HELP - the more I exercise, the more weight I gain...

[ngon251978 3]

After my first fill, I was finally able to begin exercising two weeks ago and have (proudly) been doing my Bowflex Treadclimber six mornings a week however, instead of losing more weight, I have gone from 314 lbs to 322 lbs as of today - an 8 pound increase!

I am not eating any differently and am consuming about 800 calories less than I should per day (according to LoseIt.com). My doctor expects me to be down to 288 lbs in six weeks but, at this rate, I'll be back to where I started at 350 lbs.

Any advice on what I am doing wrong is appreciated.

[Kime-lou 648]

Are you drinking enough Water?

You may not be eating enough. I was told by my doctor that if my calorie deficit was to great that I would not lose because my body would fear starvation. Titrating the intake is a difficult tast, but it can help you lose.

You can be toning, but you normally don't build muscle that fast, so it is not likely from that.

I would recommend shooting your doctor and email or calling your NUT and asking. Let them know how much you are exercising and what you calorie intake is and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

[labwalker 1,177]

Could be too much calorie intake (but you seem to have that well under control,) not enough protein... you could be building muscle mass but losing fat at a slower rate. One other consideration is short term Water retention. My weight can change 5 or 6 pounds when I weigh myself each morning. 8 pounds would represent a LOT of calories and isn't easily explained. I'd try the other suggestions regarding Fluid intake, etc. and see where you are in a few weeks.

[2muchfun 8,927]

If you know that you have to burn 3500 calories or eat 3500 calories in excess of your daily calorie needs, you can see that gaining or losing 8 lbs isn't going to be all fat. Maybe 1 lb of fat if you're consuming more than you burn? If your caloric intake is coming primarily from carbs, your body can/will store excess fluids. If you're consuming a lot of sodium, your body will retain fluids.

Can you post a typical meal?

tmf

[Mr. Morris 3]

I just got off the phone with my trainer...I was complaining about not loosing even though I'm working out regularly, he said " muscle weights more than fat" if ur building muscle u may not loose or may even seem to gain weight.

[Mr. Morris 3]

So if your loosing inches then you know it's muscle weight...

[B-52 7,113]

Initially, when you start strenuous exercising, you get muscle pains, which in fact is millions of micro tears in your muscles, etc....which is in effect a injury, very widespread...When you have an injury you have inflammation - swelling...where you have inflammation you have Water retention....= weight

Thats the quick short term explanation....after that other factors come into play....but your goal is to always burn fat!

As hunter gatherers we store energy/food away as fat for periods of famine, when there is no food to gather...that's how we are designed before there were A&P's and Shop-Rites...........WLS, exercising and burning fat means it's Famine Time!

The whole point behind losing weight is to burn more calories per day than you consume per day....exercising speeds up the process.

[CHEZNOEL 4,061]

Make sure you are eating enough calories to support your exercise. 800 seems low. Call your nutritionist for advice would be my first recommendation.

[brianb 81]

Post is getting a little old, but have to say this has been my experience. B-52 nailed it.

All the tearing of muscle creates inflammation which, I believe, is mostly Water retention.

My weight always jumps for a few days after starting a workout. I jumped 3 pounds almost overnight this last time. This initial weight gain though falls off within a week then I usually see a huge weight drop.

[GuyMontag 1,264]

That's why I think charting your body fat percentage is much more beneficial than following weight or BMI while exercising.