Hi All
I have a feeling this is going to turn in to a short novel but, I'll try keep it as short as possible......ready?
Okay, well I'm feeling confused and frustrated. I seem to gain weight incredibly easy and I just don't understand why.
I work out five (sometimes six) days per week. Here's what I do each gym visit:
Run 3 miles (takes me 30 mins).
I usually do 10 mins on the bike, elliptical or stairmaster if I have time.
I do upper body strength training, alternating body parts various days.
I workout abs at home 3 days per week using my swiss ball (3 sets of 40 crunches)
I can often be found doing random sets of lunges here and there at home (3 sets of 20 at a time).
I walk my dog for at least an hour daily.
I hop in my community pool and do at least twenty laps when I do then I usually just float around or play with the neighbors kids.
Overall I would descrive myself as a very active person, I'm always doing something.
To give you a rough idea of what I eat on an average day:
Breakfast: 1cup Cheerios with fat free milk: 140 calories.
Snack: Half cup fat free cottage cheese: 80 calories.
Lunch: Sandwich on whole wheat: 360 (Always around that number but, varies up or down slightly depending on what I have on it), often I just have a small plain salad.
Snack: Valencia Orange: 50 calories.
Dinner: Skinless grilled chicken breast (120), whole grain rice (190 calories) and grilled veggies (50 calories).
After my workouts I have a chocolate protein shake made with fat free milk: 220 calories.
Total calorie intake: 1210
I consume on average 14 glasses of water per day.
I don't snack on other stuff or have little bites here and there of things, what I've noted is what I eat, thats all but, it obviously changes slightly from day but, the calories intake is always about the same.
Anyway, so now you know I'm no lazy bum
Well my friend came in to town on Saturday night, I weighed 138.5 when she arrived, I stayed up late and drank about 7 Miller lite beers with her (I don't drink often, last time I drank was 4th of July). The next day I didn't workout but, I did play around in my community pool for almost 3 hrs. Before she left that night I treated myself- a little more than I should have (I'm only human), but, still. I had:
Slice of pizza: 340
Dessert: 400
Small amount of pasta: 300
Beer from night before: 672
Total calories in junk food/beer: 1712
Btw, I ate very healthy besides this.
For those of you who don't know, there are roughly 3500 calories needed to burn a pound of body fat.
So I stepped on the scale the following day after treating myself and the scale read a whopping 145 lbs! Okay, okay so part of this was water weight which I lost, taking me down to 142 lbs but, still, how come I gained 3.5 lbs?! I know it seems like I may be making a big deal over three pounds but, thats a lot when it takes me over a week to lose that amount of weight usually. Patience has never been a virtue that I have possessed Usually when people gain weight after indulging a little they lose all if not most of it as it's just excess water weight but, it seems to stay on me and keeps putting me back a week or so.
This seems to happen whenever I treat myself which isn't often because I keep gaining back three or four pounds each time I do, even when I just treat myself a little. Usually when I treat myself it's some ice cream with calories around 500.
I know this makes no sense and there may be a few people who think I'm cheating myself or I'm in denial but, I swear I'm not. My boyfriend is so confused by it all too, he calls me a health nut and a work out freak, he seems how much effort I put forth, it's not all in my head.
Does anyone else feel this way or does anyone have an explanation as to why this happens? I hope this post makes some sense
Sorry the post was so awfully long!
Joey
Btw, just to add, I'm perfectly healthy 26 year old. I know I may not have some of the calories exactly down to a t but, they are not far off.