I am trying to lose weight, but I am gaining instead.

RollTideLisa

Hi, for the last 2 weeks, I have been working out Very hard, I have been following the low calorie diet recommended by MFP, eating very clean and healthy. I weighed this morning and I have gained weight, and I feel bloated and of course depressed since I am not actually losing weight or size and basically just as fat as ever. How long does it take before anyone can actually have even small results? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you:)

Also, I do measure and record all the food I eat too, I keep a personal food journal.

BigT555

what you are more than likely seeing is weight gain due to water retention caused by the exercise you are now doing. give it a couple more weeks for your body to adjust, as long as you are eating at a calorie deficit you will lose weight

galprincess

2 weeks isn't very long and you've just started so im guessing your body is holding onto water, be sure to drink enough and soon enough it will drop patience is something ive had to learn

RollTideLisa

I have been drinking on average 9 glasses of water daily so maybe it is my body holding onto that. It's just very frustrating when you feel like you are working it so hard and you get the opposite effect of what you want to obtain. Thanks for the answers: )

BigT555

I have been drinking on average 9 glasses of water daily so maybe it is my body holding onto that. It's just very frustrating when you feel like you are working it so hard and you get the opposite effect of what you want to obtain. Thanks for the answers: )

i definitely know that feeling. take some progress pictures and measurements as well so you arent just relying on the scale, which has a reputation to screw with peoples heads due to water weight and such

RollTideLisa

I actually have my tape measure out beside me right now, I was going to measure this morning but I felt so bloated, I thought maybe wait another week, ha ha. Nothing like procrastination!

accelerashawn

what you are more than likely seeing is weight gain due to water retention caused by the exercise you are now doing. give it a couple more weeks for your body to adjust, as long as you are eating at a calorie deficit you will lose weight

I nodded yes as I read this.

Your body needs time to adapt to the changes you've made. You got past the first 2 weeks...now the results will start coming quicker!

Also, if you haven't been lifting or working out in years and just started, your initial muscle growth will be huge. Not to say you'll get huge muscles but they will activate and swell to help push you through the new workouts. This will look like a gain on the scale but the more in shape your muscles are, the more calories they burn...so the initial weight gain will make the future weight loss easier.

BirdGirlFit

I know the feeling! You are doing a wonderful job and sometimes the scale doesn't move for a variety of reasons. Water retention is a big one and I know that it can be so frustrating to feel like you're not making any progress. Just because you haven't lost any weight yet doesn't mean your body isn't changing though! Keep up the great work, I've found that sometimes the scale doesn't move and then all of a sudden a month later I lose three-five pounds.

NataBost

Hi, for the last 2 weeks, I have been working out Very hard, I have been following the low calorie diet recommended by MFP, eating very clean and healthy. I weighed this morning and I have gained weight, and I feel bloated and of course depressed since I am not actually losing weight or size and basically just as fat as ever. How long does it take before anyone can actually have even small results? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you:)

Also, I do measure and record all the food I eat too, I keep a personal food journal.

It does take a few weeks for everything to shift, so be patient. You've started on a healthy journey, so YAY!

In regards to measuring - are you using cups or are you weighing food? Check this out for an eye opener: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

RollTideLisa

Thanks, I have actually been working out for years, but it was always with a very small amount of weight with any strength training exercises. I did recently begin working out with larger weights because I want to preserve and gain muscle. But , my diet has always been my "pitfall". That is why I was really hoping all the extra working out and the calorie control would have faster results.

RollTideLisa

Thank you all for the encouragement, it is cool to see how much each of you has lost!!

RollTideLisa

I actually do weigh my food on my kitchen scales, but that is a great pointer for those who use measuring cups!! Thank you .

MKEgal

I have been working out Very hard, I have been following the low calorie diet recommended by MFP, eating very clean and healthy. I weighed this morning and I have gained weight ... I am not actually losing weight or size and basically just as fat as ever. How long does it take before anyone can actually have even small results?

It's frustrating to work hard & not get the results you expect. :sad:
But if you're eating fewer calories than you're using you will not gain weight. It's impossible. (Unless it's the water weight, which as we know is highly variable.)
Over the long term, watch for trends & ignore the bumps in the graph.

"Eating clean" means different things to different people. Organic food has the same calories as regular food (and really, all food is organic), so if you eat fewer calories than you burn you'll lose weight no matter what you eat.

if you haven't been lifting or working out in years and just started, your initial muscle growth will be huge

Notice when you increase repetitions or the amount of weight - your muscles are getting stronger, even if you're not increasing in measurements. And actually your measurements should be dropping as you replace puffy fat with sleek muscle.

Another possibility is that you're not eating enough to support your weight & activity.
Don't be more than 1000 cal below what you need.
DON'T go below 1200 unless monitored by a doctor.

If you're hungry at the end of the day, eat back 1/3 to 1/2 of what you burned in exercise.

As an example, if you weigh 250 lb you need 2500 cal, and if you want to lose 1 lb a week you need to drop 500 cal per day, so aim for 2000 cal.
For 2 lb go down 1000 cal for 1500 total.

Tippy05

Keep at it! Everyone here is right, it's likely that your body is just adjusting to the new changes. Muscles growing, retaining water... it all makes sense if you stop to think about it.

I am currently going through something almost identical (started working out and ate MORE, gained a few pounds). I was frustrated/pretty upset but things are starting to turn back around. I jumped on the scale today and I'm back to where I started. It's not ideal, but it's now treading in the right direction again.

Keep it up and don't give up. I know I was tempted to when I was about 2 weeks in too. You're doing great! Trust the process and you'll see the results.

sshep1

I'm struggling with the same thing, My daughter and I have only been on our program for 2 weeks, but I've gained 5 pounds and she has lost five. Very frustrated because I'm working very hard.