i am getting very fed up .. i have been gaining and losing the same 5 pounds for months.. and i have no idea why..

I got down the 267 maintained it for a week and this morning im back up to 272.. i cant stand this.. i have been between 270-275 since febuary i have gobne down to 267 twice only to be back up a few days later.. and i change nothing.. so what the.... $%&k is wrong with my body?

I eat healthy food i exercise 6-7 days a week and this is my reward.. a 5 pound gain.. I know what your thinking it must be TOM.. but no .. not for another week... too much salt.. ( 2096 is my average salt intake).. so what is it?? here is what i did in the last week and gained 5 pounds.. Luckily im in the biggest loser challenge so everything is recorded..

Sunday
B toast with peanut butter
L sandwich with egg tomato and cos lettuce mayo and curry .. yum
S PARTY , mini choc bar, 1 cracker with 1/4 tsp of dip, square of cheese and a slice of kabana and a cup of coffee(cals 243)
D mince beefwith grated chinese cabbage, carrot, sweet potato and zuchinni in it as well as wheat germ and egg (burger pattie) served with cos lettuce , tomato ,cucumber and mushrooms .
Water 13 cups
cals 1716
Monday
B weetbix with milk
L focaccia with beef burgers( same as last nights , chinese cabbge, sweet potato carrot zuchinni and wheat germ) lettuce and tomato and cheese
S iced coffee
D pasta ,tuna, tomato, carrot,corn and broccolli
water 9 cups
cal 1363
Tuesday
B oatmeal and almonds
L cheeses sandwich
S carrot
D strifry chinese cabbage , veinna sausage , tomato, cauliflower, zuchinni ,mushroom , sunflower seed, parsley and garlic
water 9 cups
cals 1706
Wednesday
B weetbix with milk
S banana and multi
L turkish bread
S banana bread
D baked fish roll with tomato and lettuce
Water 8 cups
cals 1472
Thursday
B blueberry scone
S iced coffee( with stevia ty josephine for suggestion i found it here )
L mashed potato and tuna and corn pie
S cup of coffee with 1 sugar ( at friends house)
D pork, sweet potato, jacklet potato, carrot cauliflower and peas
Water 6 cups
cals 1304
Friday
B banana and decaf cappacino
S a couple of hot chips ,cup of coffee
L mac and cheese
S peanut butter sandwich
D ham lettuce and tomato baguette ..
Water 7 cups
cals 1370
Saturday
B weetbix with milk cup of green tea
S 2 cookies
L tuna cos lettuce tomato and cucumber sandwich ( whole meal grain bread)
S popcorn
D Chicken casserole
Water 8 cups
cals 1668

Sunday June 29 ;rest day
Monday june 30;120 minutes walking,30 minutes aerobics,45 minutes weights
10 minutes pushups
Tuesday July 1;180 minutes walking
40 minute aerobic
Wednesday July 2;120 minutes walking
Thursday july 3;120 minutes walking,20 minutes rebounding,15 minutes pushups
Friday July 4;30 minutes rebounding,60 minutes walking,10 minutes weights,30 minutes aerobics,15 minute pushups
Saturday July 5;60 minutes walking



so this is basically what i do .. i dont stuff around im on plan 100% .. and i gain.. omg.. .. what am i doing wrong??

My god, you don't lack for trying! I'd be frustrated too! With that said I think you're doing a wonderful job. You totally rock for sticking with this.

Have you tried playing with your macros? Maybe seeing if less carbs would do the trick? Not recommending full blown extreme low carb, but it does look like they're a bit high, lots of bread. I know it doesn't work for everyone but it did the trick for me, lowering carbs upping proteins.

My big thing is obviously artificial sweetener that holds all of my weight on. I just went through a little over a week of gaining weight and found out its from diet soda. Since I stopped drinking it I am down 4 pounds in 4 days :O

With that being said I agree with FB.. check sodium, carbs etc. YOU ARE DOING GREAT!!!!

Since you asked, I'll try to give some honest feedback but it comes with a !

I am far from an expert but I do agree with FB - since you're going to all the trouble of tracking everything then are you tracking your ratios of protein/carbs and fat? It looks like there are a lot of carbs and meals which I don't know if they're homemade. I'm only wondering if you're certain of all the calories you've listed.

Assuming that the numbers are correct, I would try to adjust the foods a bit. Without going low carb - how about aiming for 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. My hunch is you're much higher on the carbs. How is your fibre intake for the day?

There are also a lot of processed foods. Have you considered more whole foods? I would be cutting way back on the breads, pastas, potatoes. Not cutting out, but this is what jumps out at me: I see toast and a sandwich on the same day and there's a scone, banana bread, mashed potatoes, casserole and mac and cheese to name a few things. All of these things in one week would not be what I considered to be a "good week", even while staying within your calorie alotment.

I hope that I've helped and not offended you...since you asked, I wanted to give you my honest opinion.

Good luck and try a real change for a week and see what happens!

i might play around with the carbs a bit.. i also take a multivitamin most days to .. to make sure im well stocked..

heres my daily averages according to calorie king for the same week as above .. i dont know what i copied before.. lol.. i was in a rush when i posted we were due out.. most of my exercise is not recorded becuase most of it is not on the silly programme
SORRY I COPIED FROM THE WRONG WEEK BEFORE the average for that one was 1800 but i lost 4 pounds that week go figure .. lol hey maybe i need to go back up to to 1800??

Daily Averages
food calories:1,681cals
exercise minutes:71mins
exercise calories:397
calsnet calories:1,284
calsfat:53g saturated fat:20g
carbohydrate:206g
protein:65g
fibre:19


58 g = fat
113g = protien
236g = carbs
20g = fibre
1000mg = calcium

Your menus look good....could it be the salt content? Just an idea. Maybe add up the numbers on the nutritional labels and see if you're over 1500mg, for instance.

Sometimes losing track of the salt content has made a 2# difference in one day!! for me

Dill pickles are the poison that I love!

My quick math has you at 50% carbs, 23% protein and 27% fat so maybe that's where you start...bringing down the carbs and increasing the protein. It's something to think about.

It's great that you're open to trying something different!
I also agree that cutting down (not out) on bread/pasta/potatoes is probably a good idea. I got a turkey sandwich last week, scraped all the stuffings out onto the dish the sandwich came in, ate 1/8 of the foccacia, 1/2 the cheese and the rest as a salad, and didn't miss the rest of the bread/cheese at all.
BTW, just read a pretty good scientific study of mice that gained weight on artificial sweeteners and I've just been drinking water and unsweetened tea since then (check out that adagio tea website for some new tea ideas...)

ok i aviod articials most of the time everythign is weighed measured then put into calories king and everything is home made mac and cheese was cottage cheese and wholewheat pasta ( dont tell my kids lol the ate it)

most of the bread is wholewheat and the corn pie had no pastry.. but i made it in a pie dish.. ( dont tell my kids lol). and the cals are spot on.. acording to calorie king.. .. i thank you for your honest opinions that is exaclty what i want.. no point milling over the truth trying to be nice.. and yes i did have too much bread i know that but my carbs apparently werent over what ck recommend .. so im gonna ignore ck and try the 40 30 30 idea that sounds great ..

processed food doesnt come into this house i have a daughter that is severely allergic to food additives .. so yeah i agree it has to be the carbs.. ok here is the questionm what do i need to bring them down to 40 30 30 .. thanks i find it easier to work for a number..

I don't see a ton of green veggies there. Try substituting potatoes, corn, bread for fibrous vegetables. Lots of them. Add in tuna, fish, turkey, chicken, egg whites. See if that helps! You should effectively lower the carbs, up the protein that way.

FWIW, I don't go by software recommended guidelines, I experimented and tweaked and found what worked for me.

I didn't mean to imply that all of the foods were processed....it's just that most people don't cook such interesting food! Good for you for doing all that cooking for yourself and weighing and measuring. That is the only real way to know for sure what you're eating.

Not onto the math lesson. First, I use Fit Day so it constantly tracks my ratios for protein/carb/fat but if Calorie King does not, the rules are simple. Each gram of protein and carb has 4 calories while a gram of fat has 9 calories so if you're looking at 1850 calories per day (for example) the breakdown is like this (the numbers are rounded slightly simplicity):

Protein - 187 grams X 4 calories per gram = 750 calories
Carbs - 137 grams X 4 calories per gram = 550 calories
Fat - 61 grams X 9 calories per gram = 550 calories

All totaling 1850 calories for the day.

So you can monitor total grams or calories or both.

Does this help you or confuse you more??

And sorry, I forgot...to increase your lean protein, I would try chicken, tuna, egg whites or cottage cheese. They're all great sources of protein for relatively low calories.

All I can say is, be sure to check your numbers carefully for amounts, servings, etc. Maybe enter a few days' menus into a different tool, like FitDay, and see if the numbers come out the same.

Assuming that your numbers are correct, I see around 1800 calories a day, average. Apparently you're maintaining on this amount of food, whether you're "supposed" to be or not. Cut your calories by 100 a day to start, while increasing protein and lowering carbs. Stay with that for 2 weeks, and if there's still no change, cut by another 100. This is just a suggestion, I have no idea whether it will change things or not. But you'll know within a month.

Try it if you like!

Jay

This response would likely draw some bad press because we know that extremely low carb diets are not only hard to stick to, but also pretty unhealthy.

Sounds like you are getting a TON of exercise which is awesome. I don't know how you find the time. Also, your diet looks decent so I agree with the frustration. Did you measure yourself? Are you losing inches even if not pounds? I gained 6 lbs after 3 weeks of extensive exercise (159-->165), but lost 2 inches from my waist.

Anyway, this is the part many may not agree with. I went on a limited carb diet for 2 WEEKS and then I resumed normal eating (just watching portions) and I dropped 30 lbs in about 3 months and I never gained it back. It just boosted my metabolism somehow. I was also biking 16 miles 3 days/week to school. But you already get a TON of exercise. I have tried it since and it didn't work as well... but if you are desperate to try something different, give it a go. Just don't stay on it TOO long and don't eat crappy low carb foods like chicken wings (but you already knew that).

If not, I agree with some of the other posters. They say that women over 30 are not supposed to go below 1200 calories/day and 1500 is normal... depending on your activity.

I don't understand why people rag on low carb LOL.. I had tried low fat low cal diets for years and this is the only "diet" that has ever worked.. I LOVE south beach diet and I do not find it hard to stick to at all.. in fact before my hubby deployed he would even stick to the plan as well.

Everyone's body is different though... if I ate what you did I would have gained the weight as well.

The salt is important.. my body retains like no other if I eat too much of it.

Also are you drinking enough water. That is very important and if you are not your body will retain it.

GL with your weight loss and congrats to the exercise! I LOVE to exercise

Okay, I see an average of approx. 1500 cals a day with a huge amount of exercise. I think your 2-week was a little higher, but still only around 1700? If you're sure that what you're tracking is what you are eating have you considered that you might not be eating enough?

I'm about 20 lbs more than you are at the moment. I do two days of cardio a week (60 mins) - walking, nothing heart stopping. I lift weights three days a week (cardio warm up, weights, HIIT at the end) which at the moment runs 90 mins. Using a heart rate monitor the regular exercise is burning about 2400 calories between the five days. Oh, and I rest two days. I'm doing a bit of gardening/watering and such on all days, perhaps a few heavier tasks on my rest days. On my rest days I eat ~2150 and the cardio/weights days I eat ~2400 cals. I've maintained a 2lb/week loss doing this. Again, I started heavier, but my average calories for June were 2300 a day and I went from 301.8 to 293.8 on those calories.

Your calories and exercise remind me of the last time I was under 300 pounds. I was eating about what you are, doing 5 days of at least an hour cardio and working a job where I walked around all day. I stopped losing weight as well, kept cutting my calories, and you know, it didn't work. I ended up making myself ill, but that's another story.

So, I would:

1 - increase protein a bit (that's just a personal preference)

2 - cut back on some of the exercise

3 - increase your calories slightly

If possible (weigh and) track everything you're eating. It's also possible the little things you don't count are adding up. A really good weekly reporting should rarely (if ever) contain the words 'a couple of'. I'd probably make sure that your calories in is really accurate before you change anything. I'm looking for a link about food measuring....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

It's really worth watching.