I must be doing something wrong...

Well you're burning thousands of calories a day with exercise, possibly you're not eating enough to keep up with that kind of burn. Body needs fuel just like a car.

i have done all that and gained 2lbs im gutted thinking about just giving up im exercising loads and eating real healthy just found out that wholemeal bread is bad thu as it converts to sugar as it pasta so now im gonna try 1 week n cut those out

I wouldnt beat yourself up. 1-2 lbs a week is healthy weight lose (I know we as Americans want everything microwave fast) Here is another question what type of workouts are you doing and are you taking measurements. I workout with P90X and there will be 2-3 weeks I do not loose anything on the scale, but drop an inch off my waist. Just a thought. Keep up the good work (its a marathon not a sprint.......................Only the diciplined are truly free"

It sounds like you are just noticing a slow down in the scale. This happens. With the exercise you are doing your gaining muscle mass, so you may be loosing inches without loosing weight. You'll see this happen several times before you loose all the weight you want to. Remember, its not all about the scale. Are your clothes still getting bigger?

i have done all that and gained 2lbs im gutted thinking about just giving up im exercising loads and eating real healthy just found out that wholemeal bread is bad thu as it converts to sugar as it pasta so now im gonna try 1 week n cut those out

All carbohydrates convert to glucose, or blood sugar, when you digest them. This isn't bad, it's the fuel you need to function. And as carbohydrates go, whole wheat bread is actually pretty good, because the extra fiber slows the conversion into glucose, so you don't get a fast spike and drop in your blood sugar.

If you gained two pounds it could be a lot of things, but the most likely is that you're retaining water. After you turn carbs into glucose, your body turns some of that into glycogen, which is stored in the muscles. You burn glycogen when you work out, and afterwards, it replenishes those stores from what you eat. If you're working out a lot more than usual and eating a lot less than usual, your body has probably increased the amount of glycogen it stores in your muscles - and it is stored in water, which makes the number on the scale go up. This is part of the process of making your lean muscle work for you. It's a good thing, it's just numerically frustrating.

Please don't give up! If you work out regularly and make smart food choices, you will lose weight.

And OP - 1.5 pounds a week is good. I know it seems really slow, but that's right in the healthy range for weight loss (or gain) speed. Remember that when you lose weight you are getting rid of actual body tissue. A pound and a half is about the volume of six sticks of butter, so that is quite an accomplishment!

What others have said here is right, 1.5 - 2 pounds per week is GREAT!!! It is also possible that you are not consuming enough calories based on the number you are burning. I'm just starting on this journey and finding that some days it is hard to eat enough of the right kind of calories because I'm just not that hungry. You'll figure out the right balance in time. Between now and then, give yourself a break and don't quit trying!

That's a great rate of weight loss! If you have a lot to lose and that's why you think it should be quicker...think about increasing your bsae calories, because you may not be eating enough, as someone else posted.

When I first started trying to lose weight (in early 2009), I was watching everything I ate - cut out carbs, pasta and breads - exercised 3 times a day, every day. The most I lost in 1 year was 7 pounds. I got frustrated and gave up because I was doing everything "by the book" (if you will) and the results were not what I had expected. I started back on losing weight about 6 months ago. I went into it with the attitude that I WILL stick with it this time no matter what.

I will admit that I do not go out of my way to exercise. The exercise I do get comes from getting off of my butt and doing things for myself instead of having others do it for me, stair climbing (we have 1 bathroom and it's upstairs ... I spend the majority of my time downstairs), grocery shopping, going out and shooting photos, go for an occasional walk, going and hanging out at the park (we walk around a lot there too ... plus there's a dam that has 2 zillion steps (okay, maybe not that many, but it seems like it), and just every day stuff.

My daily calorie intake goal is what I go by. I do not read anything on the label except for how many calories is in what I'm getting. My goal is 1640 a day, but I try to keep it under 1200. If I do, great ... if I don't, I don't stress out about it. Sometimes I do go over 1640 calories a day ... again, no stress. And in this time around, I've lost 12 pounds so far.

I'm not saying my "slacker" approach will work for anyone else. It's working for me and that's all I can attest to. I just got frustrated (before) with putting all of my efforts into losing weight and nothing happening. So this time, I decided that I will lose the weight and I will stick with it until I get to my goal ... but I'm not going to let the occasional setback be a problem. It's just not worth the stress.

Losing 1.5 pounds a week is great (in my opinion). Pushing yourself too hard can actually be counterproductive (as I'm sure you're aware by now). You push your body too hard and it's going to push back. Not getting enough calories is just as bad as getting too many.

Sorry for the babbling up there ... that tends to happen from time to time.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

you're doing good!! And don't stop the exercise because you aren't losing as much because you're gaining much more... you're creating a habbit to exercise, (one that will last beyond the goal weight loss) you're gaining endurance (to keep you active) and ultimately it's 3 pounds you didn't gain! But instead was loss... and that's not a little achievement... one pound of fat is about the size of those little butter containers, and you burned off 3, so great job!

STRESS adds weight...sounds to me like you are stressed because you are doing and doing and doing and not focusing on the bigger picture...

relax
take a deep breath
try changing some of your foods that you are eating
try changing up on the exercise and
RELAX

it just seemed to make sense if I ate less and exercised a lot the pounds would melt off.

I hear you, it's hard to believe because it's not something people talk about, unless you're at MFP. Who Knew you're supposed to eat MORE calories to lose the weight if you are burning alot with exercise. That seems to be messing me up too. I started burning mega calories and the scale has not moved. Can't seem to find the sweet spot (right amount) to eat back since it's different for everyone. I'm actually trying for the next 7 days to not exercise at all and just eat 1200 calories for the day to see if the scale moves. Then take it from there. It's been one day and I already lost 1 lb, in 1 day.