Gaining not losing

You can't gain 7pounds in a week.

But if you have radically changed your diet or exercise regimen then you are probably retaining water.
It's possible you aren't burning as muc as you think on your elliptical, since 1500 seems pretty high, unless you are spending all day on there. Do you use a heart rate monitor?

Finally, try recalculating your maintenance calories... Maybe on a couple other sites as well. You have lost a lot of weight over the years, so of course, what you need to maintain will be different. You don't need to eat drastically under maintenance to lose weight or push yourself to the limit exercising, just eating a couple hundred under maintenance will work.

Time to change up your exercise routine. Your not burning as many calories as you think you are if your body isn't working as hard as it used to.

Machines are notorious for over estimating calorie burns. It s sensible to half the burn calories, eat back that amount. After 6 weeks of logging you will be able to tell if you need to tweak that % up or down a bit.

And congratulations on your HUGE weight loss

jakeziskin1 wrote: »

CassidyScaglione wrote: »

You can't gain 7pounds in a week.

But if you have radically changed your diet or exercise regimen then you are probably retaining water.
It's possible you aren't burning as muc as you think on your elliptical, since 1500 seems pretty high, unless you are spending all day on there. Do you use a heart rate monitor?

Finally, try recalculating your maintenance calories... Maybe on a couple other sites as well. You have lost a lot of weight over the years, so of course, what you need to maintain will be different. You don't need to eat drastically under maintenance to lose weight or push yourself to the limit exercising, just eating a couple hundred under maintenance will work.

How would the elliptical take all day? I use the elliptical 4/5xs a week. I burn between 1300/1500 an hour. Keep a steady pace, don't get off the machine for the hour, watch tv, and see the results?

1500 calories from 60 mins elliptical?????????????? Is that confirmed with a HRM?? The only reason someone might burn that amount of calories from an hour on a crosstrainer is if you were enormously large. Average burn for a steady hour elliptical for me is around 450 cals.

How accurate is your food logging? Do you use a food scale? I'd say your calories for the elliptical seem extremely high. I'd cut back on eating the exercise calories - eat a portion but not probably not more than 1/2 or so and work on the accuracy of your food logging.

Drink more water. When I hit a block, it's generally because my water intake sucks. Also make sure your sodium intake isn't too high.

@nita494

Its more accurate than the counter on the elliptical. Unless you are going hell for leather, you aren't burning 1200 calories in two hours. And yes, buy a scale.

nita494 wrote: »

I have been keeping at current weight doing 1700 to 2200 calories in and 1500 calories out ( per elliptical) for about 5+ months

The awesome thing about keeping at the same weight for 5+ months is that now you know your maintenance calories. You have worked out that if you eat how you've been eating and keep up the same workouts, then you will maintain your weight. This means that if you want to lose weight, you'll need to make a change to your calories in/out balance such as eating 250 calories less each day to lose 0.5 lb per week.

The above is true regardless of what your specific numbers for calories in and out have been. However, you might find it incredibly useful to weigh your foods with a food scale, because you will likely find that you have actually been eating more than you realized. Without a food scale, you are not being meticulous about your logging. I certainly didn't initially realize that I needed to weigh pre-packaged foods like breads, since it tells me how many calories is in one slice... but each slice is usually 5-10% more than the label says! Now that I know this, I can plan accordingly.

It is not possible that you can eyeball the portions accurately (as humans, we all tend to suck at this!) Keep in mind that being off by just 250 calories each day can mean the difference between being in a deficit or being at maintenance.

Try eating back only a portion of exercise cals. I walk/run and eat back 60%. Try 75% for a week or so and see if you start dropping weight... If that seems slow, go to eating back 50-60%. Your at maintenance right now, so it shouldn't take much.