I gained 4 pounds even though im eating healthy!?

disneydreamer61605
disneydreamer61605 Posts: 23
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
hey every one wanted to see if any one knows whats going on.. I started my diet a week ago, I gained 4 pounds since I have worked out an hour a day and only ate 1,300 calories a day and i was aloted 1600. I am confused whats going on>? I only cheated once it was my sisters bachlorrete party and i had malibu and diet sprite but that day i only ended up going over like 120 calories for the day. Does any one know whats going on>

Replies

  • fierystar
    fierystar Posts: 2
    If you are working out an hour a day, could it be that you are gaining muscle mass? Have you been keeping track of your inches?
  • maddymama
    maddymama Posts: 1,183 Member
    Are you eating back your exercise calories? You could be eating far tooo few calories for working out an hour a day and your body is holding onto everything thinking you are starvin it.
    If I were you'd I'd set MFP to 1.5 or 1 lb a week, and eat the amount MFP tells you to, including eating back most of your exercise calories.
  • tuffytuffy1
    tuffytuffy1 Posts: 920 Member
    If you are staying that low in calories, there is no way you could have gained 4 pounds of fat, so I would guess it is just water weight. And you could not have gained muscle that fast either. Just keep plugging away!
  • georgina1970
    georgina1970 Posts: 333 Member
    Are you eating back your exercise calories? You could be eating far tooo few calories for working out an hour a day and your body is holding onto everything thinking you are starvin it.
    If I were you'd I'd set MFP to 1.5 or 1 lb a week, and eat the amount MFP tells you to, including eating back most of your exercise calories.

    This!! You've got to eat enough to fuel your body.
  • disneydreamer61605
    disneydreamer61605 Posts: 23
    If you are working out an hour a day, could it be that you are gaining muscle mass? Have you been keeping track of your inches?

    No i have not, i Hope it is lol!
  • disneydreamer61605
    disneydreamer61605 Posts: 23
    Are you eating back your exercise calories? You could be eating far tooo few calories for working out an hour a day and your body is holding onto everything thinking you are starvin it.
    If I were you'd I'd set MFP to 1.5 or 1 lb a week, and eat the amount MFP tells you to, including eating back most of your exercise calories.

    No i burn 600 calories a work out and only eat 1300 or so a day total
  • zuluf15
    zuluf15 Posts: 7
    I started my diet a week ago..... Does any one know whats going on>
    Don't worry, it's only been a week. Your body does crazy stuff when you do something to shock it -- like starting a diet or a workout program, and you've done both. I stay off the scales for three weeks whenever I start a new program -- diet or exercise. That gives the bod a chance to get over the initial shock of something new and settle down. Keep with what you're doing for a couple more weeks and you'll have a better picture of what's going on.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Are you eating back your exercise calories? You could be eating far tooo few calories for working out an hour a day and your body is holding onto everything thinking you are starvin it.
    If I were you'd I'd set MFP to 1.5 or 1 lb a week, and eat the amount MFP tells you to, including eating back most of your exercise calories.

    No i burn 600 calories a work out and only eat 1300 or so a day total

    You are eating way too few calories. Plus, please give it more than a week - weight can fluctuate a lot because of water weight, especially for women. Take measurements and pay more attention to that rather than the scale. Good luck
  • Donnacoach
    Donnacoach Posts: 540 Member
    You aren't eating enough food.
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
    No i burn 600 calories a work out and only eat 1300 or so a day total

    Read the stickies at the top of the thread list. You will continue to gain weight so long as you continue doing this.
  • G30Grrl
    G30Grrl Posts: 377 Member
    You are definitely eating too few calories. And if you are working out a lot, or if you perhaps have a high sodium intake, you could definitely be retaining water. Sodium can cause this, but so can muscle injury from lifting heavy or pushing your muscles hard. Eat more and make sure you are getting enough recovery time between workouts to heal.

    Good luck to you!
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    Are you eating back your exercise calories? You could be eating far tooo few calories for working out an hour a day and your body is holding onto everything thinking you are starvin it.
    If I were you'd I'd set MFP to 1.5 or 1 lb a week, and eat the amount MFP tells you to, including eating back most of your exercise calories.

    No i burn 600 calories a work out and only eat 1300 or so a day total

    Eat more.

    If you only eat 1300 calories and burn 600 calories, then you are only netting 700 calories. This is not a healthy amount of calories and way too big of a deficit to succeed in weight loss. You should be NETTING what MFP is telling you you need...
  • invisibubble
    invisibubble Posts: 662 Member
    If I were you'd I'd set MFP to 1.5 or 1 lb a week, and eat the amount MFP tells you to, including eating back most of your exercise calories.
    Yes. This. I know, sounds ludicrous, but honestly I'm betting this is where you're going wrong.
  • krazyforyou
    krazyforyou Posts: 1,428 Member
    Eat sister. Its that simple.
  • MrsSherrill
    MrsSherrill Posts: 58
    If you are working out an hour a day, could it be that you are gaining muscle mass? Have you been keeping track of your inches?


    No, this is not possible after working out for only a week or two. it take ALOT of training and ALOT of work to build muscle mass.

    its just water weight. anytime you start a new workout your muscles need more water and fuel to repaire therfore it will hold on to the water for recovery. it will go away in a few days.

    http://bankshealth.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/weight-gain-with-new-exercise-programs/

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/393797-water-retention-after-resistance-training

    givve it time, you just started working out!!!
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
    No, this is not possible after working out for only a week or two. it take ALOT of training and ALOT of work to build muscle mass.

    It's also not possible while eating at a calorie deficit. You can build muscle, but you're not going to gain weight in muscle while eating less food than you burn. Not really sure why people continue to propagate this myth.. seems like it stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about what this site is all about.
  • bjohs
    bjohs Posts: 1,225 Member
    There really is no way of knowing without seeing your diary. Unfortunately, only a week of working out will not achieve 4 pounds of muscle mass... not even 1 pound. However, in my journey, I have learned a couple things...

    1) The quality of food is as important as the quantity of food. Not all calories are created equal. What you think might be healthy choices, may in fact be sabotaging your efforts. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store and stay out of the isles.

    2) We overestimate the amount of calories we burn during exercise and underestimate the calories we are consuming. If we turn that around and overestimate the calories we are consuming and underestimating the amount of calories we are burning, then we can achieve a true calorie deficit. Two ways of ensuring better accuracy is to measure/weigh your food portions and use a heart rate monitor (HRM).

    Good luck and congrats on a week of a healthier new you!
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
    Not all calories are created equal. What you think might be healthy choices, may in fact be sabotaging your efforts.

    Not true.

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

    If you burn more calories than you consume, you're going to lose weight (barring water retention, etc). Doesn't matter where the calorie comes from.
  • bjohs
    bjohs Posts: 1,225 Member
    Not all calories are created equal. What you think might be healthy choices, may in fact be sabotaging your efforts.

    Not true.

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

    If you burn more calories than you consume, you're going to lose weight (barring water retention, etc). Doesn't matter where the calorie comes from.

    Sorry, that article is ludicrous. I could have nothing but a few soft drinks each day and lose weight too. Doesn't mean it's making you any healthier or build a sustainable lifestyle. Please don't post articles like this unless you are advocating poor eating habits and fad diets.
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member

    Sorry, that article is ludicrous. I could have nothing but a few soft drinks each day and lose weight too.

    You sure could, but we're talking about weight loss. I even specifically mentioned weight loss. If the goal is weight loss, which is what we were talking about, all calories are in fact created equally.

    No one mentioned vitamins or nutrition. That's a completely different topic that no one was discussing until you brought it up.

    I'm not advocating an all-twinkie diet. I just wanted to point out that you're giving people flat out wrong information.
  • Femtec74
    Femtec74 Posts: 347 Member
    If you are working out an hour a day, could it be that you are gaining muscle mass? Have you been keeping track of your inches?


    No, this is not possible after working out for only a week or two. it take ALOT of training and ALOT of work to build muscle mass.

    its just water weight. anytime you start a new workout your muscles need more water and fuel to repaire therfore it will hold on to the water for recovery. it will go away in a few days.

    http://bankshealth.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/weight-gain-with-new-exercise-programs/

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/393797-water-retention-after-resistance-training

    givve it time, you just started working out!!!

    ^ this - I'm going through the same thing right now. Be patient and keep going - it will get better.
  • SteveHunt113
    SteveHunt113 Posts: 648 Member
    You've hear it all, but I'll say it again anyway:

    1) You are not eating enough assuming your food calories and workout calories are accurate
    2) The scale is a bad way of measuring success. If you need to weigh yourself, do it first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom. Do not weight yourself once you've started eating or drinking for the day.
    3) Netting under 1000 calories a day should be avoided (I personally think 1200 or above should be the limit).
    4) Too few calories causes your body to go into starvation mode and you will not lose weight.
    5) To lose 1 pound of weight, you need a 3500 calorie deficit. Losing 1 pound each week means a 500 calories a day deficit.
    6) Eat back most of your workout calories. You body needs the fuel to repair itself after a workout.
    7) My favorite: Over estimate how much you eat and underestimate how much your burn. If you think you drank 1 cup of milk, unless you measured it, assume 1.25 cups. If the elliptical says you burned 600 calories, make it 550 or less.

    There's more to be said, but I think this covers most of what people have said here.
  • 2fit4fat
    2fit4fat Posts: 559 Member
    Are you eating back your exercise calories? You could be eating far tooo few calories for working out an hour a day and your body is holding onto everything thinking you are starvin it.
    If I were you'd I'd set MFP to 1.5 or 1 lb a week, and eat the amount MFP tells you to, including eating back most of your exercise calories.

    No i burn 600 calories a work out and only eat 1300 or so a day total


    Wow ya that is way too little. Also when I start working out (and drinking more water) my body retains it for a bit before it drops it. If you are working out in any way that will build muscle your body will do the same (just more or less depending on many factors) I would up the cals for sure though! Also take measurements. My weight hasn't dropped for a few weeks but i have dropped 2 pant sizes
  • disneydreamer61605
    disneydreamer61605 Posts: 23
    Thank you for all the tips!
  • daculadancer
    daculadancer Posts: 3
    either you have a metobolic problem, you counted your calories incorrectly or you began to build muscle...how many weeks have you been counting calories?
  • disneydreamer61605
    disneydreamer61605 Posts: 23
    Just an Update

    3/20- lost the original 4 pounds i gained from the first week of my work out
    3/21- lost an additional pound
    YAY
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