Gaining weight??? What?!!

As you workout you will gain muscle and that weighs more then fat. I prefer not to go by scale but more by measurements. Weight will go up and down. Photoes are another way of telling if your making gains and where.

You period will affect your weight since you are retaining water.

Do not get discouraged, keep at it!! Also its not the amount of calories you eat it is how often you in a day and what is on that calorie. Example protien and sugar calories are different. Your body does not store proteins but will store sugar.

Stay motivated you will see the difference.

This made everything easy for me: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974889-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Best of luck!

TOM has a LOT to do with it. Also (despite what people say) you are NOT gaining enough muscle in that amount of time to make a difference. However, your muscles retain more water when they are being repaired so if you are working out hard, you can have more retained water until your muscles repair themselves.

TOM and water retention is what it is. Don't give up, the number will go down. Also measure, take pictures, try on clothes... many changes can happen that don't show up on the scale.

First- great dedication on your 3 weeks of working out.
Secondly- YES by all means your period will make a difference. Also if your not been doing anything physical before the muscles hold onto fluid to heal. So holding fluid is not uncommon. Make sure and change your routine like every 3 weeks so that you shake up your system. Our system gets used to the same routine and you wont get good effects after a while. /also, lots of times we start losing inches before the scale really shows you anything
Stick with it you will see a difference.

your TOM will make a difference, but for me it is only half a pound or so. It is more usual that I will maintain my weight that week, but I am eating at a deficit for weight loss. Weigh yourself once a week only and WEIGH and log EVERY single thing that you eat and drink. Using measuring cups will not be accurate enough. Buy a small digital weighing scales and just get in the habit of weighing everything, fruit, veg - really it is easier to just do it to everything. I used to eyeball the odd thing, then stick it on the scales to see. I was always wrong. For the amount of exercise you are doing you should be losing weight. Don't waste the effort of exercising by eating more cals than you should.

check out this video for a shocker when comparing scales to measuring spoons and cups. copy and paste

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY


also join the group 'eat, train, progress' on here, it has very sensible info and doesn't blame fat gain on anything other than hand to mouth activity. true dat

As you workout you will gain muscle and that weighs more then fat.

When will this idea die? You don't gain muscle eating at a deficit and a pound is a pound regardless of whether it's fat or muscle. Most likely you are retaining water between TOM and muscle repair. You're probably undereating as well which isn't going to help going forward.

This. All of it.

Up your calories for the work you're doing. TOM definitely screws with the numbers. I didn't drop back down until cycle day 4/5. And anytime you start a new workout, your body will retain water to repair your muscles. It's hard seeing it on the scale, but it WILL eventually drop back down.

Keep at it, keep your chin up, and good luck!

As you workout you will gain muscle and that weighs more then fat.

When will this idea die? You don't gain muscle eating at a deficit and a pound is a pound regardless of whether it's fat or muscle. Most likely you are retaining water between TOM and muscle repair. You're probably undereating as well which isn't going to help going forward.

so you're saying there is no recomposition going on? seems doubtful.

When will this idea die? You don't gain muscle eating at a deficit and a pound is a pound regardless of whether it's fat or muscle. Most likely you are retaining water between TOM and muscle repair. You're probably undereating as well which isn't going to help going forward.

Oh, is that why I eat at a deficit, but have maintained for 2 months, while my muscles have gotten larger and more firm (especially in my legs) since starting strength training?

Start with the calorie goal MFP sets for you. Always meet that goal. Think of it as the finish line. When you exercise, log it. If you have a HRM, that will give you a more accurate reading than MFP's predictions, which are notorious for overestimation. If all you have is MFP, maybe half the amount of burn it gives you. Others might be better at telling you what to do with that, since I use a HRM. Anyway, after you've logged your exercise, MFP will tell you something like "You've earned an extra 242 calories today". So now you get to eat 242 more calories in addition to your MFP goal. So let's assume, for example, your goal is 1400 calories. 1400 + 242 = 1642 calories to consume for the day. Now, you might be thinking "But won't that make me lose less than I want? Isn't that the opposite of what I should be doing? Shouldn't I be eating less?" The answer is no. MFP already works out your calorie deficit for you. All you have to do is eat the number of calories it gives you. You don't have to undercut your calories to get your deficit. It's already there. So eat, drink, be merry, lose weight. It's win win.

First - if you just started 3 weeks ago, why are you ready to give up so fast? Getting healthy isn't an overnight guarantee and quitting at the first sign of something you don't like is no way to be successful.

Second - stop looking at the scale! I can gain and lose up to 8lbs in a day so the scale is a worthless tool in the short run to tell you if you have positive results. Long term, great. Short term, ignore it. Measure your success by how you feel and how you look.