body fat increase during pms or training mistake?

[rochey09]

I've been doing everything right, yet i've noticed an increase in body fat. As of yesterday, Ive been eating around 1400 calories a day of natural unprocessed foods and running everyday, weightlifting 3 days a week. Ive followed a plan like that over the last month, but I did eat a little recklessly the during the five days before yesterday. Today, I woke up with a noticable amount of extra body fat and i don't understand why. I do tend to gain a bit of it during my pms and it is that time of the month. But with diet and exercize, i don't understand what's with this increase. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what i'm doing wrong or does anyone else also experience an increase of body fat during pms? Any advice on how to lower body fat is also welcome.

[Advitam]

I've been doing everything right, yet i've noticed an increase in body fat. As of yesterday, Ive been eating around 1400 calories a day of natural unprocessed foods and running everyday, weightlifting 3 days a week. Ive followed a plan like that over the last month, but I did eat a little recklessly the during the five days before yesterday. Today, I woke up with a noticable amount of extra body fat and i don't understand why. I do tend to gain a bit of it during my pms and it is that time of the month. But with diet and exercize, i don't understand what's with this increase. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what i'm doing wrong or does anyone else also experience an increase of body fat during pms? Any advice on how to lower body fat is also welcome.

Everytime you cheat on your diet you are cheating on all the calories you reduced all week! I always get "bloatey" while Aunt Flo is in town too but don't mistake that for fat. Also, an interesting piece of information from Fitness Model/Writer Jamie Eason

"Did u know that for every 1 g of carbs you consume, your body holds roughly 3 g of water & that breaking down 1 lb into grams is about 454 g? So, if someone consumes, say 200 g of carbs a day, that's about 600 g of water, which can explain the nearly 2 lbs of water weight you gain by the end of the day. This is why low carb diets were popular for a while but don't obsess! Complex carbs provide energy & brain food!!"

Some mistake fat for water weight so just remember to ask yourself if that bacon maple bar will be worth it the next day.

Try exedrin menstrual - relieves bloating and every other wonderful thing about pms.

[nakedbabytoes]

It's false weight "bloat", like PP stated. It's like when you first go on a diet, and you loose "water weight" those first few weeks. Big numbers! But they aren't "real loss". Yours isn't "real gain" either. It's like your body went off a diet for a week(okay, 5 days) and you have big numbers & obvious fluff really quickly. Not real.
Unless you allow it to stay.

Get back on that horse, girl! Don't backtrack yourself.

[kimm4]

I've been doing everything right, yet i've noticed an increase in body fat. As of yesterday, Ive been eating around 1400 calories a day of natural unprocessed foods and running everyday, weightlifting 3 days a week. Ive followed a plan like that over the last month, but I did eat a little recklessly the during the five days before yesterday. Today, I woke up with a noticable amount of extra body fat and i don't understand why. I do tend to gain a bit of it during my pms and it is that time of the month. But with diet and exercize, i don't understand what's with this increase. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what i'm doing wrong or does anyone else also experience an increase of body fat during pms? Any advice on how to lower body fat is also welcome.

During pms there is more water fluctuation, which throws off body fat testing.

The fix, don't test your body fat during this time of the month...

[oregonchick76]

Bodyfat doesn't fluctuate like that. It's just water...

[sweethunibabi]

Water weight! I'm going through the same thing...my work pants are feeling tight this week. You don't gain a noticeable amount of fat overnight. Drink lots of water and do a little cardio...it should help.

[rochey09]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yes, I do need to get back on the horse! I think the reason i'm not seeing changes is because i'm not patient enough to stick to the diet part of the plan long... Can't let myself get discouraged anymore!

[fitinidaho]

1400 cals at 115 pounds? Why so little food?

[rochey09]

I'm 120 pounds, i haven't updated in a while. and thats a bit above my bmr. i'm not trying to gain muscle i'm trying to lose fat. if anyone has any advice against this feel free to speak, i'm not entirely certain what i should be doing.

[goalorientgirl]

I'm 120 pounds, i haven't updated in a while. and thats a bit above my bmr. i'm not trying to gain muscle i'm trying to lose fat. if anyone has any advice against this feel free to speak, i'm not entirely certain what i should be doing.

Honestly, with the amount of activity you're doing, your maintenance calories are probably around 1900 a day, meaning you should probably be cutting around 1600, not 1400. If you eat a little higher day to day, you're much less likely to have reckless eating days which will set you back.

[rochey09]

hmmm. that's a good point. question. would it be possible that since i'm a runner and do more cardio than the average body builder... that i could wind up putting on more body fat if i don't eat more than the minimum of 1400 that i got from a bmr calculator? sorry if i sound stupid, i will completely admit that i am pretty young in the whole fitness thing. This is my first time really making plan for myself.

[goalorientgirl]

hmmm. that's a good point. question. would it be possible that since i'm a runner and do more cardio than the average body builder... that i could wind up putting on more body fat if i don't eat more than the minimum of 1400 that i got from a bmr calculator? sorry if i sound stupid, i will completely admit that i am pretty young in the whole fitness thing. This is my first time really making plan for myself.

If you're a regular runner, your body probably has a lower "maintenance" level than someone doing the same amount of cardio would have who doesn't run regularly. We sort of "get used" to running (especially marathoners), so our metabolism adjusts a little because of it. That being said, your maintenance might be, say 1850 instead of 1900. So, you might want to cut on a little less, say 1550, instead of 1600. It shouldn't be a huge adjustment, but you'll need some trial and error to figure out what your body really needs in terms of food.

Doing all that cardio won't make you put on fat, but you will have a very difficult time putting on muscle. Eating at a deficit, running 6 days a week, there is really no way your body is going to be able to add muscle. You'll still lose weight, but you won't be replacing fat with muscle, which is visually a lot nicer. People who go really on cardio can lose a lot of weight with diet, but their body fat percentage won't necessarily lower and they can end up "skinny fat". Some people are fine with that look though. It all depends on what you want.

[rochey09]

thank you very much for the advice. Well, Im currently training to run a sick 5k time in fall, so i don't want to add muscle right now. I would just like to get my body back to the shape it was during the last season (after adding quite a few inches during my time off...). I do periodization with my weight training and right now i'm only in the base phase. Just standard full body workouts with 2 minutes rest and 3x15 reps + high mileage at a decent pace. i should be more patient... In the past i see a lot of fat loss as soon as i start workouts like plyometrics, cardio circuit type of weight lifting, and track repeats. basically anything intense.

[goalorientgirl]

thank you very much for the advice. Well, Im currently training to run a sick 5k time in fall, so i don't want to add muscle right now. I would just like to get my body back to the shape it was during the last season (after adding quite a few inches during my time off...). I do periodization with my weight training and right now i'm only in the base phase. Just standard full body workouts with 2 minutes rest and 3x15 reps + high mileage at a decent pace. i should be more patient... In the past i see a lot of fat loss as soon as i start workouts like plyometrics, cardio circuit type of weight lifting, and track repeats. basically anything intense.

If you've trained for races before, you probably don't have to worry about doing anything differently. No need to add muscle if it'll hurt your race times. Just make sure you're eating enough to support all that cardio. The way you basically know is, you find the amount you start seeing those inches disappear but not so low that your running is affected. If you don't see any weight decrease/inch decrease after a couple weeks, reevaluate; if your race times start increasing instead of decreasing, reevaluate. Good luck.

[hurricane211]

Bodyfat doesn't fluctuate like that. It's just water...

^ I second this