Weight gain despite being good

always eat all your calories you are allowed to eat, if you are exerciseing a lot and havnt eaten enough your body will go into starvation mode and hold onto body weight because it notices that food consumption has dropped too low and exercise has increased greatly. i am sure if you put enough calories in to help you last that litte longer in the gym the weight will start to come off again. i wish you the very best of luck keep that good exericse work :-)

always eat all your calories you are allowed to eat, if you are exerciseing a lot and havnt eaten enough your body will go into starvation mode

I don't think that's strictly true...body will slow down metabolism....but won't go into ' starvation' mode.

That term is bandied around here too often.

You CAN DO IT!!!!

Yes, don't stop exercising and counting calories. Just give it time, you are on the right track

Measure yourself with a tape measure, write them down then do it a gain in a month......

No public diary to verify statement? Girl bai.

What's your standard calorie intake and macros, and what's your exercise regime?

Can't! (shocked face) I am too deep in control freak, weighing bread, counting raisins territory to give up now. And it's because i am such a slacker on the exercise front that i have decided to go for it now with a commitment to do my shred DVD and walking to work every day. I just need to take my own advice and keep going i guess. But thanks anyway, if all else fails.....

Most of dieting is what you eat (or don't). If you do cardio for three 30 minutes session a week, that's like an extra slice of pizza, and 2 Girl Scout cookies.

Counting calories is not very scientific because we don't really know how much we burn, and because most folks over estimate what they eat (not so much you based on the above) and they under estimate workout calories.

I suggest setting MFP to lose 1 pound a week, make sure you are sweating for your three 30 minute sessions and eat back your exercise calories. If you are not going to work out, set your diet up for the 1200-1500 calories a day and make sure you hit it. If that is working, I will pass along this tip from my trainer, if you are not losing weight, you are eating too much. If you have time, I would add some simple strength training like crunches, planks, squats, lunges and push-ups which you can do at home.

I seem to have got heavier this week, despite exercising more and eating like a saintly mouse. I'm always telling people on hear not to worry about this, so today i need it back Pleeease. I'm 5'10 for goodness sakes and i feel like if i cut down any more it will make me feel ill, but progress is so slow! tell me if i do the shred every day i WILL be a lean mean fitness machine! ......Rant Over.....for today.......

Hmm... seems like this was exactly what I just read in another thread...

Yes, if you are sore this is DOMS and it can last up to 10 days. It's part of the process.

You are right, once you get close to maintenance it's time to ditch the scale. I've been maintaining over a year now and I finally ditched the scale this year in January and I've never been happier. It's quite an inferior tool. I do not take measurements anymore either. All that matters is how I look in the mirror, pictures, and how my clothes fit. This is how life was meant to be and I am going to enjoy it. The scale and metrics tends to steal the joy.

If you are still in the weight loss phase:

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

Progress is S-L-O-W-E-R when you get leaner:

Once I got leaner I had to taper UP my calories. The leaner you get the less of a calorie deficit your body can handle. It needs to be a long slow shallow deficit. For me still under a doctor’s care, this is around 1000-1200 calories because I am so short, petite, and am under 12% body fat where I truly can go into starvation mode if I ate under 1000 calories. I have supporting documentation below.

You are taller so you you can eat much more.

The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for woman over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I pretty much proved that for myself by staying strong and building muscle and doing what I did. I'm the leanest, most muscular, and most fit that I have ever been in my life at almost 52 years old. My doctor looked at my blood work throughout my journey and it remained fine even with “taking breaks from eating” for periods of time and eating less. Even now at less than 12% body fat everything is A-OKAY. I am healthy, active, and vibrant, muscular not skinny. I have never had eating disorders nor do I now.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

If you don't buy into the "starvation mode" think about it like this: if you don't give your body the nourishment it needs you will not get the most out of your workouts. Your body needs the extra energy when upping your exercise.

I'll do everything right - log 1350 calories a day, run 12 miles a week, walk 10 miles...6 days after my weigh in, it will show me being the same, then BAM on day 7, it finally drops.

This has happened the last two weeks. It can be mentally draining!