what am i missing

I was in the hospital for a bit about a year ago, and during this time I lost weight very rapidly, but as this included a large amount of muscle mass, it wasn't ideal.  I'd like to reach a better body composition, so over time I slowly added exercise back into my daily activities, and for the last month or so have been hitting the gym daily.  I spend an hour on the elliptical trainer (it's calculator says this is good for 8 miles/~750 calories, but I've been told elliptical trainer's are generally wildly inaccurate and to chop this calorie count in half) and do some light weight lifting for about fifteen minutes or so.  The rest of my day is mainly sedentary, save for the one-two miles I walk transporting myself to and from classes.  At first I was averaging around 1700 calories and maintaining my weight, in addition to noticing some slight composition changes, and then I upped my caloric intake to 1900 when I was told by another gym-goer that I was probably not getting enough food.  After three days of this, I weighed in two pounds heavier, so I dropped back down to 1750, figuring if it was in fact a weight fluctuation it would disappear.  I maintained at the new weight for a few days, and then gained four more pounds in a day- a weight I've maintained for nearly a week now.  I'm fairly certain that it's not water retention.  While I have noticed that I'm more muscled than I was, my clothes don't fit as well as they once did, and I've also noticed that I've added some fat to my frame, mostly around my midsection. 

 

What am I doing wrong?  I know I have to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat,
but personally I couldn't add more exercise to my day, nor do I think I'd be comfortable eating less, so why do I continue to gain weight?

I don't really have an answer, but maybe this will help alittle

I was just told a couple of weeks ago by a trainer that to lose weight, aside from the calories deficit, I need to have strength training. Cardio is great but it's the muscle that burns calories even while your doing nothing. So she has me doing strength training 3 days a week, after that I do some cardio or I do it on the days I'm not using weights. I gained 4 lbs and about had a stroke BUT she also told me that was to be expected the first couple of weeks for a couple or reasons one of course muscle weighs more then fat, but also as the muscles break down and rebuild they require alot of water (which until 2 weeks ago I didn't drink alot of). She has me eating 1350 calories a day and for me thats ALOT but my body is starting to adjust and although I haven't dropped any lbs, I did just notice that I was able to put my jeans on with out sucking in my belly and doing an indian rain dance to zip them.

If you were maintaining at 1700 then maybe try lowing them a little? or instead of an hour doing cardio try to break it up and add weights? but again I really don't know I just want to share what my trainer has told me and it seems to be working..

as a side note oddly enough when I pluged in my info here to see what my calorie intake should be it matched just about perfect to what my trainer told me.

schellpurvis, you saved me a heart attack, I've been doing a lot of strength training too, and not much cardio and then I GAINED four pounds and ALSO, nearly had a stroke, but luckily my figure is reacting. I even have the slightest little showing of biceps! huzzah!

I have a question..

What if I lose weight, like by getting to 112/115, then start strength training, so I can prepare myself for the 5 pound gain. I don't think I would be able to handle the 4/5 pound gain after I just accomplished losing 4 pounds. I would be VERY unhappy if I went from 125/126 back up to 130/131 :[

I am terrified to weight lift now, I use to do it 3 days a week for like a month or two, and stopped after spring break [ stopped everything, and now I am back ].

The scale wouldn't budge when I was weight lifting that why..

Muscle is heavier then fat, so you might not notice it in the scale. you should however begin to notice it in the way your close look...or those stricking new biceps . I was an absolute scale obsessive. I got on every day but was also told thats a no no instead take measurements as you gain muscle you'll lose fat and get that lean sculpted, healthy body. For me it's baby steps but i am starting to notice a difference even my moods are better!!

So I wouldn't stop the weights for fear of the scale, I'd keep it going for the fabulous results you'll get!

After just tree weeks of using my home elleptical trainer i noticed some improvment using a tape measure. There can be so many factors involved with weigth fluctuations even the type of food you ate iv seen it on a tv show were a women was allergic to some type of food and it kept makeing her stomach swell up she was getting frustrated and thought she was doing well on her diet yet gaining anyway.

What she did was keep a food diary and try to work out if it was a particular food causing the problem mabey this could hep.

I too don't understand the whole elliptical trainer thing as on CC it says 1 hour is worth 825 kcal an hour I do 45 min so 825/4 x3 to me = 618 but my trainer calculator says im only burning 360 this is supposed to be moderate which is what Im sure I do.  Im happy with 360 though so I just let it be.

Who cares how much you weigh if you look awesome? Seriously, this is what I don't get sometimes. Two people can weigh the exact same weight except one looks flabby while the other looks svelte and hot.

Your weight on the scale can indicate how much fat you have if you're very overweight, but when you are in a healthy range it doesn't say ANYTHING about you or how your body looks. Lower DOES NOT EQUAL better! More muscle equals better.

Totally agree with everyone here! First I was working on calorie counting, then I started running and cardio so I lost 7 lbs in 4 weeks and only did a little strength (I'm 20, 5'8 and started out at 173lbs, then got to 166) , then not to long ago I upped my weight/strength training and I ended up on the scale at 175!!! As you can imagine, I was freaked!

Luckily when I first started, I was smart enough to take my measurements of my neck, arms, stomach, bust and thigh.  So when I was freaking about gaining 9 lbs back all of a sudden, I RE-measured my body and behold, I had lost at least an inch in everything and some and inch and half! AWESOME! I'm totally digging the fact that my skin doesn't rolly polly over my underwear band as much and my legs and thighs are starting to look AND feel much better.

So, all you out there, don't be afraid of the number on the scale if you KNOW you feel and look better!