What is going on with me?!?!? HELP!!!

Mommy08

Hello, I'm looking for any help I can get on my situation because I'm starting to worry that something is wrong with me. First off let me say that I am very passionate about health and nutrition. My BMI is 25 which is JUST barely in the overweight category and I am trying to lose about 20lbs now. I have researched all the different diets and educated myself on what your body needs to run at it's optimum level and to encourage weight-loss. I’m NOT doing fad diets or anything of the sort. What I am doing is eating clean and exercising like I'll die without it. What I am not doing anymore however is losing any weight . . . I am not even considered at a plateau I don't think. I have actually GAINED back 2 or 3 pounds in the last week!!! I have NO clue what is going on with me! I drink plenty of water. Actually the only things I drink are water and light soy milk. I eat 3 meals a day that are all under 400 calories and are nutritious with a balance of complex carbs and always vegetables. I have 2 snacks a day which consist of an apple, orange, banana, some sort of fruit. According to everything I have researched I am doing things right; eating clean foods that my body needs and cutting out sugars, etc.

My exercise week looks like this . . . 5 days a week I hit the gym on my lunch hour and do 30 minutes of cardio. I work HARD during this time, running 2 miles and doing other things. 3 nights a week for 60 minutes I do a bootcamp class at my gym which includes strength training and one night of cardio. And on the weekends I might take one day off but I usually do another 3 miles on the treadmill. . .

So please help with any suggestions. I’m not starving my body, I’m not doing some crazy fad diet . . . I am just at a loss as to what is going on. It’s extremely difficult to work so hard and be so conscious of what I’m eating with no “slip-ups” and hitting the gym and then the needle on the scale goes in the other direction!! I mean doesn’t it also come down to simple math, eat less calories than you expend and you’ll lose weight????

Frustrated and looking for hope . . . please help! Thank you!!!!

khloe

Sounds like you are gaining muscle, which is heavier than fat! Take measurements, and chuck the scales, it could be more accurate for you. Best of luck, keep it up...:flowerforyou:

abredbenner

I don't think you are eating enough for all the exercising that you are doing. Are you tracking your food and exercise here?

amboardman

Are you eating the calories that you burn off during your exercise or are you staying strictly at 1200 cal/day? If you're not eating at least part of your exercise calories, it could be that your body is in starvation mode, actually dropping your metabolism. Just a thought. Hang in there and good luck!

Mommy08

But even if I'm not eating enough, which I think I'm close to it . . . shouldn't I be losign weight regardless??? Or if I didn't lose weight, shouldn't it just stay the same and hit the wall so to say? Why would I GAIN weight??? *cry *cry

stacyoct19

I know you say you're not starving your body, but you are really burning some fuel with all of that working out! You mentioned 3 meals at about 400 calories each, with a fruit at each one of your snacks. You can't really be taking in more than 1400 calories. With all that working out, I would say you definitely need to be eating more. I'm not an expert, but that's what it looks like to me.

kingnatalie

Agreed... Muscle weights more than fat. Also are you eating your exercise calories?

Mommy08

To be honest, I don't really count my calories, I just knwo my portion sizes and what the approximate count is . . . it's just really frustrating. Thanks for the tip!

slimberger

Try measuring inches and body fat percentage as opposed to weight alone.

nanianela

Sometimes when people are doing only cardio, they need to do more to lose weight, you should try balancing it out with equal amount of strength training. If you do the same thing every week, your body will get used to it. Not to mention, with the strength training you are doing now, you could be gaining muscle mass. Muscle could be replacing the fat, which weighs the same, but takes up less space. Try taking measurements also, don't just rely on the scale to show you results. If you're doing everything you say you're doing, you should be still seeing progress. Who knows, maybe you did reach your plateau already ! Don't give up ! Push through it. Take measurements, get your BMI calculated at the gym.

Mommy08

What do you mean eating my exercise calories?? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

Mommy08

Thank you

chgudnitz

I was going to say something similar to abredbenner. There's no way you gained 3 pounds of muscle in a week unless you are on HGH or steroids, which I doubt or you wouldn't be complaining about it. :laugh: Anyway, you didn't tell us certain things like age, height, weight, etc... so knowing if you're eating enough or too much isn't really possible. Plus, one persons idea of HARD cardio may be totally different from someone elses. It really looks like you may not be eating enough food though. Do you eat exercise calories? I'm not trying to get into the back and forth of whether to eat them or now, just curious. How long have you not been losing weight for? A week, a month... again just trying to see where you are.

nanianela

MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT ! A pound is a pound ! A pound of fat takes up more room than a pound of muscle. Common misconception !

stacyoct19

But even if I'm not eating enough, which I think I'm close to it . . . shouldn't I be losign weight regardless??? Or if I didn't lose weight, shouldn't it just stay the same and hit the wall so to say? Why would I GAIN weight??? *cry *cry

you would gain weight because your body will start storing the food you are eating instead of just using it for fuel. then your metabolism slows down in order to make what foods it gets last.

BigdaddyJ

same thing happenned to me, I gained 4 lbs in 1 week!!! but my clothes got loosier and now i'm loosing weight again! It also doesn't hurt to see your fanily doctor before you start a diet/workout program...just to have explained to you what goes on in your body when get going in such a programm


Good luck
FB32

Ezzie

I'll agree with the earlier posts....if you are only eating 1200-1300 calories and exercising like you are, your body probably isn't liking what you are asking it to do which is build muscle (from the exercise) while your NET caloric intake is less than 1200 calories, so please check your intake calories minus-exercise calories. If it is less than 1200 your body is most likely trying to keep you from starvation.

GinaB30

I'm confused because the personal trainer always said that a pound is a pound.

Kind of like, if you have a pound of butter and a pound of sugar..it's still a pound.

So how exactly does muscle weigh *more* than fat?

If anyone can explain that, I'd love to know!! lol

nanianela

Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat ! It just takes up less space. I've posted this a couple of times already !

Mommy08

I am 25 years old, 5'8" and weigh 164lb.
I haven't been losing since last week Wednesday, I dont' expect to lose every week but I certainly do NOT expect to gain 3 pounds. I weigh myself religiously every morning wearing the same thing (nothing) at the same time. How could I gain 3lbs in a week with all that I"m doing. And yes. . . I know what hard cardio is . . . I'm NOT one of these people that take 20 minutes to walk 1 mile and think they worked out hard. No offense intended to anyone with that but I push myself HARD!!

gabi_ele

Here are a few threads that helped me out.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/9433-expectations

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calories

samseed101

MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT ! A pound is a pound ! A pound of fat takes up more room than a pound of muscle. Common misconception !

Yes, muscle does indeed weigh more than fat. In fact, you even contradicted yourself in your own post! You said that a pound of fat takes up more room than a pound of muscle. Do you know why? That is because muscle is more dense than fat and therefore needs LESS room to reach an equal weight.

Yes, a pound is a pound, but we're talking about density here. let me put it another way. A pound of feathers will weigh the same as a pound of rocks (obviously.) However, the pound of rocks will take up FAR less room than a pound of feathers. That is because rocks weigh more than feathers.

erickirb

Like others said it apears you are not eating enough. You should have no less than 1200 Net calories. So if you eat 1400 and burn another 400, your are only at 1000 (1400-400) Net calories and therefore may be in starvation mode. You may want to start tracking on MFP your food and exercise and adjust till you find the right balance.

abredbenner

Read this link (and many others on here) about eating back exercise calories.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions?page=1

How do you know your meals are under 400 calories if you are not counting calories? Are they prepackaged meals? Maybe you are taking in a lot of salt from those meals and retaining water.

I am about the same BMI as you, just under 25. I am on about 1200 calories a day to lose 1.5 pounds/week. I exercise about 6 days a week (walking, running, biking, swimming, strength training or combo). I usually don't eat back all of my exercise calories (sometimes 800/day) but I try to eat back most of them.

I would strongly suggest filling out your goals and then track your calories and exercise. MFP will tell you how many calories you should have/day.

samseed101

I'm confused because the personal trainer always said that a pound is a pound.

Kind of like, if you have a pound of butter and a pound of sugar..it's still a pound.

So how exactly does muscle weigh *more* than fat?

If anyone can explain that, I'd love to know!! lol

I just explained it above. You are thinking of it the wrong way. Yes, a pound is a pound. But think of the density. Muscle is much more dense than fat. Think of this as another example:

Lets say you are 200 lbs. Now lets say that through exercise, you manage to burn 20lbs of pure fat, and you also manage to gain 20 lbs of pure muscle. Of course, that's not going to happen quite that way, but let's just use that for arguments sake.

Now lets say that you step ion a scale. You will be greatly disappointed to learn that you are still 200lbd after all that work! But wait a second, if you are still 200 lbs, why are your clothes fitting more loosely than before? Your waist size, hip size, etc all shrunk, yet your weight is the same? How is that possible?

That is because muscle is more dense. Given a certain volume, muscle will weight more than fat. So you could actually be a few sizes smaller and in much better shape yet when you step on the same it says the same exact thing.

parvati

First of all quit weighing yourself every day...try once a week.
You could be stressing yourself out which will prevent you from losing weight.
Second, take your measurements....some weeks i am down more in weight....some down more in inches....either way i feel good about a loss.
I think you probably need to up your calorie intake or make an adjustment to the types of foods you are eating.
Eat tons of fibre & tons of protein...no simple carbs at all & keep your complex carbs to a minimum, but still eat them. You also need good fats....almonds, avacado, ect..... eating like that WILL make you lose weight.
Watch your salt intake & drink plenty of water.
Also how long have you been doing this....your body still could be adjusting to everything.....also for women certain times of the month can hold onto several pounds of water.....which you will lose soon.
This will pass....relax a bit, it will all be good!!

chgudnitz

But even if I'm not eating enough, which I think I'm close to it . . . shouldn't I be losign weight regardless??? Or if I didn't lose weight, shouldn't it just stay the same and hit the wall so to say? Why would I GAIN weight??? *cry *cry

you would gain weight because your body will start storing the food you are eating instead of just using it for fuel. then your metabolism slows down in order to make what foods it gets last.

Well again not realllllly necessarily true. If you are putting in less than you are burning in a day you will still lose weight, just at a slower and slower pace.

samseed101

I'm confused because the personal trainer always said that a pound is a pound.

Kind of like, if you have a pound of butter and a pound of sugar..it's still a pound.

So how exactly does muscle weigh *more* than fat?

If anyone can explain that, I'd love to know!! lol

Just to add (although i already mentioned this above.)

We also all know that a pound of feathers is the same exact weight as a pound of lead. But isn't it safe to say that lead weighs more than feathers?

chgudnitz

I am 25 years old, 5'8" and weigh 164lb.
I haven't been losing since last week Wednesday, I dont' expect to lose every week but I certainly do NOT expect to gain 3 pounds. I weigh myself religiously every morning wearing the same thing (nothing) at the same time. How could I gain 3lbs in a week with all that I"m doing. And yes. . . I know what hard cardio is . . . I'm NOT one of these people that take 20 minutes to walk 1 mile and think they worked out hard. No offense intended to anyone with that but I push myself HARD!!

I was simply looking for clarity, no offense intended. Don't freak out over 1 week with a weight gain on the scale. Did you have salt yesterday or the day before? Maybe not go to the bathroom? If there were a long term pattern of weight gain then you should look at changing something, but for a blip on the radar, it's really not that bad. Add to it that you're a woman and you all have those tricky little bodies that do weird things all the time, who knows why you may be retaining water for a certain reason.

Don't worry about it.

CasperO

Semantics are confusing us here, it comes up a lot.

1 pound equals 1 pound.
1 pound of muscle weighs 1 pound - hence the name.
1 pound of fat weigh one pound, again, hence the name.

Density is another issue, and yes, fat is slightly less dense than lean muscle. But both kinds of tissue are mostly water and the diff is pretty subtle. This is not a case of "1 pound of muscle fills a bean can - 1 pound of fat fills a breadbox".
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I strongly doubt that she's gained muscle while eating 1200 cals a day and exercising like a demon. And even if she is,,, Arnold S on full 'roids never gained 3 pounds in a week. It just doesn't work.

To gain muscle mass your body must have excess material to make the muscle out of, most protein. If you're in a 1500 calorie a day deficit then you don't have the excess material (and your size, with your exercise routine, and not eating your exercise calories - I'm sure you're in at least that much deficit).

SO - you're probably in starv mode. Your abused body has grabbed 3 pints of water in self defense. I don't blame it, I would too.

So,,, what'cha gonna do?

CasperO

I'm confused because the personal trainer always said that a pound is a pound.

Kind of like, if you have a pound of butter and a pound of sugar..it's still a pound.

So how exactly does muscle weigh *more* than fat?

If anyone can explain that, I'd love to know!! lol

Just to add (although i already mentioned this above.)

We also all know that a pound of feathers is the same exact weight as a pound of lead. But isn't it safe to say that lead weighs more than feathers?

No, it is safe to say lead is more dense than feathers. It would be safe to say that 1 cubic inch of lead weighs more than 1 cubic inch of feathers. But "weighs more"? - no,,, a pound is a pound.