WTH...healthy habits bringing on weight gain?!?!

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lauramalott7
lauramalott7 Posts: 3
in Motivation and Support
My goal is 130 lbs & I started to get serious about being healthy early in January, I eat healthy (veggies, fruit, good proteins and fats) tons of water and exercise everyday usually 2x including a 45 minute very brisk walk at lunch and a Jillian Michaels video in the evening. At Christmas I weighed in between 143 and 145 lbs and stepped on the scale this morning to discover 151lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My body is starting to get more muscle but other than that nothing has changed and 6 - 8lbs of weight gain seems ridiculous when I have been working so hard to try to lose. Has this happened to anyone else? I'm not throwing in the towel but I think I just need to hear that things will start turning around because the weight gain and no difference in my appearance have really got me discouraged. Even if I have a day that I might splurge a little on the eating it involves a spoon or two of peanut butter or some coconut oil on popcorn...really not that unhealthy I think. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated :) (Should have put that I am 5'8" at the top)

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  • KimB1219
    KimB1219 Posts: 15 Member
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    You might want to look at your total calories with the protein and carbs your taking in. If you exercise and are not eating what your body needs to restore the calories it uses your lean muscle mass. I struggled for a long time with the same problem. I ran and ran and ran and wouldn't lose any weight. I wasn't eating enough of the right foods for what my body needed. I went and talked to a Nutritionist.
  • GirlyJu
    GirlyJu Posts: 2 Member
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    I'm glad I found this post. My situation: 5'2", SW 159 -- I JUST started Tuesday (today is Thursday). Eating at 1200 calories, exercising 45 mins 2x per day (pilates, walking, and circuit training). Weighed myself this morning and I'd GAINED 3 LBS! WTH?! How does one gain 3 lbs in 2 days! It makes me feel like I should have been scarfing at a buffet instead of eating my veggies and Lean Cuisine.

    Note: I've been very conscience of eating often - breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner - and also of drinking my water.

    so now I'm frustrated, sore and hungry!
  • debendavey
    debendavey Posts: 12
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    Girlyju. 2 days is just random fluctuations. your body will not react that quickly. Thereare so many factors that are important. As you say, eating regular is important - spliting what you would normally have for lunch into 3 parts - morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack (not having a morning and afternoon snack as well as lunch). it is important that the exercise you do is at the right intensity - too hard and it will give you a cardio workout that tends to burn up lean muscle and not fat, and the higher the proportion of lean muscle to fat the more calories you burn as lean muscle burns them a lot faster. A good indication is to walk for 10 minutes every day at a pace of 100 steps per minute - so not speed walking.

    Also, are you getting enough food? You say you have reduced to 1200 calories intake AND exercising for 45 minutes, which would burn up lets say another 400-500 calories, so your net intake is only 700-800 calories. That potentially puts your body into starvation mode where it will store everything it takes in as fat, and will therefore mean you burn up less calories....and put on weight ! You either eat the recomended intake per day and then exercise to create a deficit to lose weight or create the deficit to reach your goal (using MFP for instance) and then if you exercise, replace those calories to get close to your daily intake target.
  • debendavey
    debendavey Posts: 12
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    Also GirlyJu

    Don't get frustrated - weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint.

    Don't get sore - only exercise up to your limit - if you injure yourself you will be unable to exercixe and that will frustrate you more

    And DEFINATELY DO NOT FEEL HUNGRY - if you are feeling hunger pains, as I previously mention, it is your body's way of telling you it is in starvation mode and is storing everyithing you put inside you as fat. The idea of eating regular is to always put someting inside you before you get to that hunger stage.

    Beleive me, I was 114 Kg (18St) at the beginning of October last year. I still eat a healthy and interesting diet. I stil had chocolate cake on my birthday, creamy stuff at Xmas. I still go out ovasionalyy for a beer and curry with my mates and have a glass of wine every now and then at home. I still eat chocolate - albeit far less than I did. I am now 99Kg (15 1/2St) and far fitter and muscular than I was.

    The goal is to lose between 0.5-1Kg per week and spend 10 minutes walking and 10 minutes using resistance bands per day (I must admit I do a bit more than that now I am fitter) and that way you are losing fat and not lean tissue. Honestly - it works

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