Need help big time with routine/weight gain

N

niclyf

Cathlete
Growing frustrated here .. as I have no idea what's going on with my bod. I don't overeat (to the contrary .. I probably undereat), I'm not on the pill, not pregnant, and have already had my thyroid checked.

Here's the dilemma .. despite busting my duff in the gym 6-7 days a week .. I keep gaining weight! Now .. it's not a vanity thing .. it's more a frustration thing .. doing what you think you're supposed to be doing, but gaining weight. And .. I know it's NOT muscle .. because I can see the actual fat and where it's landed. I'm not looking to lose weight .. but rather maintain my loss. However over the last 5 months or so .. I've put on 7lbs. All of my clothes are getting tighter and I'm growing more and more frustrated. I've tried working out more and eating a little less, and then I pack on another pound. I've changed up weight routines, I've tried adding a little more variety into my cardio .. nothing has worked. I'm starting to get to the mindset of just throwing in the towel and giving up on it all .. I mean, I'm busting my duff to gain more and more weight?!?!? Grrr .... :-(

I've read/heard that working out too much while eating too little can cause weight gain .. but I don't know of the truth/accuracy behind that statement. Does anyone have any suggestions??

Part of me wants to try eating more and cutting my workouts in half .. but there's that lurking fear that that will result in .. MORE weight gain .. so I'm really lost as to what to do here :(

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
I had the same problem a few months ago, but I was eating crappy....and its true you can't cut back too much on food...what exactly are you eating?...Carole
 
Lots of chicken, fish, veggies, etc., No 'white' carbs at all .. the only carbs in my diet come from veggies, oatmeal, etc. So I don't think it's anything that I'm eating that's causing it .. unless you can gain weight from not eating enough? I know I probably fall short in that regard .. but I don't really understand how that could cause weight gain? I'm so stumped on this one x(
 
It cold be you aren't eating enough....I just radically changed my diet and I eat between 4 and 8 servings of fruit a day and 2 big salads and really alot of food and I have lost weight, but my diet is vegetarian....Carole
 
I had exactly this problem. It was soooo frustrating. I couldn't believe it was possible to workout too much and not eat enough. I had lost 99 pounds on WW and was down to about 1100 calories a day. Then I hit a plateau that lasted nearly two years. I actually gained weight, just as you have, while eating this way, lifting weights 3-4x a week, and riding my bicycle 1-3 hours per day.

I did break the cycle, though, and it really WAS caused by putting my body into starvation mode. I gradually upped my calories, especially protein, significantly. I was actually losing weight all the way up to 2800 "clean" calories a day. I began using calorie staggering after I had built up my metabolism. I also started eating 4-6 times a day, which really helped level out my blood sugar. It was terrifying, at first, that's for sure. I used a program called physiquetransformation.com to guide me, and I believe it's a terrific program for a lot of people, but not for everyone. However, with a little research, you could probably use some of these principles on your own. It does sound like this might be your problem, though, since you seem to be doing everything else "right."

Good luck,
Shari
 
Hi Shari!

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I'm going to try upping my calories and see what happens. Did you also cut back on your workouts .. or were you just increasing calories?

I just did a quick estimate of my food intake, and even though I'm eating 4-5 mini-meals, I'm only taking in about 800 calories a day. I can't see how I could gain weight on that .. but at this point.. I just want to figure out how to stop the weight gain! It's so frustrating!!
 
Same here!!! I'm almost 6 feet tall! How could I NOT lose weight on 1100 calories a day? And how could I POSSIBLY gain? If this is a survival mechanism, and if I ever do have to try to live through a famine, I'll be killed by the other people who ARE losing weight, because they'll think I have some secret food source I'm not sharing with them.

Seriously, if someone else told me about this, and if it hadn't happened to me personally, I absolutely would NOT believe it. It's just too crazy. I was quite literally burning off more calories in exercise alone every single day than I was taking in. It seems like some law of the universe would make it impossible to gain weight under these conditions! I still don't understand it. And to tell you the truth, I'm still ticked off about it! I just feel like whining, "It's just not faaaiiiirrrrrr!!!!" in my best Fran Drescher voice. x(

But yes, I did cut back on exercise--on the cardio, at least, but only until I finished upping my calories. When I started staggering and dropping my calories, I added the cardio back in. I continued my weightlifting throughout, though, and I had a huge leap in strength when I started eating better. I even grew fingernails for the first time in my life. And not only that, but my skin and hair are better. I've lost 127 pounds total so far. I have relatively little loose skin, and I just look healthy, not depleted the way some people look when they've lost a lot of weight. In fact, a lot of people don't really believe I've lost this much, and that's the way I want it.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions or e-mail me. People like us have to stick together.

Shari
 
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