Gain 15lbs in like a month! I met my goals daily 99% time!

123578

Replies

  • Christine1110
    Christine1110 Posts: 1,786 Member
    Are you measuring & weighing what you eat? It is very easy to over do it, and be eating alot more then you think. Do you track & count everything? Some people leave a few things out, and they all add up!
  • _VoV
    _VoV Posts: 1,494 Member
    I looked at your food diary, and the thing I noticed is very low fiber intake--11 grams in the day I looked at. You need to gradually up the fiber in FOOD not supplements. I would ultimately aim for 35 grams of fiber a day. At least some of those fiber calories don't get digested, which is one way it helps--in other words at your set number of calories, you are eating 'less' absorbable ones, so that creates a bit of a calorie deficit. The phytonutrients in fruits and veggies won't hurt for reasons of general health.

    I agree with others to visit your doctor to see if your thyroid is underactive, or if any medications could be causing this.
  • SunSong87
    SunSong87 Posts: 3
    One lesson I have learned since joining MFP is that while for some people, it doesn't seem to matter where their calories come from, for me, it matters. If I stay at or below my calories but all I ate was junk/processed/fried/fast food then I will not lose weight. But, when I try to eat better, I not only feel better but there is a loss on the scale. I think for some people it's more than just tracking calories, it's about what you are putting in your body as well. Good luck.

    I totally agree. I've just started tracking food (haven't even had a chance to "check in" yet :-)), after thinking I was dieting... I was eating too many cheat meals and snacks, and when I started tracking, I realized how much "filler food" I ate every day. They didn't make me fuller, and they weren't even my favourite foods, but I ate them because they were there.

    Now, I actually eat more FOOD, but I eat consciously. I try to hit my calorie mark, but if I've gone over and I've been eating eggs and carrots and oatmeal I don't worry about it! Hitting or going OVER my calorie mark eating healthy foods makes me feel better, and I lose weight. Hitting or going UNDER my calorie mark eating processed foods and fast food makes me feel sluggish and I stop losing weight.

    Even if the scale goes up a few pounds, that may be water or muscle, etc. If you FEEL better in general, and you know the numbers on the scale have been going down consistently, then keep on doing what you're doing :-D
  • sgarrard01
    sgarrard01 Posts: 213 Member
    I've only been through a couple of days, but i would wonder if the following is applicable:

    a) do you drink alcohol which you dont log
    b) are you drinking anything else apart from water which your not logging
    c) do you ever weigh stuff or just use 'half a cup' etc. i notice on one day you had a high calorie salad, yet you said you had only half a cup, i cant believe you had that little... a cup is sooooo tiny a plate is probably like 10 cups!.
    d) egg fried rice on another day you said you had 0.75 cups... again, if you made this yourself, the oil used in cooking a portion could be easily 150kcal, so im sure thats wrong!
    e) on another day, you used 'breakfast sausages 2nr' i've never heard of a 75kcal sausage.... they would have most likely been more than that!

    my advice would be....

    a) stop using items listed as 'generic' and put in each componenet of a meal if your making it yourself
    b) scan packets of stuff
    c) weigh everything
    d) check that the kcal on the packet matches what is on mfp
    e) make sure you log EVERYTHING!

    Hope that helps... would be interested to hear what you think
  • dynamicwon
    dynamicwon Posts: 175 Member
    Im close to your age it get harder then not to discourage you, but it can be done. You really have to decide how bad you want this. Dont think of logging as being in prison Im used to it and have come to the realization that logging what I eat is a part of the lifestyle. I noticed in your diary that you dont get alot of exercise in. Try to exercise more even if its just walking and keep increasing your exercise and you will lose. If you can get a HRM watch like thePolar one you would be surprised how many calories you are really burning or not burning when you exercise. There some other great suggestions about eating also, the biggest one being watch portion control. You can do this!!
  • Canadien
    Canadien Posts: 122 Member
    I'm going with the dodgy scales, either the ones you are weighing yourself with, or the ones you are weighing your portions of food with.

    Gaining 15lbs of muscle in a month whilst eating 1750 calories is not going to happen.

    Gaining 15lbs of fat, would mean you now have 52,500 calories of energy stored as fat. Assuming a 30 day month, that means either absolutely every calorie you ate was stored as fat, or you used some of those calories and magically produced energy, which physics tells us cannot happen.

    Something is clearly wrong here.

    ^ This makes absolute sense. I was thinking the same. I think OP may have overlooked something...
  • yo_andi
    yo_andi Posts: 2,178 Member
    I checked your diary. Maruchan ramen, it's not real food. And terrible for you. There's not a vegetable or a fruit in sight for days except the occasional apple here and there, or a potato now and then, maybe some lettuce. Whole milk is good, but three lattes made with whole milk in a day, with sugar added is overkill.

    Look, if this game was all about calories in and calories out we'd all be skinny minnies because we'd have it figured out. The kinds of calories you're consuming are pretty empty nutrient wise, so your body is struggling because you're not feeding it the right stuff. I'm not saying quit eating anything that is not clean, so to speak, but look at the quality of foods you're consuming and think about what kind of fuel those things are providing.

    1750 calories may or may not be right amount of calories to eat based on your goals, and your height and weight so I'm not going to comment on that. However many calories you do end up consuming though, try to make a concerted effort for those calories to come from things that are good for you. Vegetables, fruit, healthy fats, lean protein sources, whole grains.

    This isn't rocket science, but it's definitely not easy. Be good to yourself, and check in with us after doing this for a few weeks, I'd bet you'll have a completely different story to tell :flowerforyou:
  • becomingrooks
    becomingrooks Posts: 1 Member
    One of my favorite sayings is "Don't be upset by the results you didn't get with the work you didn't do." I don't say that in a mean way, I say it with sincerity. No one loves weighing and measuring and moving in the beginning but it's what do you do get the results you want. If you can say with 100% certainly that you tried everything you could to accurately track your food and lose this weight and you still gained, then I totally agree you should see a doctor.

    Ok, another favorite quote: "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." - Henry Ford

    Don't lose heart, just maybe try really weighing and measuring your food for a week or two and see if you get different results?
  • dawnp1833
    dawnp1833 Posts: 264 Member
    check your packages - I'm seeing "Bread - White, toasted, 2 slice" listed as 129 calories. Bread is usually like 110 PER SLICE. you need to be entering the exact brand you're eating and checking the entry against the label and weighing everything. You're definitely under-reporting your calories here. 0.9 pretzel sticks? 0.15 block of noodles? so you ate ALMOST ONE pretzel stick with dinner and 15/100's of a ramen noodle block? how do you even pretend to measure that?

    This ^^

    And you're getting bombarded with a ton of advice here. I know it's hard to figure out who to follow. Maybe print out your diary and take it with you to your doctor or a dietician. Hang in there though - once you get it all figured out it will be worth the effort. You can do it!
  • thecapaccino
    thecapaccino Posts: 138
    I am surprised sooo many people ARE responding!

    I basically work from home. I am freelance...so if I dont sit at the computer I dont earn money! However, my life if flexible.

    The quick version of my story.

    My husband is a skinny minny---he weighs 70kg (or about 150lbs) and he is a jogger. I weigh MORE than him and it would be nice since we plan to marry in the church next year.

    Also, I want to HEALTHY (more so than slim) because my mother is on dialysis. Growing up I saw her move from insulin pills...to insulin jabs...and now she has Dialysis 3 times a week for 4 hours each time.

    So yes...I should take the time to put in my foods and not used "processed foods" just to get the calories...but like I said...it is about WHAT I eat.....ok Ramen noodles...and A slice of HOMEADE raisin bread that I make with SUGAR SUBSTITUE, BROWN FLOUR and NO Butter!!!! My husband loves it!

    It is not excessive...nor close to it.

    Again.....I understand about taking the time to be PRECISE...but my goal is HEALTH....and having a High Protein/NO card...I have to ask a DOCTOR!

    I told my husband and he totally disagrees...he cant even GAIN weight.....well practically like pulling teeth. He loves SWEETS...he LOVES Carbs...and he really does NOT like me having lots of meat in the house.

    I cook for him minimum 6 times a week!

    BEFORE MFP....we both did 3 times a week "Activities". He is a DEVOTEE of Exercise....and we would ride the bicycle for hours sometimes.

    And In March I started walking 2 hours 5 times a week....I STILL GAINED while trying to eat 2000 calories a day. So I then tried LESS calories and not so much exercise.

    ...anyway...Monday I will make an appt to the GP...pffff
  • icculus19
    icculus19 Posts: 39
    im not sure where you got the 1700 cals from if you are sedintary. you need to do a little more research ie finding out your BMR/RMR/TDEE. this will tell you your actual daily caloric needs. From that point deduct at least 500 cals to start to lose weight.

    also what are your marcos? (% of protein, carbs, fats) how many measl do you eat per day? what type of protien, carbs and, fat do you take in? do yo any cardio or weight training? all dieting comes down to is cals in vs cals out. it sounds like you need to clean up your diet and start doing at least 30 of cardio 5 times per week
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
    I hope this doesn't sound too harsh but I think being direct is sometimes important:

    You aren't logging correctly.

    In fact, my guess is that you are doing something I did for several weeks - in which time I gained - You are using estimates (closest matched food, rough size for portion...) which means you feel entitled to adjust the portion sizes - so you make sure your diary adds up to the expected amount but in reality its just creative accounting and not a reflection of what you have consumed.

    You say you do most of the cooking - start building up some recipes and meals in your database and weigh and measure every ingredient!

    You say your husband doesn't like to eat much meat: so you are making him cakes? This makes no sense at all - read up on vegetarian cooking - there are plenty of lentils and grains which contain the protein and calories he needs and can consume in a far healthier way. Personally, when I went from weight loss to maintenance I started adding a handful (a measured 30g!) of nuts and dried fruit to my daily intake.


    However - even taking all this into account, it is almost impossible that you gained 15lb: even with a monumentally inaccurate diary I wouldn't expect you to have gained more than 2lb per week - which means either your scales are massively inaccurate or there is some sort of health issue here. Most people flux by 2-4 lb a day: 15lb in a month makes no scene at all. Please get this checked out by your GP.
  • dynamicwon
    dynamicwon Posts: 175 Member
    Please keep us posted! Sounds like you have made some good observations from the post you receive!!
  • LoggingForLife
    LoggingForLife Posts: 504 Member
    I also suspect you are logging your food incorrectly.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    Much of it is probably water weight >.>
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
    Possibly a silly question, but did you use the same scale to weigh yourself both times? Different scales can give wildly different readings...
  • gecho
    gecho Posts: 426 Member
    Honestly, you may not be eating enough... I know that sounds crazy, but if your body thinks it's starving (whether or not you're hungry) it's going to hold on to everything you take in...

    Starving? On 1750 while sedentary? Me no think so. :huh:

    Me either! I have a desk job and work out at least 3 times a week and i'm at 1200! I think your eating to much!
  • BVannillie
    BVannillie Posts: 140
    I am surprised sooo many people ARE responding!

    I basically work from home. I am freelance...so if I dont sit at the computer I dont earn money! However, my life if flexible.

    The quick version of my story.

    My husband is a skinny minny---he weighs 70kg (or about 150lbs) and he is a jogger. I weigh MORE than him and it would be nice since we plan to marry in the church next year.

    Also, I want to HEALTHY (more so than slim) because my mother is on dialysis. Growing up I saw her move from insulin pills...to insulin jabs...and now she has Dialysis 3 times a week for 4 hours each time.

    So yes...I should take the time to put in my foods and not used "processed foods" just to get the calories...but like I said...it is about WHAT I eat.....ok Ramen noodles...and A slice of HOMEADE raisin bread that I make with SUGAR SUBSTITUE, BROWN FLOUR and NO Butter!!!! My husband loves it!

    It is not excessive...nor close to it.

    Again.....I understand about taking the time to be PRECISE...but my goal is HEALTH....and having a High Protein/NO card...I have to ask a DOCTOR!

    I told my husband and he totally disagrees...he cant even GAIN weight.....well practically like pulling teeth. He loves SWEETS...he LOVES Carbs...and he really does NOT like me having lots of meat in the house.

    I cook for him minimum 6 times a week!

    BEFORE MFP....we both did 3 times a week "Activities". He is a DEVOTEE of Exercise....and we would ride the bicycle for hours sometimes.

    And In March I started walking 2 hours 5 times a week....I STILL GAINED while trying to eat 2000 calories a day. So I then tried LESS calories and not so much exercise.

    ...anyway...Monday I will make an appt to the GP...pffff

    Sounds like a whole lot of excuses, I'm afraid. Your diary reflects very well the mistakes that you are making, and people are taking the time to try and help you - help that you asked for - and you are essentially throwing it back in their faces because it's not what you want to hear.

    You are logging food wrong. You are eating foods that aren't good for you. It's that simple. You can justify it all you want, but that's what it comes down to. If you want to believe you have some weird weight gain problem that has nothing to do with the crap you've been eating then fine, I'll leave it up to your GP to tell you to eat right, you probably won't listen to that either.

    You have to decide if you really want to lose weight. Because you say you do, but your diary does not reflect that. You make excuses rather then doing it properly. That's the problem here, nothing else.

    Being HEALTHY requires eating HEALTHY food in HEALTHY portions. You aren't doing that. What were you expecting us to say? What is it that you are looking for exactly? Reassurance that it has nothing to do with what you're eating? Sorry, but it IS to do with what you're eating. You either face the facts or you continue to gain weight. And that's the harsh reality for everyone on this site.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    Honestly, you may not be eating enough... I know that sounds crazy, but if your body thinks it's starving (whether or not you're hungry) it's going to hold on to everything you take in...

    Starving? On 1750 while sedentary? Me no think so. :huh:

    Me either! I have a desk job and work out at least 3 times a week and i'm at 1200! I think your eating to much!
    And I think you're eating too little.
  • kerry1513
    kerry1513 Posts: 38 Member
    I looked at your food diary and may I suggest maybe tracking your sodium intake. Some of the foods on there seem like they are high in sodium. Especially, the ramen noodles. I can't eat those at all because they make me bloat and feel lethargic due to the sodium. Just a thought! Keep up the work though and don't get discouraged. Remember this is a lifestyle change so through trial and error you will find what works best for you! All the best!
  • yo_andi
    yo_andi Posts: 2,178 Member
    Sounds like a whole lot of excuses, I'm afraid. Your diary reflects very well the mistakes that you are making, and people are taking the time to try and help you - help that you asked for - and you are essentially throwing it back in their faces because it's not what you want to hear.

    You are logging food wrong. You are eating foods that aren't good for you. It's that simple. You can justify it all you want, but that's what it comes down to. If you want to believe you have some weird weight gain problem that has nothing to do with the crap you've been eating then fine, I'll leave it up to your GP to tell you to eat right, you probably won't listen to that either.

    You have to decide if you really want to lose weight. Because you say you do, but your diary does not reflect that. You make excuses rather then doing it properly. That's the problem here, nothing else.

    Exactly what she said. Take the advice you were given, or leave it. Start losing weight or continue as you are now. You're only wasting your own time.
  • linda1243
    linda1243 Posts: 166
    I had this problem! Go to your doctor and have them check your blood levels. I guess my body just wasn't processing carbs anymore. I had way too much insulin in my system and my triglycerides and liver enzymes were out of control. He made me cut out all starchy carbs for month (rice, pasta, potatoes and bread). Not only did my blood levels fall significantly but i lost a couple of lbs.

    I know people say you are not eating enough or you are not doing this or that it is frustrating. I have learned that when you are watching and you have that much of a weight gain than there can be other reasons. I don't care if you were starving yourself for a month, no way would you gain 15 lbs.
  • hamncheese67
    hamncheese67 Posts: 1,715 Member
    There is clearly something wrong if you gained 15 lbs in one month while eating 1700 calories per day. That's .5 lb per day. That's an EXTRA 1700 calories per day over your maintenance.

    If there is truly nothing wrong with your scales or your portion size or your exercise calculations, then you really do need to go see a Dr.

    ^This. There could definitely be something wrong with how you weighed yourself before and after since you seemed surprised that you gained 15 lbs. 15 lb gain would be noticeable in how your clothes fit. It wouldn't be possible to gain 1/2 lb a day on 1750 calories no matter your size unless there's a medical condition. Even if the calculation was off and you were eating too much, it shouldn't have lead to that big of a gain. As others have asked, look into if you are accurately measuring your portions to be sure that is what your calorie intake is. Still, see a doctor.
  • fattofit20
    fattofit20 Posts: 86
    One lesson I have learned since joining MFP is that while for some people, it doesn't seem to matter where their calories come from, for me, it matters. If I stay at or below my calories but all I ate was junk/processed/fried/fast food then I will not lose weight. But, when I try to eat better, I not only feel better but there is a loss on the scale. I think for some people it's more than just tracking calories, it's about what you are putting in your body as well. Good luck.



    This is most likely my problem. I stay at or below my calorie goal (most of the time) and have not lost any weight. I've been horrible with what I've been putting in my mouth. While I haven't lost any for a good two weeks, I haven't gained any either. I'm staying the same. I guess it's time to start eating healthier again. That's when I saw my biggest loss.
  • i am on 1200 cals because that's what was suggested to me for my body type... and i want to lose... but for you, you said 1700... you can eat ALOT!! that's my point... just try it for a week.. i bet you will be surprised... even if you up it to 2000 cals but have it be the right foods and eating MORE and MORE OFTEN.. i BET you lose weight... fast... just try it for a week and see what happens... i eat so much of what i love and i dont feel deprived at all, this definitely is NOT a diet, it's a lifestyle for me, a way of life now. :))
  • rextcat
    rextcat Posts: 1,408 Member
    swich out sugar for sodum, because you are eating alot of sodum, as a former ramin devotee i can asure you there is a ton of it in there, also for fun one day make ramin from scratch noodles to(i like cooking so it fun for me) but yeah could be water from amout of salt in your food, and yeah go see your GP best of luck!
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
    Hi! I'd definitely talk to a doctor if I gained 15 lbs in 1 month. It's extremely unlikely that you would gain that much fat in a month. You'd have to be off on your calories by A LOT! So it's probably water weight, but a huge gain in water weight can signal a medical problem. I do know some people who fluctuate a lot in their water weight though, but if it's not typical for you to fluctuate that much, I'd be worried.

    I also don't think you should even bother logging unless you are going to log what you actually eat. :smile: It's easy to build recipes under food->recipes.

    I'd look into your calorie goal some more too. I was around 1600 calories for most of my weight loss WITH EXERCISE for 1 lb per week (around 1200-1300 net calories). You might feel hungry on your 1700 calories because you are drinking a lot of your calories and not eating much protein.
  • Honestly, you may not be eating enough... I know that sounds crazy, but if your body thinks it's starving (whether or not you're hungry) it's going to hold on to everything you take in...

    Starving? On 1750 while sedentary? Me no think so. :huh:

    Agree. Watch the high-glycemic carbs and sodium levels, try to eliminate processed food, and you might need to reduce your calories, as well. Not sure what your TDEE is.. have you calculated that?
  • tberend
    tberend Posts: 91 Member
    Dodgy scales?

    ^^ This was my thought. 15 lbs seems unlikely.
  • Josette89
    Josette89 Posts: 244
    Take that sedentary life style and turn in into a moderately active one. It is possible. Eat more, work out, eat more. :)