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. 

[SunsetRunner]

Using the formula for athletic weight (for men), at 4 x height less 128, you end up at 160 lb.

with from 5% to 10% BF. So, at 165 lb. you sure don't have a lot of fat to lose (and may not

want to). I am the same height, and it took 4 years of marathon training to get to 160 lb.

[whiteShadow]

I know the BMI says it's good, but this kind of formula doesn't take into account the percentage of fat vs muscles.

I'd like to lose fat above the hips (I have a bit) and trade it for muscles.

I don't really need to lose weight, but more like 'trade' it. But with all the exercise I'm doing and the diet, still I can see I'm not losing any (my pants doesn't feel looser, or I cannot see changes in the mirror). It's so frustrating.

[SunsetRunner]

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@whiteShadow wrote:

I know the BMI says it's good, but this kind of formula doesn't take into account the percentage of fat vs muscles.

I'd like to lose fat above the hips (I have a bit) and trade it for muscles.

I don't really need to lose weight, but more like 'trade' it. But with all the exercise I'm doing and the diet, still I can see I'm not losing any (my pants doesn't feel looser, or I cannot see changes in the mirror). It's so frustrating.

---

You can't "trade fat for muscle", but you can lose fat by calorie deficit (whether that's by diet

or exercise). You can gain muscle by exercise, but realize that the same volume of muscle will

weigh about 4 times as much as fat (so you may lose fat volume but gain more muscle weight).

Also, simple carbohydrates tend to get stored as fat, so that is something to consider.

[whiteShadow]

Thank you for your answer.

But I'm still not convinced. I'm mostly doing some cardio when running, so I shouldn't take that much muscle. Also I'm not doing any weight lifting, not going to the gym, not taking proteins (supplements), and as the exercises I'm doing are pretty much the same (usually I run 4.5mi per run, and about twice or three times a month 7mi). I've been doing this for almost five years, so I feel like it's more 'maintenance' run than building muscles. I don't think I gained that much mass in muscles.

For carbohydrates, I'm not sure how much I eat, I'm not really familiar with it. I'm not sure where it comes from, where we find it, what it's function in the metabolism, etc...

But I just looked at my fibit logs, and I eat in average (on the last week) 275g of carbs per day. I have no idea if it's good or not.

But I feel like I don't eat anything crazy, some salads, zuchinni, grean beans, walnuts, fruits, cereals, milk, water. Sometimes I have to eat sandwiches at lunch, but that's it.

Is it too much ?

[Heybales]

Ditto to your workouts NOT being the kind where you are going to gain muscle while losing fat.

There is of course no trading involved - and it is a whole lot easier to lose fat than to gain muscle - which you won't with cardio workouts, not at this point.

The only way you are going to gain muscle now is progressive overload weight lifting.

And to truly make it as hard as possible - need to eat at maintenance - not in a diet.

You do some damage to the muscle, it'll increase your metabolism to repair it.

But you eat at maintenance, and fat will supply the extra energy.

Don't do cardio hard the day before or after lifting, just ruins the effect of the lifting. You can run as hard as you can right after the lifting though no problem.

Since you haven't been doing much lifting, you might be able to accomplish the above for a a short while with a 250 cal deficit, long enough to lose that fat.

If you don't want to do that and just want a runners body with less fat - then you need minor deficit this close to healthy weight.

The more stressful you make it on the body, the more it'll fight you, as you've seen.

In addition, that just constantly elevates cortisol which retains water weight.

Suggest you do the 250 deficit, and then meet your eating goals accurately.

This also means confirm the Fitbit is getting distance right so the calorie burns are best estimates. It'll still be under if you have many hills, but not by much hopefully.

And ya, don't worry about carbs with that much running. You likely never have any being stored as fat, not that simple or complex makes a difference when you have excess. But you likely always have muscle and liver reserves waiting to be topped off, so probably hardly ever have an excess anyway.

If you go the deficit route, you'll want protein to be about 0.82 g per lb of body weight. Fat 0.35 g. Carbs gets the rest, whatever it works out to be.

[whiteShadow]

Thank you for your answer.

Actually right now I'm mostly interested in losing fat (in the pecs, and above the hips).

If I can do that, then I will considerer gaining some muscles, but for now I'd like to 'dry'.

[Heybales]

---

@whiteShadow wrote:

Thank you for your answer.

Actually right now I'm mostly interested in losing fat (in the pecs, and above the hips).

If I can do that, then I will considerer gaining some muscles, but for now I'd like to 'dry'.

---

Problem is with your workouts now, and attempting to lose more fat - you will lose muscle mass.

And it is MUCH easier to lose than to gain.

You have unique opportunity now to actually attempt to gain some muscle while losing fat, though not really enough fat for that to be as easy as if really overweight.

But still some. 1 lb gained in 6-8 weeks not that bad.

But if you want runner's body because running faster is the goal, then advice above about mininum deficit. That's why I suggested 2 options.

[josephz2va]

It depends on the quality of your calories burned in order to equal weight loss at -750 deficit. If you overconsume without effective burning, you can gain weight. If you consume bad quality foods, you can gain fat mass versus muscle mass. 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.

For fat mass to lower, I focus on three aspects. Cardio burn, weight lifting, and personal training on programs such as FitStar part of Fitbit.

[DominicJ]

A single week is not a time scale to measure anything on

3lbs is a fairly average wee.

[SunsetRunner]

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@DominicJ wrote:

A single week is not a time scale to measure anything on

3lbs is a fairly average wee.

---

3 lbs. would make you a real "whiz"

[whiteShadow]

Ahaha I agree !!! 

Maybe per day (if you drink a lot).

Thanks for all your advices. I will then try to gain some muscles (however I don't like weight lifting, I think I will do push ups and crunches and some plank for core strength), and keep running. Combined with less carbs (whatever it is), and give me a bit more time to see some changes.

Thank you all.

[SunsetRunner]

---

@whiteShadow wrote:

Ahaha I agree !!! 

Maybe per day (if you drink a lot).

Thanks for all your advices. I will then try to gain some muscles (however I don't like weight lifting, I think I will do push ups and crunches and some plank for core strength), and keep running. Combined with less carbs (whatever it is), and give me a bit more time to see some changes.

Thank you all.

---

No, no, no - not less carbs, but less simple carbs (like sugar and processed foods).

Simple sugars will convert rapidly to what you don't want, fat deposits on your waist.

You need lots of complex carbs (whole grains, fresh vegetables, etc.) and few fats.

If it's not protein and not fat, then it's carbs.

[whiteShadow]

Hum, okay.

So replacing my morning cocopops 😃 by some GoLean cereals (soy protein grahams and honey puffs) is good then ?

Because the cocopops have more carbs, and I guess most of it is coming from chocolate/sugar.

Also, where do you put sodium and fibers ? Carbs ?

Thank you.

[SunsetRunner]

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@whiteShadow wrote:

Hum, okay.

So replacing my morning cocopops 😃 by some GoLean cereals (soy protein grahams and honey puffs) is good then ?

Because the cocopops have more carbs, and I guess most of it is coming from chocolate/sugar.

Also, where do you put sodium and fibers ? Carbs ?

Thank you.

---

Prepackaged breakfast cereals are "junk food". Corn flakes has 3 spoons of sugar/bowl.

Simple sugars are a poison to your body, and can result in some serious health concerns.

If serious about health/weight loss, go for rolled oats and various grains (they have lots of fiber).

Sodium (salt), a condiment, very seldom needed to be added. Fiber is part of complex carbs.

Go to Amazon and get a copy of "The Pritikin Promise", cheap in paperback form.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/pritikin-diet

[Proudpatriot]

You are wrong about that.  Less carbs is better for fat loss.  Simple carbs are worse for you than complex carbs but an excess of carbs will inhibit fat loss.

This is not a study but it explains why carbs increase body fat:

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/uncategorized/why-eating-too-many-carbs-makes-you-fat/

OP-you should trade the high number of carbs you are eating for a combination of protein and fat.  You should aim for more protein than fat but often increasing protein causes an increase in fat also.  Don't forget to subtract your fiber from your carbs to get a net carb count.  Avoid ALL SUGAR, even natural sugars that are found in fruit.  

If you are at 275g try to lower your daily carb count to 100g per day (net of fiber) for a few weeks and see if that helps.  Avoid all 

[whiteShadow]

Avoiding all sugars is gonna be tough for me.

I have a sugar addiction 😃 (like most people even if they don't realize it). Sugars are hidden everywhere.

The problem when you start searching about health and food, is that you can find everything and the opposite.

Some people will tell you to go high on carbs and low on fat, some the opposite, some will tell you only veggies, some will say you need a bit of everything, some say watch calories, some say calorie doesn't matter, only the nature of the calories matter.

And all (or most of them) have some good arguments, but in the end, it's really hard to know what to do.

[Proudpatriot]

Well you don't have to be perfect to be better.  

[k9subsea]

Your BMR is about 1824, to lose weight you will need to eat below that BTM line.  Weight loss is based on nutritian and not so much exercise.  Exercise provides many other benifits but weight loss isn't one of the primary reasons to exercise.

[whiteShadow]

Can you explain what is BMR and BTM please ?

Thank you.

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.

Isn't true ? (at least this is what we could read to many places. That's why it's hard to know what true or not. Everyone disagree about everything 😃 ).

Edit: I just checked quicly what is the BMR, and basically it seems to be the calories that you burn without doing 'anything'. I don't really undestand why you said I should eat below that line, because I'm pretty active (walking few miles everyday, running several times a week, etc...), 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...