Weight Gain Question?

S

Sarin

New member
Hey All,


Earlier this year I weighed around 130lbs. My heaviest was 215 and I lost all that weight by nutrition alone.. I decided I needed to start exercising if I wanted to lose any more and stay in shape.


Anyway, I joined a gym and now do 3 one hour sessions a week. (I know I am going proper exercises, as I bought a few hour sessions with a personal trainer (a good one) that went through everything with me)


However, I managed to GAIN 10lbs and I can't lose it no matter what I do.


I am 19 years old, 140lbs now :))) and just under 5'3". I eat 1300-1500 calories a day (closer to 1400 a day). So I do not understand why I am not losing any more weight, let alone why I gained? My arms and legs feel toned, but my stomach is still as flabby as ever!...



Help?
 
Anyone? :/
 
There could be several reasons.


1) You're underestimating the amount of calories you eat. Do you weigh everything and take everything into account that you eat, or are you guessing. Try making a food diary and measure/weigh every solitary item that you eat to be sure.


2) You've put some muscle on. Muscle is heavy, heavier than fat actually. You said your arms and legs feel toned, do you notice any difference in your clothing? Are you measuring yourself? If not, do that, it might give you a better idea of what is going on. There is a good chance that you are still losing fat, but building a bit of muscle at the same time.


3) How long has the weight been on and isn't going away? If you're female, could it be something as simple as time of the month? That can cause insane weight fluctuation (up to 15 lbs for me).
 
Originally Posted by San


There could be several reasons.



1) You're underestimating the amount of calories you eat. Do you weigh everything and take everything into account that you eat, or are you guessing. Try making a food diary and measure/weigh every solitary item that you eat to be sure.



2) You've put some muscle on. Muscle is heavy, heavier than fat actually. You said your arms and legs feel toned, do you notice any difference in your clothing? Are you measuring yourself? If not, do that, it might give you a better idea of what is going on. There is a good chance that you are still losing fat, but building a bit of muscle at the same time.



3) How long has the weight been on and isn't going away? If you're female, could it be something as simple as time of the month? That can cause insane weight fluctuation (up to 15 lbs for me).
Click to expand...



1. I am 100% confident that I am estimating my calories right. If anything, I am overestimating by a little. I have been doing this for a few years and am pretty confident in my abilities. I do weigh most of my food and actually made a chart for myself, how many calories per gram of certain foods. Works very well!


2. My clothing fits the same I feel. No difference really. My measurements seem the same as well.


3. This extra weight has been on since before I started exercising, maybe February? I gained when I started exercising, which is why I think it may be muscle gain. But is 10lbs of mucle really possible to gain? It just seems like a large number.


I just feel like I should've lost some weight (fat), or at least look like I did. Does it really take that long? Frusterating, for sure! I work hard.
 
At the stage of the game that you're at... I'd definitely start focusing on other metrics besides weight. Once you start introducing strength training into the mix... all sorts of funky things can happen that impact weight. The scale becomes an almost useless tool for measuring progress.


Sure, you can use it to track trends... as one part of an overall assessment/monitoring process. A small part at that.


You say you're 100% confident in your calorie intake. And from the sounds of it, you're likely better off than most since you're using a food scale and making graphs. However, would you stake your life on that accuracy? Are you 100 consistent with tracking and weighing EVERYTHING that passes your lips?


I'm not a fan of such anal retentiveness... except for when people are gaining when they're in a supposed deficit. So don't nix the possibility that you're calorie intake is slightly off. Heck, research shows dietitians being considerably off in their own monitoring.


Also, when's the last time you simply took a break from dieting and exercise? Meaning you relaxed and ate at maintenance?
 
Originally Posted by Steve


At the stage of the game that you're at... I'd definitely start focusing on other metrics besides weight. Once you start introducing strength training into the mix... all sorts of funky things can happen that impact weight. The scale becomes an almost useless tool for measuring progress.



Sure, you can use it to track trends... as one part of an overall assessment/monitoring process. A small part at that.



You say you're 100% confident in your calorie intake. And from the sounds of it, you're likely better off than most since you're using a food scale and making graphs. However, would you stake your life on that accuracy? Are you 100 consistent with tracking and weighing EVERYTHING that passes your lips?



I'm not a fan of such anal retentiveness... except for when people are gaining when they're in a supposed deficit. So don't nix the possibility that you're calorie intake is slightly off. Heck, research shows dietitians being considerably off in their own monitoring.



Also, when's the last time you simply took a break from dieting and exercise? Meaning you relaxed and ate at maintenance?
Click to expand...


Well, no one is perfect, and I'm not saying I am any different. All I know is I am NOT eating more than what I am counting. For example, I weigh a pear and it comes to 124.5 calories. I count it as 150. Unhealthy? Maybe, but I know that I am not eating more than I should be. Another example, I put 40 calories worth of carrot dip on my plate, 9 times out of 10, I only eat half of tha.t Yet I still count it as 40 calories. Things like that. I am not sure if this a good habit to get into or not, but it seems better then underestimating.


Taking a break? I dont think I could do that, mentally. I will shoot up and gain very quickly. Right now, working out 3-4 times a week and eating 1300-1500 calories a day (sometimes as low as 1200).. Cutting the exercise and eating maintenance (1750), I would gain everything back in no time. I don't think it's possible for me to ever take a break? Seems unhealthy.. Am I wrong?


Some days I don't feel I am eating enough, but I don't have anyone telling me any different so I am sticking to what I know. I do know that I do not eat a lot of protein and I am trying to change that.


I just want my weight to be back in the 120's where I am "supposed" to be apparently.. But that seems like an ulikely goal now?


Thanks for reading my semi rant.
 
Also, I constantly find myself worried about my appearence and weight, always counting calories. It is making life unenjoyable. But I know when I stop, I will gain weight. It is a vicious cycle I wish I never gotten into! I don't know how to remain healthy and at a good weight without worrying all the time about the calories.
 
Your anal retentive tendencies are likely doing more than making the process miserable. They're likely adding to the cumulative pile of stress you're imposing on your body. And when your body is "over stressed" a lot of negative things can happen. You need to find a way to loosen the reigns.


When you're worried about a few pounds of uptick on the scale that might occur during a week or so long break... you know something is "off" in terms of how you're perceiving things. I'm not telling you to go on a full on binge. I'm telling you that giving your body a chance to relax a bit might do it some good. At least feed it maintenance calories. If you gain a few pounds, who cares? It's water weight. Remember, there are 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat. If you wind up gaining 3 pounds during a break, unless you ate 10,500 calories above what your body needs during that week, I wouldn't sweat the gain at all.


I'd also be interested in what your average waking temperature is over 3-5 days.
 
Originally Posted by Steve


Your anal retentive tendencies are likely doing more than making the process miserable. They're likely adding to the cumulative pile of stress you're imposing on your body. And when your body is "over stressed" a lot of negative things can happen. You need to find a way to loosen the reigns.



When you're worried about a few pounds of uptick on the scale that might occur during a week or so long break... you know something is "off" in terms of how you're perceiving things. I'm not telling you to go on a full on binge. I'm telling you that giving your body a chance to relax a bit might do it some good. At least feed it maintenance calories. If you gain a few pounds, who cares? It's water weight. Remember, there are 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat. If you wind up gaining 3 pounds during a break, unless you ate 10,500 calories above what your body needs during that week, I wouldn't sweat the gain at all.



I'd also be interested in what your average waking temperature is over 3-5 days.
Click to expand...



Thanks for your input Steve, I really appreciate it and I am taking it to thought. I have been struggling mentally for the past year or so more than I have before and it is taking it's toll on me. I am young and I know I cannot live the rest of my life every day like this.


As for temperature, I am curious as to why you asked. What is this related to? I can try to get that information to you if it will do any good.


Do you really think it is possible for me to eat, say 1800 calories for a month while still exercising to not gain any weight, even after over 2 years of eating 1300-1500 calories daily? I am curious now.


Thanks again.
 
The temperature thing has to do with thyroid and sympathetic nervous system output. It can be a very rough metric used to see if something's going on at these levels. At the very least, it can warrant deeper digger with blood panels to rule out any medical issues that might be hindering fat loss.


In regards to gaining weight, in theory, maintenance is maintenance. If calories in equal calories out... you can't create something out of nothing. If you'd be more comfortable, you could systematically and incrementally bring calories back up to maintenance every week or two. Once you're at maintenance, you can park yourself there for a week or so. Then, from there, invoke a deficit again in the neighborhood of 20-35%.


In truth though... I'd lock the scale away during that time period. Knowing the little I do know about you... it's likely that water weight would toy with your mind too much.


I'd also highly suggest reading this article. It's long, but I think it'll provide you with a lot of perspectives that you seem to need.
 
Thanks Steve, I appreciate it.


I will try to get some temperatures up for you soon, I am very interested in that.


I'll read that article as well.


Thanks agian.
 
AThanks for the link Steve! That was a long but comprehensive article that answered many of my questions.

I had wondered if it was okay to take in carbs through fruit and vegetables alone but no one seemed to know but I did it anyway because it seemed to suit me (with the odd pasta meal thrown in when I want it).

I don't ban meat fats because I like the taste and given I don't eat dairy other than skimmed milk it seemed reasonable to take in some meat fat.

I have added weight training to my programme (within limits of my wrist injury - turns out I have one bone shorter than the other and my hand bones have repositioned themselves to enable most movement but the specialist has told me it cannot be operated on so my limits and associated pain is something I'll have to live with but I am working with a 25kg bar and 2 x 10 kg dumbbell doing about 350 full body moves per session so I am pleased to get this far - it's been very painful to build the muscle and tendons I need).

I don't count calories or weigh myself and I am 35", 28", 35" at 5ft 9" but pear shaped which is annoying but I figure it's a good size for my height and age.

I don't get obsessive and I will eat out and eat rubbish when I feel like it working on the assumption of the 90/10 rule that 10% of my diet should be a bit of pleasure and not practicality alone. Life gets over disciplined otherwise and ultimately we should both work and play.

So, the link confirmed the things I have learned for myself but get very little validation for. Usually I ignore the endless nonsense on the subject and assume if it seems to be working then just keep going but sometimes I wonder if I am wrong.

I do follow the diet you recommend but I'll never be able to do real weight training due to wrist problem which is a shame but from what I am told it is nothing short of a miracle that I can use that wrist at all! But I can now do 30 dragon lifts so that amused me as I laughed out loud the first time I saw that move! So, that's progress!

Thanks for writing the article. I understood most of it although some of the maths does escape me but I get the point.
 
Hi Steve,


I took my temeprature in the morning when I woke up for 3 days. I used a meat thermometer under the tongue - I assumed that would be pretty accurate. My readings were 98.3, 98.4 and 98.5. What does this tell you?
 
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