Iam Pretty Confused. I need some advice

Iam 17. Male. and 144 lbs according to the scale that is slowly creeping up . Oh yeah and the calories i eat. Its varrying right now and that is what i need help on.

iam not sure why but last friday i weighted 135lbs and i went to my dads and i got back yesterday and i weigh 141bs.      &nb sp; I did Increase my intake from when i was eating 2000 a day and exercising which sounds pretty bad because now that i think about it , it would have left me with like 1600 calories after exercising. Terrible. But i started eating more when i went to my dads . More around 2300 which would leave me with 1900-2000 calories after exercise.   But now its Just Going up and i dk whats wrong. Should i go back to 2000 or whats the deal guys?    This is killing all my hard work! =[

You don't necessarily have to go back to 2000, just watch what's making up those extra 300 calories.  Beware of saturated fats, sugars, etc.

At 17 you're still growing and developing so you should stay off the scales and concentrate on eating well and being active.  Temporary weight-gains are more usually due to fluid-retention anyway.  If the food at your father's house was higher in salt, for example, that would do it.   

Stay off the scale.....

iam Really starting to wonder why i even bother asking. dang

Thanks Robbs though. I eat super healthy anyway so the 300 would be made up of the best thing i could fit in . =]

But really why do you count calories and weigh yourself so often when you're not overweight?

just because iam not Tech. overweight doesnt mean i dont look like iam. ha seriously my intentions of uping my calories was to try to maintain figuring i would still loose weight uping my cals which would put me at my goal.    Maybe i gained so much because before i left i was running and eating 2100 around about and with exercise it was around 1600 like i said.    and then at my dads i didnt run and i ate much more. like 2500 and some days well over without exercise. So do you think i gained because i didnt gradually increase?

and where do i go from here? Should i stick with the calories iam consuming now or do i zig zag between 2000 and 2500? or do you think if i stick to eating 2300 my body will adjust and i will start loosing again?

Oh yeah , forgot to put, its a Noticeable gain. If it wasnt noticable i wouldnt care about the number but my cloths are fitting retarded and everything .     blah i hate it

Eat whatever you're comfortable with and choose healthy foods.  Exercise to tone up so that your clothes fit better.  That way you can start to self-regulate rather than needing the scales and a calorie-counter 24/7. 

mm your around the same weight as me and 1 year younger. i eat around 2500-3k a day.. how much do you run? i dont think you should be gaining weight at 2000-2500 calories at your age and weight.. maybe its just water. how tall are you?

iam pretty short. iam 5'6'' or so .   But i run usually 3 miles or more. Usually HIIT up hill and stuff like that and still have days where i just run  for a while on the treadmill without chaning the speed.  But Gi jane . thanks for the "advice"    but that isnt an option for me. i cant just NOT care and eat .  Sorry but its just not . Maybe if alot of the Older people on here cared about there weight when they where younger they wouldnt be on here now?    possibly. but in my current situation i need real advice

I think you are being hard on GI Jane...her advice was right on target.  She is just looking out for you, no need to be so defensive.  As for us "older" folks, a lot of us did not gain weight until we were really old (i.e.-your parents age).  Most guys your age have other things on their minds than calorie counting.  You sound like you are in a healthy range, already.

I didn't say don't care about what you eat.  I said 'eat healthy foods'.  In other words, focusing on the nutrition value of your food and eating when hungry rather than restricting the calorie content and fretting.  Some of us older people started off just like you and managed over the years to diet ourselves fat.... losing 10lbs every year with strict calorie-counting and lots of exercise but gaining 15lbs back in half the time. 

But hey... you know best.

If i knew best then i wouldnt even ask.  and i wish i could be like Guys my age and not care and just eat and eat and eat. But apparently when i was eating healthy and still gaining up to 200 lbs that wasnt an option.  Thats what i did last week. i just ate when i was hungry and ate healthy and gained 10 lbs. So Something is Definately NOT right.  I knew that before i even stepped on the scale.      &nb sp;              So what iam looking for is advice.   I know i need to eat healthy . Its good advice but oviously iam doing that. iam on a Site that Promotes that. I wouldnt be here if i ate poptarts and candy for every meal

Does anyone else have any ideas? ill weigh again tommorow just to see whats up with it. Iam pretty much ready to maintain when i get back to where i was last week. i just dont know how to "maintain"

aghhhh . this is really frustraiting not knowing the "right" things to do

I'm sorry sk8ter, but I'm going to have to agree with gi-jane.  we are not saying "oh don't worry about it cuz your young".  We are saying at your age, you do not have to count calories to lose a couple of pounds, or maintain your weight and tone up.  We are saying that all you need to do is watch what you are eating.  Stay away from fast food, greasy meat, things with tons of butter, etc.  I'm telling you that is all you need to do.

As far as gaining 10 pounds in a couple of weeks, that is virtually impossible.  It takes eating 3500 calories MORE THAN your maintenance calories just to gain 1 pound.  That means to gain 10 pounds of pure fat, you would have had to eat 35,000 extra calories.   More than likely, you were eating things with lots of sodium and it made you gain some water weight.  It can make you feel bloated and it also makes your clothes fit all funny.

Eat healthy and don't worry about your calories. Even if you gain a few pounds now, you will lose them as soon as you grow a bit more. Your body needs it to grow. I think the last time I was almost overweight was when I was 12 and then I started growing and I have never been since.

 

It's actualy really common to gain 10 pounds in a couple of weeks.  I don't beleive that whole "only i you eat 3,500 calories you will gain a pound" Theory.  I Could easily gain 2 pouns a day by eating 1,900 calories.  If I ate 3,000 calories a day I'd  be an elephant.  So I f you really want advice I say lose only 10 pounds by muscle building ,If you know how to.  Because I saw 140 pounds on a guy and although he is 6"1 It looked pretty nasty.  

I was thiking it was fluid rentention too. If you ate foods high in salt, you could gain water weight that fast.

strangely but surely it seems to be coming off. i had Spiral ham at my dads.. which has tons of sodium i hear? and i had PLENTY so that might be it . i weighted this morning and lost 4 lbs since yesterday! so i can assume iam just loosing the extra water weight now.

hey sk8ter-

i dunno if you've received the advice you need, but i think a thing that works for me to tell you is that you should LISTEN to your body. i think i've told that to others too, but it's important that you understand your weight, appetite, and motivation to exercise day to day will inevitably change and fluctuate. on the days you don't exercise, eat a little less than you would if you did exercise. get a good balance of weights and cardio, and ~2000 sounds good for your height.

again though, these counters are mostly estimates, and the scale shouldn't be your best friend. i understand you care about how your clothes fit; that's mostly how i gauge how i'm doing in my efforts too (and a few pounds make a huge difference!) so be attuned to how you FEEL, and play around with types of foods and how they make your body react. are you super hungry after eating 2000 a day? if so, up the cal intake a bit. try to incorporate as much movement as you can into a day; you've read those little tips and hints. i go to UWashington and it's a huge campus so i get to walk everywhere and go to the gym. work with what's best in your situation.

remember - the end (be it a certain weight -- or if you're at that weight -- maintenance) is what's important. this is a lifestyle we're learning how to live. don't let the day-to-day stuff get you too down k?

you say you eat 'healthy' - but what does that mean? if you still have q's definitely keep asking. age shouldn't matter too much (i'm 18), nor should personal weight. you're gonna want sound advice from people who care, and those taking the time to reply to you - i think it's safe to say - care as best we can.