Someone explain to me why I'm gaining weight? :P

BTW this will gain you appx .20lb a week.

Well a lot of people overestimate the calories the burn from exercise and sometimes underestimate the amounts of food they are eating when entering in to their diary.

I'll second that. I discovered that most of my portions that I eyed up were about twice as large as I thought. I've also found that MFP's numbers for calories burned are much higher than what I get with HRM and/or FitBit. So if you're not already doing so, try weighing your portions and wearing a monitor of some kind--HRM, FitBit, BodyMedia FIT, or the like.

The question had to be asked unfortunately. When looking at your food diary it is 100% obvious why you are not losing weight.

I know it's beyond your control, but I find it very disappointing that in this day and age your college cafeteria is actually allowed to serve such unhealthy choices and not have any healthy options. Are there not any laws in place for persons with special dietary needs. How would a diabetic or celiac survive? Would they just not be able to go to college because they couldn't eat the food served there?

But she should be able to lose weight on ANY food. That's not be healthy, that's lose weight. She has to be eating more calories than she's burning to gain. That points to measuring problems, like not weighing foods and exercise calories being high, for whatever reason.

The quick add calories is just the past few days, I had a lot of things my grandma cooked I had to eat and it's foreign food with no real equivalent here.

As for prior exercise, I used to be a figure skater. I don't exercise as much as I used to but more than most people. My BMR is 1,382 calories. I log everything I eat, and I'm fairly sure the quick adds from those couple days are within 100 calories of actual, I'm a scientist I understand error lol. I wonder if my metabolism is really messed up.

And um, I said 1) disregard the past few days. I don't think my eating choices are poor enough to be a joke, I'm a teenager still so I should technically have a higher metabolism, and I eat healthier than most college students around me...

If these foods of your grandma's are so foreign you can't enter the ingredients to build a recipe that has accurate calories per serving, how do you know your "quick add" calories are right? As a scientist, you understand the importance of controlling all the variables. Is it really impossible for you to add the foods you are actually eating? I've never used "quick add calories. In order to know the calories I'd have to look it up or have the nutrition facts from another source anyway. I build recipes and meals, and if something I need isn't in the database, I add it.

I forgot to mention that the human body can gain in excess of 5lbs+ per day.
Today I lifted in the morning and ate a lifters day of food so right now I weigh 143lbs.
This morning I weighed in at 137lbs.
So you can hang out on the scale all you want.
Truth is its going to lie to you daily and only over time will you truly know what youll weigh by the very small drops or rises.
My advice is get your hormones in line by eating better then tackle the recomp work.

Lift in the gym 3 times a week for 20-45 mins on a simple program like Stronglifts 5x5 and eat.

Some things to try:

- Cut out all the soda (diet or regular), replace with water. The best part is . . . water is FREE! Just buy a refillable bottle.

- At Starbucks, instead of ordering hot chocolate or a mocha order green tea or passion tea (unsweetened preferred) That way you still get a bit of taste rather than just water

- Slowly replace your snacks with fresh fruits/veggies. Does your school have a little market? Buying fresh bananas, apples or oranges to put in your backpack when you are hungry would be great.

- If you order a sandwich/wrap/burger etc. skip the tortilla/bun and ask if you can have it wrapped in lettuce (or put the meat over a salad)

- Instead of sugary cereals, do they have the option of something healthier? Even raisin bran would be better than Apple Jacks because at least you are getting the fiber from the bran and the sugar is coming from the raisins.

- When available, order whole grains (pasta/rice/bread/tortilla).

Best wishes :flowerforyou:

You're pregnant. Congrats!

Alert the Vatican! :O
lol

And yeah, the foods really are so foreign that I would have needed to have a detailed conversation with my grandmother to figure out what exactly was in the food and what the ingredients are called in english and then done an internet search to find their caloric value, all the while estimating whether her idea of "a dash" is more of a teaspoon or a tablespoon...it really wasn't worth it for a few meals.

Lifting weights is an interesting idea, I'm a bit intimidated though they look so heavy...

You are hoping you would have been worthy of being told the secret recipe, she may have held out on you anyway!

Very true, get a description, hope you find something similar, just a few days anyway.

You're pregnant. Congrats!

Alert the Vatican! :O
lol

And yeah, the foods really are so foreign that I would have needed to have a detailed conversation with my grandmother to figure out what exactly was in the food and what the ingredients are called in english and then done an internet search to find their caloric value, all the while estimating whether her idea of "a dash" is more of a teaspoon or a tablespoon...it really wasn't worth it for a few meals.

Lifting weights is an interesting idea, I'm a bit intimidated though they look so heavy...

So again, how can you be sure you have the calorie counts within 100 calories of right, as you said? You now say you don't even know exactly what was in there. What science are you studying? You have no idea what the calorie count for those foods are. Are you sure you always have portions right at the cafeteria? Do you weigh it? If not, you don't know.

I believe you are eating more and/or burning less than you are recording.

You're pregnant. Congrats!

Alert the Vatican! :O
lol

And yeah, the foods really are so foreign that I would have needed to have a detailed conversation with my grandmother to figure out what exactly was in the food and what the ingredients are called in english and then done an internet search to find their caloric value, all the while estimating whether her idea of "a dash" is more of a teaspoon or a tablespoon...it really wasn't worth it for a few meals.

Lifting weights is an interesting idea, I'm a bit intimidated though they look so heavy...

So again, how can you be sure you have the calorie counts within 100 calories of right, as you said? You now say you don't even know exactly what was in there. What science are you studying? You have no idea what the calorie count for those foods are. Are you sure you always have portions right at the cafeteria? Do you weigh it? If not, you don't know.

I believe you are eating more and/or burning less than you are recording.

For those 3 days it could have been off by 1000 calories, it wouldn't account for the gains over the time she is mentioning... It truly doesn't matter.

For the OP, I would follow Dan's advice to be honest. Start toning up and focus on reducing body fat % more than body weight. To do that, there are not many ways other than the one he suggested, lift heavy 3-4 times a week, and eat plenty and healthy to sustain the workouts. Focusing on weight loss at this points really doesn't sound like a good or even a healthy idea.

Good luck!