gaining weight... what am i doing wrong?

humblestudent
humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
in Motivation and Support
i am 166cm tall (5'5) and 76kgs (167.5lbs) - last week i was 75kgs... i am eating around 1200-1300 calories a day and doing 2 yoga classes per week and some times maybe 1ce a fortnight do some weights. i don't eat much junk food at all due to intolerance to wheat and dairy, and try to eat less red meat too.

why am i gaining weight? please give any pointers?

- i have an illness and can't exercise too much otherwise it will flare up the illness. mainly have gained weight due to taking an anti-psychotic. tried a diabetes medication for a couple of months and didn't loose much weight...


ps pls add me? :)
thanks for any help...

Replies

  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    Entered information: 31 year old female, 65 inches tall, weighing 167 pounds.

    Harris-Benedict Formula

    There are a few different methods to calculating yourbasal metabolic rate (BMR). One of the most popular, developed in the early 1900's is called the Harris-Benedict formula. Based on this formula, your current BMR is 1541 calories.

    TDEE (BMR x Multiplier based on your activity = Energy Required by the body in a day)
    Your maintenance calories as Sedentary are 1849.
    As Lightly Active 2119.
    As Moderately active 2389.

    Eat above your BMR and below whichever of those numbers are appropriate to you.
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    oh interesting! so i am eating less than my BMR calories and still gaining weight?
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    oh interesting! so i am eating less than my BMR calories and still gaining weight?

    Yup, metabolic slowdown happens on extended dieting below BMR and thus you gain weight. Do some reading on BMR, TDEE and the arguments for and against eating at a deficit to your TDEE and decide if you think it's the appropriate course of action.
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    so i should actually be eating way more calories? doesnt that defeat the caloric goal of myfitnesspal then? thanks for this btw very interesting!
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    so i should actually be eating way more calories? doesnt that defeat the caloric goal of myfitnesspal then? thanks for this btw very interesting!
    Myfitnesspal just does as you ask. It works out your BMR, then if you ask it for 2lbs a week, hacks 1k off of it regardless of any other effect that may have. 1lb, 500 cals a day off. It doesn't use logic or reason. It works fine for a lot of people, especially those that haven't yo-yo'd much in the past and suppressed their metabolisms. For others, we need to attack the problem with science :)

    You could be eating way more, yes, but bear in mind it will take time for your body to adjust (hormonally) to more food.
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    oh wow... cheers! yeh i just read abit about it and read ur profile. this is very new to me! i've struggled with weight all my life. so its not just a matter of eating less n exercising more eh...
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    oh wow... cheers! yeh i just read abit about it and read ur profile. this is very new to me! i've struggled with weight all my life. so its not just a matter of eating less n exercising more eh...

    Join the club :) Eating too little made me lose a little bit, but I quickly stalled and I'm now seeing more weightloss as well as increased strength in the gym on 2500 a day.
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    yeh i read that from ur profile that's really great! i just adjusted my goal to 1 pound a week instead of 1.5... although what would happen if you get used to eating 2500 calories a day? would the body plateau and then gain weight?
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    yeh i read that from ur profile that's really great! i just adjusted my goal to 1 pound a week instead of 1.5... although what would happen if you get used to eating 2500 calories a day? would the body plateau and then gain weight?
    As my weight falls, I will need to readjust a little bit based on my new bodyfat and weight numbers - as it is at the moment, I'm losing bodyfat proportionally much more quickly than 'weight', so my BMR and thus TDEE hasn't fallen by any noticable amount. As my weight falls to the eventual 205 goal, my BMR will decrease, but hopefully not by much. Depending on how well the muscle development progresses, it may even rise. See, FAT on your body doesn't burn calories. But your LEAN MASS - your organs, muscles, bones etc does. So if you raise the amount of lean mass on your body, your BMR increases. But being lighter requires less energy to move you around, so it falls. It's something to check every 10lbs or so.
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    yeh i've heard that muscle burns way eazier than trying to burn fat... if it burns at all... so i have to eat lean foods then? what i eat as snacks isn't so much fat as it is mostly sugar... i wanna cut down on sugar (especialy bubble tea and starbux frappochinos!) and eat less meat, more vegies and grains...
  • sueb12345678
    sueb12345678 Posts: 41 Member
    wow that is really interesting just look't at web site training 4 to 5 times a week weights & circuit training and running and really eating less than i should im going to defo put my intake up
    Thanks for that
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    yeh i've heard that muscle burns way eazier than trying to burn fat... if it burns at all... so i have to eat lean foods then? what i eat as snacks isn't so much fat as it is mostly sugar... i wanna cut down on sugar (especialy bubble tea and starbux frappochinos!) and eat less meat, more vegies and grains...

    Well, muscle burns calories. Fat does not. So if your body percieves a period of low food intake, what do you think it will burn first, to survive for as long as possible?

    Don't be afraid of fats - your cells need them! You need saturated fats for your brain to work properly, amongst other things. Meat is not evil. Eat it :D
  • AshinAms
    AshinAms Posts: 283 Member
    Just a note from my experience- taking any kind of psychiatric medication can do very very weird things to your metabolism. I have gained weight up to 10 kilos in a week previously, with no real change in what I was consuming except for a change in meds.

    I'd say to put up your calorie intake with extreme caution as you don't know what the meds are doing. Everyone says 'oh it's not possible to gain that much that quick' but it is if you are on meds, even with a low calorie intake. It's very difficult to lose it afterwards also.

    Feel free to add me if you want.
  • 1979rrh
    1979rrh Posts: 83 Member
    I was eating 1100 or so cal per day... lost weight the first 2 months, I was like WOW!! But then it stopped I put on 3 pounds and couldn't get them off for 3 weeks, that is when I read a post about eating your exercise calories and upping your daily calories a bit. I do about 1400 before exercise calories and then about 2000 when I work out.
    I know it seems like a hard thing to grasp that eating more you will lose more... it works!!
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    Just a note from my experience- taking any kind of psychiatric medication can do very very weird things to your metabolism. I have gained weight up to 10 kilos in a week previously, with no real change in what I was consuming except for a change in meds.

    I'd say to put up your calorie intake with extreme caution as you don't know what the meds are doing. Everyone says 'oh it's not possible to gain that much that quick' but it is if you are on meds, even with a low calorie intake. It's very difficult to lose it afterwards also.

    Feel free to add me if you want.

    yes! its really hard for ppl to understand alot of the times... they just think i'm really lazy and greedy... thanks for that. yes its true i think i will increase my intake by a couple of hundred calories but proly no more than that! and did you find it hard to loose weight when you gained it on meds?
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    I was eating 1100 or so cal per day... lost weight the first 2 months, I was like WOW!! But then it stopped I put on 3 pounds and couldn't get them off for 3 weeks, that is when I read a post about eating your exercise calories and upping your daily calories a bit. I do about 1400 before exercise calories and then about 2000 when I work out.
    I know it seems like a hard thing to grasp that eating more you will lose more... it works!!

    yeh good point. eat more when i do exercise... that makes more sense!
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    yeh i've heard that muscle burns way eazier than trying to burn fat... if it burns at all... so i have to eat lean foods then? what i eat as snacks isn't so much fat as it is mostly sugar... i wanna cut down on sugar (especialy bubble tea and starbux frappochinos!) and eat less meat, more vegies and grains...

    Well, muscle burns calories. Fat does not. So if your body percieves a period of low food intake, what do you think it will burn first, to survive for as long as possible?

    Don't be afraid of fats - your cells need them! You need saturated fats for your brain to work properly, amongst other things. Meat is not evil. Eat it :D

    actually as far as meat is concerned i try not to eat it because of ethical reasons...
    as far as the fat is concerned, yeh i have heard somewhere that all it does is shrink or blow up but the number of fat cells dont actually reduce in numbers!
  • 1979rrh
    1979rrh Posts: 83 Member
    [/quote]

    actually as far as meat is concerned i try not to eat it because of ethical reasons...
    as far as the fat is concerned, yeh i have heard somewhere that all it does is shrink or blow up but the number of fat cells dont actually reduce in numbers!
    [/quote]

    Do you eat fish? Tuna and white fish are very good proteans, what are you eating instead of meat? Just wondering because I get board of the meats that eat like... chicken breast, turkey breast, pork tenderloin, tuna, tilapia... so it gets boring :yawn:
  • humblestudent
    humblestudent Posts: 47 Member
    i eat fish but not a huge fan of it... as far as meat is concerned i havent cut it completely out of my diet... its tasty after all... but yeh i eat tofu and seafoods n stuff :)
  • AshinAms
    AshinAms Posts: 283 Member

    I'd say to put up your calorie intake with extreme caution as you don't know what the meds are doing. Everyone says 'oh it's not possible to gain that much that quick' but it is if you are on meds, even with a low calorie intake. It's very difficult to lose it afterwards also.


    yes! its really hard for ppl to understand alot of the times... they just think i'm really lazy and greedy... thanks for that. yes its true i think i will increase my intake by a couple of hundred calories but proly no more than that! and did you find it hard to loose weight when you gained it on meds?

    Yes! Sorry, I missed replying to this. I have found it really hard to lose after being on meds. The latest I had was Wellbutrin which gave me that 10 kilo gain in a week. I lost it over a few months but find that I am stuck now, even though I'm not taking anything.

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