Please help me - gaining weight and NO IDEA why!!

I am 23, female, 5"3. I eat around 1400 calories per day (sometimes more or less, but not by much)


Ok so here is my approx scale of weight loss to date, and what exercise I was doing at the time.

June 81.5kgs 179.3lbs  - Was not eating properly (still lots of takeaways) and random visits to the gym - was suffering an absessed tooth at the time so working out was hard etc

July hovered around the low 80s and then made it under 80 177lbs - 176lbs. Had hired a crosstrainer and was using that but STILL suffered absessed tooth so could not work as often as I would have liked, and still ossacionally ate poorly

First couple of weeks of August - tooth totally mended and motivation back in play. Got down to 77.8 171lbs. Eating approx 1400 per day and either doing a 1 hour pump class (weights training) or 40 minutes cardio per day.

Third week of August - start sitting around 78.5 172lbs and hoped the slight raise was water retention was from 2 beers I had one day - still continuing strong with work outs and healthy eating.
Same trend for the last week of August

To date - now sitting at 79.5 174lbs again and wondering just what the hell is going on. Still eating approx 1400 calories (some days 1600) and have increased how many times per week I go to pump (weights training) class, and do cardio on the days I don't go. I have also just increased my weights to a heavier range cause I am getting stronger.

WHY is the scale telling me I am GAINING? I feel awful. JUST awful. I am working my damn butt off and I am a part of the September challenge in the Challenges forum and now I'm gaining? This is the most effort I have given so far this year.
I don't have the means to count calories accurately (this site is American and I live in New Zealand so it doesn't have half the food I eat) so I keep an approx. tally in my head through out the day. Sometimes I bang on an extra 100 in case I have counted too low.

I have my heart set on being 74kgs before this month is out and going by what I'm doing, I should be well on my way there. I do not want to re-join the 80kgs.

Can someone please help me to understand why this might be happening? Is it from muscle? If it is muscle, how much longer will I see the scale going up - when will it come back down again?

To be fair my clothes are fitting much better, but I just rely on the damn scale so much.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you

It is likely either a case of muscle gain, or that you are not eating enough alongside your exercise. Is that 1400 calories net or total?

Total - shoul I increase? I have no idea how I can eat MORE food than I do already

I would calculate your BMI and make sure you are eating the right amount of calories.If your clothes are fitting good then you are losing fat and probably gaining muscle. Muscle does weigh more than fat.Good luck!!

It suggests I eat 1800 cals per day... but isn't omitting 200 of those a bonus cause it creates a bigger deficit?

arghhhhh :(

I f you just increased your strength training, then your muscles could easily be retaining 2 lbs of water.

Personally, I would check your BMI/calorie intake etc. and then generally keep going as you are.

Lock the scales away for a feew weeks and set a date for weighing next month - to stop yourself getting obsessed!

The big changes to your body when you alter your diet and exercise more will take a couple of months - it does not happen overnight.

Stick to healthy food and regular exercise and things can only improve :)

Ok I guess it could just be my muscles retaining water, but I can't rely on that.

I can't lock the scales away for weeks cause I'm in a September challenge in one of the forums which require you to weigh weekly. Perhaps I just won't weigh until the next weigh in date.

I have lost weight before so I understand how long the process is, so I'm not just being impatient :) just SO frustrated.

*please god just let it be water retention*

You look as if you may be eating under your BMR (which you should never do!).  As a 160lb 5'3" 24 year old female, I have to eat at least 1450 calories a day for my body to function correctly.  I put in your stats (http://www.phord.com/cc/) and it says that you should eat at least 1516 calories a day just being sedentary!  Try uping your caloric uptake for awhile and see if that helps.  Good luck!

 

Are you taking in to account your cycle? I NEVER weigh myself during that horrid week! Way too emotional! Thankfully I don't get one anymore. Implanon implant is the heat!

I think the suggestions for adjusting your cal intake are spot on. Your bod might be holding on to every cal it can get!

My cycle is dictated by when I take the sugar pills.. which I rarely do cause who wants it? muhahah god-like control.

Ok I will make an effort to UP my calories for the next week. Just unsure how I can do this in a healthy manner. Can't have too many carbs, can't have heaps of fruit cause of the sugar.... not sure what else I can cram in??

Almonds are great and healthy (1/4 cup is about 130 calories for the kind I get) and keep you full.  Olive oil (when you're cooking vegetables or meat), avacados, milk are all healthy ways to increase your calories!  Good luck :)

Ohh yes I forgot about almonds.. I don't like avocado unfortunately :s

I have milk when I have muesli in the morning, and again in the afternoon when i have some porridge.. so not sure if I can have too much more. I have a cup of low fat yoghurt per day too so I don't think I can have too much more dairy foods.

GOD this is HARD!

Haha I somehow find it very easy to eat my alotment but wish I didn't!  Bananas are a fruit that's relatively high in calories if you want to substitute that for another fruit you're eating?  Or you can do like me and go get some low fat soft serve ice cream as a treat to boost the calories:)  That's my favorite way to get to where I need to be.  good luck!

Oh really you can eat semi-naughty foods to boost calories?

I will look into low fat ice cream :)

As far as I know (I am by no means an expert, relatively new to the site but stalk the forums shamelessly), calories are calories.  The main reason to avoid ice cream, fried chicken, etc etc is that they don't provide the nutritional value your body needs to function properly, and in addition, they can be high in fats of all kinds.  But I see no harm in treating myself to some ice cream (it could even be full fat I think, as long as you limit yourself!  the calories add up quick)!  It helps to prevent the binging that comes with total deprevation :)

And at what rate are you losing rate acer824 - if you don't mind me asking?

I just need concrete proof that eating more = weight loss :)

Haha I've lost almost 7 pounds in a month!  And it was going slower and I upped mine (from what CC told me to do, 1250 or something like that) to what my BMR was, 1450 about a week or two ago and have seen it go pick up after a bit of a stand still  :) 

Ok that gives me faith - thank you :)

Thank you all!!

I'm 5' 3 1/2" and 108 lbs. I am very active: I've been weight lifting and doing cardio for nearly 20 years. Recently I lost 20 lbs. in about three months—but only after I upped my caloric intake. I cut it too much at first and lost next to nothing for a month.

Hi there-

Pretty much the old rule of thumb is this- to lose a pound of fat a week you need to cut 500 calories A DAY from your diet.  But first, like many others have already said, you need to make sure you are eating the right amount of maintanence calories- the amount of  calories your body needs just to function properly in the first place.  To calculate your maintanence calories, take your current weight and multiply that number by 11. And let me state here that the number you get assumes that you have an inactive lifestyle so in reality, your maintanence calories should actually be slightly higher since you are pretty active.  Anyway, once you determine what your maintenance calories should be,you want to decrease that number by 500 calories a day to lose a pound of fat a week.  You decrease it by either eating 500 calories less or working off 500 calories -it doesn't matter. After doing this for 7 days you will have cut 3,500 calories from your diet that week, which is what it takes to lose a pound of fat per week.  But, of course if it was all that simple we would all be super models.  Like I said, you have to consider the fact that you are working out and adding muscle, which weighs more than fat so as you add more muscle your weight on the scale will go up slightly, but your pants will start to sag more.  It's a good sign that your cloths are fitting better - that means that you are going in the right direction despite what the stupid scale says.  And remember, the more muscle you have the more fat your body burns AND the more calories you need to eat to keep the whole crazy process running smoothly.  I would also suggest finding a place where you can have an accurate body fat test done.  That is the best way to determine just how much fat you are truely losing.  Good luck.