Dieting + Exercise = Weight Gain!??

So I have been eating a 1300 calorie diet and exercising but my weight has just been fluctuating up and down slightly rather than going down. Anyone else experience this? Any tips? I'm trying to lose between 5 and 10 pounds. 

 

 

How long ago did you start your diet and exercise plan? Do you watch your sodium intake? You could be retaining water from to much sodium. Also when you first start an exercise program the muscles may retain water in the beginning.

ah that could be it. I started right before Christmas and haven't been paying much attention to my sodium intake and have only been monitoring my calories from fat, carbs and protein. Thanks I'm going to start checking that. What should my sodium intake be per day?

1300 calories might be too little with exercise, you don't have much to lose!  Restricting your calories that much might mean when you go off your diet it will all come back (not always though).  Try something more gradual like 1500 calories and burn an extra 300 a day so you're still getting 1200 calories.  Once you do that don't weigh yourself daily, just once a week in the morning and you'll see a difference.

I also think the sodium tip is great too.

I watched super skinny me on BBC last night and it was about two journalists that went on crash diets to become a size 00.  One of the woman started off with a great trainer that had her on 1500 calories a day and a lot of exercise... she dropped 7 lbs rather fast.  After that she did some more restricting diets, she did get to a size 00, however gained most of it back in 2 weeks!  I used this example because both of these women did not have weight issues, and if you only need to lose 5-10 lbs then you don't either.

That's a good tip. I would much rather eat 1500 calories :).

I also need to stop weighing myself everyday... its discouraging to see my weight fluctuating so much. Thanks for the advice! 

before my weigh in days I cut out all high sodium foods, and keep it to a minimum 3 days before my weigh in and drink a gallon of water a day. That way come weigh in day, I get an accurate assesment of my weight.

 Happy it helped  :)

I am a bit heavier then you, but I've noticed when I weigh myself everyday I see it fluctuatiing even though I'm sticking with my diet.  If you are eating right and exercising there is no way you're going to gain... trust me and goodluck :)

Example: On Christmas I weighed 181 (down from 200!), and I stuck there for a while and I figured it was because I allowed myself to eat 1800 calories a day through the holidays, well the scale was reading 174.6 this morning...  Rather drastic loss when I was just trying to maintain.  It gave me inspiration, that even when I'm maintaining my weight loss I can eat more then 1800 calories if I'm active and eating healthier (the healthier the food the more you can eat!)

 Goes to show that we Americans eat way more calories then we think we do.

I eat about 1000 calories a day, jog and exercise like a maniac and I haven't lost 1kg. In fact I go up and down by as much as 2kg every few days. I eat really well too, limit my sodium and drink lots of water. It's so bizarre and frustrating because I feel like all this is going toward nothing.

Original Post by girly1988:

I eat about 1000 calories a day, jog and exercise like a maniac and I haven't lost 1kg. In fact I go up and down by as much as 2kg every few days. I eat really well too, limit my sodium and drink lots of water. It's so bizarre and frustrating because I feel like all this is going toward nothing.

 you are eating way to little. i promise the minimum for any woman/ teen is 1200 calories.  [[minimum for guy 1500calories]]. This is your problem, you are eating way to little and your probably burning too much of it off with the exercise. 

to o.p. -

Its only been like two weeks....RELAX.

At your weight its going to take awhile to lose because your body wt doesnt burn much. Look at the trend at the end of the month. Take you weight every day and log your food and activity. That way you can see the reasons for your fluxing rather than just sticking your head in the sand about it.

Everyone fluxates that exercises. Put diet on top of that and you should allow yourself around 5 pounds of fluxing.

Do you burn more than 500 a day on your exercises?

You're not eating NEARLY enough! (Neither is Girl1988 either!!!)

You should be eating around 1500 calories a day minimum of things which are easy to digest and allow your body to work efficiently. If you're not providing enough fuel then your body responds by retaining fat to store it as energy because you are starving yourself! The best idea is to eat several  meals a day (smaller portion sizes) that way you can get your metabolism going.

Be patient!!! If you want to lose the weight and keep it off then practice an eating regime that you can continue throughout life. Read up on it! If you want to look your best and not just be skinny but be lean then treat your body well!

I have about the same to loose and I'm on 1400 calories a day (am only 5ft and weigh 60kgs = slightly over weight).  When I last did a diet around 5 years ago I found that some weeks I stagnated or went up and the next week I lost 2 or 3 pounds.  It tended to go in leaps and took at least 3 weeks to register on the scales.  Eventually I lost about 10kg but it took around 6 months.  Thankfully have only 6kgs to lose this time :-)

 I would recommend only weighing once a week - set a day and don't get on the scales in the meantime.  If you exercise then have a treat and over eat on your daily calories by about half of the exercise amount.  I exercise around 2 or 3 times a week and tend to use it to reward myself with wine = very bad so not best to use my tip although not much fat in wine :-)

 Good luck.

 

 

earthpixie, its actually higher than 1200 for teens.

teens:

female = 1200 + 300 for growth, males = 1500 + 300 for growth.

hence why i lose weight if i go anywhere below 1800, and i hardly excersize much, teens burn tonnes.