Need to drop weight but I keep gaining more?

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I'm a 5 foot 9 teen, and (depressingly) weigh 251. I used to weight 255, but I dropped to 245 in 3/4 weeks. I weighed myself today to notice I gained 6 pounds. I've been exercising daily, using weight and starting to do more cardio, but I keep gaining the weight back. Any help?
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  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
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    Your diary is not open to see, but usually, unless a medical reason, you're eating more than you think you are. How are you determining how much you ate? Rough guesstimate, measuring, weighing, whatever the bag says?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
  • ridge4mfp
    ridge4mfp Posts: 301 Member
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    The saying is that weight is lost in the kitchen, not the gym. You don't mention any calorie counting. You won't be able to lose weight if overeating, even if you are exercising. Perhaps you are counting calories, but it is difficult to know from the information in your post.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Are you over the age of 18? If not, you should check out Sparkteens.com, as they're more meant for your nutritional needs.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    How long have you been at this? What other things are you doing that can factor in to this?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    To be 100% honest l, I haven't logged almost anything, besides foods that I ate and knew were bad, so I could try to burn off. I've mainly been eating like, salads, with the occasional chicken. I skip lunch sometimes too.

    There's your problem. You need to accurately log ALL of your food/calories. Do this for a solid month and I'll bet you'll start losing weight.
  • TxTiffani
    TxTiffani Posts: 798 Member
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    When you out your info into MFP and tell it you want to lose weight and how much you want to lose it will give you a calories amount for you to eat each day. Then when u exercise you add it under exercise and it will give you more calories to eat:) If you log your food and stay within the allotted calories you should start losing:) Well done on the decision to focus on your health at a young age!!
  • stephinator92
    stephinator92 Posts: 162 Member
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    To be 100% honest l, I haven't logged almost anything, besides foods that I ate and knew were bad, so I could try to burn off. I've mainly been eating like, salads, with the occasional chicken. I skip lunch sometimes too.

    Stop skipping meals! Stop torturing yourself!!!! You can eat other foods. Get on Pinterest and find some recipes. Get creative. Log everything and enjoy yourself
  • mommakmfp
    mommakmfp Posts: 4 Member
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    To be 100% honest l, I haven't logged almost anything, besides foods that I ate and knew were bad, so I could try to burn off. I've mainly been eating like, salads, with the occasional chicken. I skip lunch sometimes too.

    The other day I made a salad without measuring everything thinking.. Hey.. It's a salad. It was a 700 calorie salad apparently. Measure and log everything!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    mommakmfp wrote: »
    To be 100% honest l, I haven't logged almost anything, besides foods that I ate and knew were bad, so I could try to burn off. I've mainly been eating like, salads, with the occasional chicken. I skip lunch sometimes too.

    The other day I made a salad without measuring everything thinking.. Hey.. It's a salad. It was a 700 calorie salad apparently. Measure and log everything!

    Yowsas go you good thing :lol: What did your salad contain?

  • dramaqueen45
    dramaqueen45 Posts: 1,009 Member
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    Yep I can easily make a 500-600 calorie salad- avocado, eggs, nuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, creamy dressing, croutons, cheese- but I love my salads this way! I will make salads like this fit into my goals for the day. Makes those salads from restaurants seem really bland.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    To be 100% honest l, I haven't logged almost anything, besides foods that I ate and knew were bad, so I could try to burn off. I've mainly been eating like, salads, with the occasional chicken. I skip lunch sometimes too.

    It's not the kinds of foods you eat, it's the amounts you eat (i.e. the calories you eat) that determine weight gain or loss. You could go on a pizza and beer diet and lose weight if you consumed the right amount.
  • Mentali
    Mentali Posts: 352 Member
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    mommakmfp wrote: »
    To be 100% honest l, I haven't logged almost anything, besides foods that I ate and knew were bad, so I could try to burn off. I've mainly been eating like, salads, with the occasional chicken. I skip lunch sometimes too.

    The other day I made a salad without measuring everything thinking.. Hey.. It's a salad. It was a 700 calorie salad apparently. Measure and log everything!

    Story of my life. I've determined that the calories it takes to make a salad satisfying for me, most of the time, is not a sustainable amount. Much more satisfying to just eat a smaller amount of something else :D
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    I'm a 5 foot 9 teen, and (depressingly) weigh 251. I used to weight 255, but I dropped to 245 in 3/4 weeks. I weighed myself today to notice I gained 6 pounds. I've been exercising daily, using weight and starting to do more cardio, but I keep gaining the weight back. Any help?

    Do you weigh and measure your foods? I would start there for sure if you aren't. Don't try to guess at how much you are eating, weigh and measure! I promise you it will make a difference.

    When you work out extra hard try to remember that your muscles will retain water in order to repair them so that may show a gain. Also gaining muscle shows a gain as well.

    Do you measure yourself? That's another way to see that you are actually losing weight.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    To be 100% honest l, I haven't logged almost anything, besides foods that I ate and knew were bad, so I could try to burn off. I've mainly been eating like, salads, with the occasional chicken. I skip lunch sometimes too.

    Try not to skip meals. Don't let yourself get really hungry. Eat nutritious snacks when you haven't had a meal in a while.
  • sampayne1001
    sampayne1001 Posts: 2 Member
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    My husband experienced similar problems and for him, he often times was not consuming enough calories in a day which can have the opposite effect, he also would not eat breakfast and sometimes lunch so then would be scarfing in all the calories in a day after like 4pm. If you aren't already, make sure you are eating enough, and try and eat at least a small meal within 45 minutes of waking up in the morning, don't skip meals throughout the day etc. etc. It is also possible as others have pointed out, you may be eating more than you are counting. Sleep is also extremely important for weight loss, as lack of sleep causes excess cortisol to be produced which hiders weight loss also.
  • streamgirl
    streamgirl Posts: 207 Member
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    There have also been studies that people who exercise without watching calories actually do gain weight. It's nothing magical, it's just that it's easy to think "I just ran for 30 minutes and I'm really beat, so I will treat myself with some extra cheese and nuts on my healthy salad!" Turns out the run burned 275 calories and the extra cheese, nuts, dressing, etc. added 325.