I''m cutting, and yet gaining weight!

B

Buddybot111

0
Literally the subject. Here''s a short version of my history. I''m 18 years old and 6 months ago I weighed 210 pounds at a height of 5''6". Today I weigh 153 pounds. Basically all I did was eat less and less and less while on/off gym. At around 160 pounds simply eating less was no longer really helping so I got advice from one of the gym trainers. I upped my calories to around 1500-1700 or so and started weight lifting. I dropped down to 156 where I stayed for a while. My goal is to be 140-145, so I still was not satisfied.

I then went online and researched and was told to eat more as my current intake of calories was "starving" myself. I followed that advice around 2 weeks ago. I also started a log around this time.

Now, At first it seemed to be working but recently I''ve been going up! I thought it was a one-day thing, but it doesn''t seem to be going away.

To give a quick summary of my routine these days if your not interested in looking at the detailed fitday log, it is this.

Food: 2000-2100 cal split to 50%prot/30%fat/20%carb

Exercise: Mon/Thurs-Vigirous Lifting
Tues/Wed/Fri: Combination of HIIT/7-8min Mile/Mod Intensity Cardio
Sat/Sun: Whatever exercise I can fit in.

Please help me out and tell me what''s going on with my body!
 
There are 2 reasons that you are gaining weight :

1. Since you were starving your body to lose weight previously, now that you are giving it some fuel it is holding on to it for dear life in the assumption that you are going to starve it again at another point soon. Your body will find a point where it will balance out based on what you actually should have lost in regards to weight through your excercise etc and what you seem to have lost through starvation. You cannot lose weight in this fashion over a long extended period of time and then try to go back to a normal life style and maintain the change. You must lost weight by eating healthy and excercising which is slower but will mean that you really are changing your body for the long term and can one day go back to normal eating etc and still maintain the changes because your body has adapted.

2. The other reason is that now you are eating again you are providing the fuel for your muscles to take advantage of the weight lifting you are doing. You can lift all you want but if you dont give your body the sustainance needed to grow and change then your muscles wont go anywhere. Your muscles are developing using this fuel which will increase your weight whereas previously they werent able to grow through training because you gave them no fuel for the growth.

You will find that ti is a combination of these two factors that is causing an increase in your weight at the moment. Your body has to balance out. Keep up the hard work and if you really want it you will get there. Also if you do it properly you will notice that instead of becoming skinny with saggy skin as you mentioend youw ill tone up with some muscle underneath by eating right and training.
 
Your problem is your carb intake. Every gram of carbs retains around 4 ml of water. Reduce your carbs to no more than 50 grams a day and u will see changes from the first 2 weeks. Drastic changes! Nobody wants to admit it but a low carb diet is the way forward. Treat yourself with a high-carb nice dessert at lunch time every Saturday or Sunday, just to keep yourself happy and to have something to look forward to. Let me know how it goes.
 
mdawson2 if you check today's diets u will realise that low carb is the way when u r talking about cutting. Now, Buddybot111 if u can feel the changes in your trousers, if u know that the extra weight is not muscle, then try my suggestion.
 
fit4life although I agree that low carb diets are beneficial, and can people who are carbohydrate sensitive but I checked through some of my sources mostly experimentals from the Atkins diet and it was shown that although one can cut carbs down to 20-25% it would only be for a short term diet and people who are severly endomorphic but in long term has detrimental effects (more than 8 weeks) on lean muscle mass. Secondly Im also wondering if your cutting down carbs that much what you are replacing them with.Thirdly did you see his schedule, he would be using stored glycogen like crazy, VIGOROUS lifting and HIIT or high intensity cardio makeup almost his entire w/o schedule.
 
fit4life1976 said:
mdawson2 if you check today's diets u will realise that low carb is the way when u r talking about cutting. Now, Buddybot111 if u can feel the changes in your trousers, if u know that the extra weight is not muscle, then try my suggestion.
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That's definitely the fad, but it's not necessary. I eat over 50% carbs and have no trouble cutting
 
I just checked the bag of seeds I'm eating right now and it has over 20g of carbs in it. How would it be possible for someone to lead a normal life and eat no more than 20g of carbs in a day?

I recently dropped a fair bit of weight by cutting carbs for 2 months but I still allowed myself as much fruit and veg as I wanted so my carb intake would have been far greater than 20g.

Anyway, I'm not against low-carb diets, I just don't think they're viable for people who live a regular life (9-5 and family) over a long period.
 
Other than true ketosis, I think the biggest reason they work is simply because a lot of high carb foods are very calorie dense. If you watch your calories anyway you don't need to go low carb.

I eat around 500 grams of carbs per day LOL

***I do realize some people find it helpful to go into ketosis to lose that last bit of stubborn fat, but long term it isn't good IMO especially if you are an athlete
 
theGOOCH said:
Other than true ketosis, I think the biggest reason they work is simply because a lot of high carb foods are very calorie dense. If you watch your calories anyway you don't need to go low carb.

I eat around 500 grams of carbs per day LOL

***I do realize some people find it helpful to go into ketosis to lose that last bit of stubborn fat, but long term it isn't good IMO especially if you are an athlete
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THANK YOU!! I was reading all these posts thinking this very thing...calories are what cause fat not carbs...Carbs only help store fat IF THERE ARE EXCESS CALS...If you eat fewer cals then you use fat comes off!
 
firehorse said:
THANK YOU!! I was reading all these posts thinking this very thing...calories are what cause fat not carbs...Carbs only help store fat IF THERE ARE EXCESS CALS...If you eat fewer cals then you use fat comes off!
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But so too will muscle, a keto diet can help you lose fat and retain muscle as you can still eat in a surplus while your body burns fat

The only issue I have with it is that unless you're prepared to put a lot of time and effort into getting your keto diet right then it's easy to mess up and get bowel complaints and stuff. Keto is a great way to lose weight in a hurry though
 
eat carbs/fats/protein, make sure your cals in are lower than than cals out and you will lose weight in a healthy manner,cutting out carbs or fats might make you lose weight but you are not going to eat like that for the rest of your life,so eat like you are going to continue to.
 
Fat %

Probably a fat% measurement might help you. Don't look at your weight, look in the mirror. Do you look fit, do u look better than you used to before you started the program? Then it's because you're building muscle and you retain water. One gram of carbs retain 4 ml water, creatine also makes u retain water. Check your fat% measurement.

On April 28, 2008 you say that u burned 189 calories playing badminton which is certainly wrong. I burn 120 cal an hour just fooling around in front of my laptop. On April 30, 2008 you say that u walked for an hour at 3 mph and burned 180 calories which is, again, wrong; it should be more than 320 calories (). So, in other words, I think u r a bit confused when u r counting calories.

Use a POLAR watch to count how many calories u burn, it's a good buy. Now, if you DO have a POLAR watch be careful when u set it up, make sure u change your settings every month, for more accurate readings, especially now that you use HIIT.

One more thing; I never said 20 grams of carbs I said "around 50 grams of carbs"... and don't worry, ur body can generate glucose through gluconeogenesis if it has to.

Buzz is 100% right; at the end of the day, no matter what u eat, is it the healthiest of foods, is it McDonalds or KFC, you WILL NOT gain weight as long as you eat fewer calories than u spend.

The good thing though is that u r really trying, well done, I really admire ur effort. Keep up the good work and stop worrying too much.
 
Whoaaa.......STOP.

Let's stop and take a good look at what we have here. Is this "I'm cutting and yet gaining weight" or "I'm cutting and yet gaining FAT"?

I wouldn't be all too concerned with what the scale reads...the scale merely tells you what you weigh (at that particular instance)...it doesn't know your bone density, Body-fat% or how hydrated or even constipated you may be.

Let me run this by you.....suppose I said my home mortgage was $425,000 Is that good or bad? Well, if my home was worth about $975,000 then I've got a half-million in equity....BUT if my home was worth $410,000 (due to lowering home prices), then I'm in trouble. My point is, the scale can read what it wants but it doesn't give you an accurate picture.

If you're lifting heavy weights, you're gonna gain muscle...and we all know muscle weighs more then fat, blah blah blah. As someone said...how do your clothes fit? How do you look in the mirror? I suspect you're too fixated on the scale....??
 
Sorry it's been so long since I've replied. A few things to adress...

One, the low carb solution. I currently limit myself to around 20-25% of my calories from carbs as it stands right now, that is pretty damn low in itself. I have tried the lower than 50, and the lower than 30 extreme solutions. My conclusion was it becomes almost impossible to maintain. The amount of foods that have at least some carbs in them makes it near unattainable. For example; nuts have carbs, yogurt has carbs, all vegetables have carbs, peanutbutter has carbs, all pre-made protein shakes and most protein powders have some carbs. In the end pretty much everything except meats, poultry, and fish have carbohydrates. There is also the issue of portability, in that when I need to pack a lunch, usually some form of carbs has to be involved.

Two, as for my calorie count on exercise. I stopped doing it because I knew the readings were off. Instead I just post what I did and for how long I did it in the daily journal entries.

Three, concerning fat versus muscle, looks in the mirror, and the overall idea of using a weight scale. I understand that the way I measure myself is not perfectly accurate. But in the end, it comes down to this. I want to be lean, simple as that. I want to say "I weight this much". Now, obviously I want a low fat % with that, in fact having that low % to me is probably even more important. BUT, I do not want to gain weight with having a low fat %, understand that. I do not want to gain muscle weight. I can feel my abs, and my arms, my legs, chest and my shoulders. They are all ready fairly nearly muscular enough for me to begin with, what I want is to "define" them. I want to see it all in the mirror without me flexing. That's why I added weight lifting to my routine, to help me out in that area. But realise I only lift twice a week and am in no way eating to bulk so gaining muscle mass is fairly unlikely.

Four, concerning my food intake and calorie count. I've been switching from a 2000-2100 calorie diet to a 1750-1900 calorie diet. A member of another forums put it simply to me that if I'm gaining weight on my current diet, regardless of what the calculaters say, it must mean that I'm eating more than I'm burning. Now maybe I just have an odd bodytype that goes against the calculater, but all I know is a 2000-2100 was not showing the weight loss results I wanted to (as shown by the weight history chart that you can view on my fitday profile). So I altered it, and decreased my calories. So far I've noticed more of a steady weight maintain since switching to a slightly lower intake. Which leads me to my still problematic problem.

I still seem unable to lose more weight.
 
Confusing

Listen, so basically what u r saying is that we can't rely on the information u r giving us because u r not even sure how to count calories properly. It's impossible to really tell u, we haven't got any idea how u look like.

Your low carb comments just mirror your negative attitude towards that specific diet, which is perfectly fine. It is really important for u to learn how to count food calories properly though otherwise u will never reach ur goals and u will b frustrated for long periods of time.

The solution for u is a POLAR watch that will tell you how many calories u burn when doing ur activities. If you can post a picture of how you look now we will get a better idea of what's wrong with the things u r doing.
 
fit4life1976 said:
Your problem is your carb intake. Every gram of carbs retains around 4 ml of water. Reduce your carbs to no more than 50 grams a day and u will see changes from the first 2 weeks. Drastic changes! Nobody wants to admit it but a low carb diet is the way forward. Treat yourself with a high-carb nice dessert at lunch time every Saturday or Sunday, just to keep yourself happy and to have something to look forward to. Let me know how it goes.
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Thats the worst piece of advice iv'e read for a long time.

The weight loss isn't even fat, the diet is destined to fail.
 
Ok, now we r going places

Ok my friend, now we can talk. I now understand where u are coming from.

Follow this program 3 times a week, every other day, for 6 weeks and tone up. Give 3 minutes recovery between exercises

(Aim for speed)

Chest

Normal press ups

4 sets to failure, 2 minutes recovery between sets.

Decline press ups

4 sets to failure, 2 minutes recovery between sets

Wide range press ups

4 sets to failure, 2 minutes recovery between sets

Decline wide range press ups

4 sets to failure, 2 minutes recovery between sets


Abdominals (slow-controled movements, 3-minute recovery between exercises)

Crunches

4 sets to failure, 1 minute recovery between sets

Scissors

4 sets to failure, 1 minute recovery between sets

Leg raises, bended knees

4 sets to failure, 1 minute recovery between sets

Obligue crunches

4 sets to failure, 1 minute recovery between sets

Treadmill

30 - 45 minute cardio (5 min build up to 160 bpm, stay between 160 - 170 bpm after that, 5 min cool down )

Use 3 of your recovery days to do something else, like swimming for example for at least 30 minutes, don't forget your POLAR.

Nutrition

Aim for 2000 calories a day, avoid consuming refined carbs after 18:00 (go for a salad with either a stake, or chicken, or shrimps)
1 multivitamin per day, 2 litres of water (or sugar-free diluted juice)

You will need a POLAR watch for this. Don't eat less than 1700 calories.

What about his back and his legs? Before you start wondering, i will give you a program for that as well, after you complete 2 weeks of the above. Let me know if and when u r going to start it. If u don't get a POLAR watch don't even bother, we will be running in the dark!!!
 
NBS 4life said:
I would bulk very cleanly if I was you, You dont have enough muscle to warrant cutting at this stage
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A harsh reality, but he's spot-on right and it don't get no righter. :D

You don't need to lose any weight; it's not that fat is covering your muscle, it's that you don't have a whole lotta muscle to begin with. You're a perfectly healthy typical young man and dare I say it may be a bit too early to try to start stacking serious bulk on your frame....but start with some weights and progress from there. Chances are, along the way, you'll lose what tiny fraction of fat you have around your waist.

Might wanna buzz that hair a bit tighter...get away from that youthful boyish look. Btw, the cabinetry in the background should have an oil-based varnish, that water-based stuff won't hold-up! ;)
 
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