Overweight BECAUSE of fitness program?!

Stop using the scale as your sole indicator of success.

BMI doesn't really include enough factors to be that accurate. Weight vs height is it, yet people come in all different shapes and with different fitness goals. Most bodybuilders are "obese" on BMI despite having a pretty low BF%. My advice, if you are happy with your body and living healthy then don't stress about 5lbs on the scale.

So, you have lost inches, improved numerous health markers and you still think a number on a scale will be a great marker of overall health (much like BMI)? My guess is that you are seeing better definition in how you look. Ditch the scale and go with how you feel about your body and the amazing health benefits you are seeing.

I would rather lose inches than pounds any day, as it's inches lost that get me back into my favourite jeans. I'd not worry too much on BMI - it's just a guide really, and there's some great articles on how some people based on their height/muscle mass are considered 'overweight' on the BMI scale, including some professional athletes - example would be Usain Bolt, who according to BMI is overweight!! The article below might help a little.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255712.php

Here's the thing... sounds like you are doing good work on the fitness front but I'll tell you what... you haven't put on 4 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks. Newbies to the lifting/exercise gain may be able to put on - at most, and this is with serious effort - 1 lb of muscle a month. People who have been working out or fit before that are probably lucky to put on a 1/2 lb of muscle a month. And again... these stats are for people who train daily, constantly adjust for adaption, and scarf down a huge amount of protein and a caloric excess of 4-500 calories a day.

Now I am not saying you have gained 4 lbs of fat in 6 weeks either... probably a considerable amount of it is water weight or just natural fluctuation in your body weight (i.e. being female... I feel your pain). I worry though when people say things like "muscle weighs more than fat" and "I know it's just muscle" because it is much harder to put on muscle than this sort of folk wisdom would imply. Truth is... if you exercise more you are also - unless you completely ignore your body's needs and wants - going to be eating more and unless you are training an enormous amount or really pushing yourself, you are likely to gain weight during an exercise program! So your original title is not totally off point.

This all goes to say that your expectations and goals when you exercise might need to be re-evaluated. You acknowledged that your HR & blood pressure are vastly improved and that you feel tighter and more toned... this is all awesome news and these are the sorts of things that training will do for you. I say keep it up! These gains vastly outweigh (no pun intended) any moderate fluctuation in your weight.

One final point... everyone is correct in saying that BMI is crap. Two reasons for this - (1) it does not account for fitness or health in any way... just raw body weight. According to BMI charts, I am 'overweight'... I spend 14+ hours a week training (for a goal... not just because I'm crazy) and have less than 17% body fat. (2) the BMI charts were not designed to diagnose people as being overweight... as you can read on the Wiki page (and is discussed in numerous documentaries on the weight loss industry) - "'BMI' provides a simple numeric measure of a person's thickness or thinness, allowing health professionals to discuss overweight and underweight problems more objectively with their patients. However, BMI has become controversial because many people, including physicians, have come to rely on its apparent numerical authority for medical diagnosis, but that was never the BMI's purpose; it is meant to be used as a simple means of classifying sedentary (physically inactive) individuals, or rather, populations, with an average body composition." So basically BMI may be useful if you are sedentary... but not so much if you are active.

BMI is a guide and not designed to be used in isolation. As all your other indicators are very good stop worrying about BMI and if you have to buy new jeans but are overall healthier and fitter thats a good thing even if the jeans are bigger. You're obsessing over small details and not looking at the whole picture

1 - BF% is a better indicator...BMI doesn't take into account build

2 - Sorry...you did not gain 10 lbs of muscle...you just didn't

3 - If you inches are indeed decreasing and your weight has increased, it is due to fluid retention and/or excess waste in your system; exercise causes your body and tissues to break down..these require repair...fluids are retained to aid in said repair.

4- are you weighing yourself at the same time, same day, and under same conditions? Natural body weight fluctuations can easily be 5 Lbs day to day. Most people weigh in the morning first thing after they have relieved themselves and before consumption of food or beverage. If you have excess waste in your system, that weighs something...if you've eaten 2 Lbs of food, guess what...you're going to be about 2 Lbs heavier. If you've just worked out rigorously it is highly likely that your muscles will be saturated with fluids (which is what gives you that "pumped" look).

5 - It's not muscle...did I already say that?

I'm sure my body fat percentage has decreased from where I started in January; but in October, I was fit and 130-135 lbs. Now, I'm fit... but 10 lbs heavier. I'm not a body-builder and have no desire to be. I'm not using the scale as my *only* measure of success, I just want my "old" fit body back, not the new version.

But... but... Your old body had 7 more inches on it!

When you say "need to eat a calorie deficit", what exactly does that mean?

I am new and still learning this stuff.

Thanks in advance.

Your body burns a certain number of calories every day depending on your age, weight, gender, activity level, etc. If you want to lose weight, the calories you consume has to be less than that. If you consume more, you will gain weight.