Weight Change w/o Body Change

[KiAikidoka]

So, for the last 3 months or so I've watched my weight steadily climb from about 160 - 165. However, none of my body measurements have changed, I don't look any different physically, and my clothes all fit about the same. What gives? 

I've been on a 1 lb/week plan since September. I can't get the scale or my measurements to budge. Has my deficit become my maintenance? And if so, and I'm hungry still on this plan, how will I ever lose? I use Lose It! to track my food and I am using a 1600 cal budget daily.

Before anyone asks, yes I measure and weigh my food. I don't eat out often, most of my meals are prepared at home and aren't from a package. 

Age: 24 
Height: 5' 3" 
Weight: 165 
Activity: Martial Arts (2 times/week), strength training (2 times/week), cardio (2-3 times/week) I wear a Fitbit Flex, and it says my average daily burn is about 2000 - 2100 cal.

I'm just throwing this out there for any and all advice I can get.

[abb123]

Are you trying to lose weight or gain? It isn't possible to be working a deficit in calories and gain weight, so my initial thought is that you have some miscalcuation somewhere or you aren't accurately tracking your intake.   5 Pounds is a significant amount of weight gain if you are operating even close to your daily burn rate.

[KiAikidoka]

I'm trying to lose weight. And I'm working out, logging that, and according to the Lose It budgets I've been 2000-2800 under budget every week. Shouldn't that at least be 0.5 lbs a week? I wear a heart rate monitor AND my flex to work out. So I know I'm calculating the calories I'm burning pretty accurately.

I've increased the amount of weight on my strength training, it's at the most it's been in a very long time but it's only a recent increase. It hasn't even been a month since I've upped the weight. I don't find my clothes fitting much differently. But they definitely fit different since the end of August. 

I've changed my food habits more than once throughout all of this, given at least a month at a time before reevaluating and it's not getting better. I was at my lowest last February at 157 lbs, I don't know what I did to get there because my budgets were around the same, if not even a little higher on some days. If I take the average values from 1-1-13 to 3-31-13 the daily average intake was 1648. Taking the daily averages from 1-1-14 to 2-17-14 it's also right around 1682. 

I'm totally at a loss, depressed and don't know what else to do.

[DeAnnC]

What are you eating on an average day?

[jts715]

If you are increasing your strength training you are probably gaining muscle.

[Eliptical77]

Im doing the exact same thing. I've been eating Healthier and started cross fit since the 1st of the year. Within 2 weeks I had gained 5lbs. So I bought a Fitbit flex to see what I was doing wrong, put in all my information it calculated the amount of calroies I should be eating, steps to take, and showed me how many calories I had burt. Since then all together I have GAINED 15lbs!!! My clothes do not fit any losser and are a little snugger. I burn a minimum of 2500 calories a day and take in way less. I started this week measuring my water so I drink my suggested amount which is 75oz. I am 36yrs old, I sit most of the day at my job but get up as much as possiable. I started out at 135 and I am not at 147!!! VERY Discouraged 😞

[abb123]

@Eliptical77 As far as I know, it is not possible to gain weight if you are always maintaining a calorie deficit. You would need to be cheating somewhere along the way or not accurately measuring your calorie intake. It is also possible you are burning far less than you think you are... I believe your BMR is far below the 2500.  

I'd be interested in seeing more detailed numbers to help determine how you gained 12 pounds on a deficit.

Matter can not be created or destroyed, so if your body doesn't have the resources to put on the weight, it can't put it on.  

[Eliptical77]

I may have something wrong on my flex but I wear it everyday and watch the carlories it says that I burn. When I go running or do cross fit it adds calories back to what I can take in so I think maybe Im taking in too much.  For breakfast I will do Natural Oat meal with just hot water and sometimes a little honey, I will have a cup of coffee on my way to work with creamer and it's not the sugar free...for snacks Im eating celery, spinach, almonds, apple sauce. Lunch is usually a Turkey on wheat from Subway with veggies and spicy mustard or one I make at work on thin rounds bread. Afternoon snack is usually pretzel thins, almonds, apple or bananna something like that. Super is my hardest because I cook for my family and I watch my portions but the food isn't 100% Healthy but I am still in my calorie intake amount, I dont go over.  I drink plenty of water and maybe a diet drink a day not every day. I do like milk before bed...(not good) I know I've switched to 2%. Trying to do better I just dont see the weight going down it keeps going up....

[KiAikidoka]

It would be hard to say what I eat on a typical day as it usually changes from day to day.

Breakfast is pretty consistent though. Could be an egg, slice of american cheese on an english muffin. Or sometimes an egg over greens like spinach. Recently I had been having protein shakes with almond milk and fruit in them. I always measure everything out so they are under 300 cal most of the time.

Lunch varies. It could be soup with chicken salad (like today, it's carrot soup and chicken salad with grapes and walnuts) or something like chicken, brussels sprouts. Or a pita with kale and an egg on top. Many times it's leftovers from the dinner I had. 

Dinner is something that we all eat as a family since I still live home. We make chicken, pork, beef, pot roast, etc. Always with veggies as a side, if not a salad. I only use oil and vinegar, never a pre-made dressing. 

Snacks are usually fruit or nuts or maybe a larabar. I don't snack at home really, it's usually only a morning snack at work between 11:00 and 12:30 and lunch keeps me full until dinner. I don't eat after dinner, so usually nothing past 7:00 pm.

Maybe this gives a gist of what a day looks like for me, but it tends to vary much more than that. I do eat tons of veggies, I'm working on cutting down on bread and simple carbs like that. Also, I drink between 9-12 glasses of water a day. Hard work out days it can be up to 15.

[Eliptical77]

Sounds like your eating really well 🙂

[abb123]

@Eliptical77 Are you logging your food anywhere? Either on fitbit or my fitnesspal or something along those lines?

[Eliptical77]

Yes on my fitbit log.

[Eliptical77]

I've lost 2lbs!!! Whoo Hoo!!

[Kmorse]

Hi! A few possibilities could be

1. You're gaining muscle, therefore you wouldn't see the loss on the scale

2. Have a cheat meal/ day, when you give yourself more calories/food you actually trick your metabolism. It sounds stupid but I do cheat days every week ( I use the W.W. point system) so on Sundays I have McDonalds, cookies whatever and I've lost consistently (except for 2 weeks) since mid-november. I'm down 22 pounds! 🙂 However, I want to add that I don't just pig out, I count my points for my cheats and eat within my points for the day. You might want to try a cheat meal and see where that gets you. Good Luck! 🙂