Why am I gaining weight despite diet and exercise?

Hello,

I started exercising and dieting about a month ago and, according to my scale I've gained 2 lbs. I know muscle weighs more than fat, so I did my measurements with a tape measure and my waist was a whole 2 inches bigger. Why is this? What am a doing wrong?

Hard to say, but there are two things you need to take into account:

- Whether or not you ate or drank before measuring. That can easily add an inch.

and

- If you have been doing muscle building work on your core. If you managed to increase the size of those muscles without losing enough fat off the top, well, then...

i dunno but i posted the same thing yesterday and i got flamed.
some people would try and help you though and their question would be
what's your height, age, bmi, gender, calorie intake. and if you can open your diary for people to comment to it.

i think you maybe starving yourself. someone told me 800 calories is a starving. so i meant like if you eat 1500 but exercise 700 i think that's considered starving. you should pick one of the two if your planning on doing extreme

Hello,

I started exercising and dieting about a month ago and, according to my scale I've gained 2 lbs. I know muscle weighs more than fat, so I did my measurements with a tape measure and my waist was a whole 2 inches bigger. Why is this? What am a doing wrong?

It's hard to comment without knowing your stats (height, weight, goals) and seeing your diary. Give us a bit more info and you should get some helpful answers.
At a guess it's because you don't have your goals and numbers set right for you or because you aren't recording your food/exercise accurately.

see i was right

i dunno but i posted the same thing yesterday and i got flamed.
some people would try and help you though and their question would be
what's your height, age, bmi, gender, calorie intake. and if you can open your diary for people to comment to it.

i think you maybe starving yourself. someone told me 800 calories is a starving. so i meant like if you eat 1500 but exercise 700 i think that's considered starving. you should pick one of the two if your planning on doing extreme

hahahah.. i just saw this after i badgered him/her lol..
and yes, you are right about the starving thing

Muscle does not weigh more than fat!

If it is the week of your period, or before even you can gain weight (2-5lbs) and of course you bloat.

she said its been a month. just saying

I like how people complain about the diaries not being open. I had no clue up until a couple weeks ago you could have your diary viewable by other people, so don't bash people until you know they know you can have it opened to public view!

You could be eating too few calories or you could be gaining because you eat back the exercise calories and you are overestimating the calories burned since MFP is known for making something a 1000 calorie an hour burn where it may be more like 300-400! I wore my HRM and it was much much lower.

Eat your calories that MFP gives you and don't eat back your exercise calories if you work out really hard then eating back 100-200 might be fine. Drink your water and don't eat a bunch of processed foods like "100 calorie packs" those tend to make you hungrier I think! Eat veggies and try to get in a nice cardio burn too! Cardio is where fat is burned off. Building muscle helps you lose inches but at the same time if you are very overweight or have fat to burn the combination will be the best thing for you!

I agree if you are a woman, you can gain weight during your time of the month! I did and then lost 3lbs the next week!

Measurement is the best way to check your progress specially if you do exercise.
A few people eat too enough for their weight so they can't lose weight

1,200 165 40 45 <----this is your caloric intake and macros! Its what a small bird would eat to lose weight!

Go to Fat to Fit Radio and use the tools for BF% "military" and do the calculator for BMR.
Then eat whatever your activity level tells you to.

Oh and add me if you need support/kick in the rear!

You should definately increase your calories. You are only taking in about 800 a day. You don't have to eat the total amount of calories they allow you, but you should not be that low.

You are not eating enough!

1200 and thats a negative!
You can eat anything between 2000 down to lets say 1600.
Anything below that tends to slow the metabolism down and you stop losing weight.

Hi! Based on what I see in your diary, you are underfeeding or not logging everything. It isn't reccomended to go below 1200 NET for your daily intake. Make sure you eat to the net on the top right side of your screen on your profile. The problem with underfeeding makes the body confused and it thinks it is starving, then whatever you eat it holds on to. I would suggest eating every 2-3 hours something healthy, you can plan for exercise by eating over a little, then that can give you the motivation to move your body and leaves room for a snack, depending on what you burn. Despite what "we" have been told as a norm by whomever.....less is not always more......try meeting your daily goals for a week or 2 and drinking water 8 glasses and see what happens. Be honest with yourself because that is the true key to success! Good luck!