I'm new here and hoping that someone can answer some questions for me. Sorry if this is a little long...
...At the beginning of January I started both working out and watching my food intake (as many do!). I'm about 5'8" and I was 185lbs on January 1st. I joined a gym and I've been consistently going about 5 times a week - some weight training but mostly cardio. I do about 25 minutes of brisk walking at an incline on the treadmill then I'm up to running about 1.25 miles. Then I'll do the elliptical for about another 15 or 20 minutes, followed by weight machines (as outlined by a trainer) or ab stuff.
As for my eating, in the last 2 weeks I've begun to write down everything I eat and I'm averaging about 1500 calories a day, staying about from "white" stuff and drinking only water, and trying to cut out processed snacks. Today, for example, I'll have an egg and 2 whites with some cheese for breakfast on a whole wheat English muffin, an apple for a snack, a whole wheat wrap with chicken and veggies for lunch with a yogurt, salmon, salad and veggies for dinner and some popcorn later.

So my question (if you're still reading ) is why have a gained 1 pound in 4 weeks?! I could have been sitting on the couch and eating cookies and probably only gain a pound in this much time!!

I know, I know, people say "muscle weighs more than fat" yada yada but I'm not doing exercises to bulk up, I'm doing cardio stuff, mostly! What is going on with my body?

Muscle does not weigh more than fat!

1 pound muscle = 1 pound fat
1 pound of muscle just takes up less room than 1 pound of fat

If you are working out that much and doing weights as well, you might be replacing your fat with muscle. Are your clothes fitting better? Have you been tracking your measurements? Your body may just be adjusting to all of the changes you've made in the past 4 weeks.

Muscle and fat weigh the same. For all the exercise you are doing, you are probably not eating enough. This can put your metabolism in starvation mode. Woman are different than men and don't bulk up when they lift weights. Did you take your measurements before you started. You may have exchanged fat for muscle and your inches will have decreased. The scale is the least like predicator of success. The permanent lifestyle changes you make are the best. Also, do not start an exercise program that you don't intend to keep up forever because if you cut back you will gain.

You don't indicate how old you are. Tell us that and maybe we can help out.

Also, how do you figure out your calories? Are you actually weighing and measuring portions, such as, 3 oz. of chicken, 2 TBSP salad dressing, 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes--or are you trying to estimate? Often our estimates of how much can be way over reality.

Given your exercise and your starting weight, you should be losing, although perhaps not very fast, depending on your age. So I'd suggest evaluating how you track foods.

Jay

It's like the old adage, which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks? A pound is a pound is a pound. Not all inches are created equal. The area taken up by one pound of muscle is much smaller than the area taken up by a pound of fat.

I'm 32 years old. And I have lost about 1" off my waist. My clothes don't feel much different but my endurance has certainly increased as I don't feel as soar or worn out after taking step classes like I did 4 weeks ago.

Yes, I guess I need to count EXACTLY how much I'm eating. I will try that for a week and see what happens.

About a year ago, I followed the south beach diet and lost about 10 pounds in a month. I restricted carbs and really didn't exercise much. I don't know much about metabolism, but could previous dieting and food restrictions mess up how your body burns calories?

I was working with a trainer a few months ago at a gym, and we did this weird test where I had to where a mask and just go for it on a treadmill. It measured what I was burning; all calories ... and the calories from FAT. It was interesting because in reality, I was burning WAY more (percentage wise) fat calories in the low end of my heart rate, and as my heart rate went up, the percentage of fat cals burned went lower.
I was told that if I kept at it, and did different things like alternating speeds on the treadmill to fluctuate my heart rate, eventually I would be burning the same amount of fat calories at all ends of my heart rate, deeming ANY exercise very effective at burning the max fat cals.
Try working out at intervals, like going up 10 BPM every 2 minutes or something... or if you don't have a heart rate monitor, just use your own judgement. You will be training your heart and training your body to burn off all the fat cals no matter how hard you work out! Good luck!

When someone says "muscle weighs more than fat" it is implied that for equal volumes. So yes, for the same volume of each, muscle does weigh more than fat.

Hang in there alm! If you are consuming less than you are putting out you WILL lose weight. Your body has to let it go eventually.

I'd do what some of the others suggested, start measuring/ weighing your food and tracking calories.

I'd be frustrated too, but you can do it!!!