I gained a pound!

roseganira

I don't get it. I started a diet and exercise program 7 days ago. I've eaten less than 1200 calories per day and have worked out everyday for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half! And I mix it up by doing a different cardio workout every other day and I do strength training every other day after my cardio. I can usually lose weight easily when I diet and exercise like this. I just don't get it!

katiezi

You might have gained some muscle mass since you've been working out everyday. Muscle weighs more than fat.

roseganira

Oh, and another thing I don't get is that the week before i started dieting and exercising again I lost 4lbs! And i was eating fast food and desert every night. I haven't eaten any fast food and i've only had chocolate once this week

solman66

I've eaten less than 1200 calories per day and have worked out everyday for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half!

This could be your problem. Eat more. It might sound odd, but try it.

dlyeates

You might be eating too few calories if you are netting less than 1200. Also sometimes when you start working out your muscles hold onto fluids to repair themselves and that looks like weight gain. I would eat a little more to ward off starvation mode and to make sure you are fueling your body appropriately!!

mestrydom

Hi roseganira

Weight will always fluctuate. Sometimes it's simply the body holding back water or 'that time of the month'! Don't worry about it... Monitor your average weight-loss over a 4-6 week period and don't get caught up in the 'ups-and'downs' of weighing every day/week.

Sometimes just having a little 'cheat-snack' over a weekend will get you going again. Hang in there! ;-)

roseganira

I can tell a difference in my abdomen as far as muscle is concerned, and I know muscle weighs more than fat but I do so much cardio, ya know? And according to this site I'm supposed to eat 1200 calories a day

reaolliemama

[/quote]
This could be your problem. Eat more. It might sound odd, but try it.
[/quote]

This!

ajbeans

You did not gain muscle. You dont' gain muscle on a caloric deficit.

Eat more. You're not eating enough so your body is hoarding what little food you're giving it. A fire will burn out if you don't give it enough fuel.

roseganira

It's just so frustrating. Usually I give up on dieting when something like this happens, but i'm not going to give up this time. I think the weight gain may be from another more personal issue. Since I started my new diet i haven't had a bm.. Too much info right? lol...but maybe that's why

eeeekie

"I've eaten less than 1200 calories per day"

There is where your problem lies.

You need to eat more.

lor007

You might have gained some muscle mass since you've been working out everyday. Muscle weighs more than fat.

This did not happen.

roseganira

ok ajbeans, thanks, i'll try it

roseganira

I had an eating disorder years back and I ate less than 600 cals per day and worked out excessively and I lost 115lbs in 8 months. But i started gaining it back pretty quickly so I won't do that again

roseganira

So thanks girls, i'll try eating a little more and when i weigh in next week hopefully it makes a difference.

eeeekie

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo?error_user_id=4046456&error_username=eeeekie

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/230930-starvation-mode-how-it-works

^ read those posts. it's very informative.

roseganira

On the plus side, my jeans fit better from all the ab work i've been doing

Gee45

You lost four pounds and then the next week you gained 1. So 3 pounds lost in two weeks, averages to 1.5 lb loss per week. Pretty good. So much fluctuations with water.
Just make sure you eat a bit more when you are exercising.

roseganira

thanks eeekie, i'll read those

eeeekie

So thanks girls, i'll try eating a little more and when i weigh in next week hopefully it makes a difference.

Give it longer than a week.

megababe4

You have to remmeber that if you are just starting to do weight work, your body will gain mussle mass before you will see any difference on the scale. I am a slave to the scale and had to learn not to be. I worked out for a month, 4-5 times a week and only lost one pound. I started to measure myself though and I was getting smaller, just not weighing less. Mussle weighs more thatn fat. So just give it time and don't get discouraged by the scale. SHE can be ruthless at times. Keep it up your doing great!

honor82

Give yourself more than a week. I know it's frustrating because you want to see a lower number each and every week. However, this is an unreasonable way to think. Keep exercising and eating healthy and the weight will come of eventually.

pocomama

I am not a medical professional and I realise that it totally depends on how much you have to lose, but I am not a huge fan of eating back all of my exercise calories. I try to have an average net of around 700 calories a day. And I eat...a lot. I think that as I get closer to the overweight BMI and out of the obese I might have to revise my thinking but I do not think there is a blanket answer. Some people succeed by eating back every single exercise calorie, others succeed by eating less.

I think if you are in this for the long haul you have to accept that there are going to be times when you gain a pound or two. I have been up 2 for the past 3 weeks. It is frustrating, and I am changing things up a bit, but I am focusing more on how I feel, and the fact is that eating sweets and giving up on the exercise is not an option for me. I can't do it, I have come too far. Even in the beginning though, just the decision to change my life was something I was not willing to sabotage. But it is hard. Please dont get discouraged.

chrissi_k

I agree with the others, try to eat more and just my 2 cents a pound is a pound, so a pound of fat is a pound of muscle.

So muscles don't weight more than fat. It is like 2 lbs of feathers weight as much as 2 lbs of concrete

Qarol

You might have gained some muscle mass since you've been working out everyday. Muscle weighs more than fat.

In a week? Please.

roseganira

I'm not going to get discouraged because I remember after I had my daughter and before I had an eating disorder i was dieting and exercising for weeks before i actually started losing weight. And my husband is trying to lose weight also so last night I told him we should keep 3 charts..1 for our weight each week, the 2nd one to chart our daily exercise, and the 3rd one to chart what we eat. I thought that he would think it's a stupid idea but he seems very excited about it. So i'm glad him and I can encourage either and i also get encouragement on here

LuciLawless

I'm having the same problems. I can't help but hate it, but my mother says that some days you hit a peak but eventually it will go down again

roseganira

lol, my mom says basically the same thing

_GlaDOS_

Muscle does not weigh more than fat.

You did not gain muscle in such a short amount of time, and on such a huge deficit.

Eating less than 1200 calories per day consistently is a terrible idea for most people.

Regardless of what your net goal is, you need to eat back the calories you burn during exercise.

If you want to lose weight in a healthy way and preserve whatever muscle you already have, you need to eat more and set your goal to lose only 1 lb per week. Obviously, starving yourself did not work in the past since you said you gained weight back. It doesn't work for most people.

ETA: Don't freak out about a 1 lb "gain".

MercenaryNoetic26

I can easily eat and **** two pounds.

BarbWhite09

Just because the site says eat 1200, doesn't mean you need to. Bump it up to 1400 for a while. & are you eating back your exercise calories? When you weighed were you sore from working out? Your muscle retains water when it's trying to repair it's self [when youre sore]. Hows your sodium intake been? Is it almost that time of month? Lot of factors. Don't get discouraged.