · March 2018

The 10lb you lost in the first week would have been mostly water weight. You can also gain water weight through fluid retention around the time of your period.

More importantly, you’re trying to lose weight way, way too aggressively. The safe maximum is 1% of your body weight per week. You didn’t put it all on in a couple of months, and you’re not going to take it all off in that time either. Eat at minimum 1200 calories per day and settle in for the long haul, or you’re likely to damage your heart or give yourself gallstones.

Enjoy the odd treat, and good luck on the journey!

Lesscookies12 · March 2018

Weight loss is not linear congrats on the weight you've already lost and keep working hard. Make sure you also use a food scale.

Iwantahealthierme30 · March 2018

To keep it in perspective, I've lost 13 pounds in 98 days (14 weeks), you have lost 13 pounds in 14 days.

You should eat more, you're doing this too aggressively. At least shoot for 1.5 pounds a week, I never lose that much in a week but it leaves room for logging errors. Right now to do that I am eating 1590 calories, don't starve yourself. You are bigger than me so you could probably eat more and still lose.

sschauer513 · March 2018

It's a long process the first 10 lbs is and will always be the easiest I lost 11 my first week said I can meet my goal in a few months. Nope year and half later still going but I'm down 100. Everyone burns calories differently and absorbs calories differently keep going wouldn't worry about 3lbs have a lot of sodium the day before will retain more water and weight today don't let the scale rule you it's a marathon not a sprint.

bwogilvie · March 2018

If you're eating in a significant deficit, then there's no way you could have gained 3 pounds of fat in a week. It's water weight. Depending on what I eat and how much I exercise, I've sometimes fluctuated by nearly 5 pounds from one day to the next. As long as the trend is downward, no need to worry about the occasional blip upwards.

shiragatama · March 2018

You're only 3 weeks into your plan; you've barely started, so you're still going to have major fluctuations and inconsistency; only after weeks and months will you notice a consistent trend of weight loss. That first 10 lbs you lost was mostly water weight. You did not lose 13 lbs of fat, and you won't gain 3 lbs of fat that quickly either.
Your weight is going to change a lot, don't let it discourage you. If it helps, go by measurements instead of lbs, its nice to see your waist size go down even when the scale isn't changing.
Just keep going, and don't eat so little! Especially when you exercise, your body will get stressed out, and you won't lose the weight. Take it from me, I struggled to lose weight because I was eating too little and doing too much exercise. Eat at LEAST 1200 calories a day and don't over-exert yourself, but most of all, you need to be patient. There are no short cuts.

(Since you naturally burn 2400 calories in a day, and 1 lb of weight loss a week is a 500 calorie daily deficit, AND since you exercise, I recommend you eat 1500-1800 calories at the least...)

kshama2001 · March 2018

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

A new exercise program will also cause you to gain water weight. My own scale went up seven pounds when I started lifting again.

Weight loss is not linear:

crisma1974 · March 2018

Yes to all the suggestions above. Are you eating back the calories burned or at least some? Trust me, you need to eat them back if you are set at 1200 calories. I did exactly what you did. Never ate my exercise calories and stalled for a couple of weeks. So once i started eating them back, guess what? I starting dropping weight. Good luck.

MichelleSilverleaf · March 2018

glittersandsparklesx wrote: »

Hello there. Firstly I hope I am posting in the correct place! If not, I'm sorry! Second of all, I need help. I have been on a diet & exercise plan for 3 weeks now. I am a 26 year old female. 5foot 5 inches. Weighed 280lbs starting. The first week I lost 10lbs. The second week I lost 3lbs. And this week I have gained 3lbs? I am eating well below my recommended calorie intake daily and I am exercising everyday. 6/7 days I am burning around 3000 calories. How is it possible to be gaining weight if I am burning more than I am eating? I am strictly making sure I am eating under. For example. I weigh around 266lbs now. my daily calorie goal is 1250. I am eating at max 1000 calories a day. My bodies metabolism burns around 2400 calories naturally and I am burning around 600 calories through exercise, (DDP Yoga & Treadmill). But I have still gained 3lbs? How is this possible? The first week I lost 10lbs I was so happy. I was a bit gutted last week after only having lost 3lbs. And now I've gained? Even though I know for a fact I am still working hard while exercising and eating less than I'm burning off. It's making me just want to pack the whole thing in and carry on being fat and unhappy because even when I'm trying my best it's not working! Please can anyone help?

Reign in your expectations, and for heaven's sake MEET YOUR GOAL. The number MFP gives you already contains a deficit and you should be aiming for that, not aiming to eat under it. You sound like you're under-eating and over-training, and that's not doing your body any favours. Track accurately, weigh everything, and properly fuel yourself.

maybe1pe · March 2018

I just wanted to say. I am the same height as you and weighed the same (280) when I started and was 26 when I started my fitness journey. I wish someone had told me to reign in my expectations. Like you I lost a lot of weight the first week (I now know that’s mostly water) and then got frustrated because I also gained water from starting exercise. I’d get frustrated after a few weeks and give up.
Rinse and repeat that cycle for a while.... combined with eating between 1000-1200 calories. Long term. Not great side effects. Tired. Hair loss. Just bad all around.

Honestly. Once I got my head out of my butt and took some of the well meant advice here I did much better. Definitely aim for minimum 1200 + exercise. It’s much more sustainable long term. Personally, I’d recommend you eat more. I look at it as the person who eats the most and loses weight is winning. Secondly, really try to keep your expectations in check. I know everyone wants to lose weight and do it as quickly as possible, I get it. It’s frustrating. But you didn’t gain weight overnight and you won’t lose it that fast either.
Set reasonable goals and then work for it, because it does take work. Losing weight mathematically is simple. But in actuality it is hard.
Just remind yourself weightloss isn’t linear. You’ll be down some weeks and up other weeks. I constantly remind myself of all the reasons I could be holding water. New workout-water. Sore muscles-water. Period- water. Dehydrated the day before-water. Migraine-water. Stressed-hey there water.

I didn’t read all the responses so idk if you said or not but if you don’t have a food scale get one. And use it. Weigh it all. It’ll help dial in your calorie counts.

Plan to track weight results over 4-6 weeks minimum before deciding something is or isn’t working.
It takes time. But you can do this!

PAV8888 · March 2018

I probably shouldn't respond because I was just talking about YOU (and many people like you) in another thread.

Trying to duplicate the biggest loser results has very poor long term real life results.

You are operating under a lot of misconceptions and you can either give up, read a lot and modify what you're doing, or start with what I will say below and then read a lot before deciding to modify it with a real understanding as to how and why you're doing so.

Initial target weight top of normal BMI at 150lbs

Loss rate about 1.5lbs to 1lb a week on average over a rolling 4 to 6 week period slowing down as you enter the overweight range. (As you're starting at over 200lbs I guess a period of aiming for 2lbs a week is possible if your tdee supports it on the basis of aditional activity... see 25% deficit limit mentioned below)

evaluate progress using Libra for Android, happy scale for iPhone, trendweight or weightgrapher.com or similar.

record measurements... watch the trend. Personally I would record daily; but I can see people wanting to do so less often. Conditions for weigh in the same. Scale on unyielding surface and not getting moved around unless recalibrated.

Protein target 120g to 150g = about 600 Cal.
You can go over. But there is no real major advantage to doing so unless it is for reasons of satiation for example.

Healthy fats target: at least 53g a day = 477 Cal. You can defnitely go over but try to keep saturated fats to a dull roar.

Fiber = at least 27g a day.

Carbs = at least 120 to 150g = about 600 Cal, unless you're going low carb for caloric control, pcos, insulin resistance or other medical reason in which case you would move the extra cals to healthy fats.

Calories: eat *at least* 2000 Calories a day at this point of time especially if you're burning on average close to 3000

You should be aiming for a maximum deficit of 25% of your real actual daily burn including the base calories needed to keep you alive (TDEE). Reducing to 20% of TDEE and less as you get leaner, I.e have fat reserves commensurate with being in the overweight BMI range.

Your results bear out that you currently have a large deficit.

Weight does not move like clockwork.

Weight level changes are obfuscated by water weight changes.

Measurements multiple days apart are also susceptible to water weight swings.

Your weight level change is biologically normal; your expectation of multiple pound drops every week is not!

You're not on a tv show.

Making things easy enough so that you stay the course and build a long term usable framework that will serve you during a year or two of weight loss and multiple years of mindful maintenance is much more important than going after quick results.

BTW: food scale good. Double checking database entries against the USDA standard reference database and food labels good.

Unexpected weight gain?

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