Gained weight. Am I gaining because my calories were increased or is it muscle weight???? Confused and frustarted!

Hi

I have been on plateaus before lasting a month or more and I have put on weight during my period and promply lost it when it finished, But this time I am stumped, I have put on 3 pounds, with last period only 2 pounds went, when it stopped and now another pound half has crept on.

What happened was I have gone from a sedentary lifestyle to light activity and CC said to consume 1700 calories, so I promptly changed and ate more and kept up my activity, then I put on 3 pounds and I came on my period, after period only 2 pounds went and I was a bit put out by it, now 3 weeks into the change of lifestyle to light activity and more calories I have put on 2 1/2 pounds including the pound I had not lost with my period, Is this muscle weight? As I am walking everywhere and do not sit still at work. I do not do weights or anything. Has anyone experienced this type of plateau period weight gain?

I went from 1500 calories to 1700 am I eating now too much, or another thing has my body lost all it can lose, is this possible?

Just do not want to keep gaining unless this is usual, when you gain muscle, its just a bit frustrating and worrying and also a bit baffling, I am near to my goal only have 1 half stone to lose, but do not want to back track, am I doing the right thing? Sorry for all the questions, but have been doing this CC diet for 1 year and 1 month and this is the only prob, Ive had with losing weight. Its all a bit disheartening at the moment.

Lots of love Sue aka astralhippy

Stop panicking!!!

Your body has been going thru changes, and you can't expect it to do what you want when you want, plus is it just 3lbs you are concerned about losing? If I only had 3lbs to lose I'd be so happy! I have 75lbs to lose!

Hang in there and make sure you are putting the right serving with the right amount of calories with the exact foos you ate so you are sure of what is going on.

Don't have diet so much in your mind, go to the park, go out with your friends, go do something that is not food and you'll forget you were ever in a diet.

You will not gain muscle weight by walking, at least not enough to notice.  You should stay at 1500 calories.  After you reach your goal, add in 100 calories and see what happens.  You may be able to add more, or perhaps not.  You just have to go by what your body tells you, not necessarily the CC estimate. 

Water weight is usually the reason we gain weight rapidly.  Water is very heavy compared to fat.  If our body retains water for any reason, we can see a dramatic weight gain in a day or two.   I have heard that drinking more water will encourage your body to release the excess it is storing.  If you are not drinking eight cups a day, try that. 

Another thing to consider is whether you have eaten anything high in sodium (salt).  That will most definitely cause a water weight gain.  Are you taking any advil (ibuprofen) for aches and pains?  That will also cause water retention.

Hope this has helped!

i sort of disagree about the walking not gaining weight thing. i walk everywhere. like i could walk my dog 9-10 miles a day. if i take 3 days off walking i could lose 1-2kgs (2-5lbs). my clothes would become looser, particularly at the bum n hips. its sort of like the atrophy you experience when you have the flu and dont move. you have significant muscle here, used in walking. your gastrocneimius in ur calf is a prettly large muscle involved in walking and if your on hills your quads and hamstrings can tone up.

this tone results in greater amounts of glycogen and water being held in the muscle which can contribute to weight gain. when i start walking again the muscle tone re-establishes itself and i am back to normal

i would think though that 1500 is enough to lose weight on and that 1700 might be a little much and could cause a plateau. anyway thats jus my contribution

fidget84, I agree you can retain water in your muscles from walking or any exercise.  The water retention will make your pants tighter.  But I doubt you will lose 2 to 5 pounds of muscle if you take three days off from walking.  Maybe ten to fourteen days could be long enough to atrophy your muscles that much if you were bedridden.  I would have to defer to an expert to tell us exactly how fast muscles atrophy when we do no exercise.  But water retention and release is the probable culprit in your case.

Astralhippie will certainly tone up her muscles by walking, but three pounds of muscle is quite a lot to gain in a few weeks, especially for a woman who is doing no strength training.  It is more reasonable to think that most of astralhippie's gain is from water instead of either fat or muscle.  I still think she should go back to 1500 calories in order to reach her goal.

I agree w/ Moonduster, you should stick w/ 1500 calories... and walk walk walk

I don't think fidget84 was trying to say you can lose 2-5 pounds of muscle in 3 days, but that if the muscle isn't worked, it may let go of the significant amount of water that a muscle can hold while it is being worked.

astralhippy, I think you need to really look at how much you're burning vs. how much you're taking in.  Ultimately, you have to do what works for you, and if eating 1500 calories instead of 1700 gets you off this plateau, by all means do that.  But I know that in the past, I've failed to lose weight by eating too little for how much I should have been burning based on how much I was excercising.  It's counterintuitive, but sometimes it's a cruel little joke our bodies play on us.  Congratulation on getting within 7 pounds of your goal!  That's a huge accomplishment.  Don't get discouraged.

Cheers everyone your comments are greatly recieved I will try not to be discouraged and keep going, I may well drop down to 1500 to see if it will get me off this plateau but I will also look into water weight and water retention, as herbally I may be able to combat that. As I do get bloated at times and puffy. I will also look into muscles and read up on them as they are obvisiouly a complex thing.

Ps as for the first comment I have 1 half stones to lose + 3 pounds Ive gained, so its not about panicking as such as to understanding whats going on so I can best move forward and keep on track, peoples comments have greatly helped as normally there is someone in a similar boat on website.

Thanks to you all, gonna go way and read up and change my calories.

Good luck to you all

love astralhippy aka sue

moonduster i wasnt suggesting that the muscle upped and died. i was saying in those 2-5lbs goes. muscle is active, costly tissue and if i aint using it my body aint hanging on to it. so if 1g of carbs holds 3g of h20 then it is entirely possible for the cells of 1-2 lbs of muscles in my legs to shrink and the 2-3 times amount of water associated with that tissue, to go with it.

iv seen it happen a million times with myself. there's actually 2kg of a diff