Weight just keeps going up!

I've been working out about 5 days a week. I do 45 minutes of cardio on the eliptical trainer, and then I do about 30 minutes of weight training, alternating between lower body and upper body.

Right now I work at Subway. And I eat a 6" sub (gah! I feel like Jared!!) for lunch, and then again when I am off work. I eat a bun, but I rip all the insides out of it. I only ever eat the chicken or the turkey, so it's all very low fat. In the morning I always try and force myself to eat something (cause I'm always hungry in the morning.) In the evening I ALWAYS have the munchies. When I eat dinner I try to eat it with a small plate so that I eat less, but I always end up snacking on bran muffins and whole-wheat crackers.

My problem is my weight keeps going up and up and up! I am almost 4 pounds heavier than I was when I started! (I started at about 125). My mom said that I was probably just gaining muscle. I was at 127 lbs and complaining and she said for the first couple weeks you gain a lot of muscle and then suddenly a lot of weight comes off, but I'm worried she was just saying that to make me feel better.

What am I doing wrong? Please help!!!
 
Post more stats. Age, height, etc. Gaining weight when first working out is not uncommon. Although I hesitate to say anything more because I don't know what your goals are.
 
Your mom is probably right. When you weight train, you gain muscle, which weighs more than fat. But I bet your clothes fit differently?
 
I'm 19 years old. So I sure hope I'm done growing. Hahaha. I'm 5'4".

I can really tell if my clothes are fitting differently. Last year in November I lost about 5 lbs in 18 days. I had before and after photos and the difference was crazy. I could fit into smaller clothes, so I bought a lot of those. After losing weight (I still had about 5-10 more lbs to go to reach my goal) I went to Mexico, and they didn't really serve vegetables or whole wheat anything while we were there, so my eating well went down the drain. When I came back, I was so used to eating badly that I kept to it and gained all my weight back.

Now I find it hard to fit into the clothes I was wearing at that time. So most of the time I'm moping around in sweats. They DO feel even baggier, but since they are always baggy it's harder to tell. As well, they seem to be getting longer, and they hang down lower than they used to.

I do notice that I've lost my "lovehandles" but those always go first when I start a new routine. I also have arms that are a LOT more muscular than they used to be. I used to flex and my arm would get smaller... now it's a different story XD. My arms are much more defined, but I can't see any improvement anywhere else!

Is working out 5 days a week too much? Could that be something that's wrong? I mean, I eat a lot of healthy food (at least it seems a lot to me) so it's not like I'm starving myself as I work out.
 
Hi Elisianna,
Is that really your name? its beautiful!
Your routine is almost identical to mine. I vary it a little but its about the same. I also have gained a few pounds..but my body fat has gone down. Go by body fat % and how clothes fit, not the scale.

Never say never on the growing thing. I was 5'2 when I was 19 and now i'm 5'6 at 28! I grew an inch with each kid :)

Sounds like you are on the right path overall.
 
Thanks for the reply!

I guess I'll have to get something that measures body fat, so that I can know for sure what is going on! =P
 
Elisianna said:
I've been working out about 5 days a week. I do 45 minutes of cardio on the eliptical trainer, and then I do about 30 minutes of weight training, alternating between lower body and upper body.

Right now I work at Subway. And I eat a 6" sub (gah! I feel like Jared!!) for lunch, and then again when I am off work. I eat a bun, but I rip all the insides out of it. I only ever eat the chicken or the turkey, so it's all very low fat. In the morning I always try and force myself to eat something (cause I'm always hungry in the morning.) In the evening I ALWAYS have the munchies. When I eat dinner I try to eat it with a small plate so that I eat less, but I always end up snacking on bran muffins and whole-wheat crackers.

My problem is my weight keeps going up and up and up! I am almost 4 pounds heavier than I was when I started! (I started at about 125). My mom said that I was probably just gaining muscle. I was at 127 lbs and complaining and she said for the first couple weeks you gain a lot of muscle and then suddenly a lot of weight comes off, but I'm worried she was just saying that to make me feel better.

What am I doing wrong? Please help!!!

I think your weight gain is a good thing. You may be packing on some muscle so you are burning fat.
 
So you're seeing results, right? Keep at it! 5'4 and 127 pounds is fine. Totally within healthy ranges and levels. For you losing more fat will depend mostly on weight training and proper nutrition. If you are still a beginner with weight training, then focus on form first.

If you're used to the movements and have a firm understanding of things... focus on lifting heavier weights for 6-8 reps per set. Heavy weights. has a lot of info on this.

Your menu sounds like it needs help. I see a breakfast, lunch, dinner and then evening snacking. Is that correct? The foods you're eating could be better and the snacking could be changed. Lots of things could be different.

Here are 5 tips to fat loss that may help you. But remember you should focus on tips #1 and #5.

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss.
 
Thanks very much for the suggestions. =). Before you told me that I'd already bought and read through a large part of your ebook XD.

I think I'll just throw the scale out!
 
Just read your post Elisiana, I am in the same boat. I begun my new lease of life and getting fit about 3.5 weeks ago. I have been doing so much cardio and classes (Body Combat) etc.... fat burners classes and when I weighed myself last monday I was nearly 2 kgs (4lbs) over my usual weight.. I was so disheartened and sad... I am now not going by the scales!

I also think i was expecting too much too early.. so am now not going to worry about figures for the time been and focus on my fitness, will check measurements at 6 weeks and see...

Good luck with everything
 
Yeah, I'm kinda worried that I'm not eating quite enough. I've been eating about 5-6 meals a day, spaced usually 2-4 hours apart. I've also stopped my evening snacking. I'm eating about 1600-1800 calories a day, but my fat intake seems to be low (I keep it around 30 grams or lower of fat a day.) I dunno if that's any good XD.

I do weight train. I LOVE it. Cardio I'm not as crazy about but I love love love weight training. I love working my legs, and my favourite exercises are the ones that really hurt (because it seems like you're doing something! XD). It's on both sides of my family to gain muscle very quickly. I have close to no fat on my arms and they are nicely toned now. I'm guessing that I've probably gained muscle like that everywhere else, which is why I gained weight, but the muscle in other areas just isn't as noticeable yet. =P
 
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