Exercising and eating right but gaining weight

Age? Height/weight? Are you eating back your exercise calories?

Maybe you're gaining muscle? Try measuring your progress in inches, not lbs. If you get a tape measure (super cheap at any store) and mark your progress, give it a week, and try again, you might notices some serious shift in your fat/muscle ratio.

Quite the opposite. I suggest you search previous posts regarding "eating back exercise calories"

I eat around 2200 calories a day, in case you were curious.

Good luck

i am having the same problem i have been excerisisng everyday for almost 3 weeks and eating 1200 calories and am gaining weight. what i happennning!!

Me too, this just happened to me. I wonder if coming close to that TOM( time of month)or on it has anything to do with it. One day im still on a losing streak the next day the scale said I gained 3lbs?????? Im lost.

yeah i weigh out most of my foods, but even if they werent exact i still wouldnt go over the 1200 as i try to eat around 1100 and dont eat back my workout calories unless on a rare occasion i eat out or somthing? im guessing it is to do with toning and building muscle? however its really strange to me. and im not used to using a measuring tape!! i guess just keep sticking at the workouts and clean eating and hope to see some results?! i often gain weight around a certain time of the month-my doctor told me thats usually just bloating and hormone levels changing

Nattfox:

If you are doing such intense workouts, you must eat more than just 1,000-,1,200 calories, even if you choose not to eat back all your exercise calories.

Someone mentioned you could be eating more than you think, and I think that's the biggest possibility of all.

I try so hard to eat all my exercise calories but I just can't. However, with the running and weight lifting I do, and brisk walking on the other four days of the week, it would be dangerous to my body to not eat anything back. As such, I have generally been eating between 1400 and 1500 calories, but sometimes a bit more on my running/lifting days. The only reason I don't eat them all back is because I leave room for error regarding both calorie estimations and calories burned, and because I simply don't get that hungry. However, I do eat three meals a day and healthy snack in between.

I also think you need to be patient with yourself and give it time. I've lost 21 pounds. I have not lost anything at all over the last few weeks, but I notice my clothes are a bit looser. That is good news to me.

Try and not depend on the scale so much because the numbers simply do not count. The tape measure is a good indicator.

I am the same height so I know how hard it is for our weight loss to show. Unfortunately our weight gain shows all too easily. The water is good. Do try to measure or at least try on something that you haven't worn in a while and see if it is looser. You could also be overexercising. It is possible. It is actually called exercise bulimia. Good luck.

I'm sure you are eating healthier and the exercising enough since you are doing Insanity! Keep in mind that muscle is much more dense than fat (just try squeezing your fat and your muscle and your muscle is undeniabiy more dense). Yes, 1 pound of fat equals 1 pound of muscle, but by exercising and eating right, you are burning fat AND building muscle, so it is not at all uncommon for people to gain weight when they first start working out. If you keep it up, you might start losing pounds compared to how much you weigh now as you burn more fat. Stop paying attention to the scale - pay attention to how much leaner your body is looking!

Also pay attention to the time of day you weigh yourself. For example, only weigh yourself in the morning before you eat/drink anything and after you go to the bathroom. This will be the most consistent way to weigh yourself. By midafternoon most people way 2-3 pounds more than they do in the morning just because of water weight and they ate food! I hope this helps.

yeah i weigh out most of my foods, but even if they werent exact i still wouldnt go over the 1200 as i try to eat around 1100 and dont eat back my workout calories unless on a rare occasion i eat out or somthing? im guessing it is to do with toning and building muscle? however its really strange to me. and im not used to using a measuring tape!! i guess just keep sticking at the workouts and clean eating and hope to see some results?! i often gain weight around a certain time of the month-my doctor told me thats usually just bloating and hormone levels changing

your body could be in starvation mode... and holding on/gaining... u need to eat more

Thanks for the tips. I have noticed my stomach being a little smaller I'm just not seeing anything on the scale and I don't want continue with something that is not going to work. Won't eating more make me just gain that much more? I also just moved to near sea level and before I was at 5,000ft I don't know if elevation would change anything or not except for that I can run 3 miles much much easier.

1200 is the minimum gross calories for a sedentary female...it's based on yo being sedentary...no exercise or anything. It's also a massive deficit from you maintenance level of calories. Most women who don't even workout maintain at around 2,000 calories...ever wonder why they have 2,000 and 2,500...because most women maintain around 2000 and most men around 2500.

I would suggest doing a little research on how this tool is used and understand that it is a NEAT method calculator which makes any exercise an extra activity. Failure to properly fuel your body causes all kinds of ****ty problems.

Also go ahead and grab a dictionary and look up the word GOAL....

I have had the same issue for the last two or three weeks. I even experimented with eating lunch and dinner at a restaurant, to bump UP my calories, and that was the only day I lost weight. I'm a little confused about plateaus, starvation mode, told my doctor I thought I might not be eating enough, after what I have read here about eating back your exercise calories (or half those calories in case they are exaggerated). Can anyone suggest healthy fat content? Does having a fat deficit do anything negative or does the body just use carbs, protein, instead?

I've been having this same issue, although not with such a rigorous exercise program. I was getting basically no exercise during the summer (I still tried to jog occasionally, but it was my first summer living alone, so I had way bigger concerns than eating organic or exercising 5 days a week). Now that I'm back at school, I'm at the gym 5 days a week and trying to do some mild cardio and stretching even on my rest days. I've started tracking my calories again, and eat around 1200 (I usually aim for about 1100 to leave some margin for error), and I eat back some of my exercised calories, usually in the form of an egg for some protein.
Overall, I'm taking much better care of myself now than I was before.... and I've gained 6.5 pounds and 1.5 inches around my waist in three weeks! Granted, I am much, much more stressed now than I was at home, and I'm wondering if that's a factor. Still, yesterday alone I ate 1300 calories, burned about 200 with some mild cardio and as many strength reps as I had time for (I rarely have time for more than 30 minutes at the gym), and I weighed myself today, same time, same clothes... and I'd gained half a pound?
It's incredibly frustrating, especially since I'm now a higher weight and the same measurements than I was my freshman year of college - previously the unhealthiest I've ever been, when I was paying no attention to what I ate and had never even thought about exercising. What the heck is going on????