I did it! I got off my butt and started working out. I joined my local Y and started with swimming laps and water aerobics to get my heart and joints used to working out. I added ridding (sit down bikes) for 20 minuets a day before my swim. I have been walking during lunch for 20 minuets as well. I am up to 5 days a week of working out and decided to get on a scale.... how in the heck have i GAINED 10 pounds?!?!?!!?

I have cut out fatty foods, kept a log of everything I have put into my mouth, cut portions, went from whites to browns ect ect!

Why on earth am I gaining weight?!?!?!

I have been 337 for 5 years with only a 5 pound up or down flex that only lasted a day or two so where in the heck is this 10 pounds coming from?!

I was really hopeful that I would get used to my new way of living and working out and not need to be banded but this just put a hug speed bump in my motivation.

I do whatever I want and don’t loose but don’t gain… I start doing what’s right for 2 months and I gain weight? I have heard the “oh its muscle" line and its not muscle.

I am POed and frustrated! :scared2:

Wow that is crazy! 10 lbs wow. Have your measured yourself? What is your daily calorie count? Are you getting enough calories in for the amount of working out that you are doing?

Muscle weighs a lot more than fat. While you may have gained weight, did you lose any sizes?

Have you ever checked out the Bodybugg?

It tells you how many calories you are burning.

You enter exactly what you have eaten on their site and it calculates the difference in calories consumed and burned.

It is a great help. Check it out at bodybugg.com. It is not cheap, $250 but well worth it to me.

Are you drinking enough water? Make sure you are getting at least 64 oz a day. i can have a 5 pound weigh fluctuation (loss) overnight with just upping my water for a few days. Also, it's best to keep your heart rate up for 30 minutes or more at a time to really burn cals. Your body may not be ready yet, but just upping your walking/biking minutes 1 by 1 would help too.

Good call dicarlo. Keeping our bodies well hydrating, especially with a good workout routine is really important. Our bodies can hold onto water by a lot.

Try ensuring you have enough fluids and see if that helps. However a ten pound gain is quite a bit. You may want to consult with your Surgeon, they may have some input that could be helpful too.

I have seen a period where I didn't lose a damned thing for a couple MONTHS, but at the same time lost a dress size. While I like when the scales shows progress, for me losing a dress size was just as wonderful.....scale be damned!!

I do whatever I want and don’t loose but don’t gain… I start doing what’s right for 2 months and I gain weight? I have heard the “oh its muscle" line and its not muscle.

There is no magic involved, it can only be one of three things:

1) You gained muscle. This happened to me when I started working out, over one 2 month stretch I lost zero pounds but lost 2" from my waist and chest.

2) You're kidding yourself on your calorie intake. Your metabolism is up so you eat and drink more and are somehow not accounting for that.

3) You were going through life dehydrated and now you are not since working out made you thirsty enough to drink more. This is actually pretty common for fat people, we often don't drink enough Water because we're busy inserting better stuff into our pie holes. :closedeyes:

Okay, Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. A pound of muscle (lean meat) is smaller than a pound of fat (which is sort of fluffy, for lack of a better descriptive term). Do you clothes feel any more loose? If yes, then you have replaced some fat with some muscle.

The rest of it could come down to a combination of (1) you need to have a bowel movement....I've discovered that I don't go as often as before surgery and when I do, I can lose 2-3 pounds sometimes. (2) you ate more red meat than other Protein for a few days or ate food that had a higher sodium content than you usually eat, both of which can cause Water retention. (3) weight does fluctuate and it could have been a "high" day.

Are you pre-op? Post-op? How much are you REALLY eating? I suggest that you JOURNAL. Write down every little thing that goes in your mouth. Yeah, even ONE M&M should be written down. Nobody is going to see this but you so be brutally honest. I also write down the time I ate whatever. You may discover a pattern of eating too much at a certain time of day, at a time when you aren't necessarily THINKING about what you eat. Then you can work on alternative behavior to help you control it. For example, I am almost 9 months post-op. I got stuck. At first, I though, oh, well, a plateau was bound to happen. But I decided to journal...and discovered that when I got home I was cooking dinner and eating bits of things (if I gave the baby a vanilla wafer, I'd eat 2, for example). And I figured out that I was just going too long between lunch and dinner. So I started eating an ounce of low-fat cheese before I leave work in the afternoons. Voila! I'm not starving while I'm cooking dinner so I probably cut out 75 calories of JUNK eating as a result.

Good advice PHC. I agree, journaling helps so much. I do this too, and when I’m journaling like I should, I’m losing. When I’m not paying attention to what I’m eating I’m doing the opposite.

I am thinking ...

Is it that time of the month?

are you gaining muscle? it weighs more than fat

are you journaling accurately what you put pass your lips?

and are you drinking plenty of Water and not consuming too much salt.

Whiterabbit, with all due respect the muscle/fat concept does not work. 10 lbs of muscle is A LOT to gain and would be quite obvious. You are not keeping good track of your portions and need to really look closely at what you eat, when you eat and how late you eat. Take plenty of fluids and be tough and honest with yourself. Weight loss is mostly diet. So stay focused and whatever you do, don't give up. Food is an addiction and you are not alone. Just have faith and stay the course.

I always retain Water whenever I get into a pool or near the ocean. I can actually see it in my lower legs and ankles.

Look for other NSV... don't give up the exercise, it is hard to get motivated to start. Your scale will show your efforts soon. Great job for getting to the gym!!:sad:

Hi Whiterabit, could it be your Ps starting, during? I find I usually gain 6 lbs at "that" time of the month.

I just have to chime on on this muscle gain thing.

You just dont gain 10lb of muscle from what is a couple of weeks of pretty mild exercise - and only cardio at that. By the way, its a FANTASTIC effort to get started in this way, its goign to have great fat loss benefits and its what you need to be doing.

But to gain 10lb in a short period of time, you'd have to be doing some pretty heavy duty lifting and as a woman, you probably STILL couldnt gain that much. 10lb in an entire YEAR would be good going!

When we start working out, our damaged muscles can hold onto Water, leading to small weight gains. But cardio will only build muscular endurance, and tone you up, you will not gain a lot of muscle, although it will help to protect your muscle during weight loss.

So it has to be a combo of other reasons - not realising what you're eating, carrying some extra Fluid, rehydrating, hormonal fluctuations. Hopefully it was just a blip and you've lost it again by now.