Eating right & gaining weight!! Help!

4

4merslackr

0
Okay, I just drastically changed my diet to healthy. I used to eat lots of carbs: breads, pasta, chips, crackers, etc. And about 3 - 4 sodas a day. I used to grab my sugars from the carb stuff.

Now my diet for the last week has consisted of raw and steamed vegetables, fruit smoothies with raw fruit only with maybe some cottage cheese or low-cal/low-fat flavored yogurt added sometimes, whole wheat bread open-face sandwiches with tomotoes or bananas and low-fat/low-cal mayo, apples-n-low-cal/low-fat peanut butter, oatmeal (the real kind) with just a tad of brown sugar, etc.....

I did invest in some soy crackers and veggie chips to satisfy my salty/cruncy cravings. I cut my soda intake to 1 a day. I don't drink tea or coffee so this is my caffeine fix.

I am eating 5 - 7 small meals a day.

But I've gained 5 freak'n pounds in the last week!

One week! 5 pounds!!! Is this normal? What's wrong with me??

How do I stop this? The goal is to get in shape - not gain weight!

Shel
 
Weight gain isn't bad, it's fat gain that you have to be more worried about. Have you tried measuring your body fat percentage?
 
Uhm - 5 pound weight gain in one week isn't a problem???

I don't know how to measure my body fat percentage, but I do have one of those scales. I've heard that they're never right though... My scale puts me usually between 30 - 32%, but I don't think that's right. Is there a way to measure if you don't have calipers or something?

I'm just frustrated. I expected to gain some weight because I'm trying to create muscle, but the 5 pound gain in one week when I'm exercising and eating right is freaking me out.

Can you tell I'm a complete newbie?? LOL

Shel
 
4merslackr said:
Uhm - 5 pound weight gain in one week isn't a problem???

I don't know how to measure my body fat percentage, but I do have one of those scales. I've heard that they're never right though... My scale puts me usually between 30 - 32%, but I don't think that's right. Is there a way to measure if you don't have calipers or something?

I'm just frustrated. I expected to gain some weight because I'm trying to create muscle, but the 5 pound gain in one week when I'm exercising and eating right is freaking me out.

Can you tell I'm a complete newbie?? LOL

Shel
Click to expand...

First off congrats on starting to change your eating lifestyle. Second, DO NOT be turned off by this gain weight as it can mean a few things.

The weight you see on your scale isnt always an indicator of ones body. For example bodybuilders weigh a lot more because muscle is heavier then fat. So a 5lb gain isnt bad is its muscle mass thats been put on. But now here is what I think could be going on:

(1) The time you weight yourself is very important. The best time to weigh yourself is right in the morning after you wakeup. This is due to the fact that if you were to weigh @ night, you are adding on all the food/water you consumed over the day. By weighing in the morning, your body is empty because of the overnight fast.

(2) Have you increased you water intake? If so, that could be your added weight. If not, maybe your not getting enough water and whats happening is that your body is actually storing water because for the future because it thinks it might need it. If your not already start to drink 3L of water/day and get up to 4L. After a while your body will start to notice that it gets enough water over the course of the day and will stop storing and hence you will see a difference on the scale.

(3) Finally, the only other thing I can think of is that because you so drastically changed your diet, your body may have been shocked by this and may have hit "starvation mode" at which point it would start to store most of the food you eat. And hence the weight gain.

But like I said earlier, dont let this get you down, continue with your diet and start some cardio if you want to loss fat weight. Good luck and post away if you have questions in the future.
 
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I am calm... I am calm... I am calm... LOL

Thank you waz. You hit some very important points. I do weigh myself in the mornings about 1 x a week at approx. the same time, but it's always after I eat breakfast. I'll remember to start doing it before then.

I have increased my water intake, but definitely not up to 3L!! Wow. I drink anywhere from 2 - 3 small bottles of water. That's obviously not enough, but it is more than I normally drink.

Oddly enough, I don't feel starved - but I probably am eating less. So you may be right on that point too.

I'll weigh myself again next week and pray. I'll see about increasing my cardio this next week too and maybe that'll make me feel better in my head, if not on the scale. :)

Bless you!
Shel
 
4merslackr said:
I have increased my water intake, but definitely not up to 3L!! Wow. I drink anywhere from 2 - 3 small bottles of water. That's obviously not enough, but it is more than I normally drink.

Oddly enough, I don't feel starved - but I probably am eating less. So you may be right on that point too.

Shel
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Not a problem. 3L does seem like a lot, trust me its nothing. Its not that you may feel starved, but your previous diet seems to have been heavy in calories and sugars. Changing to a healthy diet, means less calories/sugars even with the same amount of consumption. So once again good luck and remember patience and time is key to successive fat loss.
 
4merslackr said:
Okay, I just drastically changed my diet to healthy. I used to eat lots of carbs: breads, pasta, chips, crackers, etc. And about 3 - 4 sodas a day. I used to grab my sugars from the carb stuff.

Now my diet for the last week has consisted of raw and steamed vegetables, fruit smoothies with raw fruit only with maybe some cottage cheese or low-cal/low-fat flavored yogurt added sometimes, whole wheat bread open-face sandwiches with tomotoes or bananas and low-fat/low-cal mayo, apples-n-low-cal/low-fat peanut butter, oatmeal (the real kind) with just a tad of brown sugar, etc.....

I did invest in some soy crackers and veggie chips to satisfy my salty/cruncy cravings. I cut my soda intake to 1 a day. I don't drink tea or coffee so this is my caffeine fix.

I am eating 5 - 7 small meals a day.

But I've gained 5 freak'n pounds in the last week!

One week! 5 pounds!!! Is this normal? What's wrong with me??

How do I stop this? The goal is to get in shape - not gain weight!

Shel
Click to expand...


hell, I'm someone that gains weight and gets bloated kind of easily, but for the last 2 months Ive been at the gym at least 5 days a week with about 30 to 45 minutes of cardio and also 45 minutes heavy weights, eating really healthily and just the otehr night I consumed a large medium crust pepperoni and extra cheese pizza from Pizza Hut and a 2 litre Mountain Dew and now two days later I have gotten even fitter looking without being bloated or gaining fat. People, break your diet every now then!! Have some fun. Not even a whole LARGE dripping grease pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni RUINED me. Screw one slice!! I ate the WHOLE DAMN THING and it did nothing to me! The problem is when people eat this way EVERY day of their life. 1 time every now and then is ok.

In fact though, I think alot of these people on here eat a bit too much, no matter how healthy the food may be. If their idea of 1 small meal out of 5 being a bowl of oatmeal w/ 1 banana and a palm full of wal-nuts, then that is far too much for someone wanting to just slim down. If you're adding alot of muscle with heavy weights in the gym, then that sounds about right for 1 meal. Thats my story and im sticking to it.
 
wangho75 said:
hell, I'm someone that gains weight and gets bloated kind of easily, but for the last 2 months Ive been at the gym at least 5 days a week with about 30 to 45 minutes of cardio and also 45 minutes heavy weights, eating really healthily and just the otehr night I consumed a large medium crust pepperoni and extra cheese pizza from Pizza Hut and a 2 litre Mountain Dew and now two days later I have gotten even fitter looking without being bloated or gaining fat. People, break your diet every now then!! Have some fun. Not even a whole LARGE dripping grease pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni RUINED me. Screw one slice!! I ate the WHOLE DAMN THING and it did nothing to me! The problem is when people eat this way EVERY day of their life. 1 time every now and then is ok.

In fact though, I think alot of these people on here eat a bit too much, no matter how healthy the food may be. If their idea of 1 small meal out of 5 being a bowl of oatmeal w/ 1 banana and a palm full of wal-nuts, then that is far too much for someone wanting to just slim down. If you're adding alot of muscle with heavy weights in the gym, then that sounds about right for 1 meal. Thats my story and im sticking to it.
Click to expand...

totally agree about the letting yourself go once in a while. after being on a diet for months our bodies tend to learn and get used to getting a set amount of calories, and doing this just shocks and tricks the body in a good way.
 
yep. does it not make sense that since muscles can absorb a certain amount of protein in one sitting, then the body can absorb only a certain amount of fat and calories in one sitting?? Maybe those excess calories and fat are pooped out.
 
wangho75 said:
yep. does it not make sense that since muscles can absorb a certain amount of protein in one sitting, then the body can absorb only a certain amount of fat and calories in one sitting?? Maybe those excess calories and fat are pooped out.
Click to expand...
Your body doesn't "absorb" calories. Calories are a measurement of the energy your body can create by breaking down protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Fats and carbohydrates are used primarily in the body as an energy source (they of course have other functions, including being a building block for parts of major organs, esp. the brain) while protein is used primarily as building material for the body.

When you have excess carbs/fats (more than you use in terms of energy) then those excess energetic nutrients are stored in fat cells as fat - to be liberated at a later time and used as an energy source.
 
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