EATING MY CALORIES AND STILL GAINING

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  • emgs52
    emgs52 Posts: 67 Member
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    try eating 1200-1500 cals a day
  • mdebbie1026
    mdebbie1026 Posts: 164 Member
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    Have your doctor check you thyroid for one thing. Also, are you using an HRM or the cal count off the machines? That difference is huge! Before my HRM I thought I was burning 500 to 700 per work out, HRM told me "Oh no Honey you are only burning between 200 & 300 calories!" Hang in there. Some of us just take longer to lose than others.:cry: It takes persistance and perseverence. You CAN do this!:flowerforyou:

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    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • vjrose
    vjrose Posts: 809 Member
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    There are three things you can do, BMR (do you know yours), you need to be eating a bit over that number at least, that is what you body needs just to fuel your system and it takes energy to burn fat.
    Examine your diet, weigh, measure, and look at what you are eating, looks like you have littles, are you eating on the run or on a plan. Prepared food or food you fix yourself, white flour, potatoes, added sugars (not fruit and veggie sugars), white rice, and tons of sodium can all interfere with results.
    Are you using a HRM to get your calories (not entirely accurate depending on brand can be a bit high so I don't ever eat more than half of my exercise calories).
    If you have toddlers did you take child maintenance into your activity level when you started, I really think your calories may be a little low for getting it done. However could be any of the previous ones. I fell for the whole 1200 calories at the beginning and went with along plateau, upped my calories and have been losing consistently since.
  • OSC_ESD
    OSC_ESD Posts: 752 Member
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    One word : CHANGE

    You have to constantly change your regimen. Try researching / googling the " zig zag " method. Don't eat the same calories and burn the same amount everyday ... you have to keep your body guessing ! Workout harder some days and eat more ... on relax days just stay right near the 1200 cals. Make certain you are drinking plenty of water !

    I have not looked to see if your diary is public ... but, understand that a calorie may be just a calorie ... but what's in those calories makes all the difference ! Know your nutrition .... add foods that speed up your metabolism, fuel your body and increase your energy.

    There will be times the muscle building will out weigh the loss and you notice the difference rather than see the numbers go down ... but in the beginning that is just not the case. You need to tweak some things ... try a few of my suggestions and see if change is what is needed. I'm betting you will see a loss soon ! :)
  • Caterpiller2011
    Caterpiller2011 Posts: 3 Member
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    Pls hang in there!
  • tinydancer24
    tinydancer24 Posts: 98
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    Buy a heartrate monitor that calculates your calories burned. MFP and the machines are VERY inaccurate! I use my food scale religiously as well. Good luck!
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
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    this is opposite of what everyone else is saying but I went over two months with no loss-once I DROPPED my calories I started losing. It worked for me.
  • angelmanderson
    angelmanderson Posts: 10 Member
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    You might not be eating enough or you are eating the wrong kind of foods.... I go up and down one week I will lose 3lbs then the next week I wont lose any... Sometimes you might need to eat a lot of calories to shock your system.. I have notice that with my body,, Hope this was helpful
  • fuzz_pawz
    fuzz_pawz Posts: 106
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    Alright guys pretty discouraged. Eating my prescribed 1200 calories, measuring, weighing, and counting every snack. Exercising 5 days a week for 1 1/2 hours burning between 600-750 calories.... WHY AM I STILL GAINING??? I get that I might be making muscle but when and how long will I have to wait for the scale to budge??

    It may never budge...
    Reason being is that MUSCLE weighs MORE than FAT.....so lets say you're 150lbs......when you burn off the fat, and you are still 150lbs, that's all muscle...lean muscle, not blubbery fat on your body.

    You have to remember that DROPPING your calories to an amount that is way lower than what your body requires, will send your body into "starvation mode". What happens here, is that your body needs energy, if you are not providing the necessary energy required during the day via food, the body will take it from itself. Because muscle is a more pure source of energy, it will "eat" the muscle FIRST in order to gain the amount of energy needed to survive during a day.
    People who starve themselves think it will eat away the fat....this is not so, not at first. You lose muscle first because it is a richer source for the body.
  • fuzz_pawz
    fuzz_pawz Posts: 106
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    You might not be eating enough or you are eating the wrong kind of foods.... I go up and down one week I will lose 3lbs then the next week I wont lose any...

    I fluctuate DAILY...in the morning I am 3 lbs less than I am in the evening...this is also completely normal
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Why I'll never eat 1200 or less again: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/494091-i-just-don-t-care-anymore

    Plus, keep in mind that when you exercise hard, it creates tiny tears in your muscles. That's not a bad thing... it's how your muscles get stronger. But those tears retain fluid as your muscles heal. IE, inflammation. That retained fluid can cause a temporary weight gain. That's why rest days are so important.
  • cshine06
    cshine06 Posts: 139 Member
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    I lost 30 pounds before hitting a plateua.The only thing that helped me start back losing was eating more than 1800 net calories a day after exercise. I follow a low carb diet with at least 115 gms of protein 60g of Carbs and 100+g of healthy fats. If you are not eating enough your body will not burn as fast as it can.
  • kprine1
    kprine1 Posts: 11
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    I am just starting....For 2 weeks I tried weightwatchers, but I decided to move the calorie count method for simpler math. I have been using the bodybugg to get my 2200-3500 calories burnt a day (that's with my resting calories), and that 550-700 is an average for my workouts. I will open up my food chart. I do say that sometimes I don't eat the perfect foods but I am always pretty close to the 1200 cals a day. I have a scale or premeasured containers for simplicity. Thanks a lot for all of the input.
  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
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    I am just starting....For 2 weeks I tried weightwatchers, but I decided to move the calorie count method for simpler math. I have been using the bodybugg to get my 2200-3500 calories burnt a day (that's with my resting calories), and that 550-700 is an average for my workouts. I will open up my food chart. I do say that sometimes I don't eat the perfect foods but I am always pretty close to the 1200 cals a day. I have a scale or premeasured containers for simplicity. Thanks a lot for all of the input.

    If you are burning 2,200 -3,500 calories per day you aren't eating enough. You don't even eat 1,200 calories (provided you are tracking everything). You are creating anywhere from a 1,000 calorie deficit to a 2,400 calorie deficit.

    You aren't building muscle on that much of a deficit. You need to eat more! Eat at your BMR. Eating less doesn't always mean more weight loss. Unless you have over 75lbs to lose you shouldn't be aiming for anymore than about a 1lb a week loss.
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
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    scales don't tell the full story. look at your body...how do old clothes fit? the numbers don't tell the entire story. stick at it! sounds like you have a great deal of motivation,discipline and will power to do this and you will!!
  • david_swinstead
    david_swinstead Posts: 271 Member
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    Honestly, I'm sure you appreciate the kind words of motivation from all the people telling you that you're propbably gaining muscle, or that its all just water retention, but unfortunately their words of consolation are well intentioned but misplaced.

    Just as mallory3411 said a couple of posts up, having looked at your diary, you definitely aren't eating enough. This is an open and shut case. That's the reason you aren't losing weight, 100%.

    You have slowly murdered your metabolism by undereating.

    The only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than your body burns each day. Somewhat counter intuitively, by eating too few calories, your metabolism has slowed down to compensate, so now even though you're not eating much, you're still not in deficit, no matter how muych you think you are.

    Some people call it starvation mode. personally I hate that term because it implies that your body is either "in" starvation mode or "not in" starvation mode, whereas in reality your metabolism slows down and speeds up gradually, on a sliding scale. It doesn't just switch itself on or off.

    I know it's hard to take in that you need to eat more to lose weight. It doesn't seem to make sense. But you have to trust us because it's true.

    Never, ever, ever eat less than 1200 calories NET (after subtracting exercise calories). Ever.

    Start eating back your exercise calories (yes, ALL OF THEM!) and I'd be willing to bet money that weight will start dropping off you.

    Try it and come back to us in a month. If it hasn't worked you can feel free to rub it in my face.

    EDIT: Its worth mentioning that the evidence used to draw this conclusion so convincingly, is based on your diary. This is assuming that the calories you have logged is accurate. If you aren't weighing your portions to get accurate calories, you should be. If you aren't tryign to get the most accurate readings of your calorie burn, you should be (a HRM is ideal, but at the very least you should be using the figures from the machines at the gym which, assuming you use the built in heart rate monitor on them, are a lot more accurate then the figures on MFP).
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
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    #1 what works for one doesn't work for everyone.
    #2 machines in my experience are more than double the real calorie burn

    play around with your calories goals-find what works for YOU. And definitely get an HRM for a more accurate calorie burn count
  • clarkeje1
    clarkeje1 Posts: 1,638 Member
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    you need to eat back your exercise calories
  • ElizaFayle
    ElizaFayle Posts: 1
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    I find it is really important to have multiple ways to monitor your progress. I also take my measurements (biceps, bust, waist, hips, thighs) and go by how my clothes fit. I have found in my past attempts that I *always* gain weight in the beginning and I *always* get frustrated and quit. Then I started taking my measurements and WOOT!!! I found I was actually shrinking, even it was 1/4" at a time.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    I am just starting....For 2 weeks I tried weightwatchers, but I decided to move the calorie count method for simpler math. I have been using the bodybugg to get my 2200-3500 calories burnt a day (that's with my resting calories), and that 550-700 is an average for my workouts. I will open up my food chart. I do say that sometimes I don't eat the perfect foods but I am always pretty close to the 1200 cals a day. I have a scale or premeasured containers for simplicity. Thanks a lot for all of the input.

    If your bodybugg is telling you your daily expenditure is between 2200 and 3500, it looks as if your your MFP goal settings are wrong and you are not eating enough.

    you only need a calorie deficit of 500 to lose a lb per week, some days your deficit would be 2300.

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