following plan but gaining? help!

faythe

I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, exercising and eating within my limits except for sodium, it's almost impossible to stay on track with that, and I apparently have gained 5 pounds this week. Is this just from the shock of not exercising/eating well to suddenly exercising and eating well? I really hope so because if that's not the case I'm going to be very disappointed.

I'm nursing my 6-week-old baby so I allow myself 2100 calories per day to allow for milk production. I know this isn't too much because when I lost the weight in 2009 I allowed myself around 1700 calories and you're supposed to add about 500 for milk production.

I guess I'm just confused, I've never had this happen before. Any advice?

mariasheehan

Congrats on new baby!!! you're pretty amazing to lose weight so early so kudos to you!!!

The EXACT same thing happened to me this week, I put on 4lbs, and I freaked out, however......... 2 days of being extra good and keeping my sodium super low, I've lost 3lbs of it. So your problem might be sodium too??? I was just retaining fluid like crazy. I'm trying to cut out processed foods and eat more 'normal' home made stuff. And more fruits and veg as well as lots of water. It's really made a difference.

shaunshaikh

Sodium makes you retain water. If you've just started a new exercise program, your body composition could be changing and you could be gaining muscle weight faster than you're burning fat weight (which is GOOD).

I would suggest to anybody on this website that they should track more metrics than weight -- take measurements witha tape measure, take pictures, test your VO2Max on a treadmill, find your body fat %, etc.

luv2ash

make it a goal to get that sodium down. It can be done. You just have to stay away from anything in a can or a box or processed meats as well.

luv2ash

PS-- anything from a restaurant will kill the sodium values, too----keep that in mind, just make better choices to improve that sodium. Stay away from restaurants, especially fast food--if you must visit a restaurant, don't go fast food, and go to better quality restaurant and stay away from sauces (as well as fried foods for obvious reasons).

faythe

PS-- anything from a restaurant will kill the sodium values, too----keep that in mind, just make better choices to improve that sodium. Stay away from restaurants, especially fast food--if you must visit a restaurant, don't go fast food, and go to better quality restaurant and stay away from sauces (as well as fried foods for obvious reasons).

I work at McDonald's so it's really hard to avoid fast food when I get it for free. I eat pretty much only the grilled chicken and occasionally beef but even the chicken is really high sodium. I think I might have to take a potassium supplement or drink lots more water or something.