I SWEAR EXERCISE MAKES ME GAIN WEIGHT!!

There's a lot of good advice here! I have the same problem, but not to the extent that you do. I love to run, but when I take a break from it, I lose weight, and starting back up always makes me gain up to 4 or 5 pounds!

Definitely make sure you're not rewarding yourself with too much junk food. I found it helpful to drink a glass of low fat milk after a workout. The nutrients help to replenish your muscles and the protein and calcium help to build lean muscle mass and burn fat.

Because of small mistakes in recording calories, and the sometimes overestimated calorie burn, I try to leave 100 calories at the end of the day as long as my net is over 1200.

Another thing I've heard is good for this is to cut out ALL processed foods for a week, and if you can go organic that's even better. Don't let your sodium intake exceed recommended levels, and really push the water and green tea. This helps your body to let go of any built up water weight from exercise and also allows your liver to work more efficiently so you can burn the fat quickly with your exercise!

Take your measurements along with watching the scale and see how these things work for you! Good Luck!

How much water are you actually drinking? If you are not drinking enough, your body will hold on to every single drop it can, and you will have bloating/swelling/water weight gain. Sounds crazy I know, but the more water you drink, the less water you will retain.

Ok ... I have a very similar problem EXCEPT that I don't really believe in counting calories, so I don't monitor my food intake as closely as you do. However, I am vegetarian and I always try to step up the lean proteins and fruits and veggies as opposed to breads and dairy when I work out.

Last time I embarked on a serious exercise plan, I gained almost 10 lbs! My friends said I looked like I was thinner, but I got so frustrated that I decided to see what would happen if I stopped exercising. I lost 8 of those pounds in less than a month. And I'm fairly certain it wasn't muscle because I could barely get my pants on anymore.

So I did some research .... When you work out, your body releases a hormone that increases your appetite. But in an effort NOT to lose fat, since your body now thinks it will need all those extra calories to fuel the activities you're involved in, this hormone increases appetite ABOVE your body's actual needs. This is even more true of women than men. It's documented. So it isn't that you're doing anything wrong especially, it's just that even if you're eating a generally healthy amount of calories, your body is programmed not to let go of that fat due to increased calorie needs. That's my understanding anyway.

That being said, the ONLY thing that's worked for me is doing very low key exercise, like walking and yoga, which keeps me from being totally lethargic but I'm still managing to lose. Hope you figure out what works for you!

It's normal to gain a few pounds (like 4 or less) simply because water will be stored in your muscles along with glycogen when you work them.

Beyond that, it's your eating plan. Many people overestimate the calories burned through exercise and then overeat, thinking they're simply replacing the calories they burned in the gym when they are infact exceeding them. The other problem is that many people 'reward' themselves for hard workouts with essentially junk food that they wouldn't dare touch were they not working out.

Could either of those problems apply to your situation?

Exactly what I was going to post. MFP does overestimate calories for certain exercises too. I found I wasn't losing very much one week where I did a lot of swimming which I'd entered as "breaststroke, general". The week after I entered it at "laps, light / moderate effort" (as I wasn't really pushing myself to do the hour's swim) and it came out as less calories burnt, and lo and behold, I lost more weight. Also it didn't *feel* like I'd done nearly 600 calories worth of exercise, 400 felt much more accurate in comparison with the exercises I do at the gym where there are Polar HRMs built within the machines.

Exactly. I know I can not burn during 60 minutes swimming more than 500 kcal!! The same value I burn on Elliptical and there is a big difference. I guess I can burn during swimming about 350 kcal

maybe bone weight =P I am sure exercise burns fat and carbs

I wish I could lose weight by not working out

Um..you can. Weight loss is 90% diet. Lots of people have lost significant amounts without exercise. Exercise will help shape your body and give you better health. If your goal is just to lose a bunch of weight you have no need to work out. If you wish to be muscular/toned/athletic when you reach your goal weight then you will - simple.

I walked with a small bit of running tossed in with arm & ab crunch type movements, every day for 6 weeks (avg. 35 min. each day but some days I would go for an hour) with big plans & very strong self discipline. I finally stopped at the 6 week mark because I was approaching my previous goal weight which took me forever to reach. I was terrified that I would go over & I could see no end in sight.
I was eating very healthy, very little bread or no cereals, fruit & veggies everyday, meat or protein everyday, nuts, advocado, salmon, all healthy. Small portions too, as juicing previously had shrunk my stomach way down. I weighed everyday so I felt accountable everyday, not just on the day I weighed in.
I was so discouraged not only from the scales' numbers but my clothes that I had finally gotten small enough to fit into, had now become very tight & hard to wear.
I've since stopped walking or exercising & just eat small portions & avoid carbs. I'm hovering just below that previous goal weight so I'm terrified about what to do next!?!
I feel pretty hopeless...