Recently lost 50lbs but now gaining weight with same food / workout.

[Kmalhas]

Hi!

I have recently (within last year and a half) lost 50 lbs by diet and exercise.  I track every piece of food that goes in my body.  I work out 6 or 7 days a week doing cardio and strength training.  I have gained about 9 lbs back and I know this could be muscle replacement however I still have about 10lbs or so that I want to loose.

Any ideas on what I can do to get back to loosing weight?

Thanks in advance.

Kim

[Dominique]

See this other topic for suggestions. It’s almost certainly not a case of gaining so much muscle it offset fat loss. Your goal (for now) should be to stabilize your weight, not to attempt to lose further.

[SunsetRunner]

There are a couple of possibilities of what is going on but need more info. Are you still losing inches even though the scale is going up? This usually means you are gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time. Depending on the timeline putting on 9 pounds of muscle would take approximately several months to a year and even longer for a female.

No? moving on…

How long have you been in a caloric deficit for and how big of a deficit are you doing? Undereating for a long time can backfire on your weight loss goal. It can eventually begin to burn muscle and store fat. Are you noticing any loss of strength or feel more flabby than usual? Even if you haven’t noticed any of those signs yet but have been in a caloric deficit for a long time it may be time for a diet break. As a matter of fact, I discovered Fitbit is underestimating my calories. I’ve gone up to 2,800 calories now and still haven't hit maintenance yet. I have been as low as 1800 calories and haven’t got anywhere with it. My weight increased a little bit and sometimes would fluctuate. After I increased my calories, fat loss started again. Can you imagine unknowingly being in more than a 1000 calorie deficit? The whole time I thought I was in a 250 calorie deficit.