3500 calories to gain 1 pound

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  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    Don't look at what you ate in the past, start today, log everything you eat accurately, and keep logging each day... then you will know in a few weeks time what your average calorie intake is and how your weight is doing by then.

    10lbs is a huge flucutation but we see others tell of high fluctuations like that here alot, probably from excess sodium.
  • mizuranch3070
    mizuranch3070 Posts: 10 Member
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    Today I am 5’2 and weigh 174lbs. It looks a bit less though so people are always shocked to hear my actual weight. Then I have the mystery days several times a month where I weigh 163lbs. I’ve heard the ideal weight for my height is 123 but I feel it’s more 132 lbs. haven’t weighed that (123lbs) since before my two pregnancies though. I wasn’t active back then either. My major in school made me sit on a chair day in and day out and I’ve never been into any kind of physical activity, I did run around town with friends a lot though. So I guess that’s how it worked out for me.

    I weighed 187lbs around November last year but switched medicine which drastically affects my appetite and makes me lose weight.

    I don’t live in the US so I hope the numbers aren’t way too off.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    mizuranch3070 wrote: »
    Today I am 5’2 and weigh 174lbs. It looks a bit less though so people are always shocked to hear my actual weight. Then I have the mystery days several times a month where I weigh 163lbs. I’ve heard the ideal weight for my height is 123 but I feel it’s more 132 lbs. haven’t weighed that (123lbs) since before my two pregnancies though. I wasn’t active back then either. My major in school made me sit on a chair day in and day out and I’ve never been into any kind of physical activity, I did run around town with friends a lot though. So I guess that’s how it worked out for me.

    I weighed 187lbs around November last year but switched medicine which drastically affects my appetite and makes me lose weight.

    I don’t live in the US so I hope the numbers aren’t way too off.

    132 might actually be ok for you, you'll know when you get there. :smile:

    I'm the same height and my goal weight was initially 133lbs but then I went on to lose a further 8lbs and personally feel much better at 125lb (I'm still 5 or 6lbs heavier at 125 than when I was in late teens but my current weight looks good on me - I'm 48 now)
  • mizuranch3070
    mizuranch3070 Posts: 10 Member
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    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    mizuranch3070 wrote: »
    Today I am 5’2 and weigh 174lbs. It looks a bit less though so people are always shocked to hear my actual weight. Then I have the mystery days several times a month where I weigh 163lbs. I’ve heard the ideal weight for my height is 123 but I feel it’s more 132 lbs. haven’t weighed that (123lbs) since before my two pregnancies though. I wasn’t active back then either. My major in school made me sit on a chair day in and day out and I’ve never been into any kind of physical activity, I did run around town with friends a lot though. So I guess that’s how it worked out for me.

    I weighed 187lbs around November last year but switched medicine which drastically affects my appetite and makes me lose weight.

    I don’t live in the US so I hope the numbers aren’t way too off.

    132 might actually be ok for you, you'll know when you get there. :smile:

    I'm the same height and my goal weight was initially 133lbs but then I went on to lose a further 8lbs and personally feel much better at 125lb (I'm still 5 or 6lbs heavier at 125 than when I was in late teens but my current weight looks good on me - I'm 48 now)

    I would loooove 125 but I’m just done being unrealistic :( I just don’t think I can get there unless I manage to really crack the code in weight loss. But I’m not sure how to when I’m not willing to exercise.

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    Well it's not essential to exercise to lose weight its about keeping a calorie deficit. i.e eating less than you burn.
  • DmaMfz
    DmaMfz Posts: 125 Member
    edited March 2018
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    mizuranch3070 wrote: »
    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    mizuranch3070 wrote: »
    Today I am 5’2 and weigh 174lbs. It looks a bit less though so people are always shocked to hear my actual weight. Then I have the mystery days several times a month where I weigh 163lbs. I’ve heard the ideal weight for my height is 123 but I feel it’s more 132 lbs. haven’t weighed that (123lbs) since before my two pregnancies though. I wasn’t active back then either. My major in school made me sit on a chair day in and day out and I’ve never been into any kind of physical activity, I did run around town with friends a lot though. So I guess that’s how it worked out for me.

    I weighed 187lbs around November last year but switched medicine which drastically affects my appetite and makes me lose weight.

    I don’t live in the US so I hope the numbers aren’t way too off.

    132 might actually be ok for you, you'll know when you get there. :smile:

    I'm the same height and my goal weight was initially 133lbs but then I went on to lose a further 8lbs and personally feel much better at 125lb (I'm still 5 or 6lbs heavier at 125 than when I was in late teens but my current weight looks good on me - I'm 48 now)

    I would loooove 125 but I’m just done being unrealistic :( I just don’t think I can get there unless I manage to really crack the code in weight loss. But I’m not sure how to when I’m not willing to exercise.

    If you think that way you’re automatically making it impossible. Just work on it incrementally, every 5-10 lbs. And it doesn’t have to happen in 1 straight shot. If you want to stick to 132 for a year and get really comfortable with it, then very slowly start losing another 5-10-15 lbs, you will likely have a different perception of your diet and weight.

    I could have never imagine myself less than 140. Over the years with patience and consistency I got down to 109. And I’m shorter than you. Just try to keep yourself open and willing, and stay the course.

    ETA exercise isn’t necessary for weight loss, just to repeat another poster. Just a calorie deficit.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,221 Member
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    whosshe wrote: »
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    Smoking is also a way to stay slim. I used to smoke and even tbough I used to ONLY eat out at restaurants for about 10 years, I stayed slim all my life (around 130lbs at 5'7 37yo)
    Now I don't smoke anymore and it is a different story...
    Now I don't know how to learn to eat and stay slim without counting...

    Yea I smoked for a good 10 years and still gained 100+ pounds so no... smoking is not a way to stay slim.

    Well if this is what happened to you then I was completely wrong. This means smoking is never a factor for other people. What was I even thinking... duh!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited March 2018
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    Overeating 500 calories per day will cause you to gain about 30 lbs in 6 months. It’s not really that hard to do, it’s easily any combination of extra bread and butter, a huge serving of pasta, a couple slices of pizza, a big bowl of ice cream, a few extra drinks, etc.
    (I’m not saying any of these things are bad or automatically makes you gain weight. They are EXAMPLES of how eating a few extras above maintenance will cause you to unwittingly gain. )
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    And what are you putting on that toast to get it to 280 cals??

    I'm thinking a couple pieces of bread an some peanut butter can get you to 280 pretty quick.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
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    Weight gain is not linear I think. As you weigh more, you would burn more I would think? Even if metabolism does not speed up. It might a little as you put on lean mass from what is technically progressive overload, but carrying an extra 30lbs would increase caloric burns.
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
    edited March 2018
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    Math. You say you'd eat ~ 2200 calories/day. You need ~1,800 calories a day. Delta is 400 calories/day.

    (400*365)/3500=41.71 lbs. So maybe you need a but more than 1,800 or you didn't eat 2,200 every day. To gain 30 lbs you'd need to eat only an extra 288 cals/day, which is like ONE Clif Bar too much.

    ETA: this has definitely been covered in this post. I didn't read before I posted.
  • mizuranch3070
    mizuranch3070 Posts: 10 Member
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    I seriously can’t rememeber the last time I got so much useful information. Thanks for the wisdom and insights, now I can do something about it!
  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
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    When I gained 100 lbs, I did it 10# a year. It crept on, over a decade. A gain of ten pounds in a year is almost nothing - Less than 100 extra calories a day. Oops.
  • xhunter561
    xhunter561 Posts: 77 Member
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    mizuranch3070 wrote: »
    Hello,
    I have a question that’s been bothering me. I’ve read lately that you need to consume 3500 calories to gain 1 pound. And I take that as on top of your “running cost” which seems to be 1800 for my gender and normal weight. Last year I managed to gain a lot of weight over 6-7 months and I decided to put a typical day, actually one of the worsen days I had back then when I worked long shifts and didn’t bring lunch with me which wasn’t that common. When I do that I reach 2197 calories to be exact. I also calculated the intake I have today, I am not on any specific diet or the like, and it’s about 1450 calories a day.

    I don’t really understand how I could have gained almost 30lbs last year from that calorie intake and how I could not be losing any weight nowadays on my new intake?? When everyone says that weight is basically calorie in, calorie out.

    I don’t exercise at all. According to my phone’s health app I average about 6000 steps a day and that’s commuting to work and working standing up.
    Does it make sense or is my metabolism not fully working..? I can also magically gain 10lbs over night, no joke. I don’t feel bloated from it at all and I don’t have to pee a lot either.

    gaining weight (fat at lest) is not simply eating 3500 calories it is a number of other factors. one major one is insulin and how often your spiking it at each meal. another factor you might want to keep in mind is how processed your foods are and how many none water/coffee/simple teas. your drinking as well.
    a good action would be to find your maintenance not using a online app. (try and just go off of what your data is showing up to be on the app (your ranges of macros or calories) and see if your going down or up on a scale.)

    But I want to suggest getting away from the scale if your noticing gaining 10 lb over night and that is freaking you out. stress can be a contributing factor in fat gain just like other things. When it comes to weight a lot of factors plays in between fat, muscle, water intake, food matter in your digestive track and what you have on. try to measure body fat with a tape test or go off what your seeing in the mirror to see if there are positive or negative changes. it is normal to 'gain' weight threw out the day or threw out the night mainly by food and water intake and number of times you have to get up and go to the bathroom. exercise is important but only a small factor into weight loss when it comes to fat, diet and intake is normally the biggest factors but even still you need to eat enough to keep your body going well. exercise is important to mainly mood, moving your body parts to help get appropriate flow to the bones and muscles, and just work your body by getting your metabolism up by raising your heart rate. When you find your maintenance it's as simple as eating 100 -200 calories a day if your going off of the calories in verse out thing. this is only a little of it though as there is a lot more that can affect you and things to consider as well as if your on a fixed diet type (keto, palio, vegan, ect). hope this gives a little insight, good luck!

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