Hi everyone, I have a few questions that I am hoping you can help me with. I started calorie counting about 2 years ago. I started out at about 1200 calories a day and walking on the treadmill for 1 mile, 5 days a week. I have slowly added extra miles and in turn had to up my calories. I lost a total of 85 pounds. I now walk around 8 miles a day and eat 1700 calories. I have gained 10 pounds in the last couple of months instead of losing. I dont want to lower my miles. I really enjoy walking. But If I eat to much less, I get shaky. I hope someone can help me figure this out. Thanks so much in advance.

You actually might be eating enough calories to be building muscle. You say you've gained 10 lbs, how do your clothes fit? If you just notice the weight on the scale and not your clothes, I would guess you've built some muscle. In which case, that is awesome, don't stop!!!!

Are you trying for maintenance? Did you do a calculation to see if 1700 was your maintenance calorie level?

Without knowing more information -- height, current weight, age, frame size, etc. it's hard to judge if 1700 is too much for you.

I'm 5'5", 245 lbs and 43 years old and 1700 is what the Body Gem test and Calorie King both say I should eat every day to lose.

Try walking at a faster pace for at least 1 mile of your 8 mile daily walk. Really get huffing--like a power walk (I'd suggest jogging, but you may be like me--completely unable or unwilling to jog). I love to walk, and if I could, I'd walk every day, but the heat here makes is practically impossible (it's supposed to be over 110 degress today and it only gets hotter as summer progresses).

Personally, I think your calorie intake is good, but you could check one of those calculators to check to be sure.

Thanks so much for the advice guys. Hockeyfan7, I weigh 180 lbs. I am a 5'6female and I am 33 years old. I cant seem to run yet even after all of this time. lol. I walk at 4 mph. Jillybean, the water issue is one of my problems. I know that I dont drink enough water. I am going to really work on that. I drink alot of coffee and diet coke.

Ahhhh someone else who agrees with me! I am a firm believer that calories are not equal... calories of good nutrition are processed SO much more efficiently by our bodies!

Tamilm, one suggestion I would make is if you are not doing so, try to cut out the processed foods and eat a lot of natural, whole foods. It really does help. Also someone suggested here a while back... and I've been doing it and it WORKS... is to drink the juice of one lemon in a 32 oz bottle of hot tap water every morning. I love it!

hmm...going too low in calories might make you plateau, but I don't think it would cause you to gain 10 pounds I don't know of anyone who became overweight by eating too little (without extenuating health circumstances).

Unfortunately, it's also VERY unlikely that those 10 pounds are from muscle. Simply because of the way women's bodies are designed and function (as compared to men's), it could take more than a year just to gain up to 5 additional pounds of muscle (and even that's pushin' it--unless, of course, you're on "supplements" or steroids, which I'm assuming is not the case here ).

If you're not drinking enough water, I bet increasing that will help you to drop at least a few pounds of water weight--maybe not the entire 10, but at least some is better than nothing. I still hope you're looking into the types of foods your eating--like Misti said, if you haven't already done so, try to get as many calories as you can from whole, unprocessed foods. Processed foods in particular tend to have waaaay more sodium, so that could also be causing even more water retention than would be caused by just not drinking enough water alone.

One other thought to add to all the others ...

If you've lost 75 pounds and your only exercise has been walking, chances are that you've lost a fair amount of muscle along the way. Studies show that up to 40% of the weight you lose by dieting will be muscle, not fat, if you're not lifting weights or strength-training (same thing) to maintain or build muscle while you're losing.

Unfortunately, walking isn't muscle-building exercise. Jill's right - those ten pounds you've gained aren't muscle. Walking is awesome cardio exercise, burns calories, and you should definitely keep it up, but it's not going to do anything to preseve or add to your muscle mass. For that you need to be lifting weights.

The effect of losing muscle as you lose weight is that it lowers your metabolism. Muscle is metabolically active tissue that burns 20 - 25 calories per pound every day. So if you lose ten pounds of precious muscle, for example, your metabolism will drop by 200 - 250 calories per day and the result is a slower weight loss or even a gain.

Have you ever had your body composition (body fat percentage) checked to determine the % of fat and lean body mass that you used to have and have now? That's the best way to determine whether you're losing pounds of fat or pounds of muscle. Our goal shouldn't be just to lose scale weight - it should be to lose pounds of FAT!

You might want to consider adding some weightlifting to your walking regime. Building back some muscle will speed up your metabolism and let you eat more and still lose weight. Good stuff!

I don't have a clue why you could be gaining... however, one commitment I have personally made. If I stop losing over an extended time, or start to gain with the plan I am on, I plan to be in my doctor's office with motors on my feet and get her advice!!