Why am I gaining weight despite diet and exercise?

Wafflecatcassie

Hello,

I started exercising and dieting about a month ago and, according to my scale I've gained 2 lbs. I know muscle weighs more than fat, so I did my measurements with a tape measure and my waist was a whole 2 inches bigger. Why is this? What am a doing wrong?

Dinnylirium

Hello,

I started exercising and dieting about a month ago and, according to my scale I've gained 2 lbs. I know muscle weighs more than fat, so I did my measurements with a tape measure and my waist was a whole 2 inches bigger. Why is this? What am a doing wrong?

Hard to say, but there are two things you need to take into account:

- Whether or not you ate or drank before measuring. That can easily add an inch.

and

- If you have been doing muscle building work on your core. If you managed to increase the size of those muscles without losing enough fat off the top, well, then...

heybales

Consistent times for measurements, be that weight or size.

What if you had higher sodium night before the latest measurement. Or exercised before the last one.

Different posture for measuring? Do you measure 3 times and avg size?

Muscle in stomach area (if that is one of the exercises) shifting the fat around.

mattquit

i dunno but i posted the same thing yesterday and i got flamed.
some people would try and help you though and their question would be
what's your height, age, bmi, gender, calorie intake. and if you can open your diary for people to comment to it.

i think you maybe starving yourself. someone told me 800 calories is a starving. so i meant like if you eat 1500 but exercise 700 i think that's considered starving. you should pick one of the two if your planning on doing extreme

Pebble321

Hello,

I started exercising and dieting about a month ago and, according to my scale I've gained 2 lbs. I know muscle weighs more than fat, so I did my measurements with a tape measure and my waist was a whole 2 inches bigger. Why is this? What am a doing wrong?

It's hard to comment without knowing your stats (height, weight, goals) and seeing your diary. Give us a bit more info and you should get some helpful answers.
At a guess it's because you don't have your goals and numbers set right for you or because you aren't recording your food/exercise accurately.

mattquit

Hello,

I started exercising and dieting about a month ago and, according to my scale I've gained 2 lbs. I know muscle weighs more than fat, so I did my measurements with a tape measure and my waist was a whole 2 inches bigger. Why is this? What am a doing wrong?

It's hard to comment without knowing your stats (height, weight, goals) and seeing your diary. Give us a bit more info and you should get some helpful answers.
At a guess it's because you don't have your goals and numbers set right for you or because you aren't recording your food/exercise accurately.

see i was right

karinaes

maybe if your food diary wasn't private we'd be able to help
and what's your weight? height? goals?

karinaes

i dunno but i posted the same thing yesterday and i got flamed.
some people would try and help you though and their question would be
what's your height, age, bmi, gender, calorie intake. and if you can open your diary for people to comment to it.

i think you maybe starving yourself. someone told me 800 calories is a starving. so i meant like if you eat 1500 but exercise 700 i think that's considered starving. you should pick one of the two if your planning on doing extreme

hahahah.. i just saw this after i badgered him/her lol..
and yes, you are right about the starving thing

kylakesgal

Give it some time....takes our bodies awhile to adjust to the new and improved lifestyle change and what works for one,, doesn't always work for all! Just make sure you are eating enough to substain your new exercise lifestyle. For a woman, you shouldn't fall below 1200 net with exercise. You move more, you gotta eat more! Be patient though, the weight will come off:)

DesertSunsetRain

Muscle does not weigh more than fat!

J3SSP3NNY

If it is the week of your period, or before even you can gain weight (2-5lbs) and of course you bloat.

mattquit

If it is the week of your period, or before even you can gain weight (2-5lbs) and of course you bloat.

she said its been a month. just saying

heybales

see i was right

An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions - Robert A Humphrey

This is why people ask for more info. Nothing about flaming, or for some reason thinking it's odd.

Perhaps for a 19 yr old without much life experience, I'm sure you have all the answers without even needing to hear the end of the question normally.

But in real life, it's really a waste of time for both parties to throw out every idea under the sun, and then the receiver has to figure out which might apply.
And frankly, usually the receiver with a wide open question usually doesn't have the ability to do that - that's the whole reason for a poorly formed question.

So ya people want to help, useful help. Not just throw out 20 things that don't apply.
Out of kindness perhaps mention a few major glaring regular possibilities.

courtgosvener

I like how people complain about the diaries not being open. I had no clue up until a couple weeks ago you could have your diary viewable by other people, so don't bash people until you know they know you can have it opened to public view!

You could be eating too few calories or you could be gaining because you eat back the exercise calories and you are overestimating the calories burned since MFP is known for making something a 1000 calorie an hour burn where it may be more like 300-400! I wore my HRM and it was much much lower.

Eat your calories that MFP gives you and don't eat back your exercise calories if you work out really hard then eating back 100-200 might be fine. Drink your water and don't eat a bunch of processed foods like "100 calorie packs" those tend to make you hungrier I think! Eat veggies and try to get in a nice cardio burn too! Cardio is where fat is burned off. Building muscle helps you lose inches but at the same time if you are very overweight or have fat to burn the combination will be the best thing for you!

I agree if you are a woman, you can gain weight during your time of the month! I did and then lost 3lbs the next week!

Picklepower

are you pregnant?

firedragon064

Measurement is the best way to check your progress specially if you do exercise.
A few people eat too enough for their weight so they can't lose weight

mattquit

i wasn't considering you on the flaming zone. i know i was flamed because of my badly written question and also maybe because i'm male and shes not. i always listen to every suggestion or argument given to me.
sorry for posting this i wanted to go on but this isn't about me

Wafflecatcassie

Hey. Sorry, I didn't know my diary was set to private. I've changed it.


I haven't been using it long, but hopefully the information I have will help some ^^;

Wafflecatcassie

Most definitely not pregnant.

Also not on my period.

Helloitsdan

1,200 165 40 45 <----this is your caloric intake and macros! Its what a small bird would eat to lose weight!

Go to Fat to Fit Radio and use the tools for BF% "military" and do the calculator for BMR.
Then eat whatever your activity level tells you to.

ninerbuff

It boils down to a couple of possible reasons. If you measure at the approximate time you did on your first measurement and whether or not you've been consistent on your calorie deficit. You may have gained a little muscle, but if your deficit is consistent there would be minor gain.
So you may ave measured in the morning, then possibly in the evening? There would be a big fluctuation in water there. And of course the other is your calorie intake. If you've been consistent, then you should have lost. If not, then that may explain the gain.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
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Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition