Really frustrated - keep gaining weight

besenok

I am hoping someone can give me some idea on what the hell am I doing wrong But I am now beyond frustrated.
I am 5'4", 39 years old. Until about 5 years ago, my weight was at a stable 120lb (including going back to it 6 weeks after having a baby), then I had some health issues, stopped exercising and gained about 10 lb. I tried dieting, exercising a little bit on my own - but would just get a fluctuation of 2-3 lb which I would gain back immediately. So, 2 months ago I decided to start working out with a personal trainer and really try to get back into shape.
For 2 months now, I have been doing weight training 3 days a week, cardio 3 days a week. I in general have a healthy diet, but I have been tracking it and would keep my caloric intake at 1400 or so daily (regardless of how much I exercise the day). I do not eat sweets, processed food, and with very few exceptions always eat at home. I drink a lot of water and plain tea throughout the day. My personal trainer said that he expects me to gain a few (2-3 lb) in the first month (I gained exactly 5 lb), but then it will start shedding off. Well, its now been 2 months of this, and I have gained another 5 lb ( I am beyond frustrated now, I just stepped on the scale, and I am at 140 lb - which is the absolute highest weight I have ever had, and now I am horrified that I will never loose that, and I am completely discouraged.
Any ideas from anyone? I will also talk to my coach today because this is just really the opposite of what I am trying to achieve (
And I don't look thinner, my clothes are getting tighter, so even if there is some muscle gain there, its not enough to explain the 10lb

Unknown

This content has been removed.

julesEMS2016

Sounds like you are doing well workout wise. What does your trainer think of 1400 calories daily? That seems a little low if you aren't eating back your exercise calories. Even if you eat back the exercise calories every other day it might help your metabolism fire up more.

How about your water intake? That might help flush sodium from your system that could be causing water weight. The only other thing I can think of is if there is a hormone issue. If a persons hormones are off it can cause weight gain and make it extremely difficult to lose the weight.

besenok

I've never posted before, but I've been using MFP for calorie tracking for a couple of years now. I'm pretty confident that 1400 is exactly the calories that I am consuming - I am even being conservative where I have a category of "tasting" that I add every day for 200 calories (I cook for my family, so tasting the food that I cook even if I don't eat it probably adds up to about that). Trainer thinks that 1400 is about where I should be if I want to loose weight. Water intake - I drink about 60oz of water a day, plus 2-3 cups of warm tea/coffee (which I drink black) every day. At the last physical (3 months ago) all of my hormone levels were normal, no flags of any sort ;(

smc92079

Are you weighing your food when you track it? Are you tracking absolutely everything? If you're gaining 5lbs a month you can't be eating in a deficit. Where did you get the 1400 number?

Ready2Rock206

You're using your food scale for all solids? Measuring cups for all liquids? Using the recipe builder? Using accurate entries? Etc?

besenok

I weight the food when I track it, I have a little kitchen scale. I am using the MFP tracker - and I literally create meals (since majority of my food is consumed at home) - and then weight the portions etc. Is it possible that my baseline is extremely low for some reason and 1400 is too high?

Maxxitt

I have a hard time believing that 1400 calories, given your activity level and age, is too high but clearly you are consuming more calories than your body requires for maintenance, much less creating a deficit. Weight training can add 3-5 pounds due to muscle inflammation and water weight but it generally settles out over a month or two so that if you are creating a deficit, you lose weight. Your menstrual cycle also can cause you to vary weight over the month; if that was the explanation here, you'd notice fluctuations, not a steady gain plus tight clothes. Depending on the nature of your "health problem" that you referenced, there could be an endocrine or other medical issue going on (ask your physician?) It could be that your little kitchen scale is not accurate - you need a digital unit that can zero out and weigh in grams. It could be that you are using inaccurate entries in the data base - there are many of them, and they are sometimes "verified" by other users so they are hard to spot. If either your scale or the entries you are using are off, your 1400 calories could be a lot more. If you don't want to get a different scale, be vigilant about using entries in the database that are usda based for meats and measure grams, not cups, for all solid foods. After that, the only thing I can think of is cutting another 100 calories a day and seeing what difference that makes over a month.

besenok

Thank you. To be clear my "little kitchen scale" is digital And it does zero out, so I am guessing that the scale is actually pretty accurate. My health problem was not endocrine, but basically prevented me from exercising for 3 years (I used to exercise daily before as well) and created a weight gain of 10 lb that started this whole mess. Thank you. I think maybe I will try one fasting or near fasting day a week to see if it helps. I am seriously just at my wits end, I cannot believe that 2 months of hardcore exercise would result in 10 lb of extra weight which I now can't think of a way of loosing.

krnole

I have the same problem. Are you doing net 1400 or just eating the 1400. I csnt eat the net that my fitness pal suggests eating 2500 cals then minus excercise. May basal resting metabolic rate is 800, which is very low. My doc said even wiith exercise 1000-1200 cals a day for me to lose weight. Its frustrating, and i get hungry!!!

kimny72

Would you be willing to open your food diary? There are a lot of common logging mistakes that fresh eyes might catch. But I know not everyone is comfortable doing that, so without access to that, my suggestions:

1. Double check the entries you are using in the database to the USDA published values or the package. Many are user-entered and wrong.
2. Commit to 2-3 weeks of embarrassingly accurate logging. No estimating nibbles, no rounding. Put every solid and semisolid food on the scale. Log every beverage and condiment. You don't HAVE to do this forever, but committing to a couple of weeks may shine the spotlight on the problem.
3. If you do both, and 4 weeks from now you are still sure you're eating 1400 cals and you haven't lost any weight, I would suggest a checkup with a full blood panel. An undiagnosed thyroid or other medical condition may be messing with your results.

For reference, I am 44 5'5" and 130lbs. And a lazy *kitten* LOL! A couple of years ago I ate 1500 cals to go from 140ish to 130 and lost @ 1 lb per month. While this might be the highest weight you've ever been, it is just barely overweight so progress will be slow and tiny little problems can easily erase your deficit. I know it's frustrating, hang in there and good luck :drinker:

AliceDark

While we all try to track as accurately as possible, in reality, nobody tracks their food with 100% accuracy. I've found that, for me, it's a better practice to accept that I'm being inaccurate in some way, which helps me to be open-minded enough to find my errors when I make them.

Would you be willing to open your diary? Other people may be able to spot issues that you may be overlooking.

mubarak_m

Are you sleeping enough?
Read about cortisol and stress.