Can anyone out there please explain why......

OK, I need some help here.....For the life of me I cannot understand why it is that when I started getting healthy by excercizing 5 days a week which consists of (1 1/2 hours total)of either spinning, treadmill, rowing machine, eliptical, weight lifting..sometimes combined, although I usually concentrate on weight lifting 3 dys a week.  I consume between 1100-1300 daily.  I eat chicken or fish, salads with lite dressing lots of fruits and vegtables.  My daily treat is two sugar free fudge bars.  I do not eat past eight.  I don't get home from the gym until 7.  Then after I eat I go for a quick bike ride (2 miles).  I started this March 1st and the only thing that I have accomplished was GAINING 7 lbs.  I know muscle weighs more than fat but I havent even lost inches.  Now, I know I am not overweight....losing 5 lbs certainly wouldnt hurt me.  I am very depressd over this because I have done an 180 degree turn and have nothing to show for it.  Do I splurge once in a while? of course.  But I will say that only happens maybe once a month. What I splurge on mighte be a peice of cake, 2 pancakes for breakfast with real syrup.  It's not an all day gorge fest by any means. (although I could do that but know I would pay)   I went from coming home from work, laying on the couch until bed time, having loaded pizza every Friday night, out to dinner Saturday night and so on.  If someone can fill me in on why this is happening I would be forever grateful.

I know what you're describing sounds counterintuitive, but it seems that you're not eating enough calories for your level of activity. You're burning a lot of energy, and you need to restore it by eating more.

You're probably not eating enough for the amount of calories you expend.  An hour and a half of moderate cardio- except for spinning- will burn about 900 calories, am I right?  Because I know I burn about 10 calories a minute on everything but the stationary bike...  Anyway, even though you're also doing weights, if you're not getting at LEAST 1500 daily (for your amount of exercise), your body metabolism has obviously slowed way down in an effort to hang onto what nutrients it is getting.  It's great that you're moving so much!  But you have to fuel the tank, too.  No matter what, no one should EVER go below 1200 calories a day!  So, add those extra calories.  They're fairly easy to sneak in, too.  If you have enough fruit and veg, I love those 100 calorie popcorn packs for pm TV time.  Or even just putting some peanut butter on celery.  There are lots of healthy, "sneaky" ways to squeeze in those couple hundred extra calories.  Try that out and see how it goes.  Good luck!

height/current weight/goal weight?

It's a good think I asked for all of your help....I would have never thought to ADD more calories...actually, I thought maybe just the opposite.  That tells you how much I know! I am 5'2.  I started out at 123 lbs and my goal was 117. I am now 129. I know that doesn't sound like a lot to some people but I am small framed and petite...5lbs on someone else? no big deal but 5 lbs on me, I swear I will go up a size.  I would also like to add before I get slammed on this topic...I know there are a lot of people that have a lot of weight to lose, that have it a lot worse than I do.  I'm just expressing my frustration because we all know that chosing to be healthy in your life rather you have 5 lbs to lose or over 100 lbs to lose when you are doing (you think anyway)everything right and after 3 months...nothing .  It is extremely frustrating.  I work very hard as I 'm sure all of you do in getting healthy and it is not easy. What I am a little afraid of by adding more calories is I did that over the weekend which added an additional 2 more pounds.  I just don't want anymore added weight.  If it's all muscle weight and I am losing inches than that would be great but I feel like I'm defeated.

You might gain a little bit of weight when you first add more calories...  Are you implementing good calories?  Or pizza, lol?  Either way, Isuppose you could still gain.  Could it be blamed on your cycle?  But just try keeping your intake at 1500...  Don't be discouraged!  Weight will go up and down.  Just make sure to stay active.  I'm right there with you, though.  I only want to lose 10 pounds, but my body fat is 30, which is high!  I understand that just because others see you as "slim" or "skinny" doesn't mean you don't want to do anything to make yourself more healthy!  We should stay in touch since we have kind of similar goals.

hlthygrl25...thank you for your wisdom and I agree, we should keep in touch!  I feel I am implementing good calories, that is why I am so frustrated with this whole thing!  I want so bad to have pizza, cake, cookies, bread, etc....but I stay away and believe me...it's a real struggle!  It's one thing if your good and you see results because of it, it's quite another when I feel I am working my butt off (yeah, I wish hehe) and would kill to have something "scrumptious" but feel somehow I am worse off?  I am 45 and I don't have periods any longer (had a hysterectomy).  I thought about making a Dr.'s appointment to have my thyroid checked?   I don't know, I'm grasping at straws I guess.

Yeah, that's another thing...I really try and keep my mouth shut with anyone in paticular to this because while others may see me as slim, I do have personal goals set for myself and no one understands me.  It's either that I am trying to get "attention" or "fishing" for compliments.  That really truly is NOT the case.  That's why I love this site...I can let my frustrations be known, vent a little bit and hopefully get someone that may be similar to me and give me another site into the situation.  Thanks for all your advise, I really do appreciate it.  I have a feeling  you will keep me motivated!

hey - im sorry you are so frustrated. that is how i feel all the time. If you have only been undereating and exercising ths mmuch for a little bit, dont worry you can get right back on track!

Checking for your thyroid seems sily, but just do it - get a blood test for a variety of things (the doc will know which things if you tell her/him what your issue is) - at least then you can rule out some things when youget the results.

good luck and keep at it!

Oh come on people.  You suggest that eating too few calories will cause someone to GAIN weight?  What are you smokin'?  Puuulleez.  Can't happen. 

Original Post by fitmom4life:

Oh come on people.  You suggest that eating too few calories will cause someone to GAIN weight?  What are you smokin'?  Puuulleez.  Can't happen. 

X2..........gaining weight other than water weight is from excess calories. lower lbm and lower metabolism coupled with periodic unsuspecting binges and calorie miscalculation would be my quess.

Well, yeah a lowered metabolism due to not eating enough.  If you want a high metabolism you have to feed it. 

Sure - eventually one will lose weight by undereating.  But before that happens one can store fat as a premptive strike to starvation.  In turn your metabolism will slow as it lowers your energy expenditure and begins to shut down non-essential body processess. 

It is totally pointless to cut calories too low.  By the time you start dropping whatever fat you have stored - you are probably getting sick and feel like crud all of the time.

Its much better to eat up and enjoy a faster metabolism and the occassional brownie if you like. 

Original Post by fitmom4life:

Oh come on people.  You suggest that eating too few calories will cause someone to GAIN weight?  What are you smokin'?  Puuulleez.  Can't happen. 

 Actually, it can.  And I don't believe I've been smoking anything when I type this, either.  This has been discussed time and time again on these threads.  when people under-eat for long periods of time, the body compensates by lowering the metabolism.  Pretty soon, the body learns to conserve energy and is able to function on fewer and fewer calories.

Eating 1100 calories and exercising on top of that is a sure fired way to cause a slow down of the metabolism.  Especially if it means that you have too high of a deficite.  the body doesn't like to lose weight too fast.  It will rebel.

Frustrated has a point.  The cause could be anything.  Our first guess was that you're not fueling yourself enough, making for a sluggish metabolism.  But it could also be possible that you have a thyroid problem.  Also, you said you had a hysterectomy?  You didn't say how long ago, but I have known other women in the past who had them, and sometimes your body kicking into an "early menopause" can really slow down the machine, too.  Just something about when our "girly parts" change, so does every thing else!  Have you tried sending a message to the AskMary lady?  She has some learnin' and a degree in this (nutrition), I bet she could give you some real answers.

Make a journal of everything you eat over a period of a week and see how many calories you really are consuming.  Healthy calories are still calories and you have no idea what the total is until you actually count them.  Once you do that, you have a starting point.  An important point though - don't start eating less because you're counting.  Eat the same as you've eaten the last few months.

Once you figure that out, you can determine whether it's a metabolic thing (if your calories are low) or you simply miscalculated and are eating more than you thought. 

Whatever you do, don't quit.  I can't imagine that you don't feel like a million damn dollars every day with that kind of work you are putting in.  Your cardio must be fantastic and I bet you have muscles you never though you had and you should look great naked!!!!...lol...

Hey everyone....thanks so much for all of your advise.  I was ready to throw in the towel.  I went through my food log for the month and it ranged between 1100 & 1350 a day.  I had no idea that eating too few calories and excercizing could cause me to gain weight.  I kept my calorie intake to those numbers because I was going by the "calorie target" for my goal weight.  I had a hysterectomy 15 years ago...but I was also told because of that and my age menopause may be kicking in (sniff, sniff)and that would slow down my metabolism?  If I was going to the Dr.'s I was going to have them check for that as well.  I think I will hold off on that for the time being and "add" a few more calories (yikes!) and see how that works.  wish me luck!

Good luck!

You need more calories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1600+!! Sounds like you're working out pretty intense! The human body addapts to how many calories it takes in per day. So....take in more calories everyday and your body will get use to burning that many calories everyday keep training strong and do cardio after a weight training session. That is when you burn the most fat, because your body is is in a lowe carb state! That's all you need to know keep eating and training strong!

Original Post by kakenetit2:

 I had no idea that eating too few calories and excercizing could cause me to gain weight. 

It doesn't. Being in too much of a deficit causes your metabolism to slow down to match the energy intake (your diet) so it doesn't have to continue to sacrifice it's own bone, muscle and organs etc, in order to compensate for the really bad hunter your body thinks you are. The weight gain is from eating, which ironically is how your going to repair your metabolism, if body composition means anything to you, and if not, then you may have to reduce your calories further. Choice is a wonderful thing as long as it's the right one.

Another thing to consider is that, when you first start to work out, your muscles will hang onto some extra water weight for a couple of weeks.  This "weight" is not something to be concerned about as it goes away once your body is used to the exercise.  It would tend to show up mostly on your arms and legs (unless you're doing crazy amounts of crunches - then you might see it on your abdomen too).

I agree with most of the rest of the posters that you are eating too little for your activity level.  I just don't think that's the only cause of your weight gain.  Normally, it takes several weeks/months for your metabolism to really truly slow down in response to undereating.  That said, please don't test that theory.  Malnourishment isn't pretty.  Are you making sure to get enough healthy fats?  I didn't see any of them listed in your food plan.

Edit: I just noticed you mentioned the occasional splurge.  While those are perfectly fine if you're eating the proper amount of calories, they'll pack on the pounds if you're undereating.  That slowed metabolism is killer!