exercise and unwanted weight gain - help

I admit to not being the best at logging my food or exercise. I, however, eat pretty consistently the same thing, protein (chicken, steak, etc) and fruit.

I was doing really good losing weight on diet alone. about 1 - 2 pounds per week for about 12 weeks. I took a mini-diet break after a 17 lb lose, and got back on the wagon about 1 month later. I decided to add exercise to my diet to kick it up a notch.

that didn't work at all. Instead of increasing my weight loss it has caused weight gain! I have now gained "back" 8 pounds. For exercise, I have been doing both cardio and strength training in the form of Orange Theory which is a interval exercise program in classes of 10 - 20.

I take measurements regularly and they are neither up or down from my original weight loss. I am ready to throw exercise out and just stick to diet alone. Or do I stick it out and hope that the pounds come off eventually! This sucks and I am not sure what to do!

Without tracking your food it is hard to determine what is going on but remember muscle weighs more than fat but muscle also burns fat. I would never call exercise a waste but if your goal is to burn fat then do more cardio than weight lifting.

If you lost your initial weight because you were starving yourself (under 1200 calories a day) the exercise is not the problem. If your body thinks it is starving it will store everything you eat- causing weight gain. Since you were not working out previously-your initial weight loss may also have been muscle mass. Muscle is needed to help burn calories. You may slowly be gaining the weight back becuase your muscles have been depleted so you aren't burnign as much. Exercise is so important-I would not advise you to get rid of it.

Exercise is important even if you are not trying to loose weight.

Exercise should not cause you to gain weight...unless you are eating more becuase your burning more or you are gaining muscle mass...I also agree with what Lindsay said about losing muscle mass if you were maintaining too low of a caloric intake. Someone will probably point out the muscle does not actually "weigh more than fat"...this is a way of saying muscle is more dense than fat...so more muscle will make you heavier but you will be leaner. I think you should continue your exercise plan and start logging your food. Get a little scale (a kitchen scale goes for about $10) and measuring cups and spoons. You would be surprised at how much or little some foods are. For example many people might log a bowl of cereal as a serving but really only 1 cup is a serving...beef is dense and 4 oz of steak looks like a lot less than 4 oz of chicken. Try it and see where your at and adjust accordingly. Good luck.

Are you sure your diet went back to exactly what it was a month before your "break?" Don't be so worried about the numbers though. Do you feel better since you started exercising? Can you walk/run longer than ever before? Are you getting stronger? All these things are important, I'd say more so than the numbers.

Don't give up on exercise, it's beneficial on so many levels. Make sure your diet is perfect and stick with it. Consistency is key, but you'll get there. When I lost 90 pounds I got to my goal and thought I looked gross. My diet was perfect, but I did only cardio... big mistake. I weigh 15 pounds MORE now than my lowest point since I started resistance training. I'm stronger now than I've ever been in my life. Point is resistance training is soooo good for you, but it seems a little counterproductive because it may put a little weight on. Sorry for the rant, stick with it!

If it feels good and you feel better for it then stick with it. Trouble I found was I joined the gym and I was getting fitter and stronger, but it always resulted in ravenous hunger and while I was imagining that I was eating about the same, realistically I was not. I now know that I cannot lose weight and work out in the gym. I walk (several miles every working day) and count calories and that works for me. I may actually join the gym when I reach target to help maintain and for muscle tone but not for weight loss, not for me and you may be the same.

Some people just don't get the same benefit from gym work as others. Scientifically proven, and if that's you and you don't think it's helping then do what you find works. Walking for the same amount of time as you would normally spend from start to finish might do you better! Good luck.

A couple of points:

A lb of fat and a lb of muscle weigh the same. Muscle does not weigh more than fat by weight, but by volume a lb of muscle is SMALLER than a lb of fat. So you can shrink and remain weight constant because of losing some fat and gaining a little muscle.

Another thing to consider is that during the first 3 weeks of any exercise program your body will probably go through D.O.M.S. or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. That is your body thinking it's injured, you're sore, and your body reacts to those things by flooding your muscles with more water weight and blood to carry nutrients to heal the "injury." That should subside within 3 weeks.

If it doesn't, then it comes back to what you're putting in your mouth. It takes 3500 excess calories to gain 1 lb, so consider that it is potentially water weight, or you're drastically over eating because you're burning more calories and aren't used to it.

The trick will be to stick with both exercise and eating the right amount. Most men need to eat 2000 cal per day to maintain their weight, women about 1800. Exercise will push that up a bit depending on the intensity, so if you workout 5 days per week (any less than that is really not doing you the good you want from it) and keep at that 2000 cal/day intake you should drop weight at a healthy rate.