Putting Weight On?

K

kerrys24

New member
Hi Everyone :newbie:

I've recently (like 3 weeks ago) starting back training at the gym after about 6 months off. In the 6 months i would maybe go twice a week. Anyway i've started back at the gym. I do two classes on a Monday, Tuesday, Friday and One Class on a Thursday. I eat around 1500 cals a day with eating 6 meals a day. I've actually put on 3Kg since starting. Is this normal? I also feel 'fatter'. I'm going to keep at it because it's making me feel better inside but i was just worried that i won't see results on the outside. The classes are made up of Body Pump, Step, Combat, and Attack.

Thanks for you help.
 
it is very hard to determine with the info you gave us. Could we have gender, age, height, and weight? You can use those to establish your baseline calories. Also, what does your diet look like? If those are 1500 bad calories it won't help you too much.
 
That's not even 300 calories per meal then. I really don't know, maybe you're just not eating enough. Or maybe you're retaining water. You didn't give your stats.
 
MGR said:
it is very hard to determine with the info you gave us. Could we have gender, age, height, and weight? You can use those to establish your baseline calories. Also, what does your diet look like? If those are 1500 bad calories it won't help you too much.
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:blush5: Sorry.

Ok, i'm Female, 25, recently gone upto 89kg and i'm about 5,6/7.
My usual diet consists of;
Breakfast: Cornflakes / Fruit and Yogurt
Mid Morning Snack: Fruit / Ryvitas and Low Fat Cream Cheese / Weightwatchers Cracked Black Pepper Biscuits and Cup a Soup
Lunch: Chicken Salad or Sandwich
Mid Afternoon Snack: Fruit / Yogurt / Ryvitas
Dinner: Meat with Veg / Spag Bol / Omlette.

I'm not super super strict with my diet because otherwise i'd binge on a weekend. I love my food and try to eat healthy during the week (i've even stopped having chocolate, which is good for me) then have a treat on a weekend of a takeway or crisps and chocolate. I have a failing for Subway Meatball Marinara's but i only eat this once a week if that. All this compared to how i used to eat and i never did any exercise, i would've thought something might've come off. My friend has a fitness instructor and they said that i'll put weight on first because i'll be building muscle then after a month or so i should see the weight come off. Just interested on others take on it.

Thanks. :)
 
Hm, 1500 cals sounds about right for you to lose on without being in a super-huge deficit. Could be that you are putting some muscle on, but I cannot state that for sure.

From a personal standpoint I know from experience that the 1st two months or so I rarely show any loss on the scales. It will normally be shortly after that when people start telling me I look good and a little after that before I really start being able to see a difference in the way I look.

Keep eating clean and exercising, and if it doesn't work try cycling your calories 200 or 300 either way for a few days. Also, the fit of your clothes or periodic tape measurements can show where you might be restructuring your body in a healthy fashion without losing weight. And periodic bodyfat measurements can do the same.

Make sure you are getting plenty of rest too. Maybe use a calorie and nutrient tracking site like fitday.com if you aren't already. Anyone else care to weigh in on this?
 
The only reason I can think of that you'd gain weight is eating over your calories for the day. At 89kg, you would have to eat over 2700 calories (or more) to gain, but it's very possible to do if you're missing little items.

Are you very sure about your calories? I know you said that each meal was around 300 calories, but it's really easy to underestimate by a lot, especially if you're talking about sandwiches and pre-made stuff.

For example, you said you eat a chicken salad for lunch - is there dressing? Cheese? Is the chicken marinated or basted in anything? Croutons? Nuts?

Sandwiches - a regular slice of bread is about 100 calories, so 2 slices of bread plus fillings (cheese, meat, mayo, dressing) will be a lot more than 300 calories.

Pasta is a big one for me - a serving of pasta is actually 2 oz dry, which isn't a whole lot - about a cup cooked. And pasta is very calorie heavy, so if you eat 2 servings (which isn't hard to do), then you're already 200 calories over ... plus bolognase? That's pasta plus meat plus sauce plus olive oil ... I can't imagine that coming in under 300 calories. Plus do you eat anything with it .. bread? Veg?

What about anything you drink? Sodas? Juice? Milk?

Not trying to be naggy or anything, but just wondering if you're considering EVERYTHING.

I know when I first started dieting, I cut out all the unhealthy stuff and then I wound up sort of compensating w/out even realizing it by having bigger portions of healthy stuff.

Just something to think about.
 
KaraCooks said:
The only reason I can think of that you'd gain weight is eating over your calories for the day. At 89kg, you would have to eat over 2700 calories (or more) to gain, but it's very possible to do if you're missing little items.

Are you very sure about your calories? I know you said that each meal was around 300 calories, but it's really easy to underestimate by a lot, especially if you're talking about sandwiches and pre-made stuff.

For example, you said you eat a chicken salad for lunch - is there dressing? Cheese? Is the chicken marinated or basted in anything? Croutons? Nuts?

Sandwiches - a regular slice of bread is about 100 calories, so 2 slices of bread plus fillings (cheese, meat, mayo, dressing) will be a lot more than 300 calories.

Pasta is a big one for me - a serving of pasta is actually 2 oz dry, which isn't a whole lot - about a cup cooked. And pasta is very calorie heavy, so if you eat 2 servings (which isn't hard to do), then you're already 200 calories over ... plus bolognase? That's pasta plus meat plus sauce plus olive oil ... I can't imagine that coming in under 300 calories. Plus do you eat anything with it .. bread? Veg?

What about anything you drink? Sodas? Juice? Milk?

Not trying to be naggy or anything, but just wondering if you're considering EVERYTHING.

I know when I first started dieting, I cut out all the unhealthy stuff and then I wound up sort of compensating w/out even realizing it by having bigger portions of healthy stuff.

Just something to think about.
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Hi Kara,

I didn't actually say i ate 300 Cals for each meal - someone else said that. I said i eat about 1500-1800 cals a day. This is only a rough estimate. I don't calorie count, i really don't have time at the minute. The chicken salad i have is herb grilled chicken with a vinigerette dressing. I rarely eat sandwiches (i've given up my relationship with the Subway Meatball Marinara) I have one soda a day which is my 'Vimto Break' :), and i only have milk on a morning. About 4 times a week a have a Redbull light in the morning. Like i said before i'm not super super strict. I don't eat bread, cut down on takeaways, chocolate, crisps, chips. I've completely stopped eating bread apart from the occasional pita on a weekend. I realise theres probably a lot of hidden cals in my diet but i thought the exercise would make up for it. The classes i do are really high intensity cardio along with body pump 3 times a week.
I think i'll have to make the time to start calorie counting so i can find those pesky little hidden cals. I just seem to lose track all the time, i could do with someone sitting on my shoulder after every meal telling me to log my cals.
I've got a friends thats a Fitness Instructor and he's told me to concentrate firstly on my fitness. Getting a Heart Rate Monitor and checking that instead of obsessing over calories.
Thanks for you help everyone. I think sometimes i get caught up in the whole gym thing and expect LBS to drop off because i'm working so hard. :coolgleamA:
 
I realise theres probably a lot of hidden cals in my diet but i thought the exercise would make up for it. The classes i do are really high intensity cardio along with body pump 3 times a week.
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Even high intensity cardio only burns about 500-600 calories an hour for most people. So I wouldn't count on that for any significant weight loss - just for a boost. What you eat is the most critical part of losing. :)

It is true that when you first start working out, you often gain weight - but it's virtually impossible to gain muscle while in a calorie deficit unless you were REALLY overweight or REALLY out of shape to begin with. You may gain a pound of muscle or so ... and you may retain some fluid in your muscles ... but eventually that will even out with time.

Also watch your sodium intake. I can gain up to 8 lbs from retained water, just by eating too much salt (like I did this past weekend).
 
KaraCooks said:
Also watch your sodium intake. I can gain up to 8 lbs from retained water, just by eating too much salt (like I did this past weekend).
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Sorry if i sound a bit thick - but what will i get sodium from? I don't take extra salt in any of my meals - we've got a family history of high blood pressure so the doctor told me to keep of that.

Also can you explain why my muscles hold water? haha i sound like a dumb ass. :)
 
Hey ... everyone has to start somewhere. I was completely clueless about any of this before I started educating myself.

Sodium is EVERYWHERE in your food. Even things like celery and apples have a bit of natural sodium in there. In normal circumstances, if you ate all home prepared foods, you probably wouldn't have to worry about the natural sodium that all foods contain. The real issue comes in when you eat a lot of packaged foods, processed foods, and restaurant foods. Salt is both a flavor enhancer and a preservative - so most pre-prepared food has a lot of sodium.

The recommendation for sodium for the average adult is 2400mg a day. As I said, that's pretty easy to stay below if you're eating all natural foods. But when you're eating processed foods, you have to pay attention to the amount of sodium. Cereal can contain anywhere from 200mg to 700mg per serving (depending on the brand). A Subway 6" meatball sandwich has 1600mg of sodium. Processed meats have a ton of sodium in them for preservative purposes. I'd be willing to bet that your herb roasted chicken has a lot of sodium in it. If you eat chips/crisps/biscuits at all (even in small quantities), you're consuming a ton of sodium.

Ok, as far as muscles retaining fluid ... when you exercise and work your muscles, what you're doing is creating tiny tears and fissures in the muscle. This is *good* ... mind you. That's how you build strength - by stressing the muscle and letting it build up stronger and better than it was. But ... when you stress the muscle, just like any "injury" your body reacts by rushing blood and other fluids to the site of the injury to provide more nutrition for repairs.

So when you work out hard or lift weights hard, your body is rushing fluids to your muscles to rebuild them. It can take anywhere from 2-7 days for that fluid to be circulated back into your body and excreted. If you're continually working out (allowing for a days rest between workouts), your body is continually cycling extra fluids to your muscles. (This is also a reason why you should drink more and consume protein after a workout - it gives more nutrients and more fluid to aid that muscle regeneration.)

Now after a while, the fat loss balances out the excess fluid in your system and the retained fluid becomes "invisible" ... but when you first start working out, the difference can be noticeable, in the form of pounds on the scale.
 
Thanks Kara, I love learning about all this stuff. I've heard some many different things from different sites. Especially eating 1200 cals a day. I suppose with everything out there it's easy to get confused.

I was considering drinking a protein shake after i work out as part of my evening meal. Then have something light like veg and chicken or fish. Do you think it would help? Also would Gatorade or something similar be better than water to drink during workouts.

I didn't realise so much sodium was in cereal. I have crunchy nut cornflakes every morning. Maybe it's time for a change.

I did my first day of calorie counting today and i've got just over 2000 cal :) ooops. This is definately enough to make me keep it up.
 
I drink protein shakes after I workout ... so you could say I'm ok with them. :) You just have to keep count of the calories, as with everything else.

I'm personally not a big fan of any of the sport drinks for just regular working out. If you're eating healthily, I don't think they're necessary and they're either a big waste of calories (if you drink the kind with sugar) or they're full of preservatives and chemicals (if you drink the diet kind). That's my personal preference, mind you - I know a lot of people who do drink them. :)

I think if you're really REALLY working out hard, running a long distance, or training for some kind of athletic event, then it can be good to replace those minerals and salts, but your average person who works out for 30-60 mins a day, I just don't think it's necessary. Eat a banana before working out and you get more nutrition than a gallon of Gatorade. :)

The thing I love about counting calories is that, for me, after you spend a while really counting them in detail, you start to learn the counts for your favorite and regular foods. For example, I eat an apple and cheese for a snack every day and I know that it's 190 calories. I don't have to think about it. I know that a boiled egg is 75 calories and about 5g protein - so if I need a snack with some protein and I have about 100 calories to spare, I know I can eat a boiled egg. I know that 4 oz of boneless, skinless chicken breast is 110 calories and 23g protein - so I can estimate my meals and be pretty spot on.

It takes a while to get there when you're first starting out, but for me it's honestly the easiest way to go about eating healthily.
 
Ok, so i'm gonna give the protein shakes ago (making sure i count cals of course ;)).

I don't find the counting cals too difficult, i use caloriecounter.com and there's loads of stuff it's all the fat / sodium / fat from saturated..etc stuff i don't understand. I start reading a label then i get confused so i just look at cals and go by that.

What are you thoughts on Green Tea?

Sorry for all the questions. :)
 
Hey ... don't worry about questions. I'm happy to answer them where I can. :)

I like green tea, but I don't drink it for weight loss. There are studies that have shown it has anti-oxidant properties and that it *might* help a teeny tiny bit with burning fat, but as far as the concept of drinking green tea and losing more weight ... I think for most people it just doesn't make that big of a difference. You'd have to drink a helluva lot of green tea for it to make a real, measurable difference.

I drink green tea because I like it and because sometimes a cup of tea helps with a craving. :)
 
Oh as far as all the other stuff ... nutrients, sodium, calories from fat, etc. ... it can get really confusing and you can get totally bogged down in the details.

Here's what I consider important and I really let the rest go.

I want to stay within a certain calorie level.
Within those calories, I want my macro nutrients (carbs/protein/fat) to break out to about 40/35/25 (most people work with a 40/30/30 range).
Within those limits, I want to keep my overall sodium low (under 2400 mg)

Other than that, the rest of the details can go hang. :) I could get really caught up in all the minute little details of things, but I find that if I get a healthy balance of complex carbs / lean protein / healthy fats, the rest sort of falls into place.

There's one thing I do automatically now that help me achieve this: I make sure every snack and every meal has some protein and either a veg or a fruit. Then I fill in around there with complex carbs and healthy fats. It keeps things simple for me.
 
KaraCooks said:
I think if you're really REALLY working out hard, running a long distance, or training for some kind of athletic event, then it can be good to replace those minerals and salts, but your average person who works out for 30-60 mins a day, I just don't think it's necessary. Eat a banana before working out and you get more nutrition than a gallon of Gatorade. :)
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IMO, even if you need extra workout nutrition it's way better to utilize something like an energy gel or chew. I've had good luck in the past with the Clif chews. But Kara makes a great point here about duration. The only time I ever used those was during 45-60 minute cross-country runs during the hottest part of the day in AL. In the summer. And they were probably just helpful, but not needed.
 
kerrys24 said:
Ok, so i'm gonna give the protein shakes ago (making sure i count cals of course ;)).

I don't find the counting cals too difficult, i use caloriecounter.com and there's loads of stuff it's all the fat / sodium / fat from saturated..etc stuff i don't understand. I start reading a label then i get confused so i just look at cals and go by that.

What are you thoughts on Green Tea?

Sorry for all the questions. :)
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I'm with Kara again. Make sure you don't get bogged down too much in the details. I try to make sure my protein, carbs, fat, saturated fat, and calories are in line. And then if I notice a jump or dip in weight I might look over the food log again to see if I can correlate anything. E.g. a daily weigh-in unexpectedly high? Oh snap, I was high on sodium the two days before, better tweak my eating.

But really I wanted to weigh in on the protein. Soy is bad, mmmkay? You don't want too much of the stuff and it is already everywhere. Cassein and whey are the two proteins in milk. Cassein is slower-digesting, making it a better choice for a snack as it will keep you full for longer. Whey is faster-absorbing and is recommended for pre- or post-workout nutrition as a result. If you are only going to use one and are exercising then I strongly recommend the whey.
 
Soy is bad, mmmkay? You don't want too much of the stuff and it is already everywhere. Cassein and whey are the two proteins in milk. Cassein is slower-digesting, making it a better choice for a snack as it will keep you full for longer. Whey is faster-absorbing and is recommended for pre- or post-workout nutrition as a result. If you are only going to use one and are exercising then I strongly recommend the whey.
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Yes, good points that I didn't mention.

I agree ... there have been studies that have shown that too much soy can mess with estrogen levels in women. I'm not an alarmist in general, but it's something I pay attention to. I eat enough soy in other areas, so I make sure that I get whey isolate protein for my protein shakes. :)
 
Thanks guys for your help.

This forum is a lot more imformative than past forums i've used. They told me i needed to eat less and move more but not how, and why. :)
 
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