How on EARTH am I gaining?!!

[SuperDork]

Hi everyone. I haven't posted in forever...basically I went off plan last year and gained back a lot of my weight and when I went back on, I felt so bad about going off it all...that I almost felt kind of embarrassed to post again. So I've just been lurking.
But I'm back and I've been doing it again for about three months. I'm losing incredibly slowly right now...have no idea why, I'm doing everything I have before, eating all my veggies, etc...but I'm just trying to deal with it (last time I'd lost 48 pounds by this time...this time I haven't even gotten to 20 )
Here's my real question - The one thing I'm doing much different this time is exercising. I never got super serious about that before. This time I have...I've been going at least 3 days a week for about 2 months...Last week I got in 6 days. And I've worked it up to where I'm doing more. Like the first few times I could barely stay for over 30 minutes and yesterday I did 75 minutes. 25 minutes on the weights (lower weights, more reps) and the rest was cardio on the stationary bike where I maintained about 21 mph. Now here's the thing. I'm not losing Any inches and my scale has been going up and down in this about 15 pound range. This morning....I was back to 300. I don't get it. I'm trying so much harder when it comes to the exercising and pushing myself there....and the weight isn't going anywhere. I haven't "lost" anything to speak of, inches or pounds, that's stayed gone...since I started working out. I don't think I could have possibly put on that much muscle...so I don't know what it is and honestly it's discouraging me a bit (I'm getting married in about a year and a half and that makes it worse, I don't want to be a cow in a wedding dress! ). It's hard when I'm doing more than I've done before and the weight is sticking around. *sigh* Any encouraging words or ideas would be great...
Thanks..

[ncarolina]

I am in a VERY similar situation, so I can certainly sympathize! I have stalled for weeks now, and the only thing I can figure out that I'm doing strength training three times per week and maybe that's making a difference in the rate of loss...? But I am lifting light to moderate, not heavy, and more reps. I am losing some inches, but the scale has stuck. You are so smart to not weigh often!! I decided to do the same this morning after yet another weigh-in with no change. Am doing water, supplements, and following plan exactly.
I'll be interested in others' comments about exercise and stalling...

[pgmr_64804]

Maybe you could post some menus and we can see if you are eating something that makes us gain.

I know processed food makes me gain (no matter what the carb count on the lable says).

[Maerow]

One thing I noticed with me was, when I started losing weight again after maintaining at 155 lbs, when I finally started using fitday again, I realized I had jumped right back to what I was eating at the tail end of my previous weight loss. In other words, I was using low carb stuff I normally didn't use while I was losing.

Just a thought.

[SuperDork]

Foodwise - here's a couple of days.

Breakfast - 2 eggs, 6-8 oz Steak (cooked on a grill, only salt and garlic powder on it)

Lunch - 1 1/2 cup of lettuce with a few strips of grilled chicken (grilled by me at home) couple radishes, a bit of fennell and about half a stick of celery cut up in it and dressed with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and vinegar.

Dinner - Hamburger patty with a small slice of mozzerella and a few slices of each cut up and eaten raw - bell pepper, jicama anc cucumber. Just salted usually.

=============
Breakfast - Grilled chicken breast shredded mixed with a spoon of Mayo, about half a stick of celery cut up, half a homemade pickle cut up and a hard boiled egg.

Lunch - 1 1/2 cup lettuce with 1/4 of an avacado cut up in it, stick of celery, couple radishes, half a cucumber and half an egg and then dressed with a couple tablespoons of sour cream kind of whisked with some water to thin it out and mixed with a little chili powder, garlic and salt (kind of southwesty tasting I guess).

Dinner - 1 Can of tuna, mixed with spoon of mayo, dill, little celery and 1 hb egg...eaten over a bit of lettuce or spinach. Few slices of bell pepper.


Those are just a couple days. I'm trying to stay away from anything processed. I buy my meat from our organic small market here that buys animals from the farmers and such here, so it's meat from around here and there's nothing in it. I'm not eating much cheese, just a piece here or there occasionally or on my meat or salad. And every week I try to mix my veggies up a bit and have some orka or something different that's on the low sugar side, so I don't get bored with them.
Snacks - I'll grab just few slices of pepper or jicama or cucumber or whatever I've gotten fresh. Or I'll marinate and grill up some chicken or steak and cut it up into strips so I can just grab a couple.
And water - I'm drinking 100 oz at least a day.

[Lyssie]

How many calories are you eating per day? Sometimes when you don't eat enough, it can make you not lose weight... are you not noticing inches lost too or just pounds?

[julirama723]

I think your food choices sound good (it's actually making me drool ) but I agree with Lyssie, that perhaps you aren't consuming enough calories and your body has gone into starvation mode. It's important to eat at least 1200 calories per day, and even better to stay around your BMR (basal metabolic rate), which is how many calories you burn each day just keeping your body functioning.

Also, if you've lost inches, this does not constitute a stall. If you're losing inches, this means you're losing fat and replacing it with lean, active, calorie-burning muscle. This is the goal! Right now it might cause you to think evil thoughts of the scale, because the numbers aren't moving even though you're shrinking. In the long run, this muscle will help your body burn more calories and it makes you a healthier person.

[sallyseachange]

The title of this thread confuses me a little. You say that so far you haven't yet reached 20 (compared to previous 48 lbs lost)... but you wonder how on earth you're gaining? Sorry... maybe I'm missing something, but it seems you are losing something, just more slowly.

That does seem to happen, second time around, to some people. Hang in there and it will happen. Focus on direction rather than speed. You can do it!

I just recently tweaked my maintenance menus after a post Christmas whooshie in the wrong direction. It took me six weeks to lose 2 lbs... but they went, eventually.

[cincywbbw]

Maybe this little graphic might help, I found it on a post awhile back.

[sallyseachange]

That is such a cool graphic Cincy!