Why do I keep gaining weight???

dfnewcombe

@steelaxitute2127 is there anyway you can work with a professional trainer? I think he or she will help you with a conditioning program that will not only get you in shape to enlist, but also prepare you better for boot camp.

That would be my suggestion. I wish you absolutely the best in your journey and I hope to read more about your successes. You've got this!

VeronicaA76

Ready2Rock206 wrote: »

HarlemNY17 wrote: »

steelaxitute2127 wrote: »

Hi! I'm currently 170.6 pounds (according to my weigh-in this morning) and have a 36% body fat. I'm trying to get into the Army and need to either be at 147 or 32% body fat before I can start my testing. I was doing pretty well with losing about two pounds a week, but now I'm gaining those pounds back. I workout twice a day with one session as cardio and the other as a HIIT workout involving kickboxing at 9Round. I also try to keep me calorie intake around 1200. Why am I still gaining weight? If I use weights, I try not to go above 10 pounds. Please help!

Maybe you're gaining muscle?? When you gain muscle the scale goes up . See your doctor for muscle mass and body measurements

With her little weights that weigh less than my purse? Not likely!

The only light weight I do is when my trainer is trying to rip my arms from my shoulders doing lateral raised and holds. 5lbs get freakishly heavy when you hold them out for 30 seconds. But yeah, the pink weights aren't going to build muscle.

laurabadams

TayaAzizi wrote: »

MommaGem2017 wrote: »

TayaAzizi wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

TayaAzizi wrote: »

I can guarantee you are not measuring your intake properly. Even with zero exercise, someone having 1200 calories a day would not be gaining. The answer is in your eating and your balance of macronutrients (fat, carbs, protein) in relation to your actual calorie intake.

Are you making the right swaps in food to facilitate your weight loss too? ie: swap yoghurts for plain fat free yoghurts, sugar for sweetener, fizzy drinks for water, having skimmed or almond milk. Also a lot of people think juicing helps, which yes it can if you are careful with what you put in, but having fruit as juice reduces its filling power and makes it too easy to have a huge amount of calories and sugar so be careful with things like that too. Also watch for things that say they're fat free such as flavoured yoghurts, which compensate in flavour for other things your body should try to avoid.

Make your food as clean as possible by fuelling your body with what you NEED. Meat and fish or suitable alternatives if you are a vegetarian. If you want to lose weight faster, prioritise foods that have a low energy density for their weight which give them extra slimming power. This includes most fruit and vegetables but NOT ALL; bananas, cherries, pineapple, potatoes and sweetcorn being the more commonly eaten examples. These things are still fine to eat but if it's more rapid weight loss you're after, prioritise salads, meat, fish and plain fat free yoghurt with fruit prepared at home.

Don't buy things from elsewhere, no matter how healthy they appear, I guarantee you, they're not. A salad from a shop will be full of crap that you can't even see. Prep food at home to take to work or when you're out for the day. One day a week won't affect you, but a habit of trying to be healthy whilst eating salads, yoghurts or sandwiches out is compromising your diet more than you realise.

Finally, seemingly little things will make a huge difference. Careful of what butter and oils you cook with, check how much that salad dressing actually has in it and what cereals are you eating? A lot of cereals are bad for you and even the good ones, you should try and measure to no more than 40g. A bit of cheese here and there is fine but if it's over 30g in a day and not in balance with everything else, you are making it harder for yourself. Are you doing this?

I've lost half a stone in less than a month by doing just this and no changes to my exercise regime.

If you stopped posting after the very first sentence you'd be spot on. Everything after that ranges from not necessarily true, to completely wrong.

Completely true and proven with simple Science. We're not talking about body building. They're helpful tips to help people lose weight that can and do work and if people read up about it, they'd see how many people have lost weight successfully by making simple swaps and being careful about what goes into their food. It's not an opinion, it's fact. Simple calorie deficits are not enough if you're eating the wrong things. There's no need to cut out things you love, but it's all about balance.

It IS truly CICO. I eat real, full fat ice cream... every day. I'm losing weight. I eat potato chips, carbonated diet soda, cookies, and I'm losing weight. The key is that it is all worked within my calorie goal and I'm creating a deficit. And since I include foods I love, I don't feel deprived, I don't binge, and keep losing weight.

Absolutely, but it's about balance. I never said treats were off the cards, I have treats too but manage to lose every week. But someone is saying they have a calorie deficit (1200 a day) and is gaining. Simply saying she's calculating things wrong isn't particularly helpful as it's obvious she knows that, hence asking for advice. I don't think the treat foods here are the issue, it's everything around that and it would be constructive to work on that with a few simple things that could literally transform how successful her weight loss is. For example, people who eat 1200 calories a day but eat only treat foods in that time, will struggle at some point to lose weight. But each to their own. Offering advice from my own experience and that is evidence based. And no fad diets, it's a lifestyle change that is sustainable.

Anecdotal evidence isn't actual evidence...

ninerbuff

TayaAzizi wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

TayaAzizi wrote: »

I can guarantee you are not measuring your intake properly. Even with zero exercise, someone having 1200 calories a day would not be gaining. The answer is in your eating and your balance of macronutrients (fat, carbs, protein) in relation to your actual calorie intake.

Are you making the right swaps in food to facilitate your weight loss too? ie: swap yoghurts for plain fat free yoghurts, sugar for sweetener, fizzy drinks for water, having skimmed or almond milk. Also a lot of people think juicing helps, which yes it can if you are careful with what you put in, but having fruit as juice reduces its filling power and makes it too easy to have a huge amount of calories and sugar so be careful with things like that too. Also watch for things that say they're fat free such as flavoured yoghurts, which compensate in flavour for other things your body should try to avoid.

Make your food as clean as possible by fuelling your body with what you NEED. Meat and fish or suitable alternatives if you are a vegetarian. If you want to lose weight faster, prioritise foods that have a low energy density for their weight which give them extra slimming power. This includes most fruit and vegetables but NOT ALL; bananas, cherries, pineapple, potatoes and sweetcorn being the more commonly eaten examples. These things are still fine to eat but if it's more rapid weight loss you're after, prioritise salads, meat, fish and plain fat free yoghurt with fruit prepared at home.

Don't buy things from elsewhere, no matter how healthy they appear, I guarantee you, they're not. A salad from a shop will be full of crap that you can't even see. Prep food at home to take to work or when you're out for the day. One day a week won't affect you, but a habit of trying to be healthy whilst eating salads, yoghurts or sandwiches out is compromising your diet more than you realise.

Finally, seemingly little things will make a huge difference. Careful of what butter and oils you cook with, check how much that salad dressing actually has in it and what cereals are you eating? A lot of cereals are bad for you and even the good ones, you should try and measure to no more than 40g. A bit of cheese here and there is fine but if it's over 30g in a day and not in balance with everything else, you are making it harder for yourself. Are you doing this?

I've lost half a stone in less than a month by doing just this and no changes to my exercise regime.

If you stopped posting after the very first sentence you'd be spot on. Everything after that ranges from not necessarily true, to completely wrong.

Completely true and proven with simple Science. We're not talking about body building. They're helpful tips to help people lose weight that can and do work and if people read up about it, they'd see how many people have lost weight successfully by making simple swaps and being careful about what goes into their food. It's not an opinion, it's fact. Simple calorie deficits are not enough if you're eating the wrong things. There's no need to cut out things you love, but it's all about balance.

Go to a prison system and count up how many obese people are in there. They have no access to "clean" food and for some reason aren't dying on low quality processed foods that they may have to eat for a decade or more based on many felony sentences some of them get. So what keeps them lean and for some pretty "ripped"? 3 measured out meals a day that don't exceed their calorie intake.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Butterchop

I just wanted to comment on the prison food. I have seen you use that comparison several times. Prison food is not nutritionally void. It is more closely related to school cafeteria food which may taste awful but is nutritionally sound. It has to meet the same requirements. Also jail food is even healthier in some places. My county jail inmates grow their own garden and eat from it during the summer. I would guess the reason most prisoners are not overweight is portion control and lots of free time.

deannalfisher

@ninerbuff point is - you don't need to eat "clean" to lose weight - food can be nutritionally sound without being clean; you can lose weight eating "dirty" foods (FWIW, Oreos have a decently sound nutrition profile with fat/carbs and protein)...

people aren't overweight because of eating a lack of clean food, but because of portion control/CICO