Can someone explain what I might be doing wrong?

[farmwife]

30/F
4’11”
CW: 144lbs
GW: 115lbs

I am eating at a pretty significant calorie deficit than normal. E.g. I wasn’t calorie counting before and eating very high caloric shitty and greasy meals along with alcohol before the last two weeks.

I started mindful eating/cico two weeks ago and wanted to tackle eating before I get back in the gym, and cut out alcohol. I’ve been walking 7k steps a day.

I tripled my normal protein intake (think premier shakes, protein yogurt, collagen, protein bars, low calorie meats, veggies, etc) and I’m clocking in MINIMUM of 110g of protein a day, while maintaining to be at 1300 a day. I’m really happy about the protein increase because I’m finding myself to be less hungry and eat smaller portion sizes which rocks.

Instead of losing literally anything, I’ve somehow gained weight. What the fuck? Of course this is pretty discouraging and I need to “trust the process” but could anyone offer insight or guidance as to why this might be happening?

I know it’s only been two weeks, but even a 1lb change would be a huge win for me.

I calculated my TDEE:
BMR is 1445
Maintenance is 1734

What the hell am I doing wrong?!

 

[rossylisy]

@farmwife Nothing. Make sure you are drinking enough water, getting adequate fiber, and sleeping enough. One day it will whoosh off. This will happen again when you start at the gym and can last weeks. Trust the process!

 

[farmwife]

@rossylisy THANK YOU

 

[tobyp]

@farmwife One month I was the same damn weight for literally 4 weeks. It was driving me crazy. And then one day I had the whoosh and I was 4lbs lighter.

Just trust the process and give it time. Also make sure you're getting plenty of sleep.

 

[uticus]

@farmwife ONE MONTH, I’m serious give it a month. I was legit an entire month doing the right things and not changing I just ignored it and kept going and boom I’m down now. When we start changing our lifestyles sometimes we can swell a bit (walking more) or eating high protein sometimes causes us to not use the restroom as much lol. As time goes on your body will adjust and get better.

That being said, do you have a food scale? Because at our height there is very little margin for error. I weigh everything when trying to lose fat. Patience is hard but to making a good lasting change, the time will pass anyway!!

Awesome work, keep going!

 

[uticus]

Also by my count you’re only at a 235 cal deficit. I swear by tdeecalculator.net that’s a modest deficit that will work over time but you won’t see changes immediately (which is fine! It’s a marathon not a race!)

 

[chandramohan]

@farmwife Your TDEE is 1535. Which means to lose 1 lbs a week you’d need to eat 1070 a day. Really sucks but that’s how it works for us shorties.

 

[farmwife]

@chandramohan Please correct me if I’m wrong— isn’t it recommended to not go under 1200? 1200 is a common baseline for our organ’s caloric needs?

 

[colithiel]

@farmwife If you’re drinking something like a collagen supplement, that is not a complete protein and you shouldn't count it towards your protein goals.

 

[farmwife]

@colithiel It’s a powder I add to my protein shakes. Just a 7g boost or so. Supplemental, not counting it as a complete like you said.

 

[colithiel]

@farmwife Ok, good. You mentioned it so I wanted to make sure.

I've been using macrofactor for the last 6 weeks or so and I really like it. It uses your food log and body weight to adjust macros and calories to eat at per week. Have you tried it? Are you logging and weighing all your food?

 

[colithiel]

@farmwife I like macrofactor because it adjusts based on your food log and weight. It starts out with kind of a generic number based on the same BMR and TDEE calculations, and then each week you check-in, and it takes your food, your body weight, and if you met your strategy for the week (ie, lose 1/2 lb per week), and if you didn't lose you 1/2 lb, it adjusts your calories. It takes a few weeks to really dial it in, but it gives a more accurate TDEE in the long run.

 

[farmwife]

@colithiel That sounds really helpful actually, I’m gonna look into it!