Gaining weight while exercising.

Remember muscle weighs more than fat So my guess is that you are gaining muscle!

Make sure your body is getting enough calories. If you are working out nonstop, make sure you are eating more than 1200 calories at the LEAST.

If you are not consuming enough calories to balance out expenditure from exercise, your body will start to hold on to fat as a starvation mechanism.

This site will tell you how many calories you should be consuming every day in order to meet your weight loss goal in a certain amount of time. If you feel like you aren't eating enough to keep your energy up, increase the amount of time to reach that weight loss goal.

It's better to lose weight gradually and in a healthy way than deprive your body of the energy it needs to fuel your workouts and your day to day activities.

If you are working out loads and not taking in enough water you will not lose weight. Make sure you drink plenty as well as eating well.

Muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound. Muscle is denser, not heavier.

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=8311&sc=128

I am struggling with the same thing at the moment. Trying not to let it psych me out! Drink more water and stay off the scale for a while. Also, try just monitoring your measurements for a while. Good luck!

Ummm...your trainers are WRONG. Sorry. If you've only been working out 3 weeks and you're gaining weight there are four possible reasons:

1) You are in the crappy "gain weight" period. Which usually only lasts about 8-10 days, but I guess it could be longer.
2) Your new workout routine has given an earlier invitation to TOM and you just don't know it yet.
3) You are eating more calories than you burn! You burn 1200 by being alive. If you burn 300 exercising, then that is 1500 calories. If you are trying to lose weight you need to eat 1500 calories and not one more. If you are trying to maintain but tone, you should figure out your BMR and then eat those calories plus your exercise calories each day.
4) You are eating too few calories. If you are eating 1200 calories per day and then burning 300, then you only ate 900 net which will put your body in starvation mode.

NEVER listen to a trainer that tells you you don't need to think about what you're eating. When you are trying to better yourself and your body EVERYTHING you do matters.

I am not some run of the mill member on the site btw. I work at a college that trains personal fitness trainers and if we ever heard one of them tell someone not to worry about eating carefully or at least being healthy, we'd be sending them back to nutrition 101.

I am also working to become a certified group fitness instructor so I have been taking a lot of nutrition courses lately. That is just lame.

Ummm...your trainers are WRONG. Sorry. If you've only been working out 3 weeks and you're gaining weight there are four possible reasons:

1) You are in the crappy "gain weight" period. Which usually only lasts about 8-10 days, but I guess it could be longer.
2) Your new workout routine has given an earlier invitation to TOM and you just don't know it yet.
3) You are eating more calories than you burn! You burn 1200 by being alive. If you burn 300 exercising, then that is 1500 calories. If you are trying to lose weight you need to eat 1500 calories and not one more. If you are trying to maintain but tone, you should figure out your BMR and then eat those calories plus your exercise calories each day.
4) You are eating too few calories. If you are eating 1200 calories per day and then burning 300, then you only ate 900 net which will put your body in starvation mode.

NEVER listen to a trainer that tells you you don't need to think about what you're eating. When you are trying to better yourself and your body EVERYTHING you do matters.

I am not some run of the mill member on the site btw. I work at a college that trains personal fitness trainers and if we ever heard one of them tell someone not to worry about eating carefully or at least being healthy, we'd be sending them back to nutrition 101.

I am also working to become a certified group fitness instructor so I have been taking a lot of nutrition courses lately. That is just lame.

This is true. If you're in a plateau period, just work through it. Usually lasts 2-3 weeks maximum.

Using this site, you can get a good estimate of how many calories you should net per day based on your weight loss goals. As long as you are close to that number, you should be in good shape.

What you eat is important! Make sure you are getting your calories from wholesome foods. If it doesn't come from the ground or have a mother, it's probably not good for you.

Just remember that in your weight loss journey, there are no failures. You may slip up some days and you may not be able to give a workout your all on some days but, tomorrow is always another day.

It's happened to me. I can only do 30 minutes of a 45 minute workout, I have to bump down to lighter weights, or I just flat out am too exhausted to work out. As long as you pick back up and challenge yourself to push that extra little bit, you'll walk out of a workout without regret.

As long as you have confidence in yourself and push yourself to do your best, that's the best thing you can do for your body. You're capable of things you never thought possible and that's what's going to help you reach your goal.