working out and now gained a pound!!!!

 What the heck is going on, I have been working out 7 days a week. Very hard, I work out a minimum of 1 /12 hours per day. Treadmill, Treadclimber, eliptical and weights. I have been keeping my calories at 900-1000 calories per day and when I go the the gym I have been burning off from 800-900 calories. So it has been like 2 weeks since I have weighed myself and I weighed myself this morning and I have gained a pound. What the heck. I haven't changed anything in those 2 weeks { in my diet} but I have been working out even harder!!! This absolutely makes me crazy!!! I know that muscle weighs more then fat, but could I really have gained a pound of muscle in 2 weeks??? Also I know it is only 1 pound but 1 pound leads to 5 pounds and so on. Also my clothes are fitting much, much more loose. What can I change to make my body start loosing weight?? Any ideas would be very helpful!!! Oh, I have also been doing some core classes and arobics classes. Thanks, Terri

your body is changing.   your clothes are looser!!  congrats!

forget the scale.  (.....says the scale addict)   my surgeon always tells me focus on how you feel & how your clothes fit....not the #'s on the scale have I mention how much I love my surgeon?   have I mentioned I need to practice what I preach?   cause I do.

Thanks for the reply. My brain really does know that I am WAY more healthy and I feel great and my resting heart rate is 54-55. So I know  that I am in shape and healthy but, I just can't make myself stop wanting that stupid scale to go down. I would really like to get another 15-20 pounds off!! UUUHHHGGGGG, it will happen I know it will but I just start to freak out because of the years and years of loosing weight  and then gaining it all back plus 20 more. So when I see a 1 pound gain I start thinking Oh My Gosh Here it goes again!!!! I have made my mind up that I AM NOT regaining my weight and this IS MY WAY OF LIFE!!!!! FOREVER!!!!!

Given the amount of exercise you've been doing, it's possible you've gained some muscle mass in the past couple weeks.  You may not like the answer, but in my opinion what's going on is that you are not giving your body enough calories to do what it needs.  So it's holding to every bit of stored energy (fat) for all its worth.  The old "calories in, calories out" thing only goes so far.  Our bodies need a certain minimum amount of energy each day just to function (breath, pump heart, kidneys function, etc.).  If you take in substantially fewer calories than your base metabolic rate, or burn off a lot of energy through exercise that you don't replace by eating, your metabolic rate will actually go down and you will not lose weight.   The suggestion?  Bump up your calories by 100-150 calories per day.  Could be something as simple as a snack about an hour before your workout and another small snack after you exercise (when your metabolism is already burning "hotter" because of your recent exercise session).  Given how little you've been eating relative to how much you've been exercising, you may actually need to do several 100-150 calorie bumps to find a daily calorie range that's good for you.  Sound crazy?  Perhaps, but I've lived it and so have quite a few other folks at OH, especially those of us who are exerise junkies...  We eat to support our exercise habits!!!!   Good luck figuring out what your body needs, and good luck on your continuing journey!!! Kellie

Ok.. so I'm confuzzled.  Help? I can do caloric math.. I also know that eating what I eat, that fills me up and I'm satiated, is only between 700-900 cals/day.  I could go into detail if it would help, but this is my average. So this snack of 100-150 extra per day.. should I be eating even if I'm not hungry?  I got into trouble the first time around by doing this.  Or should I try to figure a way to increase my calories with my meals? I'm in a similar boat.. and while I'm sure I'm gaining muscle mass (I've not measured this time round... just getting back into the swing after having my kiddos and gained *way* too much weight), I still would have thought that the amount of fat going bye-bye would have outweighed the amount of muscle coming in. If PM is better, that's super.  I just need help before I get too discouraged.

Well, I was afraid someone was going to tell me that!!!!LOL!!!! I will make myself try to bump it up and see what happens. It is just so stinkin had to wrap my head around { you need more calories} after so many years of { you need less calories}. I will adjust that and keep you guys posted. Thanks for trying to make me absorb what I HAVE to do to make this work!!!

Congrats on gaining muscle!

This week, I finally got the scale moving again in the right direction by increasing my calories to compensate for the intensity of my exercise program and focusing on drinking more water.  I think the key is the timing of those extra calories.  I try to eat about 150 calories (carbs) before I run and another 150 calories (carbs and protein) after I run.  It gives me the energy I need and I plan them around my runs so I don't get in the habit of mindless eating. I had also gotten out of the habit of giving my body enough water, so I think it was holding on to every last drop it could.  Now that I'm drinking more, I don't seem as bloated.   This week alone, I dropped the 5 pounds that had creeped up upon me over the last five months.  I was relieved that I was finally able to reverse the trend.