decent nutrition, lots of exercise. STILL Gaining weight!

Hey there!! I have been in your shoes, as far as "doing all the right things and not losing/gaining". I think the likeliest culprit is what others have already in some form another mentioned. And you may not want to hear it!!! You are probably giving yourself more credit in exercise than what your body is really burning. I have used a variety of monitoring devices to measure my burn rate and no matter what I use, MFP over-calculates compared to what my HR monitor or Bodymedia (a device that measures HR as well as skin temp and other factors to know what was burned up) calculates by 50-300 calories per workout!!! It's so sad. Heartbreaking really...but since I've been manually entering my calories from the bodymedia device's idea of my burn, I've been finally going down in weight. Finally!!! After years of trying to figure this out. Since you eat back the calories, which is fine, you can see where this would cause problems, especially if the particular exercises you are doing are the most inaccurately configured ones on MFP. MFP burns may be appropriate for 'some', but like others have said, if you are only in need of losing 10-15 lbs, you aren't burning that many calories. Also, to allow for a little extra error of measurement, don't eat back ALL the calories MFP tells you can you can eat back. Most ppl on here say to eat back only 50% or a little more, to be super super safe and to make sure you are energized enough. If you start feeling hungry or woozy, eat something light to help. And see how that goes! Of course, be sure your food input is correct too. Don't underestimate any foods. GOOD LUCK!!!!!! And PS...I know my ticker says "0 pounds lost" but I'm down about 13 lbs now. My ticker is set from 2 years ago, haha and I didn't have the heart to add the extra weight I'd gained. 1 more lb. and I can start showing a loss on the ticker.:bigsmile:

I was going to say the same thing about your sodium and carbs...Also if you look at your diary over time adding cals verses workouts your more of at a maintaining standpoint...that might be why the bouncing with the same 5 pounds..might be time to rev it up and change things..but you look great and kudos to you!....maybe try something like Insanity or P90X...

I think at this point if you started weight training, you are going to start shrinking fast. It seems to me like the exercise you are doing (pushing a heavy stroller) is building muscle and that's probably why you are gaining and losing the same 5 pounds. Looking at your diary, some days you do great and other days, not so good. I think you should ditch the bread and cereal and up your calories to at least 1500-1600. You have to be consistent day in and day out. My advice....add lean meats and vegetables and you won't gain fat. With a few tweaks in your diet and weights, you will start building serious muscle and shrinking in size. Forget the scale. Measure only.

When I started weight training I was a size 8-10 and a year later I am a size 2. I increased my calories and started heavy lifting. Don't give up!!! Change it up!!!

My diary is open if you want to take a look at my diet and exercise.

I agree with getting a scale first thing. It makes a HUGE difference. You're probably underestimating some things too, so no I don't think you have to starve yourself. Another option is to use TDEE-20%.

Food Scale.

People need to understand to lose weight you do not have to exercise. Exercise is for fitness. Yes it increases your deficit, but it starts in the kitchen. You are either overestimating exercise (yes HRM's are great, but they are still just an estimate), or you are underestimating food.

A new food scale is more important than running shoes if you are concerned about losing the weight,

Measure your waist, neck, hips every two weeks! I bet you'll see decreasing numbers there if you're doing everything right.

I'm actually starting to wonder if its really weight I need to lose or if I just need to tone up what I already have. I am down already 30lbs over the last two years so I have a pretty good understanding of portion size and calories intake. Could my diet improve? Probably, I'm sure I could cut carbs out and increase protein but would I feel good or have energy? Probably not. I don't think eating less than 1200 calories is good for my health. My BMR is 1450 and eating less than that is called starving yourself, no matter how we like to justify it. Add in the desire to work out harder to build muscle and I'm really toeing a dangerous line. I've decided to continue making healthy choice in my diet while staying around 1500 calories a day, continuing my goal of reaching 500 calories a day In exercise and to eliminate any dinner outings until I get in to my groove again. Some people do wonderfully on a low carb constricted diet but it just makes me feel sick and sluggish and since cutting down my carbs I've been too sick to get outside and work. I just feel like throwing up. I felt much better eating a little more and burning off the access with exercise. Thank you to every one for the really great advice.

The thing is, you don't know how much you're really eating if you don't weigh it. So any argument you use that's based on your calorie intake goes out of the window. It's *impossible* to have a good understanding of portion sizes if you don't weigh them. Heck I've been weighing everything for 6 months and eating a lot of the same stuff, and if I try to guess what I have in my plate, I'm still wrong 90% of the time.

I mean you can find excuses not to do it, but you can't really come here and complain that you're not losing weight if you're not listening to the advice everyone is giving you.

A food scale may be cheaper than you think. Obviously, I don't know your situation, but you mentioned saving up for running shoes - a food scale should be way cheaper than that. I got a decent digital one for about £9 (approx $14?).

According to your ticker you have about 9 lbs to lose? In which case, I'd agree that you shouldn't be dropping down to 1200 calories. I would second the recommendation for starting strength training (if you don't already) and forget about the number on the scale. Take a small deficit from your TDEE and lift some weights, preferably heavy ones. You may then see bigger changes in your measurements than on the scale.