HELP Please losing determination because of weight gain.

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I'm 4 months post pregnancy, and I weight 8 lbs more than I did after giving birth. This is my second pregnancy and this one was hard on me because I was so sick in the first two trimesters. I only gained 25 lbs during my pregnancy, however I lost all of my muscle it seems that I pretty much had on me at all. The last few months I've been really working on gaining my muscle back and eating clean and healthy. My problem is that I know have gone from weighing my comfortable 145 to 151. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong I eat the amount of calories I'm supposed I work out 4-5 x a week. I do daily walks with my two kids, I take on all the responsibly in the house since husband is overseas for work. I barely sit down honestly!!! So I guess my question is how come my lbs are not dropping? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated thank you in advance.

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  • BreefitnessBreef88
    BreefitnessBreef88 Posts: 40 Member
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    I'm in the same boat. For the past week I've either stayed the same at 217 or even gain a pound! I think we are just putting on muscle. But we have to be losing fat by working out as much as we do. I usually work out 7 days a week for at least a hr. Lots of cardio and strength training. I'm hoping the scale will start dropping in the next week because it can get quite discouraging to not see the number go down with all the hard work put in. Keep doing what you're doing! It will all pay off eventually, it has to.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Try tightening up your logging, I think it will really help
    1. Get a food scale, and use it as often as possible. I found I was eating as much as 400 cals per day MORE than I thought I was when I got one.
    2. Don't use "Generic" or "Homemade" entries in the database. They are user created, and you have no idea whether they are accurate or not.
    3. Be patient with yourself! Having a baby puts a lot of stress on your body, and sends your hormones all over the place :) And it sounds like yours was extra stressful. Take a deep breath, enjoy your new baby, and give yourself a little time to recover. 4 months post difficult-pregnancy is not that much time!

    Take care of yourself, and hang in there...
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    I hope you both eventually get results that you want, but I do have to mention that you're definitely not building muscle. Building muscle requires you to eat at a calorie surplus, not a calorie deficit. On top of that, the average woman can expect to build around 0.5 to 1 pound of muscle per month under OPTIMAL lifting conditions as well as optimal diet and resting conditions. Burning fat requires you to eat at a calorie deficit. The two are not going to happen simultaneously, especially at such a rapid pace.

    Exercising can make people hold a few pounds of water weight. It is a temporary thing that will taper off eventually. Women also hold more water during certain parts of their cycle. However, six pounds does seem like quite a bit of water weight. If it's only been a few weeks, be patient and wait it out. If you continue to gain weight, you're definitely eating more than you think and you need to lower your calorie goal or buy a food scale and weight what you eat since you'd be underestimating your portion sizes.
  • NatashaCrnjacBoyce
    NatashaCrnjacBoyce Posts: 19 Member
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    Thank you everyone for the help!!! I will be making some changes and define fly starting to weigh my food by scale and def decrease my calories hopefully. As far as for the water retention this is what I've been suspecting, not really sure what to do about this, I need to educate myself about what's going on here. I def feel like I indeed have gained a large mass of my muscle back being as I've always been active and muscular by genetics and that my muscle memory really does come back quickly. Here's to hoping things change soon!!!