Gaining weight. How to keep from getting discouraged?

RElizabethM

About six weeks ago I started making a serious effort to lose weight. I religiously logged my food and started working out with a personal trainer. I started strong with calorie reduction but the intense workouts have increased my appetite substantially, so I recalculated and upped my intake from 1200 to 1500 per day. Since then I have had a harder and harder time sticking to 1500 calories a day, my appetite is getting out of control.

I have also gained a significant amount of weight -- about five pounds over the last six weeks. I am eating less than before I started trying to lose weight, so this is incredibly discouraging. I know it's muscle, I am much stronger and I am not any bigger than I was before. My shape looks more athletic, my trainer has been congratulating me for how much stronger I am, and that feels good, but it's devastating to work so hard and see the scale moving the wrong direction. I'm kind of at a loss now about what to do, I feel like giving up. I am so hungry all the time and I just keep getting heavier and heavier. Any (constructive) advice would be appreciated. How do I stay motivated?

General info: I'm 5'2" and 121 lbs as of this morning. I have a smaller frame, 121 lbs is big for me. Twice a week I go to the gym and do cardio for 5 mins and then 45 mins of strength training with a personal trainer, then I usually go running one day a week and hiking one day a week. I eat about 60g of protein a day, lots of fruit and vegetables, but still probably too much fat and refined sugar and not enough complex carbohydrates. I drink plenty of water and sometimes tea. I'm 27.

welltrainedmama

Did your personal trainer do your body fat % for you? That has been the most helpful tool for me. I have my personal trainer measure it once a month, so I can track my progress. It's much more accurate than the scale, in my opinion. Stick with it. Sounds like you are doing the right things.

Cindy
A glimpse at my 40+ lbs weight loss journey: http://youtu.be/EttwviubBF4

JeffseekingV

It's probably water weight retention. Not muscle.

Are you eating your exercise calories back? If not, do.

Are you accurately tracking your calories? By you comments, you might not be tracking everything.

I'd calculate your weight loss at no more than 1lb per week. That's plenty.

Are you being honest with logging your exercise calories? Strength training doesn't burn that much. And 5 min of cardio might not be worth tracking. But definitely log the runs and hikes.

Log everything and I mean everything. THEN evaluate where you are and devise a plan.

RElizabethM

Retaining five pounds of water at my size and not getting any bigger seems... unlikely. It's likely that it isn't all muscle, but water doesn't make you stronger and I am much, MUCH stronger, to the point where my trainer has been commenting on how impressed she is with how much stronger I am.

I don't enter my workouts into MFP and don't eat back my calories. I aim for 1500 every day whether or not I work out. At the end of the day I am usually so hungry that I eat closer to 1700, which is still below maintenance for my size and activity level, and less than I was eating before I started working out.