Level 3 of 30 day shred: weight gain when my body shouldn't

hedwighigh · February 2012

Alright, I know most of you are going to say that I'm gaining muscle and I'm okay with that but I still wanna give you my stats.
I've recently changed my calorie goal to 1300 calories and I try to eat between 1200-1300 a day and I do not eat my exercise calories back. I finally reached 158 after a long time in the 162-160 range and now it seems like I'm gaining again. I was 159 this morning and I'll probably be 159-160 tomorrow. I just figure since I've been doing this for the last four weeks that I wouldn't be suddenly gaining weight, especially since I started losing more weight once I started this program.

I'm trying to be more careful of staying under my carbs and fats but I'm not worried about protein right now. I'm a college student, I don't really have the money to be worrying about all three and truthfully - staying under carbs is really hard since the cheapest but still relatively healthy foods are rather carby.

I do 30 day shred 5 times a week and I just started level 3 today. I figured gaining yesterday had to do with going to TGIF and maybe too much sodium but I go to a college cafeteria ... I can't not go over my sodium. I do drink 10+ cups of water everyday. I usually underestimate that it's 10 but it's probably more around 12 on most days.

I really want to stay in the 150's, help a girl out please.

calana · February 2012

I don't think it's likely that you gained muscle overnight, but there is a good chance that your muscles are retaining water. Are you doing 30DS every single day, or are you giving yourself a rest day here and there? I find that if I don't give myself breaks occasionally then my weight goes up from not giving my muscles a break.

CnocNaCu · February 2012

bump

ronellevan · February 2012

The simple answer is: eat more.
You need to eat enough to keep your metabolism up.
Eat your exercise calories.

porffor · February 2012

I'm only on day 10 today though I tried level 2 lightly last night (to see what it entailed). lol
I have had a problem of 1200 cals not leading to weight loss but there is a lot of posts on the forum (food parts) about that not being enough if not eating calories back. It's a bit of a minefield of info and opinions though I must admit. lol

I weighed for my BF on a scales in a pharmacist and within 5 days I saw (yesterday) a 1kg loss of fat and gain of musclemass, so perhaps this is changing in you too - so no loss / slight gain but change from fat to muscle increase. As muscle is leaner and takes up less space this will lead to inches lost.

Personally I need the scales to come down as I'm still 180 but I'm trying to be optomistic that this will happen in time due to muscle gain / burning more cals.

Hope you can see some BF or inches changes too.

hedwighigh · February 2012

I do it only 5 times a week so I take two days off. I only count the days that I do the workouts so it technically takes me two weeks to do each level.

I keep hearing about eating more but I always gain when I do that, every time. Especially when I was on my plateau, I don't mind eating exercise calories back but I'd like to be completely away from the 160 area before I start experimenting with just adding more calories. Furthermore, it seems like most people that go up in calories and lose weight seem to have more to lose than me. I could be wrong on this but it seems like you need to eat less since your metabolism isn't as high as it once was. I have at most 15 more pounds to go.

However, I do well with having a screw up day (or weekend) once a month and then going straight back once it's over. That'll probably be around the 27th of this month (when me and my boyfriend are celebrating VD).

deksgrl · February 2012

How tall are you?

It gets harder to lose that last bit of weight when you get close to your goal, and with only eating at 1,200 now you can't go down any further.

I'm pretty close to your weight and my BMR (just the amount for my body to live, if I did not get out of bed) is a little over 1400. Yours is probably higher because you are younger than me.

If you eat more, you will initially gain a little weight. You have to do it for several weeks to reset your metabolism, and then you will begin to see the weight loss again.

I'm surprised you have the energy to work out while depriving your body of the amount it needs.

WhyeatKachra · February 2012

Water retention sweety! Muscles store water for repair. And since you are on Level 3 of the shred, it can happen. Don't worry. It's just a number shift. U are doing great!

QueenJayJay · February 2012

I'm surprised you have the energy to work out while depriving your body of the amount it needs.

This.

lin7604 · February 2012

i gained 3 lbs doing 30ds, and lost it after i finished 30ds. i lost no weight only inches and not many of that either. i lost 1 inch off my waist, 2 off my belly and hips. I re started 30ds yesterday. i am going to do it every single day for 30 days. i am hoping for the best,lol...

hedwighigh · February 2012

My energy is quite good actually ... for a college student.

Also, I'm 5'10.5

The reasoning behind why I decided on doing 1200-1300 a day is because I go to a school cafeteria and they don't really have nutrition facts and what they do have nutrition facts they do have, I don't trust. So I figure that I'm most likely taking in more than I think except for days that I workout. I'm probably more in range those days.

AKA it's much easier to diet when you don't live in a dorm with a meal plan.

deksgrl · February 2012

I'm guessing you are still too low.

Your TDEE is 2420 if you consider you exercise "moderately" 3-5 times per week. A 20% deficit on that would be 1936 calories for healthy weight loss.

I suppose it might be possible that you are underestimating your calories by 700 calories a day not knowing the exact nutrition facts from the cafeteria, but I doubt it is that much.

Level 3 of 30 day shred: weight gain when my body shouldn't

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