Gaining instead of losing..help?

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charliev1
charliev1 Posts: 1
in Motivation and Support
I work out 6 days a week, eat mostly organic fruits and vegetables, protein shakes, and chicken yet I am gaining weight instead of losing. I eat around 1220 calories a day. It's been three weeks and I'm feeling desperate. Help?

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  • luv2ash
    luv2ash Posts: 1,903 Member
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    Are you eating enough calories after your workout? How many calories are your burning during your workout? Do you eat anything else, processed foods that contain sodium?
  • bethanna91
    bethanna91 Posts: 63
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    I'm in the same boat. It is discouraging, but I'm hoping it's just muscle building. Don't give up!!
  • Kirsty_UK
    Kirsty_UK Posts: 964 Member
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    it might help get advise if you make your diary public
  • SpaceMarkus
    SpaceMarkus Posts: 651
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    What type of workouts are you doing?
  • bmmiller4
    bmmiller4 Posts: 39
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    If you are doing a lot of strength training you could be building muscle. If you haven't taken measurements you may want to do that. The scale may not change but you should see a reduction in inches.
  • melliebee
    melliebee Posts: 187 Member
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    Do you have a lot of weight to lose or just a little? I never start seeing changes until after the 3 week mark. Just keep at it! Your body needs time to figure out what's going on. Be consistent. It will budge. In the mean time, pay attention to all the lovely non scale victories of exercising and healthy eating! :)
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
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    Maybe you need to up your calories. When you work out that much, your body needs fuel.
  • bethrs
    bethrs Posts: 664 Member
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    There are a number of factors that we just can't be sure of...hormonally driven water weight increases.

    If you've chosen the right activty level/lifestyle setting in MFP to come up with the correct number of goal calories a day.

    How many net calories you consume (and is it too few or too many)?

    How you measure your exercise calories burned and if this is accurate.

    Even things like if you have eaten more quantity of food but not expelled it from your body can cause a pound or two weight gain.

    How much are you gaining? How long have you been at it?
  • SheilaSisco
    SheilaSisco Posts: 722 Member
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    If your NET calories aren't over 1200, that's the most likely answer. When your calorie goals are that low, it becomes even more important to eat back those exercise calories.
  • Sesilje
    Sesilje Posts: 16 Member
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    I'm only guessing, since I cannot see your diary... But I think you might be eating too little. Do you eat extra calories when you exercise, or is your total calorie intake only 1220? Your net calorie intake should never go below 1200. (Some say men should keep their net calorie intake even higher.)
    The reason for this is that the body will otherwise lack fuel for basic metabolism and go into starvation mode, in which it tries to preserve energy and use as few calories as possible. Just google 'starvation mode', and you'll see what I mean. :-)
  • pcteck2
    pcteck2 Posts: 184 Member
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    Yes, don't give up. I was on a plateau for over two months. The logjam finally broke. I'm glad I stuck with it. I just kept on exercising and eating 1200 calories per day and more on exercise days.
  • marianmaj
    marianmaj Posts: 96 Member
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    As a trainer i see many clients hit a plateau. Do not worry, just take your measurements and you are probably still losing inches. Muscle takes up less space than fat. You would be unbelievably rare to gain muscle that fast. I would suggest keeping sodium to 700 grams a day and changing up your workout so you "confuse" your body and make it drop the weight. Try high intensity cardio bursts mixed w/ recovery.
  • marianmaj
    marianmaj Posts: 96 Member
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    As a trainer i see many clients hit a plateau. Do not worry, just take your measurements and you are probably still losing inches. Muscle takes up less space than fat. You would be unbelievably rare to gain muscle that fast. I would suggest keeping sodium to 700 grams a day and changing up your workout so you "confuse" your body and make it drop the weight. Try high intensity cardio bursts mixed w/ recovery.
  • TheDeviation
    TheDeviation Posts: 149
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    I work out 6 days a week, eat mostly organic fruits and vegetables, protein shakes, and chicken yet I am gaining weight instead of losing. I eat around 1220 calories a day. It's been three weeks and I'm feeling desperate. Help?
    If you're eating 1220 calories and working out, you're not eating enough. You should at least be eating your exercise calories. Also, three weeks is just the start. As my former Tae Kwon Do instructor used to say, PATIENCE & PERSEVERANCE.

    Then again I think we're all guessing. You need to provide more details.

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