Creeping weight gain
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rvmyerscmi
Posts: 12 Member
So after going from 280 to 150 in 2013/14 I've been able to maintain my weight for years. This year, I've upped my activity and added some cardio to my daily workouts. Suddenly, I'm gaining weight while eating the same thing I have for years! I don't understand this. I was hoping to be able to add some back in or be less stringent, but now it seems like I have to take more out. I generally eat around 2000cal/day. My AppleWatch Move metric is around 600-700 every day. I walk a 5K every morning for exercise and, coupled with my other activity, my Exercise minutes run between 60-90 minutes a day. My steps are usually 18K-20K per day. I think that's fairly active so why would adding additional exercise cause my weight to begin creeping up? It's very disheartening after all these years.
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Replies
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Portion creep?6
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Are you weighing, measuring, and tracking everything that you eat?1
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How much weight have you gained, and over what period of time?2
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How long ago was the activity increase and how large of a departure to previous? Were there any work or life related changes at the same time? For example more walks but not working a job standing behing a counter for 8 hours or something similar?0
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One of a couple of things,
You're eating too much or possible water retention.
Check your TDEE here www.tdeecalculator.net (choose the maintenance tab or cutting if you want to get the weight back off).
Also unless you are already doing 3-4 litres of water a day, I would up your water intake.
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Thanks for the replies. Let’s see if I can answer a few. Portion creep: I measure and weigh most things or use a standardized amount for an item. Ie, a grilled chicken breast is 170. They all come out of the same case at the store so while they may vary a bit, over time it should average out. I don’t really track veggies and greens but just use preassigned amounts as a “standard”. Been doing this for years so I don’t see any change here. I shoot for 1700 cal/day and allow 300 for errors, omissions and unknowns. TDEE: Don’t know what that is. Gain: 5-ish pounds since January. Was hovering at 149-ish. Now at 155-ish.1
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If you were truly eating 1700+300 cals a day with all that activity you would not be gaining.
Go back to the drawing board, track and log everything/use food scales etc - in other words tighten your logging again.
TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
For a guy with your activity level you should be talking a TDEE of 2500+ cals - that's without knowing your height/age.
You are eating more than you think you are
(I'm petite 5ft 2/125lbs and maintain on 1900-2000 - and I'm not as active as you)5 -
Any chance you've gained some muscle mass?5
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A couple of things.. you stated you upped activity and added in cardio in addition to your daily workouts, part of this can be water retention due to volume/intensity increase in exercise.
Adding in a couple of point that may or may not be relative to your situation... when increasing exercise we can become more tired in the day resulting in burning less NEAT offsetting some of your exercise calorie burns. Secondly small increases in calories per day over TDEE will eventually show weight creep over time. Weigh and log all your food cause using standardized measurements are guesstimates.
What is puzzling is with 20k steps a day, this puts you very active and your calorie intake seems too low, low but not knowing your stats and add in the fact you are not weighing all food then I suspect your intake is higher.9 -
rvmyerscmi wrote: »Thanks for the replies. Let’s see if I can answer a few. Portion creep: I measure and weigh most things or use a standardized amount for an item. Ie, a grilled chicken breast is 170. They all come out of the same case at the store so while they may vary a bit, over time it should average out. I don’t really track veggies and greens but just use preassigned amounts as a “standard”. Been doing this for years so I don’t see any change here. I shoot for 1700 cal/day and allow 300 for errors, omissions and unknowns. TDEE: Don’t know what that is. Gain: 5-ish pounds since January. Was hovering at 149-ish. Now at 155-ish.
How are you determining that that chicken breast, for example, is 170 calories? Are you weighing it? Considering all of the oils, etc. that you might use?
I'd say tighten up your logging first. Then see what happens. Because with your stats, you should be losing on that amount of calories, not gaining. But since you're not weighing everything, you really don't know what you're eating.2 -
A couple of things.. you stated you upped activity and added in cardio in addition to your daily workouts, part of this can be water retention due to volume/intensity increase in exercise.
Adding in a couple of point that may or may not be relative to your situation... when increasing exercise we can become more tired in the day resulting in burning less NEAT offsetting some of your exercise calorie burns. Secondly small increases in calories per day over TDEE will eventually show weight creep over time. Weigh and log all your food cause using standardized measurements are guesstimates.
What is puzzling is with 20k steps a day, this puts you very active and your calorie intake seems too low, low but not knowing your stats and add in the fact you are not weighing all food then I suspect your intake is higher.
All this. Probably some water weight in there - 5 lbs is within normal weight fluctuations.
I think many people find that over the months and years, our perception of portion size can creep upwards. Personally I think it's a good exercise for anyone to once or twice a year, pull out the food scale and weigh all of your portions for a week or two, just to "reset" our ability to see the right amount of food. That's what I'd suggest OP, just to be sure the answer isn't as simple as your portions have become just a smidge too big. Good luck!6 -
So I found a TDEE calculator online. It says i should be at 2,621. (I was going to post a screen shot but it doesn't appear you can add photos into posts) Now this really makes no sense. I rotate between the same freakin' 10 meals throughout the week. Week, after week, after week. They're programmed into MFP. Whichever ones I eat that day, I add it in. If you look at my log, it's pretty much the same every day. I eat in restaurants 95% of the time so unless they have drastically changed things and kept it a secret, then it should be consistent. My plan had been as I added in more exercise, if my weight dropped, I could add in extra food. Hadn't figured on weight going up with no food changes and more exercise. I already get dizzy and loose focus during the day, which sucks BTW. I've tried cutting down more, but then I start getting hand tremors and I just have to have something. When I was at my all-time low in the 130's I could barely function and I'm starting to feel that way again. I was hoping exercise would make me feel better. I get tired of feeling worn out all the time. Now, I'm even more tired and the weight's going up.1
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Something is not adding up. Would you mind making your diary public?4
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rvmyerscmi wrote: »So I found a TDEE calculator online. It says i should be at 2,621. (I was going to post a screen shot but it doesn't appear you can add photos into posts) Now this really makes no sense. I rotate between the same freakin' 10 meals throughout the week. Week, after week, after week. They're programmed into MFP. Whichever ones I eat that day, I add it in. If you look at my log, it's pretty much the same every day. I eat in restaurants 95% of the time so unless they have drastically changed things and kept it a secret, then it should be consistent. My plan had been as I added in more exercise, if my weight dropped, I could add in extra food. Hadn't figured on weight going up with no food changes and more exercise. I already get dizzy and loose focus during the day, which sucks BTW. I've tried cutting down more, but then I start getting hand tremors and I just have to have something. When I was at my all-time low in the 130's I could barely function and I'm starting to feel that way again. I was hoping exercise would make me feel better. I get tired of feeling worn out all the time. Now, I'm even more tired and the weight's going up.
Mystery solved. The menu may be the same, and the nutritional value listed on the website may be the same, but the food preparation is not the same. I've watched them prepare food .... oil and butter are not measured. Meat may be relatively consistent in portion as it's an expensive item, but nothing else is.8 -
I agree that after maintaining for so many years it seems odd, but just wanted to say WAY TO GO on catching it at 5 pounds and working to see what is going on. I would also suggest getting some blood work done to rule out some sort of physical change.
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rvmyerscmi wrote: »So I found a TDEE calculator online. It says i should be at 2,621. (I was going to post a screen shot but it doesn't appear you can add photos into posts) Now this really makes no sense. I rotate between the same freakin' 10 meals throughout the week. Week, after week, after week. They're programmed into MFP. Whichever ones I eat that day, I add it in. If you look at my log, it's pretty much the same every day. I eat in restaurants 95% of the time so unless they have drastically changed things and kept it a secret, then it should be consistent. My plan had been as I added in more exercise, if my weight dropped, I could add in extra food. Hadn't figured on weight going up with no food changes and more exercise. I already get dizzy and loose focus during the day, which sucks BTW. I've tried cutting down more, but then I start getting hand tremors and I just have to have something. When I was at my all-time low in the 130's I could barely function and I'm starting to feel that way again. I was hoping exercise would make me feel better. I get tired of feeling worn out all the time. Now, I'm even more tired and the weight's going up.
Mystery solved. The menu may be the same, and the nutritional value listed on the website may be the same, but the food preparation is not the same. I've watched them prepare food .... oil and butter are not measured. Meat may be relatively consistent in portion as it's an expensive item, but nothing else is.
Bingo! Restaurants change food providers, chefs, cooking techniques and calorie counts. Case in point, a long time shop I go to recently changed vendors and the new veggie burgers have cheese. I don’t eat cheese, but if I did, that could add maybe 50 calories to the dish. Add to that maybe the new burger is drier and requires oil to cook. My point, little things add up.3 -
Not to mention that restaurants have a way of taking a 500 cal meal (prepared at home) and turning it into a 1500 cal meal. It's almost magical how they do that.
Without looking at your diary, (sorry, didn't do that) if you're breaking your meals down by the contents, and not by "approved" restaurant entries, you may as well tack on 1k cals to be safe.
Restaurant eating on a consistent basis can be so bad for you, is there any way you can prepare your own foods?6 -
So, this was happening to me, weight creep and feeling exhausted. Turns out I had very low vitamin levels, especially vitamin D. Once I got that back in balance I could again maintain my weight without feeling exhausted or as if I "needed" more food. Maybe not a fix for you, but it certainly helped me.5
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LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »If you were truly eating 1700+300 cals a day with all that activity you would not be gaining.
Go back to the drawing board, track and log everything/use food scales etc - in other words tighten your logging again.
TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
For a guy with your activity level you should be talking a TDEE of 2500+ cals - that's without knowing your height/age.
You are eating more than you think you are
(I'm petite 5ft 2/125lbs and maintain on 1900-2000 - and I'm not as active as you)
The only thing about tdee calculators are, they do not take into account dieting history, metabolic slow down, muscle adaptation. It sucks, but its true.
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Changed the diary setting. I track components for most places, not menu items. The ones I do are simple enough that I can feel confident that I'm logging them accurately. Nothing I order is standard. I customize everything or supplement with my own items. I go to the same places all the time to the point that at many, I don't even have to order. They know me and I just say, "the usual" and they know what to bring out.0
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