I'm gaining and losing. Why?

jgm379

I will go 2 weeks w/o losing a pound. I will go a week and lose 3 pounds sometimes. My diet and exercise has not changed. I jog/run 2 miles 3-4 days a week. I do 30 min of cardio/strength mix exercising 3-4 times a week. I intake 900 to 1500 calories a day. I go from 157 to 161 over and over. What can I do to change this?

mschelle

Water? I can gain or lose 5 pounds in a single day sometimes just from water weight.

Your 900 calories days are way too low, so your body may be going into starvation mode and clinging to calories for dear life.

smiak18

What is your goal weight? Maybe switch up your exercise, instead of running try something else. Sometimes if we continue the same routine day in and day out our body gets use to it and won't make any adjustments. Are you drinking your water? Try swimming for a change. I threw that into my weekly routine and I have noticed a difference in body shape. Good luck and don't give up.

NatalieWinning

There are things you can't control. Diabetics know this. Stress, heat, cold, hormones, how much you sleep, if you are under the weather, maybe getting or fighting off sickness, ietc... You might need more fluids one day, not so much the next.

Just keep going and congrats on keeping the losses going! As long as you aren't yo-yo dieting and keeping up the effort, it's all good!

Buckeyt

My first suggestion would be to change your exercise routine. As you do the same thing over and over it becomes easier for your body to do. The easier it gets, the less calories you burn.

You said you intake 900 - 1500 so to me that seems like you ARE changing your diet although 900 seems a bit low if you're also exercising on those days as well.

What's the alternative? Give up? No way, just keep at it.

Tim

SuzanneRogers

never go below 1200 calories.. you are probably not eating enough if you are working out most days.

Mindful_Trent

How tall are you? It may be that this range is your body's "happy" weight range at this point in your life. Some people set a goal weight based on a weight they were at a much younger age/before kids/etc., which isn't always realistic. You may want to shift your focus from weight loss to strength/toning and overall health. Keep up the healthy eating and great exercise routine - congrats on your accomplishments so far!

RMinVA

I will go 2 weeks w/o losing a pound. I will go a week and lose 3 pounds sometimes. My diet and exercise has not changed. I jog/run 2 miles 3-4 days a week. I do 30 min of cardio/strength mix exercising 3-4 times a week. I intake 900 to 1500 calories a day. I go from 157 to 161 over and over. What can I do to change this?

FYI, that is how I often lose weight, so you are not alone. As long as the overall trend is down, you are moving in the right direction. When I first started losing weight, I would go a couple weeks w/o dropping a thing, then within a few days drop 5 pounds.

Your "diet and exercise has not changed" and that may be part of the problem. Shake up your diet, add in some different foods or play around with calorie cycling. Make sure you are eating enough - minimum 1200 cals, 900 is not enough.

Muscle memory is real. Over time, our bodies become more efficeint, so we burn less calories doing the same thing. A good rule of thumb is never do the same work out 2 x in a row. You need to have a couple of different weight routines, and incorporate some tempo work or speed work into your running. Or even better, add in some different cardio.

jgm379

I am drinking mostly water everyday. My am 5"7. I have had 6 children back to back so I do carry alot of excess skin and sagging. lol. My exercising changes daily from p90x to pilates to billy blanks to jillian micheals. I'm trying to make every day different.

MichelleFirestone

I only have 2 kids, but I seem to have this extra skin as well. That just hangs there. I call it the baby pouch. it drives me insane. no matter what I do I can't seem to lose it. surgery is not an option for me. maybe someone can give some suggestions on how to get rid of the extra skin. you see people lose 100lbs plus and look great. where did there extra skin go?

YeaILift

1500 calories a day, you would only be averaging around half a pound a week first of all. Which isn't bad, but it seems to be less than most people want to lose in a week. I would suggest buying an electric scale so you can measure proportions. Also I wouldn't go below 1200 calories more than once at week at the very most, and even then, 300 calories below is way to low.