6475 calorie deficit last week, but still gained weight

[whiteShadow]

Hello,

I started to use Fitbit to lose some fat recently but so far I only gained weight.

Here is a quick summary of what I'm doing and who I am:

I'm a 27yo male, working in computer science (sit a lot in my everyday job). I'm 6'0 for 165lbs. I don't have a weight goal, but more like a shape goal (lose the fat about the hips).

I'm pretty active (working to work, about 6.5 miles round trip at a pretty good pace, running 2 or 3 times a week, an average of 6 miles per run, I'm playing tennis once or twice a week when I have time, and walking/biking on weekend).

I started logging my food with fitbit to check the calories I was eating.

I also started recently to eat better (my working hours can vary a lot, and I sometimes come back late and was lazy to cook anything, so it was usually pasta, or something quick). I try now to eat more vegetables, eat less, and drink more water.

However, since I've started using Fitbit, I have a calorie deficit of 600 calories per day on average (it could go up to 1500 when I run, or be sligtly above the goal (-750/day) on weekend.

I drink the recommended water (2L or more) everyday. And I do at least more than 10.000 steps everyday (to go to work and come back).

I started a week ago, and I gained up to 5 lbs (now it's back to 3 lbs) in a week. I don't really understand how I can gain 5 lbs in a week with a calorie deficit of 6475 calories in the week.

I read that it could come from muscles, but I've been active for more than 5 years, so it's not like if I had started sports recently.

I was expecting with a better diet, more water, and the same (or more) exercise, it would go down, not up.

Also, I don't have any health issue (thyroide, or anything else).

Does anyone have an idea if it's normal, or what to do ? Did anyone got this issue ?

Thank you. 

[DominicJ]

"Also, I think exercise also use some energy, which has to come from somewhere, so if you used all you immediate source of energy (sugars), I think it will start using some more indirect source to 'fuel' your muscles, such as fat."

My understanding is your body uses fat normaly, and supplements that with sugars when you do any harder excercise.

But it doesnt matter for our purposes

"so my calories burnt will be much more than my BMR. Eating under 1800 calories a day is really hard, especially if you're doing some sports. I will need some energy to be able to stay awake, walk, run, etc"

Yep, what you need to eat if 

Your BMR + Your excercise - 1000

That will lose 2lbs per week.

[josephz2va]

Try looking at Nutrition 101: Eat To Build Lean Muscle - Bodybuilding.com. Bad quality foods can include cereal. Only certain cereals are good for you. But they're not for losing fat and building lean muscle. A healthier meal plan is better to build lean muscle.

[whiteShadow]

Thanks for the link. It's really interesting.

Though I'm always a bit skeptical when I see a commercial website giving some advices. They're naturally gonna try to sell you their product, when you could have used another method or another way to achieve same thing without buying it.

It doesn't mean what they're saying is wrong, but it always looks suspicious to me.

[youngWerther]

My weight going up and down nowadays (it must be stress 🙂 I have discovered that measuring fat (with a caliper)  gave a better vue on my daily 500 kcal deficit than a much preciser scale.  If the theory of a 250kcal deficit is tempting I think that my problem would be that my calorie-count can be easily of by 10% and that's also close to 250 kcal (some studies talk about an over-estimation of 20 to 30%)

The bump is my monthly fat measurement, where my weight seems unchanging.  So I decided to keep the present routine after all.

[Heybales]

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@josephz2va wrote:

 Because I'm mostly sedentary, I focus on my current diet regimen and stay away from eating any more calories when possible. 1200-1700 calories. Even though I burn up to 4000 calories, knowing I'm mostly sedentary I can't eat the extra calories.

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Your Fitbit thinks you burn 4000 calories on average daily?

You are no where near Sedentary in the traditional weight loss meaning of that word in reference to your average daily activity.

You are going to make those that are Very Active have a complex thinking 4000 is sedentary. 

[Xakka]

Nothing wrong with some carbs in your diet your brain functions best off of carbohydrates, if they are not present in your fiet, your body will break down fats (and i think proteins as well) to create the neccessary sugars I believe they are called ketones, leading to a state called ketosis which until you get used to it can make you feel dizzy, weak, sick etc. until your body finds a balance point and gets used to usings non-carbohydrates to provide the sugars required for proper brain function. Need to be careful with super low carb diets, as the breakdown of fats/proteins to make ketones can effect your blood's ph and lead to ketoacidosis. It has been awhile since i have brushed up my knowledge on such things, so may do some reading about it. Largely eating healither in an attempt to get the nutritents required by your body is the best approach, diversity in the diet is the easiest way to go about this, if you dont eat the same food every day and mix it up on a regular basis the nutrition largely sorts itself out without getting too much or too little of an individual part of the equation. More complex sugars from whole foods are better then simple sugars (white sugar) as the complex carbs will provide energy over a longer period instead of providing sudden spikes of sugar to your system.

[Proudpatriot]

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@Xakka wrote:

Need to be careful with super low carb diets, as the breakdown of fats/proteins to make ketones can effect your blood's ph and lead to ketoacidosis.

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Please read:

http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/ketoacidosis.html

Low carb diets lead to nutritional ketosis.  It is not the same thing as ketoacidosis.

[Xakka]

Thanks for the resource Proudpatriot, seems the ketoacidosis issue i was recalling is only really a concern if you happened to be a diabetic or have some kind of condition that would cause a lack of insulin to be produced, failing to regulate the ketones.

Cheers!