I'm gaining fat not weight, help?

sandyyy712

I've almost reached my weight loss goal. I used to be eating way too few calories per day and exercising a lot, but I've changed my plan a little. Now I've started to gradually increase my calories (only a few hundred) and keep my exercise about the same. I practice with a swim team 6 days a week in the morning for 2 hours and then in the afternoon I normally lift weights and sometimes I will run on a treadmill. My weight on the scale is about the same day to day, but I'm starting to develop a layer of fat on my stomach. I know it's not in my head, because I can't see my abs anymore even though I continue to do ab workouts. What should I do to get rid of the fat? I can't eat any less than I am eating because I'm probably still eating too little (and I'm supposed to be trying to increase my caloric intake) and I don't really have time to work out more. What can I do?

brittany103

It's hard to tell without knowing what you eat and I don't know too much about fitness, but I would suggest upping your protein.

carrie_eggo

When you say you lift weights, what does that consist of? What you are saying doesn't make sense. If you are lifting heavy and doing cardio, and you can't eat any less, the only place to go is up--eat more. But that still doesn't explain why you would be "gaining" fat. I'm sure there's another explanation as to why your stomach appears to have more fat on it.

sandyyy712

When I lift weights, one day I will do upper body (bench press, incline bench press, tricep and lat pull down, chest flies and bicep row), on the next day I do about an hour and a half of abs and back exercises, and on the third day I do legs (squats, leg extensions, hip adduction/abduction, calf raises, leg press and hamstring curls). I generally do two cycles of that and then take a rest day.

Because of my swimming in the morning it's hard for me to do cardio everyday so I generally only do it a few days a week when I have enough energy to. I've been wondering if that's why my stomach is gaining fat? Because I'm also not sure if swimming is even an effective way to lose fat?

chrisb75

Are you eating an excess of calories? If so are your fat AND carbohydrates really high?

carrie_eggo

When I lift weights, one day I will do upper body (bench press, incline bench press, tricep and lat pull down, chest flies and bicep row), on the next day I do about an hour and a half of abs and back exercises, and on the third day I do legs (squats, leg extensions, hip adduction/abduction, calf raises, leg press and hamstring curls). I generally do two cycles of that and then take a rest day.

Because of my swimming in the morning it's hard for me to do cardio everyday so I generally only do it a few days a week when I have enough energy to. I've been wondering if that's why my stomach is gaining fat? Because I'm also not sure if swimming is even an effective way to lose fat?

You're only truly gaining fat if you are eating in a calorie surplus. I don't really know what to say other than there must be another explanation.

sandyyy712

Are you eating an excess of calories? If so are your fat AND carbohydrates really high?

No, I plan my meals the day before and I try to aim for around 1200-1400 calories but I generally hit under that mark so I leave myself a few hundred extra calories of wiggle room in case I miscalculate or get hungry at night.
And my diet is mainly, I would say, high protein-low fat. I don't pay too much attention to carbs, but I do make sure I stay under or at my daily goal for them, according to my log.

kalsanity

maybe stress?

Keepcalmanddontblink

I've never lifted weights so I am not sure what it could be. Maybe swelling after a workout? Is it like that every day or just after a workout.

SLLRunner

I've almost reached my weight loss goal. I used to be eating way too few calories per day and exercising a lot, but I've changed my plan a little. Now I've started to gradually increase my calories (only a few hundred) and keep my exercise about the same. I practice with a swim team 6 days a week in the morning for 2 hours and then in the afternoon I normally lift weights and sometimes I will run on a treadmill. My weight on the scale is about the same day to day, but I'm starting to develop a layer of fat on my stomach. I know it's not in my head, because I can't see my abs anymore even though I continue to do ab workouts. What should I do to get rid of the fat? I can't eat any less than I am eating because I'm probably still eating too little (and I'm supposed to be trying to increase my caloric intake) and I don't really have time to work out more. What can I do?

To be honest, and I mean this in the kindest way, it sounds like you might have some body image issues. I say this because you say you exercise like crazy, need to up your calories, but you are focusing on what you see as a tummy fat. You really are working out excessively.

My advice is to talk to a professional and try not to be so hard on yourself.

Aaron_K123

I've almost reached my weight loss goal. I used to be eating way too few calories per day and exercising a lot, but I've changed my plan a little. Now I've started to gradually increase my calories (only a few hundred) and keep my exercise about the same. I practice with a swim team 6 days a week in the morning for 2 hours and then in the afternoon I normally lift weights and sometimes I will run on a treadmill. My weight on the scale is about the same day to day, but I'm starting to develop a layer of fat on my stomach. I know it's not in my head, because I can't see my abs anymore even though I continue to do ab workouts. What should I do to get rid of the fat? I can't eat any less than I am eating because I'm probably still eating too little (and I'm supposed to be trying to increase my caloric intake) and I don't really have time to work out more. What can I do?

To be honest, and I mean this in the kindest way, it sounds like you might have some body image issues. I say this because you say you exercise like crazy, need to up your calories, but you are focusing on what you see as a tummy fat. You really are working out excessively.

My advice is to talk to a professional and try not to be so hard on yourself.

Yeah for this reason I'm reluctant to comment. Your abs going away temporarily can be as simple as just a little bit of water retention or bloat possibly related to your monthly cycle or sodium intake or phase of the moon or whatever (okay phase of the moon is a joke but my point is it can be really hard to know why your body retains water at any given moment). I agree with SLLRunner that you sound like you are obsessing about this a bit much and you are probably fine.

If you are convinced you are actually putting on bodyfat then what you should do is get your bodyfat percentage professionally measured (BodPod, dunk tank, DEXA scan) and then get it rechecked two months later. If you are gaining fat chances are you aren't gaining it quickly and if it doesn't show up as an increase after two months it probably doesn't matter. You might be surprised to find your bodyfat actually is decreasing and its just a change in water retention or any number of other things.

Honestly at 19 your bodyshape isn't fully set yet, you are still developing and I always have some concern about people who calorically restrict when they are young but not an unhealthy weight.