Working out like crazy, gained weight?! why??

[rowan]

so last week I went on a bit of a binge for the week and gained 4 pounds!!!! I didn't even know how this was possible as I didn't eat THAT much food and I was still doing my daily exercise of dog walking and on average 15k steps a day. 

Anyway, I obviously wanted to get my weight back down so this week I've been going crazy at the gym. In the gym alone I burn 1000 calories, I then do 3 - 5 hour long dog walks a day (I'm a dog walker) and eat around 1400 calories a day. 

My weight went down from 9st 11lb to 9st 8lb in the first 3 days and I was happy and thought I should be back to 9st 7 by the next couple of days.. however now I'm 9st 9lbs. I know weight fluctuates but I'm doing SO MUCH how is it even possible to be gaining weight? I'm not doing strength training so not building muscle and my legs are already pretty muscly anyway.. 

so can anyone help because it's really discouraging, I've been trying so hard for this and it isn't working!

Thanks 

[Jabrat]

you are building muscle - are you eating lots of protein ?

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@rowan wrote:

so last week I went on a bit of a binge for the week and gained 4 pounds!!!! I didn't even know how this was possible as I didn't eat THAT much food and I was still doing my daily exercise of dog walking and on average 15k steps a day. 

Anyway, I obviously wanted to get my weight back down so this week I've been going crazy at the gym. In the gym alone I burn 1000 calories, I then do 3 - 5 hour long dog walks a day (I'm a dog walker) and eat around 1400 calories a day. 

My weight went down from 9st 11lb to 9st 8lb in the first 3 days and I was happy and thought I should be back to 9st 7 by the next couple of days.. however now I'm 9st 9lbs. I know weight fluctuates but I'm doing SO MUCH how is it even possible to be gaining weight? I'm not doing strength training so not building muscle and my legs are already pretty muscly anyway.. 

so can anyone help because it's really discouraging, I've been trying so hard for this and it isn't working!

Thanks 

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[rowan]

I considered that but I didn't think I was doing enough to build muscle. I hardly eat any protein to be honest, I'm a vegetarian and don't eat fish, don't like dairy or eggs and don't like the calories in protein shakes! 

[Mx-4-2]

If you are not using a calorie tracker then would suggest it.  I use myfitnesspal and sync it with my fitbit.  Helps to ensure that I don't eat too much as tendancey is to think that the exercise burns more and it's easy to offset by eating more.

[Mary]

I would say it's water weight from your new gym routine.  Don't fret over a few pounds.  Our bodies retain water for many reasons, including to care for stressed muscles or after a large increase in calories.  Think long term.

[rowan]

I use fitbit as the calorie counter and log every thing I eat. I'm very controlling of what I eat and how many calories I burn so I know I'm deffinatley not counteracting it. At the end of the day fitbit still tells me I can eat 1500 calories usually because of all the exercise I've done

[whome]

And you have fitbit already calculating how much of a calorie deficit for you? Two pounds a week? That would be 1000 calories a day. If I read your posts correctly you say fitbit says you can eat another 1500

calories at the end of an average day, that would mean you have a 2500 cal deficit if you are set for a 2 lb/week loss. And your average daily intake is 1400 calories? You have been doing this for how long?

Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me (but what do I know). I am no expert. 

You might want to search for some of Haybale's  generally well referenced posts in this forum concerning calorie burn suppression due to excessive calorie restriction. Of course, if you already know more than I do, feel free to ignore anything and everything I have said.

[Jabrat]

Could be water weight !

[WendyB · Accepted solution]

You dont build muslce that fast.

I agree its water weight. Your muscles will retain water to repair themselfs. It will come off.  Hang in there

[rowan]

Fitbit says I have a 2000 cal defecit and should be loosing 3lbs a week, I've only been doing it for a week and its only until I get back down to my original weight of 9st 7 before last weeks unhealthy antics. Then i will go back to my normal routine. 

Why does it sound like a recipe for disaster? 

[Heybales]

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@rowan wrote:
I use fitbit as the calorie counter and log every thing I eat. I'm very controlling of what I eat and how many calories I burn so I know I'm deffinatley not counteracting it. At the end of the day fitbit still tells me I can eat 1500 calories usually because of all the exercise I've done

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You log everything you eat. Good.

But do you weigh everything you log?

Calories is per weight, grams usually on the nutrition label, NOT by volume that is given for convience.

If you are not weighing food and only measuring liquids - you are not accurate. And that can be off by a lot.

Meet your eating goals.

You'll get more out of your workouts - like actual improvements, instead of just burning calories and causing stress to body getting underfed for the activity.

You willing to miss your goal weight by 20-30% and say that's good enough?

[rowan]

Yep I have very accurate digital scales and weigh everything I log. As I said I'm very controlling about it 😛

I don't think I can meet my eating goals, to eat 3000 calories a day would be crazy, I'm not even hungry at the end of the day Haha

[Mary]

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@rowan wrote:

I considered that but I didn't think I was doing enough to build muscle. I hardly eat any protein to be honest, I'm a vegetarian and don't eat fish, don't like dairy or eggs and don't like the calories in protein shakes! 

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Between avoiding protein due to the calories and burning 1000 calories a day in the gym and then walking 3-5 hours, it sounds to me like you maybe should see someone about your feelings about food and your weight.  Exercise bulimia is serious, if that's possibly what's going on.  So is avoiding protein.  I wish you well!  

[rowan]

I don't avoid protein, i eat as much protein as fitbit tells me to i just don't like the taste of things that have protein in. I said that I avoid protein SHAKES. I walk 3-5 hours because it's my job to walk dogs and I don't have an option. my feelings towards exercise and food are healthy, I'm just trying to get back to my weight of 9st 7 asap by using a healthy method of going to the gym and eating enough instead of a crash diet.. thanks for your concern but there definatley isn't anything physcologically wrong with me haha 

[Heybales]

Well, it had to be asked. Because thinking you are controlling about it and being aware of the right way of doing things does not automatically go together, as I'm sure you've discovered in life.

All kinds of people think they are doing things right or the best way, but because they never actually educated themselves about whatever - they are wrong and doing whatever wrong and not the best way.

So I don't see how your eating goal would reach 3000 calories. 

How much deficit did you select to lose weight? I'm guessing 1000 by your comments, so that means if eating goal is 3000, the daily burn was actually 4000.

A 3-5 mile dog walk would burn maybe an additional 200-400 calories depending on speed and your mass.

You say 1000 calories burned at gym.

That takes us down to 4000 - 1000 - 300 = 2700 daily burn outside the exercise.

Really? Possible sure, but really?

Or do you manually log your gym time calorie burn?

If so what is giving you your estimate of a burn?

As to the weight gained, sure water weight. You are doing exercise that is probably asking your body to store more carbs in the muscle, that stores with water. If you do that type of exercise, it's not just burning calories, that's the request to the body to improve.

You may be thinking exercise will help you lose weight - it rarely does, it makes improvements to the body that almost always are weight gain.

Diet is for weight loss - done right fat loss only, done wrong includes muscle mass loss.

Exercise is for heart health and body improvement - done right can help fat loss, done wrong can help burn it off.

The major thing the exercise is doing for the diet is making the eating level higher after you take off a deficit to lose weight. What could be a low eating level that is hard to adhere to can become higher with exercise and easier to always hit that goal.

If you get those 2 facts reversed, it's usually not going to end well.

[Mary]

Well, you said, "I hardly eat any protein, to be honest".  Though I guess if you meant "I hardly eat any meat/dairy protein" and you get plenty from plants, that makes sense.  

Walking for 3-5 hours a day for your job isn't outright a sign of a problem but burning 1000 calories after it in the gym is.  That's a couple hours more.  That alone, without the 3-5 hours walking, would be overkill, in my opinion.  But it sounds like it's a short term diet strategy, and I can understand you wanting to just get it done.  

Those few pounds from your binge will come off if you just go back to your normal habits.  If you go nutso in the gym and with the calories (low) this week, it could just send you back to binge-town next week.  It's better to just avoid both extremes and try to paddle down the middle.  Good luck!

[rowan]

I'm lost with all these numbers so I'll just tell you what my fitbit said for yesterday at the end of the day (when i said i wouldn't be able to eat 3000 calories in the day, I meant that my calories left was 1500 and I had already eaten 1500, not that i had 3000 calories left..) okay so.. 

Calories burnt: 3258

steps: 24,105

miles:10.08

active minutes:120 

calories eaten: 1,307

calories left: 1,451

I don't really get why it matters anymore as all I wanted was a possible solution to why I would have gained 1 pound, I know i'm dieting well and exercising so that should logically equal weightloss, since everyone has said water weight then I'm guessing that's what it is!

[Snapdragon]

Interesting. I just posted something very similiar to yours regarding my week 1 (except I have a desk job and am not a dog walker- but all our numbers and results are similiar). I eat the same way- I just prefer fruits and veggies (though I will eat a Filet Mignon if it is put in front of me). I do have a thyroid issue, so will get my numbers rechecked, but I will follow the advise of those that replied to you about moderation.

I have a tendency to get a bit OCD about working out. First, I think it will help me lose weight faster- but it hasn't. Second- I do like to push myself and see what I can do, and I am a bit competitive- and those darn little badges are highly desireable to me. But I know I can't keep my life in balance at this pace so should probably decrease my steps to a more realistic level so that I can stay at it for the long term.

[Heybales]

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@rowan wrote:

I'm lost with all these numbers so I'll just tell you what my fitbit said for yesterday at the end of the day (when i said i wouldn't be able to eat 3000 calories in the day, I meant that my calories left was 1500 and I had already eaten 1500, not that i had 3000 calories left..) okay so.. 

Calories burnt: 3258

steps: 24,105

miles:10.08

active minutes:120 

calories eaten: 1,307

calories left: 1,451

I don't really get why it matters anymore as all I wanted was a possible solution to why I would have gained 1 pound, I know i'm dieting well and exercising so that should logically equal weightloss, since everyone has said water weight then I'm guessing that's what it is!

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Oh, I knew what you meant exactly, the only question was if you had a deficit weight loss plan so that Fitbit was giving you less to eat than you burned.

So you have asked Fitbit to put a 500 cal deficit in from what you burn to what you eat.

Burned 3258.

Ate 1307, left to eat 1451 = 2758

3258-2758 = 500 deficit

If you met goal eating level, you'd lose 1 lb weekly. And that may indeed be reasonable for the amount you have to lose, like if 10 - 25 lbs.

But you appear to think bigger is better, and an almost 2000 calorie deficit is better. (1451 + 500 = 1951)

Sorry to inform you - you are NOT dieting well - at all.

If you do that on a regular basis, missing your eating goal by about 1500 calories, and the 500 Fitbit already made your eating less than you burn - then you should be losing 4 lbs weely.

I'm going to bet you are are no where near 4 lbs weekly. I'll bet not even 2 lbs weekly.

And even if you've been close, did you know average dieter loses 20% muscle mass in their weight loss attempt, unless they do 3 specific things? And reasonable deficit and enough protein isn't being met, Fitbit's recommendation isn't high enough. Ony thing left is workouts lifting?

Why?

You have changed the equation. You have probably screwed up Fitbit's estimate of what you burn, which for a healthy body is going to be within 10% easy.

Because you have slowed your metabolism down if this has been a regular occurence. No wonder you binged ate - your body was screaming out for some relief.

You might think bigger deficit is better, when it's not.

If you truly think bigger is better - why don't you stop eating and just lose the weight?

Whatever reasons you think of, there are likely more you don't know about that are happening anyway, even though a tad slower.

Here's what you are doing to yourself if this has been a regular way of doing things for awhile.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

I know it started out as to why you gained some weight from exercise - but your claim of control and knowing it all and doing it right just raises red flags with those of us that have seen that all too many times from ones that really don't know, but they sure believe they do.

Take it for what's it's worth. Look me up in several months if you have issues later.

[rowan]

dude I'm literally only doing it for 5 more days so chill out haha, I've lost 3 pounds in 5 days (had 2 rest days) and now I'm only 1 pound away from my goal. If I want my fitbit to tell me that I should have a high defecit then I could just set it on 'really hard' mode to lose 3lbs per week in the personal trainer.. would that then make me healthier or still the same..

when i say i binge ate I meant that I had an indian take away, bread, crisps and some chocolate, it wasnt my body crying out for anything it was just my mind being greedy, i wasn't hungry i just felt like eating something nice

for the billionth time this isn't a long term thing, every normal week I try to reach my calorie goals (if I don't it's because i've done a lot of dog walking in the day and have too many calories left to even want to eat), I was just doing this to see if it helped me lose weight quicker, which it actually has, but I KNOW it's not something that should be done long term...sorta just feels like you're attacking me, I only asked one thing and now you're telling me all these other things I'm rubbish at and making out I'm really bad at the things I'm trying to do, if you aren't then sorry if I got the wrong impression.