Working out: Fail

[reneechan]

I have been going to the gym pretty regularly (at least 3 or 4 hours a week) for about 4 months now. Instead of losing weight, I have gained 10 pounds. Now I am sure some of it is muscle mass, since I can lift a lot more than when I started, but I really don't think the gain would be that much.I would be ok with gain if I was sure it was muscle and

Comments

[splunge]

Read the side of boxes. Count calories. Limit yourself to a certain amount of calories per day. Stick with it.

[gunguru16]

Good point, as we all have seen the weight Rod has dropped.

[reneechan]

That is very vague though. It's hard to know sometimes exactly how much you are eating. They make it very difficult to tell what a serving size really is.
Plus I am not a very good cook. It is hard for me to come up with something healthy to cook, since I tend to have to cook from a box, and I know that stuff isn't very healthy.

[negaduck9]

Agreed with what Rod said. Pay attention to calories. Make the bulk of what you eat low-calorie foods.

I've been gaining slowly as well. I'm pretty sure I'm just putting on some muscle mass, as I just can't see any change otherwise, but it's still frustrating to see the scale go in the wrong direction.

[flyswatter]

Renee, you are looking very toned these days--your back is really ripped. I don't think you have very much to lose.

[reneechan]

Really the losing weight isn't so much my goal as just shaping what I have. I have a good bit of flabbiness going on since I was pretty heavy that I would like to get rid of and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. And the increase in weight is just a little frustrating.
On the plus side the exercise does have the effect that I have a lot more stamina and I can definitely see an increase in strength, so it is beneficial.

[flyswatter]

I gained 10 pounds right after Halloween and can't lose it either, and I've officially been dieting all that time. Very frustrating. I think it's winter hybernation setting in. Last year I did the same thing and when spring came along the weight left. I hope that's the case this time.

[spite_the_stars]

You look waaay different from 4 months ago: way skinnier!

I think you're at a similar point in weight loss as I am: your body seems to be at it's target weight, so all you can really do is move the weight around and make it muscle. I've neeeever had any luck counting calories. When I still ate fish, however, the South Beach diet worked miracles (no way I could do it now, but if you eat at least some eggs/fish/meat it's easy). I lost about 20 pounds in a month/month and a half. I can lend you the book with recipes and guidelines.

Atkins will raise your cholesterol while you lose minimal weight. Weight watchers works long term.

[reneechan]

South beach is almost like the atkins from what I can tell. I don't really eat enough meat to work with one of those low carb diets. I eat fish and chicken and for the most part that is it. Occasionally a hamburger or bacon. It is a very rare occaision that I will eat a steak or something, and I don't eat more than a few bites usually

[spite_the_stars]

I did south beach about 5 or 6 years ago, and was vegetarian (except for the fish) at the time, but from what I remember, it was pretty easy to do without meat. Atkins says: eat as much meat and protein as possible, doesn't matter how much fat in it, just no carbs. South beach says: meat and protein are good, but eat well rounded and generally healthy for 2 weeks (I did eggs for bfast, salad/cheese/peanuts for lunch, and salad/tofu/fish/got creative for dinner). Then eat a bunch of wheat bread and oatmeal for 2 weeks. It's waaay less meat-intensive than atkins.

Anyways, I think I'm going to borrow the book from my parents for either you or me, and you can see if it's do-able then.

[reneechan]

I'll take a look at it, definately