Upped calories and gained weight?

denorios
denorios Posts: 38 Member
edited October 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been dieting using MFP for well over a year, and I've lost around 5 stone (70-odd pounds). I'm current 5"3, and I weight 175 pounds. But my weight loss has really stalled in the last few months, it's taken me almost eight months just to lose one stone, and in the last three months I've lost nothing. So I read a lot of posts on here and decided to try upping my calories from what I was eating, between 1200-1400, up to 1600.

I gained five pounds in two weeks! Is that normal? According to every BMR and calorie calculator out there, I'm still eating well below my supposed maintenance level, and I'm gaining weight! Do I just need to push through it, continue eating 1600 and eventually the weight will start dropping again? I'm really having to resist the urge to give up on eating more and going back to 1200-1400.

I do eat my exercise calories back as well, mostly, and I exercise 3-5 times a week, for about 40 minutes at a time, mostly cardio.

Replies

  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
    It is very common to see a weight gain when you have been eating too low and increase your calories. It can take your body up to a month (or even more for some people) to realize it is now getting enough food. Keep doing what you've been doing and give your body more time to adapt to what you've changed.


    Congrats on your weight loss!
  • kir911
    kir911 Posts: 228 Member
    If you are doing mostly cardio you may want to consider switching gears and doing more resistance and strength training. Sometimes when you overload on cardio you begin seeing the opposite effect and you gain because your body starts breaking down the muscle in your body. The changeup in your routine might get your metabolism soaring and help you to start losing again.
  • aussie_nic_getting_fit
    aussie_nic_getting_fit Posts: 134 Member
    same thing happened to me, i lost weight steadily, then a stand still... so i thought id take notice of what everyone on MFP was saying andi increased for 5 weeks & GAINED..

    just listen to your body and just power on..
  • Kirsty_UK
    Kirsty_UK Posts: 964 Member
    It is very common to see a weight gain when you have been eating too low and increase your calories. It can take your body up to a month (or even more for some people) to realize it is now getting enough food. Keep doing what you've been doing and give your body more time to adapt to what you've changed.

    great advice!
  • claire_xox
    claire_xox Posts: 282 Member
    how honest are you with your exercise level for the BMR? maybe you're being too generous? if you're gaining weight then I would go back to what worked for you.
  • Agean42
    Agean42 Posts: 58
    If you are NOT doing strength or weight training start doing some at least 3 times a week ( mon,wed,fri ) etc.
    The more lean muscle you have the faster your metabolism, the faster your metabolism the more fat you will burn just doing your day to day things.
    If your ARE doing strength training then increase the amount of weight you are using.
    try and eat at least 1gram of protien per pound of your bodyweight, this will help you build / maintain your lean muscle while on a calorie deficit.

    Dont worry about getting big doing strength training, use a weight that you can do about 15 reps and do 2 sets, you will only start to get big muscles if you lift really heavy weights for 6-8 reps.

    Hope this helps & very well done on your loss so far, you should feel very proud !!!
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    When changing calorie brackets, it's not a bad idea to do it just adding or subtracting 100 calories at a time so your body adjusts. It will work with time, dozens of MFP success stories can attest to that!

    Do double and triple check both you calories intake and expenditure, though. If you keep doing the same cardio, your burn will do down as your body gets more efficient so you may want to err on the side of caution and track a lower amount. Remember to take off the calories you would have burnt in that time nayhow if you weren't exercising. And as another poster said, weight training can make a huge difference by adding more metabolically active tissue.

    On the food front, my weight loss had stalled, so I got more careful with tracking. For example, I was using a ready-entered chilli con carne and rice entry on MFP at 350 calories, but when I added up the ingredients for my healthy, low-fat homemade version, it came to 850!!!

    Good luck!
  • denorios
    denorios Posts: 38 Member
    I always set my BMR exercise level at sedentary, and then count the exercise as extra. I tend to go off what the machines at the gym say as regards calories burned, rather than MFP - since MFP has no way to knowing what elevation or resistance I've set the machines at, only speed and/or time used.
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