Weight Gain community? Looking for support.

[Tiezto]

Hi all,

My wife has had a fitbit charge for a while now and I just got a Surge today.

My reasons for getting a Fitbit are not that different to everyone else except I am counting calories so I eat more than I burn. I can track Protein intake and also my heart rate is very important to me.

I cant seem to find a "Weight Gain" area or find many people looking to gain weight or build muscle.

Is there such a place?

[SunsetRunner]

@Tiezto 

Fitbit currently only supports weight loss (by setting a deficit for the food plan).

Normal eating is eating until being satisfied not feeling stuffed, choosing a balance between healthy nutritient rich foods (fruits, eggs, vegetables, cheese, lean meat (chicken, fish..).

When eating in balance, the body can have all nutritients it needs and be satisfied (not hungry) even when being x hundred calories below the calories allowed to eat.

When wanting to gain weight, feel free to eat less of those nutritient rich foods first like pizza, pre-packaged foods,..

Since these foods are nutritient lacking and contains more calories, the body can still be left unsatisfied since lacking nutritients and asking to eat more food overall to ensure it gets all nutrients it needs, eating more calories overall than actually needed.

Weight gain can be anything:

Seeking to increase body fat? Eat a bit more even when not being truly hungry at all.

Training and muscles getting bigger / stronger, weight can stay the same or a bit higher while body fat can have been lowered.

Our bodies have a internal happy weight range, regardless what we do, it tries to revert back to this range (if going under this range, it can lower metabolism, keep onto any energy it gets, increasing hunger signals.. sending out cravings..) to go back 'up' to this range. Or when having eating a bit more over time, it can increase metabolism, lower hunger signals (not being so hungry on other days, to balance out)..

This can be achieved by honoring the body by not counting food (calories), eating a balance between nutritient rich foods which contains plenty of the nutritients the body needs (keep satisfied for longer), reducing unnecessary calories in the long run (unnecessary calories are temporary stored as body fat).

Not restricting food, but have everything in moderation. Not eating 'cause of boredom, sadness,.. but to nourish the body, eat until satisfied, not stuffed.

When eating, ask what would satisfy the body the most (not the mind). Notice that salad looks more appealing now for example, and not really wanting to have a pizza or something else. Don't eat something just to eat, but because you want to have in the moment, because it nourishes the body the most.. otherwise eventually eating the other food as originally wanted, eating more calories than necessary in the long run.

Honor the body and it will take care of you. It automaticly has a nutritient / food seeking behavior build in for survival, but eating what you want, when you want (when feeling hungry), how much you want (try basing portions on hunger level) and feel how your body feels after eaten a certain food (feeling more satisfied, still a bit hungry..).. when not being truly hungry at dinner, try taking a smaller portion instead than usual, when not hungry eat dinner later on, or when feeling hungry have a bit of larger portion.. (aim for 50% vegetables).

The body weight range will settle itself based on genetics, food choices, activity (and honoring the body with what it needs, not eating when not hungry and being satisfied).

Have only started to loose more weight / body fat (about 3% since around new year) when stopping counting calories after a few years, and eating by tuning into the body. Was sometimes at half the calories allowed but being satisfied and not hungry, other times being close to or even over the calories allowed.. or a few hundred calories below..

It sometimes still scary to let go of food logging (but making healthy choices overall) and trusting the bodies wisdom.

[JollyRed]

I too am looking to gain weight, not fat of course but lean muscle. I think i have always been around 150 and weak as hell in my mind. Im about 6ft so I could use to gain some muscle. What I like about the fitbit is that i can see my calorie burn, so on some days i know i need to supplement with a aditional protein shake. Just would be nice to have a WEIGHT GAIN thread in this comminities main board. I also sit at a desk most days and i have 2 children so any advice on working out with a full schedule would be greatful.

[Jrdubyakc · Accepted solution]

@JollyRed You might check out the Get Fit discussion board. There are a lot of discussions in there about weight training and other fitness routines that build muscle. 

And since you would like to see a weight gain board, I suggest you go to the Feature Request board. Looks like someone already made the suggestion there, but you can vote for the idea and leave a comment if desired.

[Tiezto]

Thanks 🙂 Ill check it out

[lilcheese]

Hey @Tiezto,

I am currently using my fitbit surge to bulk. It bothers me as well that they don't support a surplus option. At this point I just have my weight goal set higher, so the fitbit is set to maintain (eat as many cals as I burn) and I just eat 200-300 more than that. So if I burn 3300 cals today, I make sure to eat around 35-3600 calories.

[James_R]

Great idea, I'll have to try that myself. Haha, I stopped logging my bulking supplements just to avoid FitBit branding me an over-eater every day. Would be nice if they gave us a surplus option though, It'd make controlled bulking a load easier. 

[Amandahun17]

I have the same problem. I wish fitbit would make a meal plan to help with the weight gain.

[WendyB]

there is a few groups out there

Here is one

https://www.fitbit.com/group/2289KZ

[Jrdubyakc]

I haven't tried it out, but there is now a "gain weight" for goals. In the app, tap Account, under Goals tap Nutrition & Body, under Weight tap Your Goal and you can change it to Gain. Like I said, I actually haven't played with it yet to know how it affects the calorie intake plan but one of you guys could check it out and let us know!

[lilcheese]

Good to know. Thanks for the heads up.

[LucyAP]

Hello Fitbitters, Great to see you here! @Tiezto Just wanted you to know that I've gone ahead and moved your recent topic "Weight Gain community? Looking for support" to the Get Fit board. As @Jrdubyakc mentioned, in this board your are more likely to receive the answer you need in this board. For your reference, you had originally posted your question in the 'Getting Started in the Fitbit Community' board, which is dedicated to discussion around how to use the community and its features.

Good luck. Thanks for your understanding! 🙂