WHAt AM I DOING WRONG!?!?

LaDiiHeArT

When I first started I didn't workout I just changed my eating habits. Now I'm eating right and working out & I'm gaining a pound every freaking week. What am I doing wrong? Help me out you guys!!!

alisondumb

Are you working out lots ? could it be muscle weight ? x

juanatere

You know I was just about to blog the same damn thing. I had lost two pounds the first week and a half and then gained it back and have not been able to lose it. I've upped my intake of calories 200 more calories - still freaked out by the BMR thing which states that I should be eating 2300 a day. Don't think I can. I've had weightloss surgery twice. Hit 198 and started back up again. I'm in the same boat you are when it comes to weight loss. so frustrating.

LaDiiHeArT

Are you working out lots ? could it be muscle weight ? x

Yea I have been working out at the gym for 2-3 times a week & 2 1/2 hours

alongiron

One thing that you could try is to decrease your daily caloric intake by 200 calories or so to see if this helps. If not, you may want to check with your doctor to have your thyroid checked. My wife went in and the numbers were off a bit. This can cause you to gain weight. They put her on some medicine and it has helped out and got here levels back to where they should be.

breeshabebe

Don't worry girl, the same thing was happening to me when I started working out hard at the gym. The scale said I was gaining a pound a day! Next week the scale will be better, when your muscles are recovering, they retain more water, especially in the begininng. Don't sweat it... just keep doing what your doing!

LaDiiHeArT

Don't worry girl, the same thing was happening to me when I started working out hard at the gym. The scale said I was gaining a pound a day! Next week the scale will be better, when your muscles are recovering, they retain more water, especially in the begininng. Don't sweat it... just keep doing what your doing!

I lost 11lbs the first month, now I'm on my second and I'm afraid I'm going to gain it all back

breeshabebe

Don't worry girl, the same thing was happening to me when I started working out hard at the gym. The scale said I was gaining a pound a day! Next week the scale will be better, when your muscles are recovering, they retain more water, especially in the begininng. Don't sweat it... just keep doing what your doing!

I lost 11lbs the first month, now I'm on my second and I'm afraid I'm going to gain it all back

Just keep going and if it doesn't change in a few weeks, then maybe adjust your calories. But I would hold off until then. I know its totally frustrating... but know that you are making the right changes and the LAST thing that you would want to do is to stop exercising just so that the number on the scale goes down- because that is only temporary. Drink your water, and keep going!

AmandaW01

Don't worry! If you follow the advice here you'll see that it can take 6-8 WEEKS before you can assess whether or not things are working for you - you're working out a lot and will be possibly carrying a lot of extra fluid in your battered muscles - its temporary. And what are you doing weighing daily?? STOP!!! You'll derail yourself - once a week MAX. Measure yourself - that is a far better way of seeing what's happening, but again, once a week, not daily. Your weight fluctuates naturally so much during the month - especially for us girls - ovulation and TOTM I can get a temp gain of up to 7lb!

You need to chill, not to worry, if you're eating clean and sticking to a healthy limit (don't undereat) and working out then it will happen - its just such a pain while waiting - I know, I'm there too :-)

jakki_brown

So glad to see this post. I'm on week one of p90x and I've been great on a diet and with my workouts. Usually, when I pick up a diet I'll easily lose 3-5 lbs the first week and I worked hard to get 1 lb off!

This makes me feel a little better about it..

MLibby84

are you lifting weights? could be muscle gain not fat gain.. hang in there

brwnsuga6

At this point you should now focus on your tape measurements. Remember a pound of fat and and pound of muscle weigh the same but muscle takes up less space than fat. So your weight may increase or stay the same but you body mass is decreasing. Be sure to keep up with your waist, hip and thigh measurements to make sure your body mass is decreasing. Good luck!

mayamagallanes

Me to0 I lost 8lbs in the first 2.5 weeks the third week I GAINED 10lbs back. I about lost it haha. But I have been working out 4x a week doing cardio and swimming and I just started weights. I have not seen any weight loss.. Grrr... I think I will start measuring because I FEEL smaller

HokieMama4

So glad to see this post. I'm in the SAME BOAT. I lost 10lbs relatively easily in about 3 weeks, then I started putting weight back on daily. I started following someone's advice to get off the scale, and that has helped my sanity a lot. I actually had to ask my husband to hide the scale. I'll weigh in for the first time in a week tomorrow. (Nervous and scared and hopeful.) I don't think we're doing anything wrong. I think our bodies are just adjusting. I eat about 1500-1800cals/day and net about 1000-1200. I'm doing pretty intense cardio 6 days a week and also doing light strength training 3 of those days, and heavy strength training 2-3 days. I can't imagine someone who eats and exercises like that can be overweight. So my theory is, I eat and move like the person I WANT to be, and if I'm consistent, eventually I'll BECOME that person. So many people have given be this great advice and encouragement: "Just keep at it. Don't give up. You'll get there."

Moneyinthejar

I am also very glad to see this. I started out changing my eating habits (1200 calories a day plus eating my exercise calories) and running a bit on the treadmill and was losing weight, 1-2 lbs a week. I started the 30 Day Shred 8 days ago, still eating well and I am heavier now than when I started...arrrrrgggggg! I finally have it in my head to just keep going and eventually I will see a pay off. I've started week 4 of my lifestyle change today, so I will give it a few more weeks and pray for the best. Thanks for starting this thread.

Danni1585

Be patient, are your counting everything? Including nights out? I'f you are creating. Deficit, and eating mouth cals in the first place it will come off x

LaDiiHeArT

Thank you guys and I feel like I should just weigh myself once a month because it really just takes a toll on my mind when I gain weight! I'm going to continue pushing myself and eating healthy + working out.

bamoya23

That is one thing I have learned. I have weigh in days and I do it every 5-6 weeks. Because if I weighed myself daily or weekly then I would be discouraged and etc. First weigh in for me I lost 10 lbs and second weigh in 13 lbs and thats after 6 weeks. For me it helps and I agree with what you are doing. You are doing great!!

paxbfl

Usually I agree with the posts about being patient and weigh yourself once a week (at most)... but you have 91 pounds to lose. If that's true (that you are 91 pounds or more above your ideal weight) you should be losing weight pretty easily.

We need more information. Did you calculate your BMR and TDEE? Use this calculator if you haven't:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

This will also give you a calorie goal based on a 20% calorie reduction off your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Let us know what that number is... and what your MFP goal is. They should be similar when you factor exercise in.

MFP sort of encourages you to eat back your exercise calories, because the goal changes when you put your workouts in. I would NOT eat back those calories back! In the midst of my weight-loss, I never did - and lost 2-3 pounds a week.

Think of it this way... eat at a deficit set up for 1 pound of weight-loss per week (which MFP can set up for you under the goals section). Basically that's a 500 calorie deficit per day off your TDEE. Then do your workouts but think of your workouts as "EXTRA" calorie burning. If you can burn an additional 500 calories per day (like I do), you'll burn another 3500 calories per week which is another pound. BOOM - there's 2 pounds per week you can lose.

Unless you get into strange situations (that usually happen when you get closer to your goal weight), this is just simple math - calories in and calories out. You just have to know all your numbers.

Try the calculator and let us know what you come up with!

marcee728

OK, so the truth to muscle weight is that you would have to be seriously be bulking up over a couple of weeks to add enough weight that it would reflect on the scale.

Go back to basics. Eating make sure you are logging EVERYTHING! not logging while working out is is like working and not tracking how much you spend. to the last penny!

also...recommendations for exercise while trying to lose weight: 45-60min cardio 5x/week; with strength training added to 2 of those days.

I am not saying you are doing something wrong...just saying reflect back and make sure you are following as you intended. good luck! I know it can be frustrating,

leanneb205

Maybe ditch the scales for a bit and start taking measurements instead to see how your bodys changing in inches rather than lb. you may be surprised

paxbfl

Maybe ditch the scales for a bit and start taking measurements instead to see how your bodys changing in inches rather than lb. you may be surprised

Great advice but she has 91 pounds to lose. If she eats at a 20% deficit she will lose fat much faster than she can possibly put muscle on. I have no doubt that she'll see the scale move if she figures out the numbers and sticks to her goal.

MightyDomo

Open up your diary maybe? Without seeing diet and exercise we cannot have the full scope of what is going on.

I would think if your gaining even with exercise it could be sleep or diet related. Certainly was my problem all of last year, I spent 11 months pretty much having 0-3 hours of broken sleep everynight (insomnia and nothing worked to treat it) I ended up needing to consume higher carb to give myself enough energy to get up everyday and I didn't balance it with protein and healthy fats. I went from about 133lbs to 171lbs in that time. So try looking at all aspects of what your doing and see if there is something different from when you were losing.

kevin3344

Usually I agree with the posts about being patient and weigh yourself once a week (at most)... but you have 91 pounds to lose. If that's true (that you are 91 pounds or more above your ideal weight) you should be losing weight pretty easily.

We need more information. Did you calculate your BMR and TDEE? Use this calculator if you haven't:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

This will also give you a calorie goal based on a 20% calorie reduction off your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Let us know what that number is... and what your MFP goal is. They should be similar when you factor exercise in.

MFP sort of encourages you to eat back your exercise calories, because the goal changes when you put your workouts in. I would NOT eat back those calories back! In the midst of my weight-loss, I never did - and lost 2-3 pounds a week.

Think of it this way... eat at a deficit set up for 1 pound of weight-loss per week (which MFP can set up for you under the goals section). Basically that's a 500 calorie deficit per day off your TDEE. Then do your workouts but think of your workouts as "EXTRA" calorie burning. If you can burn an additional 500 calories per day (like I do), you'll burn another 3500 calories per week which is another pound. BOOM - there's 2 pounds per week you can lose.

Unless you get into strange situations (that usually happen when you get closer to your goal weight), this is just simple math - calories in and calories out. You just have to know all your numbers.

Try the calculator and let us know what you come up with!

THIS. Also, open your diary...I bet it's in there. Could be too much sodium (which will cause you to retain water) or something else. However, if you've logged religiously every day (and been in a calorie deficit) you should see results.

Yea I have been working out at the gym for 2-3 times a week & 2 1/2 hours

If you're burning cals and still gaining it's not a calorie deficit. Keep in mind you can "eat healthy" and still gain weight. It just means you're taking in more than you burn off. Focus most of your efforts on your diary and a calorie deficit and you'll see results at the gym.

I'll give you a real life example of how important it is to log *everything*. My sister-in-law was at a standstill, logging every day, walking, etc. Wasn't losing. I asked her if she was logging everything and indeed she was - or so she thought. "Once in a while", she would sit at the computer and eat candy, which she didn't think amounted to much. I think it was a handful of Boston Baked Beans. Turning the bag over and looking at the cals she was in shock. Half a small bag was 300, a quarter of her daily goal of 1,200 calories. She cut out the candy and lost 17lbs in just over 3 months! That little bit of candy was the difference between her standing still and losing...

jlapey

Go to this group and read all the threads with red pins. If you have questions, you can join the group. It is run by a couple of MFP's most knowledgeable and successful members. They are very welcoming and informative.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-

PottsvilleCurse1925

Maybe you're pooping wrong causing a plateau? Check this thread out.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813554-do-i-poop-wrong?hl=poop

sa11yjane

I eat 1350 cals and exercise and can't lose weight- my BMR is higher than this at 1450 and a website says I should be eating around 2100 to maintain. It's just plain tough sometimes, isn;t it? My thyroid is on the low side but not yet low enough for medication. Do hope that your weight loss picks up soon as it's really depressing and I empathise with you x

GuybrushThreepw00d

When I first started I didn't workout I just changed my eating habits. Now I'm eating right and working out & I'm gaining a pound every freaking week. What am I doing wrong? Help me out you guys!!!

At a guess, your not maintaining a calorie deficit.

Open your diary.

How many weeks have you been gaining for?

mas1989

Same thing here - have been excercising 5 to 6 times a week for the last 3 weeks and writing down what I was eating and have not lost a single pound - think even gained a half pound. Just started completing food journal on this site several days ago so hoping it will help. Good luck!

alienrite

Don't worry girl, the same thing was happening to me when I started working out hard at the gym. The scale said I was gaining a pound a day! Next week the scale will be better, when your muscles are recovering, they retain more water, especially in the begininng. Don't sweat it... just keep doing what your doing!

I lost 11lbs the first month, now I'm on my second and I'm afraid I'm going to gain it all back

11 lbs in a month is a lot of weight loss although it isn't unusual for the first month. My guess is that you lost 6 lbs of fat in the first month (1.5/lbs per week) and the rest was water weight. I lose 0.22 lbs per day which is 3-1/2 ounces or as I joke: 1/2 cup of duck fat. My weight jumps up and down by as many as 5 lbs but regularly 2-3 lbs per morning. It is easy to see a large drop and think we are doing spectacular but I have learned that if I am showing a loss greater than 1.5 lbs per week than it's not real and I now expect my weight to come back to my average. Likewise, if I show a jump in my weight, I know that it will eventually drop back to my average. It can drive you crazy if you let it and I know that if I didn't want to see any false gains, I would have to weigh myself monthly. Even weekly, the scale would have shown a gain 1 out of 3 weeks. That being said, stay the course and keep yourself at your calorie goal and you will lose weight.

anichellek

Hey girl hang in there.

I am in a similar boat to you. I started MFP about 3 weeks ago. Weighed in today, up 1lb :frown: buuuuut my overall measurements went down 2.5 Inches. I was stoked to weigh in since I could tell my clothes were fitting a little better, so needless to say I was pretty disappointed when the scale had moved in the wrong direction.

So my advice would be to take pictures and measurements. Hopefully on the weeks the scale doesn't go down you will at least see a change in those. Good luck!