I have NO IDEA why I am GAINING !! HELP!

So I shouldn't log in my housework as burning extra calories??? Doing nothing but breathing I burn 1200 calories. If I am running around cleaning, cooking, doing dishes, making snacks, doing laundry, sweeping, taking out trash, picking stuff up, and running after the kids from 7am to 9pm, that means I am burning a hell of a lot more than my resting calorie deficit. So why wouldn't I count it and log it in? I would be under eating. IDK how other moms clean their house or do their work, but when I'm home I'm moving all day and I've been at the point of sweating when I really get into an good hour of cleaning (its a stress release). Bending over, pushing, pulling, walking, running, carrying, reaching, etc. I do not sit an an office all day and do a ten minute tidy when I get home so I can have a brownie.

i understand, but you are using MFP estimations for these calories counts, correct? Well, MFP and internet resources way overestimate calories burned. It's probably more appropriate to set your activity level to lightly active or active and see what happens. The activity calories are less generous than the exercise calories, therefore chances are the activity setting won't be overestimated like the exercise calories (on MFP) are.

Muscle weighs more than fat. So if you're gaining muscle your weight will go up. I suggest measuring your success with a tape measure instead of a scale.

However, if you're not losing at all I'd recommend running or walking at a quickened pace. I do my best to walk at a fast pace at least one hour a day. More if I can manage it. You'll lose more weight doing exercises that make your heart race than you will doing sit ups and strength building exercises.

If you live in an apartment I would recommend something as simple as walking upstairs. I did it for 6 min. the other day I had broke out in a sweat to the point where my shirt was drenched. Shows out unfit I am but it burns a lot of fat when you sweat and your heart races.

Strength building exercises are more for people who are skinny and want to tone up. You can do ab crunches all day long but if there is 2 inches of fat on your stomach you won't ever see your 6 pack even though you may already have it thanks to your ab exercises.

To recap:

1.) Do more exercises that make your heart race, running, jogging, walking quickly, walking upstairs, etc.

2.) Save Strength building exercises for when you have lost all the weight you want to lose because muscle will increase your weight rather than make you weigh less.

Hope this helped.

Muscle weighs more than fat. So if you're gaining muscle your weight will go up. I suggest measuring your success with a tape measure instead of a scale.

Muscle weighs the same as fat, it just takes up less space. However, you don't gain muscle unless you are eating at maintenance or a surplus plus doing some weight lifting, and even then it takes a long while. Cardio provides endurance.

Strength building exercises are more for people who are skinny and want to tone up.

Nope. Strength training is for anyone who wants to do it. There are several people who start their weight loss journey obese and weight lift/strength train.

Save Strength building exercises for when you have lost all the weight you want to lose because muscle will increase your weight rather than make you weigh less.

No. Start right away if you so desire. It helps keep skin integrity and provides strength, and while on a deficit you do lose weight whether or not you weight lift. Except for the new lifter gains, In order to gain muscle you have to eat at maintenance or a surplus.

Muscle weighs more than fat. So if you're gaining muscle your weight will go up. I suggest measuring your success with a tape measure instead of a scale.

Muscle weighs the same as fat, it just takes up less space. However, you don't gain muscle unless you are eating at maintenance or a surplus plus doing some weight lifting, and even then it takes a long while. Cardio provides endurance.

Strength building exercises are more for people who are skinny and want to tone up.

Nope. Strength training is for anyone who wants to do it. There are several people who start their weight loss journey obese and weight lift/strength train.

Save Strength building exercises for when you have lost all the weight you want to lose because muscle will increase your weight rather than make you weigh less.

No. Start right away if you so desire. It helps keep skin integrity and provides strength, and while on a deficit you do lose weight whether or not you weight lift. Except for the new lifter gains, In order to gain muscle you have to eat at maintenance or a surplus.

If you lose 5lbs of fat but at the same time have been strength building you could easily have gained 5lbs of muscle. So the scale won't always show it. I wasn't saying she couldn't strength train. I was merely saying if she wanted to see results faster to focus more on burning fat than building muscle.

I just wanted to point this out because I would never tell someone not to do exercises. I was merely offering a possible solution to her problem. If you strength train while losing weight your weight loss results will typically be slower because you are replacing what you're losing with something better. But every person is different.

As for size if you had a pile of fat and a pile of muscle the exact same size weighing them you would find the muscle weighs more even though it is the same size as the fat. However, if you had 5lbs of fat, and 5lbs of muscle the muscle would indeed be smaller in size. That's what I mean when I say muscle weighs more than fat, and yes your right. Fat takes up more space, but it doesn't weight more for the space it's in. So no, fat does not weigh the same as muscle.

Also, as for me saying, "Strength building exercises are more for people who are skinny and want to tone up." That was purely an opinion of mine. The exercises you do really depends on what results you want to see.

Happy exercising.