Help! Weight gain despite exercise and healthy eating

adzcoz44

I am a 26 year old 6'2 guy currently weighing 17 stone 11 pounds. My ideal weight for someone of my height, bone structure and muscle mass is around 14 stone. I have gained about three stone since March 2013 from stress and a sedentary lifestyle. My father was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour last spring and I was his primary care until he died in January 2014. This triggered my weight gain, and together with the stress and sedentary nature of writing my master's thesis and working in an office until June 2014, this weight gain has picked up speed. The cherry on the top of the cake (no pun intended) is the fact that I have been really down (I don't want to use the word depressed because I have not been diagnosed as clinically depressed) because I have been unemployed for the past four months and cannot find a job.

About two months ago, I had enough and decided to address my weight gain. I have been eating a healthy controlled diet (no yo yo dieting) consisting of plenty of water (I don't drink anything else), fresh fruit and veg, lean proteins, low GI carbs and limited fats. I have been carb cycling during this time with five protein days and two carb days per week. I have been exercising, going tot he gym three times per week for about a 90 minute session during which I burn about 600 calories through high intensity cardio interval training, resistance training and circuit training. I also sleep about seven to eight hours per night.

Despite these efforts, I have continued to gain weight. I have gained about 10 pounds over the past 2 months and this is not muscle - my clothes are tighter and my waist is expanding. All the weight is going straight to my midriff and I am seriously concerned about the health implications. Do you think that there could be a medical reason why no weight has shifted despite my routine? Or do you think I could do things differently to burn fat. I have never had a problem losing weight - I lost four stone in 9 months five years ago by following a similar programme I am following now. But this time, I am finding it seriously difficult to get through the same workout as I did then and I am seeing no results. The only difference is that back then, I had absolutely no stress and right now, I feel that I am still emotionally reeling from my father passing away and that I am feeling really down because of my employment situation.

Please help! Any constructive advice would be much appreciated.

missiontofitness

Can you open your diary?
Also, do you log your food by weighing on a food scale?

adzcoz44

Thanks for the reply. I am new to the website so I have not had a chance to log anything yet but the diary feature seems to be really good. I will be using it. I have made it public too, although no info on there yet

justinbracken

Consistency always wins. Don't stop. Keep going. Stay consistent until you figure out what your body is doing. There could be any number of reasons for your lack of weight loss. Hormones could be out of whack due to stress; You might not be eating enough for your increased calorie expenditure; you might be eating too much without realizing it; you might not be in a calorie deficit or your calorie deficit is not sufficient to induce weight loss; you might be eating the wrong types of foods or your macronutrients might be too out of balance, for example you might actually need to eat more carbs on a regular basis because of your high intensity training; and the list goes on. Keep working on it for another 2-3 months and then if nothing happens you may want to get a physical exam and have your hormones checked, etc. Remember, it took you a while to get in this condition and it might take an equal length of time for your body to make adjustments. Just keep going.

z_bra

You are eating too much...weigh your food and count the calories

silentKayak

Hi. Welcome to the site, and I'm sorry about your loss.

Work out your daily caloric budget. Log your food intake as accurately as possible, track your exercise at 50% of what the site or machine tells you (counts are always wrong), and try to stay within your budget daily. Since you're not working, you could do a low-intensity cardio workout every single day. That'd give you a few more calories to eat.

It's very possible to gain weight on healthy foods while exercising. Since you spend most of your day sitting and you're not burning as many calories as you think at the gym, you probably need to cut your portions down.

I spent years yo-yo dieting on a "good foods/bad foods" approach like you're doing. And like you, I gained when I thought I was being "good" because I was simply eating too many calories to lose.

The advice to "keep going" is wrong, because the scale and the fit of your clothing say you're not moving in the right direction, so you have to change what you're doing. It's great that you're trying, you're not in denial, and you're ready to make the changes. You just need a plan you can follow.

Feel free to add me.

happyfeetrebel1

It doesn't matter how 'good' your foods are if you are consuming to many of them. Like the above peeps said, you need to log/weigh every single thing that enters your mouth. The amount you are gaining is caused by eating more than you are burning.

It can be quite an eye opener after not logging to start, I was consuming almost 2 times the amount I thought I was!