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