Why am I putting ON weight?

[Daffodilpup]

Can anyone help? I read all this stuff about what you should eat and do and what you shouldn’t and it all mixes up in my head so I decided to go simple.

I did a calorie counter and worked out to lose a pound a week I needed to eat 1700 calories. (I’m 14 stone and 5ft 3)

I did this the first week and lost a pound. Week 2 ,3 and 4 I have regained that oound and another 3!

I have started doing weights too so have heard the theory that while I might be loosing fat I will be gaining muscle but don’t think that’s the case when I’m bigger that when I started? Would understand if I was the same. Also I’m only lifting 2kg and 4kg weights as I’m a beginner.

just getting fed up that I’m eating healthily and in a deficit and exercising (walking too) and I’m bigger than when I started.

How many reps can you do? If it’s more than 7 then they’re too light.

Do not ditch breakfast- it’s not a good idea to exercise fasted.

Agree with this. I worried I'd become obsessed with the scales if I weighed daily but I'm not. The scales fluctuate by a few pounds a week but the graph shows a steady decrease overall. And I no longer have a dread for the scales like I used to when I'd hop on once a week...if I'd not lost enough or what I thought I should, I'd be so disheartened and give up.

The addition lbs can easily be down to having more glycogen as a result of working out, or having a heavy carb day, or not clearing your bowel sufficiently for instance.

I'd forget calories reduce carbs and sugar and up your protein.

Bran flakjes full of sugar. Swap for porridge.

Drop the mayo.

Potatoes pasta all turn to sugar in body. Depending on how your body deals with sugar can be a factor in u not losing.

Swap potatoes for green veg.

I'm 5 ft 3, 10 stone 5 and eat around 1700 calories a day. However, I do 45 minutes to an hour of rigorous exercise 5 days a week, plus 30 mins of light cycling to the gym/pool and back. I think the answer might be more exercise.

I won’t stop them. I don’t drink anything apart from water. It’s food that’s my problem. I will try and skip breakfast but think I’ll get the shakes and headaches. Will give it a try tomorrow and see how I go.

First round is 12 with most exercises except if I’m doing the arms above my head - so Arnold pushes? Then I can only do about 6 or 7.

I’ll stick with 4kg for that exercise and go up to 5? 6? For the others?

Are you maintaining or loosing?

I think it's your calorie intake (I'm a bit shorter than you) my maintenance is 1350 calories so at 1700 I'd put on weight. When I was trying to loose I'd keep it to as near to 1000 as possible. The easiest way I found to reduce my calories was intermittent fasting (once I start eating I want to continue).
Also exercise will help but it's not necessary for weightloss, I'm disabled and can't exercise but managed to loose 5 1/2 stone through diet alone.

Don’t skip breakfast. If you exercise fasted it spikes cortisol and that can lead to more weight gain. You don’t need to eat much. Even a banana just to signal to your body that’s there’s fuel. Then make sure you have protein after exercise.

Even if you’re not exercising I would not recommend skipping breakfast unless that’s what you are used to and it works for you. (I’m still not a fan).

Yep I’d go up to 5 or 6 kg for those that you can do 12 reps with. Try 5kg first - if you can still do more than 7 up the weight more.

@Hubblebubble are you doing cardio during your sessions or do they include weight sessions? If it’s all cardio then I think you’re doing way too much.

@Daffodilpup losing, in a very very slow but sustainable way. About half a stone a year.

@Cheeks4970 strength Mon, swimming Tues, hiit weds, swimming thurs and weights fri.

Strength/weights same class

Agree with some of the others… my observations in no particular order which may or may not apply.

• MFP wasn’t great in my opinion for calculating exercise calories. For instance I would drop the steps from your calculation if you’re using them.
• 1700 cal is a lot for your height. I’m similar to you and my calorie goal was 1400 for a 1 lb /week loss with 30 min per day of rowing. (1200 without rowing). So 30 min of high impact rowing earned me 200 cal.
• ‘Look for hidden calories. Sugar in coffee or tea, butter being used to cook, cough drops, etc.
• I kind of half assed my calorie counting but I always estimated high. Example… if I had a McDonald’s cheeseburger I would search the database and there would always be a bunch of entries at different calories. I’d pick the highest. Anytime I was not able to weigh my food I would pick something similar but would pick the highest calorie entry.
• You’re not weighing everything or not weighing correctly. Again those hidden calories and hard to weigh things like jam.
• Water fluctuation is a thing… you’re looking for trends over time . I weighed myself once a week. It sucked the weeks I knew I was bloated… but usually self correcting the next week and over months the trajectory was downward.
• I agree with a previous poster. Exercise for health and eat for weight loss. You are not ‘causing’ anything to happen by lifting weights. Except if it becomes relevant for call (you start running 5 miles a day every day for example) you should disassociate the two things.

Between the daily rowing which I did first and then the added calorie counting I lost 40 lbs. I’ve more or less maintained that now for 5 years. I was diligent with my tracking but as I said I half assed it a lot too 😁

There are some very good posts and information in the MFP forums that would probably be able to help.

Good Luck!

I have about 1200 cals a day. I’m 5’2. I’ve lost 2stone. I weight train with a PT 3 times a week. Only manage 10k steps about 3 times a week. I divide my evening meal into 2 portions and save one for lunch. I don’t eat breakfast more than 3 times a week.

No, absolutely. That's where I started too. But it may be helpful for you to know that you won't be gaining muscle at those weights. I had to ask around to figure out if I was too. Then I dialled in my calorie intake and protein intake and lost a couple of pounds in a week.

I had underestimated how many calories were in:

• oil that I used to cook my food
• cashew nuts that I ate every day as a 'healthy' snack (they are healthy, but calorific)
• avocado. I was often eating 2 a day, which can account for 500 calories of my daily intake!

Right! It’s those hidden calories that are pretty shocking 😲

100 calories per bread slice. Don’t even get me started on shrimp (which is a common additive to a Bloody Mary in my parts. Speaking of Bloody Mary’s one drink 500+ calories, when you add the fixings. Whisky ~200 calories, anything rum +++ calories. (As you can see I like a drink 😜)

If it helps @Daffodilpup i now find myself in a position where I need to maximize calories. My time losing and tracking is helping me get the most bang for my buck. So calorie counting does have some benefits as it it helps you make appropriate choices for your goals.

Different things work for different bodies.For me Joe Wicks intermediate hits with weights every other day and walking FAST daily burns the weight off.I also follow his eating plan for lunch and dinner, eat a few dates for sugar cravings .Breakfast is an almond milk smoothie with frozen berries and protein powder. I add protein to every meal -beans or chicken.Im 52, perimeno and have never managed calorie counting so this suits me and I enjoy it.I'm 5ft 4 and now under 9 stone and counting.I add tonnes of veg to main meals.If I was putting on weight I'd be seriously questioning my approach.

Yes! I used to slosh extra virgin olive oil over everything I ate because of the health benefits. Now I use it sparingly.

And someone I watch on YouTube said "if I'm trying to lose weight, why the hell would I waste good calories on a green juice, when I could be eating nutrient-dense food instead". So that made me knock my daily juice on the head and instead use the calories to eat a hard boiled egg, for instance!

Don’t do a dramatic drop to 1,400 calories - drop to 1,600 initially and see how you go for a few weeks - your body will eventually adjust to 1,600 so you can drop further if need be down the track.

Increase steps to 12,000, and again in a few more weeks, you may need to up this a bit further, or even consider adding in some cardio.

Are you weighing yourself daily and recording a weekly average? You might be surprised that you are in fact continuing to lose weight.

Weight loss takes time. It sounds like you may need to diet for 12 - 16 weeks to achieve your goal, so you need to leave some tools in the toolbox (further reduction of calories and increase in expenditure).

Keep the weights up! Are you following a programme and increasing the weight weekly?

I do a ‘diet’ each year, with the help of a nutritionist, and I smash it every time using the above methods!

Hope this helps!

Oh, and it goes without saying, PROTEIN! Every meal - I eat around 130g per day - it feels like a lot, but once you get the hang of it it’s easy enough!

I eat this much protein year round!

@Bellaire85 Is that a lot of protein? Sounds it. Why do you do that?

Can i ask what you eat to hit that?