Dieting/Exercising and Putting ON Weight
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LouiseTaylor__
Posts: 14 Member
Hi everyone
I've been trying to lose weight for around two weeks and eat healthily, run for half an hour in the morning everyday and am also completing some "30 day challenges" - plank, burpee, push up, wall sit and leg raises.
However, since starting this I have put ON weight. 4lbs in fact! I'm finding it really disheartening and every time I step on the scales I feel so much worse about myself as my aim was actually to LOSE 7lbs!
I'm hoping the extra weight is muscle, but how am I meant to tell if I'm progressing? Does anyone else have this problem? Is it possible to lose weight WITHOUT gaining muscle?
Any advice is appreciated!
I've been trying to lose weight for around two weeks and eat healthily, run for half an hour in the morning everyday and am also completing some "30 day challenges" - plank, burpee, push up, wall sit and leg raises.
However, since starting this I have put ON weight. 4lbs in fact! I'm finding it really disheartening and every time I step on the scales I feel so much worse about myself as my aim was actually to LOSE 7lbs!
I'm hoping the extra weight is muscle, but how am I meant to tell if I'm progressing? Does anyone else have this problem? Is it possible to lose weight WITHOUT gaining muscle?
Any advice is appreciated!
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Replies
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how are you measuring food, and can we see your diary?0
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It's actually difficult to gain muscle whilst losing weight! (Yes I know about newbie gains)
Are you logging everything? Are you weighing your food or guessing?
If you are being accurate then your calorie target is possibly set too high but without being able to look at your diary it's hard to tell.
I'll send you a friend request ????0 -
You can't have put on 4lbs of muscle in two weeks.
But you might have some muscle soreness and inflamation from a new exercise routine.
Two weeks is a very short time and your gain could be exagerated by normal weight fluctuations.
Probably the most likely explanation is that you are eating over maintenance calories - I would suggest being really accurate with your food logging and give it some more time.0 -
Well, at this point in the game your best bet is go and have a BODY FAT ANALYSIS done. There are several ways to do this, but cheapest, easiest and most relatively accurate...have someone measure you with calipers.
Then, a few weeks from now, have them measure you with calipers again. See if there is a difference. Wah lah!
I've struggled with weight loss my whole life and I threw away a lot of progress because I had the same thing happen to me. I gained weight while trying to eat healthier and work out daily. I was very stuck on the number.
A few things my trainer (and others) said to me that I perhaps should have listened too...
1. Double check your calorie counting. Working out more, means more appetite and more times you'll "forget" to log something, not watch your portions closely.
2. Figure out your hydration level. I drank far more when I worked out and had initial gains from my body holding on to the water. I was continually dehydrated before this.
3. Yes, seeing the number go down will always be the ultimate goal, but take measurements. MANY people told me I looked better, healthier, etc when I worked out with my trainer. But I didn't listen because I wanted to see the scale go down. So I ditched my trainer and her huge expense only to do worse as time went on, with making good decisions.
But...it my defense, if you ask a trainer for one thing when you're shelling out $400 a month (when rent is approx the same!) and you make less than 1200 a month, and they DON'T deliver, ditch them. You won't stick to what they're saying anyway.
And yes, I believe if you don't exercise at all (change your daily routine at all) and simply eat at a deficit, you will lose without gaining muscle. You may actually lose muscle. Which is bad. Then you might become the dreaded "skinny fat"
Good luck!0 -
Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
Breakfast: 30g bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes
Snacks throughout the day: 1 Banana, either an apple or kiwi fruit, wholegrain cracker with low fat hummus, sometimes a low fat yoghurt in the evening
Lunch: Either 1 piece of bread (open sandwich) with tomatoes, salad OR Slimfast shake OR Salad OR Bought sandwich but ALWAYS check all the traffic lights are green (not sure if you have the traffic light system in America but it shows that every part of the food is healthy e.g. low fat/salt/carb etc)
Dinner: Nothing particularly interesting just the same sort of thing everyone eats! Some sort of protein e.g. meat/fish, veg, salad, some sort of carb. Nothing particularly unhealthy that is recommended to avoid and not huge portions
Drinks: Lots of green tea!0 -
I don't know how much weight you have to lose, but your food/calorie intake looks low.
Weight gain may be fluid retention due to various things..hormonal, too much sodium etc.0 -
Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
Breakfast: 30g bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes
Snacks throughout the day: 1 Banana, either an apple or kiwi fruit, wholegrain cracker with low fat hummus, sometimes a low fat yoghurt in the evening
Lunch: Either 1 piece of bread (open sandwich) with tomatoes, salad OR Slimfast shake OR Salad OR Bought sandwich but ALWAYS check all the traffic lights are green (not sure if you have the traffic light system in America but it shows that every part of the food is healthy e.g. low fat/salt/carb etc)
Dinner: Nothing particularly interesting just the same sort of thing everyone eats! Some sort of protein e.g. meat/fish, veg, salad, some sort of carb. Nothing particularly unhealthy that is recommended to avoid and not huge portions
Drinks: Lots of green tea!
I don't have any kind of hard data to back this up, but I often see these statements together in the same thread from an OP wondering why this isn't working:
1)I'm working out hard but I'm gaining
2)I don't measure my food but there is no way I'm eating too much
From my own experiences losing weight (photos are in my profile), I have also observed the following:
1)occasionally I will "plateau", not lose, or gain faster than I want to
2)these instances of stalled progress are almost always preceded by lax food tracking or some kind of earnest food tracking error.
Now I would say I've done a pretty damn good job transforming my body over the last 12 months. Good enough for me to say with confidence that I am pretty damn good at this, and I've got a year of experience controlling my weight through diet. And yet, I still need to track food, still very much NEED to use a food scale, and I still need to keep reviewing and perfecting my calorie estimates. I gotta ask, are you saying you are just way better at this than I am, so you'll be flying without instruments?
Also just a quick note - the more varied your diet, the more complicated your logging process becomes Conversely, as your diet becomes less varied, the smaller the margin of error for tracking each particular item becomes. So a varied diet is more work but harder to mess up, and a simpler diet is less work but you better be sure your values and counts are accurate.0 -
Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
Breakfast: 30g bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes
Snacks throughout the day: 1 Banana, either an apple or kiwi fruit, wholegrain cracker with low fat hummus, sometimes a low fat yoghurt in the evening
Lunch: Either 1 piece of bread (open sandwich) with tomatoes, salad OR Slimfast shake OR Salad OR Bought sandwich but ALWAYS check all the traffic lights are green (not sure if you have the traffic light system in America but it shows that every part of the food is healthy e.g. low fat/salt/carb etc)
Dinner: Nothing particularly interesting just the same sort of thing everyone eats! Some sort of protein e.g. meat/fish, veg, salad, some sort of carb. Nothing particularly unhealthy that is recommended to avoid and not huge portions
Drinks: Lots of green tea!
I'm starving. Where's the food?!? Protein and fat seem extremely low, if not non existent. You need plenty of both!0 -
Healthy does not necessarily mean low calorie. You must count every calorie you put in your mouth in order to be sure you are eating at a deficit. Logging really helps me keep it where it needs to be.Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
Breakfast: 30g bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes
Snacks throughout the day: 1 Banana, either an apple or kiwi fruit, wholegrain cracker with low fat hummus, sometimes a low fat yoghurt in the evening
Lunch: Either 1 piece of bread (open sandwich) with tomatoes, salad OR Slimfast shake OR Salad OR Bought sandwich but ALWAYS check all the traffic lights are green (not sure if you have the traffic light system in America but it shows that every part of the food is healthy e.g. low fat/salt/carb etc)
Dinner: Nothing particularly interesting just the same sort of thing everyone eats! Some sort of protein e.g. meat/fish, veg, salad, some sort of carb. Nothing particularly unhealthy that is recommended to avoid and not huge portions
Drinks: Lots of green tea!0 -
What? That's a perfectly healthy way of eating.Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
Breakfast: 30g bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes
Snacks throughout the day: 1 Banana, either an apple or kiwi fruit, wholegrain cracker with low fat hummus, sometimes a low fat yoghurt in the evening
Lunch: Either 1 piece of bread (open sandwich) with tomatoes, salad OR Slimfast shake OR Salad OR Bought sandwich but ALWAYS check all the traffic lights are green (not sure if you have the traffic light system in America but it shows that every part of the food is healthy e.g. low fat/salt/carb etc)
Dinner: Nothing particularly interesting just the same sort of thing everyone eats! Some sort of protein e.g. meat/fish, veg, salad, some sort of carb. Nothing particularly unhealthy that is recommended to avoid and not huge portions
Drinks: Lots of green tea!
I'm starving. Where's the food?!? Protein and fat seem extremely low, if not non existent. You need plenty of both!
OP - I would suggest you log, you will be surprised at how the calories can add up. Also, time of the month?0 -
You can be eating the healthiest foods in the world, but it means squat when it comes to weight loss. To lose weight, you have to be in a caloric deficit. If you're eating 'healthy' foods and not losing weight, then you're eating too much of it and you're not in a deficit.
You need to look at the caloric contents of each thing you eating, and if possible, weigh it. Don't just guess, because that can be way off. Weigh it.
A serving of cereal plus milk can easily be underestimated. The bread you're using can easily have 70-80 calories per slice... or more if it's a specialty bread. At Dinner, if you're not weighing that piece of chicken, it can easily be 8 oz instead of the 4 you think it is. Adding milk to coffee, drinking juices, adding ketchup or mayo to things... these all rack up the calories.
Log your food everyday, consistently & as accurately as possible (ie, get a kitchen scale) and you should begin to see change. If you do this and there's no change, you’re somehow miscalculating or underestimating your calorie intake (the most common cause), miscalculating or overestimating calories burned, or a bit of both.0 -
Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
Breakfast: 30g bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes
Snacks throughout the day: 1 Banana, either an apple or kiwi fruit, wholegrain cracker with low fat hummus, sometimes a low fat yoghurt in the evening
Lunch: Either 1 piece of bread (open sandwich) with tomatoes, salad OR Slimfast shake OR Salad OR Bought sandwich but ALWAYS check all the traffic lights are green (not sure if you have the traffic light system in America but it shows that every part of the food is healthy e.g. low fat/salt/carb etc)
Dinner: Nothing particularly interesting just the same sort of thing everyone eats! Some sort of protein e.g. meat/fish, veg, salad, some sort of carb. Nothing particularly unhealthy that is recommended to avoid and not huge portions
Drinks: Lots of green tea!
Your menu is so vague no one will be able to give you any accurate information. Here is what I see......
What kind of milk is on your cereal? Mayo on that sandwich? How many calories in your bread? Dressing on that salad? Cheese? A Slimfast shake? Are you counting the calories in the fruit? ARE YOU MEASURING ANYTHING? How big are your portions? Are you counting the oils, butter, cream etc? What other than green tea are you drinking? Is there sugar or honey in that tea?
You can over eat just about anything also there are a lot of calories in things like dressing, mayo, cheese and other condiments.
Having said that, I bet if you start measuring and weighing EVERYTHING that goes in your mouth you will see the problem.
If you dont already have one buy yourself a digital food scale and some measuring spoons/cups, then use them.0 -
30g of cereal is like a heaped tablespoon, lol.
By the way,, if you are new to doing some strength training, even if it is only body weight strength training.. your muscles are likely filled with fluid while your body is repairing those micro tears.
Fluid has weight and masks weight gain - but really, it goes away after about two weeks.
Fall into a routine ... the scale will eventually budge.0 -
What? That's a perfectly healthy way of eating.Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
Breakfast: 30g bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes
Snacks throughout the day: 1 Banana, either an apple or kiwi fruit, wholegrain cracker with low fat hummus, sometimes a low fat yoghurt in the evening
Lunch: Either 1 piece of bread (open sandwich) with tomatoes, salad OR Slimfast shake OR Salad OR Bought sandwich but ALWAYS check all the traffic lights are green (not sure if you have the traffic light system in America but it shows that every part of the food is healthy e.g. low fat/salt/carb etc)
Dinner: Nothing particularly interesting just the same sort of thing everyone eats! Some sort of protein e.g. meat/fish, veg, salad, some sort of carb. Nothing particularly unhealthy that is recommended to avoid and not huge portions
Drinks: Lots of green tea!
I'm starving. Where's the food?!? Protein and fat seem extremely low, if not non existent. You need plenty of both!
OP - I would suggest you log, you will be surprised at how the calories can add up. Also, time of the month?
I disagree - the op has specifically stated she looks for "healthy" sandwiches, which to her equates low cal/low carb/low fat. There is protein mentioned once or twice. There is no fat mentioned. I'm assuming, from the info regarding the sandwich, that there's isn't spoons of mayo, butter or oil used. If not, there is virtually no fat in her meals. Your body needs fat for good health!0 -
What? That's a perfectly healthy way of eating.Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
Breakfast: 30g bowl of cereal, usually cornflakes
Snacks throughout the day: 1 Banana, either an apple or kiwi fruit, wholegrain cracker with low fat hummus, sometimes a low fat yoghurt in the evening
Lunch: Either 1 piece of bread (open sandwich) with tomatoes, salad OR Slimfast shake OR Salad OR Bought sandwich but ALWAYS check all the traffic lights are green (not sure if you have the traffic light system in America but it shows that every part of the food is healthy e.g. low fat/salt/carb etc)
Dinner: Nothing particularly interesting just the same sort of thing everyone eats! Some sort of protein e.g. meat/fish, veg, salad, some sort of carb. Nothing particularly unhealthy that is recommended to avoid and not huge portions
Drinks: Lots of green tea!
I'm starving. Where's the food?!? Protein and fat seem extremely low, if not non existent. You need plenty of both!
OP - I would suggest you log, you will be surprised at how the calories can add up. Also, time of the month?
I disagree - the op has specifically stated she looks for "healthy" sandwiches, which to her equates low cal/low carb/low fat. There is protein mentioned once or twice. There is no fat mentioned. I'm assuming, from the info regarding the sandwich, that there's isn't spoons of mayo, butter or oil used. If not, there is virtually no fat in her meals. Your body needs fat for good health!
you mean, FAT IS ESSENTIAL?!?0 -
Without seeing your food diary it sounds like it's non-accurate logging.0
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Completely understand where you guys are coming from about counting calories BUT I basically eat the same, or very similar things everyday and I used to count them all the time for months on end so I know I'm not going over and basically know the calories in everything I'm eating. I'd say I eat a maximum of 1500 calories a day and I burn off at least 320 on the running machine.
To answer some of your questions:
- Always use skimmed milk
- Slim fast shakes are 230 calories
- Medium sliced wholegrain bread (but if I'm honest hardly eat bread anyway, tend to go for salads or slimfast, if I buy a sandwich I tend to go for wraps as these usually have less calories)
- Nope I don't add a load of mayonnaise or lards of butter to anything, promise! - Sometime I might add a cheese slice or something but again, nothing overly unhealthy
The weirdest thing is about a year ago I had pretty much exactly the same diet and was constantly losing the weight. My diet changed when I went to university which is when I put on weight (about 7lbs altogether), I think the main culprit for this was large portion sizes in catered accommodation (impossible to count calories) and the amount of alcohol I drank as a student, although I did still exercise daily.
Now I'm BACK to being healthy and the old diet isn't working in the same way even though I know it used to (of course it's only been 2 weeks, just really surprised I've gained)0 -
If you dont already have one buy yourself a digital food scale and some measuring spoons/cups, then use them.
Digital scales are the best thing I ever bought.... I had no concept of how much things weighed or how much I was eating.0 -
I will agree that if you just began a new challenging exercise program, you may gain a few pounds at the start...but that will level off, so, if your weight continues to rise...then you're eating too much. Period.Thanks for the advice guys I really do appreciate it, but I really don't think my calorie intake is the problem. I haven't been logging in my diary on here as I haven't used my fitness pal for a while, but in general this is what I eat on a daily basis, hope it helps:
If you are not weighing/measuring and logging, then no one will be able to give you proper advice. Most people vastly underestimate when guessing their portion size. I mean, one serving of cheese is the size of 3 dice?!?! In the past I'd have eaten at least double that and thought it was one serving. The difference is 100 cals vs 200 cals and those kinds of things really add up.0 -
P.S. Sorry about the lack of diary!
And yes I do own a digital scale
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