Why am I gaining weight?

What does "healthy" food have to do with losing weight? Math is math. You can gain or lose weight, regardless of WHAT you eat. It is the TOTAL CALORIES that you eat that determines whether or not you lose weight. Estimating, ignoring certain foods, beverages, condiments or sauces because their calories are "negligible" is how we arrive at inaccurate calorie totals.

If you've got the math right, you'll lose weight.

If you don't have the math right, you won't lose weight.

If you want to lose weight, you have to find the error in your equation, and fix it.

That's all there is to it. You can eat whatever you want, as long as you stay under your calorie limit, you'll lose weight. That said, you should always get calories from fat, protein or fiber, rather than simple carbohydrates, if you have a choice. They're more satisfying than carbs. You'll be less tempted to binge.

Also, don't binge. You'll wipe out days of "good behavior" if you go over your calorie goal for the day by a significant amount.

Does your school really not have a salad bar? I used to live on turkey sandwiches in college. I know you can't do bread, but it should be possible to build yourself a chef's salad.

Are you including your drinks in your food diary? Alcohol especially counts, but coffee drinks can really do you in too, if you don't track them.

Stacy, I can not imagine that these are the only 3 fruits and vegetables they have in any college cafeteria in the USA. Is there a salad bar available? They have professional nutritionist on staff, even the smallest public U, even the high school cafeterias have, and they design balanced options. Do you pay for your individual meal, or you buy the semester meal plan? Is not at least one hot entrée for each meal? There should be options for gluten intolerant students. Did you look at the Food services website? There should be information about it there, or talk to the food services staff administrators-not the servers- for more information and help. 140lb for 5'7" is a very healthy weight. Have you thought that may be what you really want is more to sculpt your body? Try to do zumba/pilates/strength training. Does the school have a pool that you can use, and exercise classes? Or you can find videos on youtube, like the Befit channel. You do need to eat more. I am 5'6", considerably older than you, and eat a minimum of 1750 calories.

What does "healthy" food have to do with losing weight? Math is math. You can gain or lose weight, regardless of WHAT you eat. It is the TOTAL CALORIES that you eat that determines whether or not you lose weight. Estimating, ignoring certain foods, beverages, condiments or sauces because their calories are "negligible" is how we arrive at inaccurate calorie totals.

while you are right about total calories if i can get additional nutrients from eating a nutrient dense food option instead of say a bag of frozen chicken nuggets i'll choose the nutrient dense (ie healthy) food option even if the two are equal in calories.

Once you've reached your nutrient goals, you don't get extra credit for eating more, so if you've already hit all your vitamin and mineral goals, the chicken nuggets are equally as healthy as any other food you can choose.

What does "healthy" food have to do with losing weight? Math is math. You can gain or lose weight, regardless of WHAT you eat. It is the TOTAL CALORIES that you eat that determines whether or not you lose weight. Estimating, ignoring certain foods, beverages, condiments or sauces because their calories are "negligible" is how we arrive at inaccurate calorie totals.

while you are right about total calories if i can get additional nutrients from eating a nutrient dense food option instead of say a bag of frozen chicken nuggets i'll choose the nutrient dense (ie healthy) food option even if the two are equal in calories.

Once you've reached your nutrient goals, you don't get extra credit for eating more, so if you've already hit all your vitamin and mineral goals, the chicken nuggets are equally as healthy as any other food you can choose.

i understand that but to say you can eat whatever you want just as long as your within your calorie goals is a bit of an exaggeration. yes i could live on chicken nuggets as long i stay within my calorie goals but i'm sure i'll be lacking in nutrients important in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. i prefer to get the bulk of my vitamins and nutrients from food rather than pills. not saying vitamin pills are not important to a well balanced healthy lifestyle just saying food would be my first choice.

What does "healthy" food have to do with losing weight? Math is math. You can gain or lose weight, regardless of WHAT you eat. It is the TOTAL CALORIES that you eat that determines whether or not you lose weight. Estimating, ignoring certain foods, beverages, condiments or sauces because their calories are "negligible" is how we arrive at inaccurate calorie totals.

while you are right about total calories if i can get additional nutrients from eating a nutrient dense food option instead of say a bag of frozen chicken nuggets i'll choose the nutrient dense (ie healthy) food option even if the two are equal in calories.

Once you've reached your nutrient goals, you don't get extra credit for eating more, so if you've already hit all your vitamin and mineral goals, the chicken nuggets are equally as healthy as any other food you can choose.

i understand that but to say you can eat whatever you want just as long as your within your calorie goals is a bit of an exaggeration. yes i could live on chicken nuggets as long i stay within my calorie goals but i'm sure i'll be lacking in nutrients important in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. i prefer to get the bulk of my vitamins and nutrients from food rather than pills. not saying vitamin pills are not important to a well balanced healthy lifestyle just saying food would be my first choice.

Except if you actually read my post I never said you can eat anything you want as long as you stay within your calories. You ignored the part where I specifically said you meet your vitamin and mineral goals.

Your carbs and proteins are out of wack !!! Carbs 100 or less a day and protein should be 100 or more a day. That way you lose fat and not muscle.

why should carbs less than 100?

i eat well over 100 carbs per day... carbs fuel my work outs!

Because
YOUR
MACROS
DON'T
ADD
UP
TO
THEIR
STATED
CALORIE
TOTALS

You're recording incorrectly..... I highly doubt you are eating 1,100 - 1,200 calories a day. Your diary contradicts itself.

How? I measure everything I eat and I run for 40-60 minutes everyday. Even if I was eating close to 1500 calories how would I be gaining weight?

It's because you are eating more calories than you think. Your way of measuring isn't accurate. What you aren't counting is how they cook foods and the true weight of a piece of meat. If you cook meat in olive oil, it add another 120 calories. Most school use cooking oils to cook a lot of their foods. Or the uses marinades or sauces that add calories. Also, you can have two similar products that vary vastly in calories (quality of meat or brand).

It looks like a lot of stuff you're eating has high sodium- I'd watch out for that. Good luck and I hope you start losing soon

I've probably gained about 10 pounds over the past three months. My friends say it's muscle but still I'm not happy with it.

With your protein intake so low there is no way you are gaining muscle.

Measure