Is it possible to gain 4+ pounds in two weeks without going 500 over my burn rate? In the last 2.5 weeks, I gained 4.5lbs! My goal was to eat 2000 kcals a day to maintain, and most days I didn't even reach that... And it wasn't like I was sitting around all day either, I excercised 4-5 days per week, spent hours cleaning my room and practicing on my drumset...How could this happen????
Advice and comments would be appreciated.... Thanks.
Water retention? Due tohormones? Due to worked muscles?
Basically if it's water retention, then those pounds are going to disappear again in short order provided that you're eating enough and drinking water.
If it's truly weight gained then you probably are not measuring your food acurately or are using the gym machines measurements for what your calorie burn is. A heart rate monitor is more accurate.
It's probably normal weight fluctuation.
Weight fluctuation is normal.. I have not been eating much junk and I have been out and about but I gained a little. *shrugs*
I think I understand this water retention thing... but I have no idea why becuase I didn't eat anything different then usual. Jewish= no Christmas binges. I ate between 1500-2000 kcals every day, maybe less because sometimes I overestimate. My excercise looked like:
Sat 12/20: 6 mile run fast, Sun: 3 mile run, med, Mon: 5 miles, med + 45min Tae Kwon Do, Tues: 45min Tae Kwon Do, Thurs: 5miles fast, Friday: 6.5 miles med/fast, Sat: 5miles fast, Mon: 5 miles fast, Tues: 6.5 miles med, Wed: 5.5 miles, med, Fri: soccer practice (2 hrs, including sprintwork and speedladder) Sat: soccer practice 1hr, Sun: 30min run, 30 casual basketball, 30 min jog, Mon: soccer practice 1.5 hrs (sprintwork and 2000meter race) + 45min Tae Kwon Do, Tues: soccer practice 1.5hrs with 20min intense sprintwork + 45min Tae Kwon Do....
Sorry to be so paranoid but this has never happened to me before! And 4.5 is a lot of lbs to have to lose again!
Because you're 18 your body is most likely still growing. Being athletic and therefore muscular you should expect to be at the mid- upper end of the BMI scale. Although at 128-130lbs your BMI is currently 21, which is not overweight so even though you're 4lbs heavier than you were, you don't need to lose weight. So why the panic?
2000 calories is nowhere near enough for someone as active and young as you to maintain their weight and function healthily. Undereat persistently, eat irregularly, skip meals and you can, ironically, end up gaining weight in the long-run.... The CC calculators are designed for over 20's and will underestimate the amount you need, but this one http://www.kidsnutrition.org/bodycomp/bmiz2.h tml is designed for under 20's. If you input your stats you'll see that doing over an hour of exercise a day you need nearly 3000 cals to maintain your weight. With that in mind, 1500-2000 is effectively a crash diet. Bad idea.
Suggest you increase your food intake substantially, eat good foods and try to eat more regularly. You don't need to calorie count at all and, if standing on the scales bothers you, don't stand on them. Don't try to lose the 4.5lbs by cutting calories or you'll simply make matters worse.
Keep in mind that you DO exercise a lot, and young growing bodies need MORE calories then adults who’s bodies have stopped growing.
So, your exercise and growing body means that the recommended calories that websites recommend might not be enough
These calculators are not 100% accurate, they are good guidelines but you need to listen to your body to some extent too
You are definitely NOT eating too much, so the most likely explanation for your weight gain is:
You are not eating enough for the exercise you are doing so your body has reduced the rate it burns energy because it thinks it is starving and wants to conserve energy
You have gained more muscle from all your exercise and muscle weighs more then fat, so if you have gained muscle it will show up on the scale
Water retention, hormones, and other bodily functions can also all influence your weight, so just try to relax and remember that the calorie calculators on the internet are not an exact guide and that you still need to listen to your body and how you feel - if you are still hungry after you eat what the computer says, then it means your body needs more food so eat more! Just grab a snack, or eat a little extra of the a meal if you feel genuinely hungry
You can retain water for any number of reasons including the most common ones.
- Salt - eating salt seems to cause water retention.
- Hormones - different times of our cycles women tend to retain more water.
- Muscles - when used, muscles retain more water at first.
- Dehydration - if you don't drink enough your body tends to store water like a camel.
Water weighs a lot and we have to constantly be drinking fluids so there are plently of opportunities for our bodies to hang onto it instead of getting rid of it. It's instant on and depending on how quickly it's processed pretty quick going off.
okay... thanks for all the input! I think I should just start eating more and things will level out. Hope that works!
Eat enough, drink enough water, continue exercising and give yourself a break from the scale for a week or so.
