exercise and gain weight

[Maruchita1972]

I have been exercising for almost 3 weeks with a high intensity video and I have been eating healthy but instead of losing weight I am gaining more.. I am so upset and discourage since I have been trying to lose wight for almost 5 years!!!! It seems I am on a yo-yo mode. The time I could lose a lot I lost almost 20 pounds. The thing is I do not think I was doing somethig different that what I have done always: keep being active and watch what I eat. Somebody has a reasonable explanation for this? I burst into tears today thinking I am not going to reach goal ever....

[Boss Man]

Hi there .

I think I may be able to answer your problem.

You may have reduced your intake of bad food, but if you started eating healthy food in too small a portions, you'll create something called a starvation mode, where the body thinks it is being starved and clings onto fat.

Also 1lb of muscle can burn an additional 45-50 calories a day, but conversely if you lose muscle, you could create less caloric burning and more fat gain.

You may by cutting back on food intake and exercising, reduced your protein intake and created a situation where muscle atrophy could occur from the lack of protein and also the exercise, causing you to start potentially burning muscle.

I would hazard a guess and say your diet might look something like this.


Breakfast

Slice of Wholegrain Bread.

Snack

Some Berries

Lunch

Chicken Salad

Snack

A Banana

Dinner

Salmon and Broccoli

Does that look like the kind of eating pattern you may be using, with very modest meal portions and then a goodly sized dinner at the end?

With this in mind what meals do you currently eat and what times do you eat?

Try not to worry okay, because if I'm right about what's been happening, then we as a community can help you correct things and hopefully in the future the only tears you'll cry will be tears of joy .

Chin up okay .

[Maruchita1972]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. food intake is pretty much waht u said execpt I really do not eat a big meal in the evenings. I usually have breakfast around 7 am a snack around 10 30 dinner at 12 a snack around 3 30 and supper around 6 p.m Taking care of son and chores in the house and on the farm makes me feel really tired so i go to bed around 9 or 10 p.m I have not been able to stick to a shcedulle to exercise since I am the only one taking care of son... I do not have support from husband case it is just almost impossible for him; life in a farm is not as life in a city.... The thing is also I have kept the same weight for almost 5 years ....
Honestly I do not know what else to do... I am thinking about walking more than video exercising

Thanks a lot for your support and interest

[Boss Man]

Increasing calories should be the prority, as you've just abotu admitted you're undereating a bit.

Let me know what types of meals you're eating and we can take it from there, as I doubt you'd need to change choices, just potentially adapt them or add extra foods into the mix, or increase portions sizes a bit.