hey all,

ok I started this diet thing 2 weeks ago I have cut out all junk food, no red meat and have eaten fish, fruits, vegtables and chicken and have started walking 1 1/2 miles per day on a tread mill for 2 weeks I have gone from 195 to 200 pounds and I dont get it.. any one have any reasons why this is happening or what I am doing wrong?
thanks for your help

JUJU

Are you actually counting your calories? Sometimes...even though we THINK we're eating really good, we eat TOO much of a good thing. I highly reccommend thedailyplate or fitday to record your calories.

Sounds like you're doing the right things Now you just need to journal it! I'm not quite sure why you've gained 5 lbs, but it could very well be from something you ate recently that had more salt than you usually eat and you may be retaining water. I would pick a specific time of day to weigh yourself and weigh yourself next week and see how you're doing.

thank you Sheila I will try that!!

Juju

Take pictures and measure yourself. I don't care anything about muscle not weighing much, etc. ANY time I increase my walking significantly, or go from not walking much at all to actually walking allot, I ALWAYS gain like 4 pounds. I get frustrated, then I look at pics from the month before and see how much fatter I was and my clothes are fitting better, I LOOK trimmer etc. And I push it thru. THEN I start losing on the scale. Just make sure you aren't eating too much healthy food. I mean that as in overeating healthy food, not mixing junk with healthy. lol

Good luck!

I absolutely agree with sheila. It could be you're eating more calories than you need to. You need to pick a calorie range and then write down everything you are eating. Drink lots of water. You could be retaining fluids in your muscles, if you are sore, and by drinking lots of water, it will help flush that excess water out. Are you counting calories?? If not, I would say start at about 1700- 1800 and see how you do. If you don't drop any weight on that, drop your calories by 100 calories every two weeks until you find a range you can live with and lose weight with. Sounds like as far as excersize goes, you are doing great!! Keep up the good work.

How you prepare your food is also important. For example, tuna is great but if you are eating tuna salad with lots of mayo, that's not really that healthy or low calorie. If you are preparing food with oil or with heavy sauces, it doesn't matter how "healthy" it is, those calories are going to add up.

Thank you guys !! I have started writing down my calorie intake starting today thanks for the responses and gl to you all as well.

I experienced the same thing and I was walking 3-5 miles a day. My son-in-law (to be) is a weight training coach and exercise guru and he told me not to pay much attention to the scale. Muscle does indeed weigh more than fat and you can go by your clothes size and how they fit you. It will correct itself so stay with your plan.

Actually a pound of muscle weighs the *same* as a pound of fat. That pound of muscle will take up MUCH less room than that pound of fat, so your scale may stay the same, but you are building muscle and therefore losing inches. I always measure once a month and track inches lost as well as lbs lost. Hope this helps!

Keep up the good work!

It's true that muscle is more dense--however, 2 weeks is not enough time to gain 5 lbs of muscle! So... I'd say you need to track those calories and portions. Don't just guess at it--too easy to underestimate that way. It's amazing how many calories some foods contain--foods we never even think about. For example, a serving size of Doritos is eleven (11) chips and contains 140 calories. When was the last time you counted out the chips?

FitDay (and probably some other tools as well) allows you to estimate what your body burns in a day just being alive, plus any additional activities. A good rule of thumb is to subtract 500 cals from that number, and that's your target for eating. That will also give you an average loss of 1 pound a week, if the numbers are accurate. (Sometimes they aren't and need to be adjusted.)

Don't get discouraged! Keep working it!

Jay

What a shock I got back in May when I discovered my lunch salad from the local cafe that I was feeling so righteous about contained A LOT MORE calories than my PBJ sandwich on whole wheat (which I liked a lot more!)

So now, I make my own salads and have a PBJ (with very careful measurements!) on whole wheat as my Thursday treat lunch!

when I first started a little more than a month ago, I had the same problem. I was so frustrated. Then I took everyones advice and started writing things down. I telll ya it really opened my eyes. I totally agree with writing things down. I just discovered fitday.com and I absolutely love it!! it's so helpful and its free!!!

hang in there jujubean

There are lots of reason why it doesn't appear that our bodies are responding as they should. Let me see ...

Crappy scales and an uneven floor ...
I used to gain 6 or 7 lbs 'round about my period.
Stressed muscle will retain fluid
Bodies don't like change much
I can easily eat enough fruit to blow my calorie counts. I call bananas the bread/cake of the jungle!
Somebody already mentioned salt.

I think you're off to a great start whether or not the normal indicaters are showing any evidence yet or not.

I'm gonna enter my vote for careful journalling or tracking. I like fitday too.

Eating healthy foods was never enough for me. I love healthy foods and have no problem overeating them. I needed the combination of healthy foods PLUS calorie counting. Calorie counting is my version of portion control.

To save calories I eat foods with little or no extras - no mayo, very little oil, no ketchup, no salad dressing - except the juice of a fresh lemon. I use lots and lots of spices though. I love flavor and adding in spices keeps things yummy. I also use chicken consome' on lots of different things, like cooked veggies.

[QUOTE=SusanB;1806695]

I can easily eat enough fruit to blow my calorie counts. I call bananas the bread/cake of the jungle!




SusanB, I am laughing out loud at my desk! The cake of the jungle!