How not to be discouraged...

karonyc

Morning,
Just wondering...I've been working out for 30 minutes strength training and 30 minutes running at 5.0 on treadmill 4x's a week for 3 weeks. I also keep at 1240 calories or below 95% of the time. Instead of losing I've gained 2 lbs. I'm 5'4, 14bs, 41 yrs old. I don't have a lot to lose, just about 6lbs. But what's the deal? Why am I gaining instead of losing? And I get muscles weigh more than fat but my clothes isn't fitting any looser either... Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

singingflutelady

Are you weighing your food? It could also be water weight from muscle repair. You can't gain 2 lbs of muscle in 3 weeks.

hill8570

If you hadn't been doing any significant exercise before you started your current regimen, I'd agree with @singingflutelady -- it's water weight gain, which should be sloughing off pretty soon.

If you don't have that much to lose, you're probably not running much of a calorie deficit, in which case accurately weighing your food and not doing any pantry flybys and other nibbles is going to be the difference between maintaining and losing once that water weight goes away.

cathipa

If you are only consuming 1240 or less a day you need to reconsider your calories. Given your exercise regimen you should probably be eating more. Change your goal to 0.5-1 pound loss per week which is reasonable for most people on MFP. Make sure you are weighing all of your foods and logging accurately (avoid homemade or generic). Make sure you are drinking plenty of water (at least 64 oz a day) since you are probably also retaining some fluid due to DOMS. 3 weeks is too soon to say if this is working or not, but just don't give up.

lorrpb

I can fluctuate 2 lbs from one day to the next.

eandasher

Aside from water weight, it could be inflammation. I get it pretty bad after a hard workout about 4-5lbs gained, to combat this I've started drinking 1-2 tbsp. of apple cider vinegar with my OJ in the morning. and adding 1 tbsp. of hot sauce to my breakfast and lunch. I only gain about 2-3lbs after a hard workout now (it's only been 1 week of testing this)

karonyc

Thanks so much!