I gained a pound!

Try to eat back at least some of the exercise calories, personally I don't let my net calories go below 1250 when I work out. And for the other problem, I'm a pharmacy tech, and I've heard many pharmacists I work with recommend Miralax

It took time to put the weight on and it will take time to get it back off. Eat a little more and give it longer than a week.

P.S. Muscle does not weigh more that fat. 1lb of muscle is weighs the same as 1lb of fat. A pound is pound.

I've eaten less than 1200 calories per day and have worked out everyday for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half!

This could be your problem. Eat more. It might sound odd, but try it.

Eating more will NOT cause you to lose mass. The only way that would be applicable is if you were eating so little protein that your body couldn't accurately control it's own fluid dynamics. Which would mean you would also look cachetic (like a dying cancer patient).

However, I would say your likely issue is a combination of answers given by the prior posts. Your 4 lbs weight loss previously was likely a fluid shift from the excess salts from the fast food you had been previously taken in. Usually, your body will either under or over shoot and then come in to a happy medium. At the same time that was going on, you were working out and you were building muscle and losing fat (CONGRATS!!!); unfortunately, the muscle has a higher weight

So the combination of more muscle and your body properly achieving its fluid base weight equated in a greater weight but I bet a loss of fat. Let me know if I can help at all.... I know there is a bunch of crap on websites....

Sorry, but the information you're giving is incorrect. It's not muscle. Muscle is built on calorie surplus. Only a few selective type of people can build even just a little muscle on calorie deficit and she doesn't sound like one of them.
The gain is from water retention. Muscle needs water to rebuild and store glycogen.
If someone doesn't eat enough, it lowers their BMR. A lower BMR means that they are burning less calories at rest. You burn more fat at rest than doing activity. This is why it's important to eat enough so the BMR stays active. The body doesn't really like to give up body fat. The body will actually try to utilize lean muscle tissue for energy before body fat. This is why strength training is important. To help retain lean muscle.
Overall if she is in calorie deficit (along with eating back her exercise calories), and strength training with cardio efficiently, then the weight will come off.
Water retention from the exercise will subside in a couple of weeks.


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Sorry, but the information you're giving is incorrect. It's not muscle. Muscle is built on calorie surplus. Only a few selective type of people can build even just a little muscle on calorie deficit and she doesn't sound like one of them.
The gain is from water retention. Muscle needs water to rebuild and store glycogen.
If someone doesn't eat enough, it lowers their BMR. A lower BMR means that they are burning less calories at rest. You burn more fat at rest than doing activity. This is why it's important to eat enough so the BMR stays active. The body doesn't really like to give up body fat. The body will actually try to utilize lean muscle tissue for energy before body fat. This is why strength training is important. To help retain lean muscle.
Overall if she is in calorie deficit (along with eating back her exercise calories), and strength training with cardio efficiently, then the weight will come off.
Water retention from the exercise will subside in a couple of weeks.


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
[/quote]
thank you.

I'd stick with the workouts and 1200 calories and give it a little more time. It's too early to panic!

It took time to put the weight on and it will take time to get it back off. Eat a little more and give it longer than a week.

P.S. Muscle does not weigh more that fat. 1lb of muscle is weighs the same as 1lb of fat. A pound is pound.

Of course people know that. We likely couldn't form a sentence if we didn't get that-- the statement "muscle weighs more than fat" is assuming an equal size of both. Sorry I didn't specify when I repeated it, I assumed people would get that.

(Of course, I don't think it's relavent here, OP is very unlikely to have gained muscle, I think the 1 lb is water weight that shouldn't be fretted over ).

I don't get it. I started a diet and exercise program 7 days ago. I've eaten less than 1200 calories per day ---

Would be where I stopped reading. Your body thinks it's starving, and is holding onto the fat you have. You will CONTINUE to gain. Please follow the set up the website provides and educate yourself by using all the previous threads that discuss intake vs outake.

Starving yourself (yep, that's what this is, doesn't matter how fat you are) does. not. work.

I'm going to take a laxative tomorrow night. I have IBS so i'm used to this happening, but I was regular for weeks until I started this diet so i guess i'll be staying away from the Slim Fast shakes

YES! This is your problem - I don't typically tell people they are full of crap, but in your case, it's just the simple truth. You are one good poop away from losing at least a pound and feeling a heck of a lot better to boot.

I second the recommendation that you plan a couple of 'rest' days into your week too. At least one. Many of us register a loss after a rest day, even more so if I throw a little nap in. LOL. I suspect it's because the muscles often retain water when you're working out a lot.

Seriously though, there are far healthier meal replacement options than Slim Fast, which is full of sugar. If I make a protein shake, I add some fruit and a good quality fiber supplement to it - it makes the texture wonderful and helps with the regularity too.

You'll get past this short-term obstacle and if you stick with it this time around, and change your lifestyle, you can keep it off! Best of luck to you.

You did not gain muscle. You dont' gain muscle on a caloric deficit.

Eat more. You're not eating enough so your body is hoarding what little food you're giving it. A fire will burn out if you don't give it enough fuel.

Yes!! Also, muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat.

Yes!! Thank you!
A pound of apples does not weigh more than a pound of bananas! Fat takes up more space, muscle is more dense. You should eat 1200 cals or more, track how many calories you're burning during exercise and try to eat at least half of them back...especially if you go below 1200 calories.

You will not bulk up or gain muscle on a calorie deficit. You can tone and tighten.

Good luck!

This is good. Try different things. Throw science out the window. Try different things and see what works for you. Not everyone is the same! Good Luck

I'm not going to starve myself anymore. I'm going to start eating more, healthy foods though of course

when I started with my trainer I gained 6lbs, I don't know why/what but after a few months I lost it plus more.. Hang in there...

Muscle does not weigh more than fat.

You did not gain muscle in such a short amount of time, and on such a huge deficit.

Eating less than 1200 calories per day consistently is a terrible idea for most people.

Regardless of what your net goal is, you need to eat back the calories you burn during exercise.

If you want to lose weight in a healthy way and preserve whatever muscle you already have, you need to eat more and set your goal to lose only 1 lb per week. Obviously, starving yourself did not work in the past since you said you gained weight back. It doesn't work for most people.

ETA: Don't freak out about a 1 lb "gain".

1) Muscle does "weight" more than Fat... it is more dense and therefore has "greater" mass.
2) Muscle gain in the out of shape or those with minimal muscle mass can and is noticed in a shorter time (simply bc the relative amount is greater per % gain) The idea that is takes 1-2 months to start muscle gain is antiquated and was based on poor science... and can not be backed by modern sound studies....
3) Placing the body in a stress cycle response for short periods of time... can be actually beneficial fat loss (lipolysis) is closely tied to the autonomic (fight or flight) response. I do agree that you will get very tired at some point and need to replace your calories that you are expending during exercise. And that true weight loss takes place do to lifestyle changes not short stress burst... I do however believe that all of us like immediate gratification and that controlled gratification can keep us on line to our end goal

I haven't lost and weight the past two weeks, and I have been working out, drinking lots of water, and I have been staying under my calorie goal. It sucks, but it happens. AND, it is normal. Look through the other threads similar to yours on here, you will notice that many other people have had this exact same experience. Your body needs to adjust, it's changing. Let it have that time to make those changes.

Also, you really should be eating more than 1200 calories. When you eat that little, your body holds on to your weight because it is in "starvation mode." Try eating around 1300 or 1400 and see if that makes a difference. Good luck!