In week 4 and I've regained 5 lbs!

This topic contains 11 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by Chapelhillgirl 6 years, 10 months ago.

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Chapelhillgirl

6:03 pm
19 Jun 17
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I gained 57 pounds in the last year due to health issues and multiple rounds of steroids. I am finally well enough to diet and exercise again and am a little confused. I gained 6 lbs the first week, then weighed myself today and I am up 5! My TDEE is 2700 calories and I have been eating at or below it and I have been fasting 2-3 days/week. According to my Fitness Tracker, I am averaging 1700 calories a week. I have also been exercising on average 3 days/week mostly with speed walking and strength training. I am writing down EVERYTHING I eat and am not sure what I am doing wrong. Any ideas?

Amazon

7:22 pm
19 Jun 17
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Hi,

As you already know,steroids have a dreadful effect on weight and even if you’re no longer taking them the effects may continue for a while. It would be almost impossible for you to overeat sufficiently to gain that much weight in such a short space of time.

Having said that, although I’ve no idea how much you weigh, a woman who is not a professional athlete does not need 2700 calories per day.

If I were you I would aim to eat less than 2000 calories on non fast days. Also, while exercise is good for everyone it doesn’t have as much of an effect on weight loss as some would have us believe so whatever the fitness tracker tells you, don’t be fooled into thinking exercise will make the weight fall off or be tempted to eat a bit more because the tracker tells you tht you’ve used up lots of calories.

It might take a while for the effects of the steroids on your weight to wear off so you’ll need to be patient but regular exerise and taking care of what and how much you eat will eventually pay off.

I’ve been doing 5:2 for a long time and if I stick to my eating plan I lose a similar amount in a week regardless of whether I’ve been to the gym several times or sat on the sofa all week. I exercise because it improves cardio-vascular fitness, makes me stronger and helps tone my body.

Good luck, I hope the weight starts to come off soon 🙂

Chapelhillgirl

8:06 pm
19 Jun 17
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I weigh 240. The TDEE did sound high, but I’ve been averaging 2000 – 2300 on my off days. I’ll reduce my calories on my off days and see if that helps.

Chapelhillgirl

8:07 pm
19 Jun 17
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Whoops! I lost 6 in my first week and then regained 5.

Amazon

8:26 pm
19 Jun 17
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It is impossible to lose 6lbs of fat in a single week as you would have to create a calorie deficit of around 25,000 calories. Most of it would have been fluid loss which never stays off. 1lb in four weeks is rather slow especially as you have a fair amount to lose.

Give yourself another 4 weeks on 2000 calories and see how it goes. You should have lost a few more lbs by then 🙂

bigbooty

1:36 am
20 Jun 17
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OK here is my take on things. Please discard as you see fit. There is no magic involved. Based on what you are currently eating you are either underestimating your caloric intake or overestimating your caloric expenditure. having said that “a calorie is a calorie” is the biggest myth going around. 2300 calories worth of chocolate donuts will NOT be processed the same as 2300 calories of broccoli. The way your body processes, stores and uses caloric intake is affected by a suite of hormones. Those hormones are secreted in response to the type of foods you intake. Increase foods that increase insulin and you are in trouble if your aim is to lose weight. eating glucose rich foods supresses the release of the hormone CCK by the small intestines. Easting fats increases CCK. CCK is responsible for triggering signals to the hypothalamus that you are full, or satiated. I.e. You need to stop eating. Double whammy, so glucose supresses the production of CCk and fructose impedes that signal from reaching the hypothalamus. Fructose also interferes with leptin so that the signal is interfered with and does not reach the hypothalamus. Leptin is produced by you fat cells. Lots of fat cells means lots of leptin. Leptin tells your brain not to panic if there is no food around. If you don’t eat you wont die as you have lots of reserves at the moment. Fructose interferes with that signal.

Of the foods you eat how many are processed foods and how many are whole foods? If you have to open up a packet to eat it, then generally its processed. If it contains more than 5 ingredients then generally its processed. Examples: Bread, cakes, biscuits, pizza, breakfast cereals, muesli bars, fruit juice, health drinks, energy drinks, smoothies, protein shakes. Easy way to classify a food as processed, ask yourself this. Would your great grandmother recognise it as food? If the answer is no, then its probably processed. Did the food originate from the central isles of a supermarket? Then its probably processed. Try and shop using the outside isles. Whole veggies, some fruit, nuts, legumes, beans, some meat and fish. Cheese, high fat low sugar yogurt.

Good luck with it. 5:2 is half the story, the other half is eating whole foods.

CalifDreamer

3:18 am
20 Jun 17
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Amazon, I used the TDEE calculator on this site, along with a bunch of guesses, and came up with 2727 calories TDEE. All we know is her weight and that it sounds
as though she is moderately active. I put in a guessed height of 5 feet, 5 inches and an age of 40. So based on 240 pounds and my guesses, she could have a TDEE of around 2700 calories.

I agree that exercise likely doesn’t burn the number of calories a fitness tracker tells you it does. I never even look at the calories “won” by exercise. I just count actual calories eaten to come up with my TDEE. Over the years and over many diets, that seems to be what works.

Bigbooty, I agree that it makes a difference what you eat as well as the calorie content. Most whole foods contain a lot more fiber than processed food. Sugar and other sweeteners make you feel great when you’re eating them, but they play havoc with your blood sugar for a while afterwards. I don’t have the willpower to override those blood sugar urges to eat even more, so I limit the amount of sugar I eat and try to limit it to whole fruits. Whole food fiber makes you feel full a lot more quickly than an empty processed food.

A good test for whole vs processed foods? If there is a cents off coupon for it in the Sunday paper, it’s probably proceed!

bigbooty

3:50 am
20 Jun 17
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@cd I like it. Whens the last time you saw a discount voucher for fresh fruit and veggies?

Another simple test to see if its highly processed food. Leave the food out on your kitchen counter or a few days. If it hasn’t gone off and isn’t covered in mould/bacteria then its been processed. If bacteria/mould wont eat it, then you shouldn’t eat it.

LJoyce

4:30 am
20 Jun 17
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I’ve seen a number of people on this forum choosing to use the TDEE that applies to their goal weight, not their current weight for their NFD. I think it has a lot of merit as you get plenty of time to practice eating the quantity of food that will help you maintain your goal weight once you get there. It also avoids the endless adjustments you need to make to your TDEE as you lose weight as every pound lost and every year older will keep changing it.

I do also agree with the other comments that choosing mainly wholefoods and fresh foods is better for our bodies, and something to try to move towards in our everyday eating.

Chapelhillgirl, I hope you find that your weight loss continues. It isn’t unusual for it to be slow or erratic, Mine was both erratic and slow, but I did lose 9kg (20 pounds) over the first 3 months.
On the issue of TDEE – just because one of the BMR equations tells you that your TDEE is a particular figure, doesn’t mean it actually is. This is the average figure for a person of that age, height, gender and activity level. It doesn’t take account of the effect that other factors may have, eg medication, chronic disease, your genes, your hormone levels, your gut bacteria profile… I worked with a dietitian for months trying to determine what my TDEE actually was – because when I followed my supposed TDEE I gained weight. After months of keeping really detailed records I discovered that my TDEE is about 16% less that the figure I get from the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation.

Amazon

7:38 am
20 Jun 17
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As with everything else, TDEE is a calculated guess at best and not necessarily accurate. Add to the mix several doses of steroids which have a side effect of weight gain and because of the nature of how they work in order to cure the problem they are prescribed for, their effects continue long after the prescription has ended, and it is impossible to tell where eating too much ends and medication effects begin.

Let’s not turn this thread into a discussion regarding the accuracy (or not) of TDEE, what is needed is practical, simple advice on how to lose weight using 5:2. The most sensible option is eat less and no-one is going to starve eating 2000 calories on non fast days.

CalifDreamer

4:06 pm
20 Jun 17
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Bigbooty said:
“@cd I like it. Whens the last time you saw a discount voucher for fresh fruit and veggies?”

Bigbooty, I think it was the same day I same day I saw two pigs flying over the neighbor’s fence. 🙂

I’ve had processed food in my pantry that lasted longer than most marriages! I once used Cool Whip on top of some Irish coffees because I liked the way it lasted without melting down as quickly as real whipped cream. At the end of the night I emptied some cups that still had some Cool Whip in them into the sink. The following day, after sleeping in late and nursing a hangover, I went to the kitchen sink and saw all of the whipped topping completely intact, lying on the bottom of the sink. The thought crossed my mind about how long that stuff must be floating around in my stomach!

Chapelhillgirl

3:30 pm
21 Jun 17
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Thanks for the feedback, all! For the record, I am 42, weigh 240, and exercise by speed-walking 2-3 miles and doing strength training 3-4 days a week.

I hit Trader Joe’s hard yesterday for fresh fruit, veggies, and lean proteins. I am cutting back on sugar and processed foods per your advice and have reduced my daily calories on my non-fast days to 2200.

I will let you know what happens.