What am I doing wrong!!!!?

[Username12345]

Had a bad breakup earlier this year and I moved into a rented place. It'll be my first Xmas alone. I have enough space to work out so last week after my period I decided I was going to get back on the weight loss train.

Starting weight last week was 11st 8lb
I started the 30 day shred, a 20 minute tummy fat loss and a 6 minute arm toning workout.
I've done this everyday for a week. My jeans weren't as tight yesterday. I was excited but didn't want to get carried away thinking I'd lost a couple of lbs, I would be happy with a one lb loss so I'm going in the right direction.
Weighed myself this morning and I'm up to 11st 10lb!!

I'm so upset.

You are still eating more calories than you are burning off each day. That's why you haven't lost any weight.

Well done for starting something positive for yourself after you’ve had such a hard time.

This always, always happens to me when I’ve either been inactive for a bit due to injury or I jump training up a lot (like a couple of 5ks a week to training for a marathon). I have put on 8lb before in the first fortnight of training for a marathon! It messes with your head but don’t give up, it’s not “real”.

People will tell you it’s muscle, it’s not - muscle doesn’t build that quickly. By starting a new exercise regime your muscle fibres will have undergone a new level of stress, causing little tears and a healing response. This extra fluid etc often shows up as weight gain, and it will go away 🙂

I think it’s more likely to be this than you “eating more than you burned” because if you’d eaten enough to put on 2lb in such a short space of time you’d probably know it was that!

Good luck and measure success on how you feel, not the scale, especially for these first few weeks x

I know lots of people disagree with this but when I lost weight I weighed myself every day and recorded it in an app. That way you can see the daily fluctuations and I could see my weight trending down.
Also - weigh yourself at the same time of day (I always weighed myself in the morning before breakfast).
Also also, losing weight is about 80% diet. Exercise alone won’t make you lose weight if you’re not eating a healthy diet and you consume too many calories.

Yep, sorry OP but where you have gone wrong is trying to lose weight through exercise. Exercise is for fitness, diet is for weight gain or lose.

*loss

You’d have to overeat massively to gain 2lbs of fat in such a short space of time, so it can’t be fat. It can be food volume, water, hormones, bowels.

Take heart from your clothes fitting better. Exercise burns surprisingly few calories. What’s your daily activity like? Try aiming for at least 10k steps of movement.

Have a google for Emma Storey-Gordon/ESG Fitness on socials. She also does some great podcasts with facts and myth busting. Knowledge is power and all that.

You are eating too much.

What's your daily food look like?

Thank you worry. I do feel better for it. I couldn't move after the first day, I've been inactive for so long I'm very weak. But I have noticed my stamina increase a little, and my legs don't hurt as much.

Ufu. I doubt it's calorie related. I WFH at a desk job so don't move much so I've gone low calorie.

Weekdays I'll have 2 cups of tea, a slice of toast and 2 fried eggs for brunch and 2 Weetabix with milk for evening dinner. I snack on a couple of walnuts if I get peckish. I'm not a fan of walnuts so I don't eat too many.

On the weekends I treat myself to a proper evening dinner - rice and curry, shepherds pie, a bowl of pasta. Because it's just me 1 serving will last me Saturday and Sunday evenings.

I honestly can't see how I should be eating even less without starving myself

Forgot to add, I also try to drink a ltr of water a day.

Do your measurements as well as your weight!
Muscle takes up less space than fat but is denser.

Looking at what you’ve just written it’s not that you need to eat less, if anything you need to eat more. But that’s a very unbalanced diet! Where’s the fruit and vegetables and protein and good fats!
You’re on carbs and about nothing else.

That is a terrible diet. I am losing about 1.5 lb. week. I eat avocado and poached egg on a small slice of bread for breakfast, lentil soup and. small sandwich for lunch and then something like a jacket potato with tuna and salad or some sort of stew or whatever for dinner. Never hungry and losing weight. I cut out all extra snacks and I walk 10000 steps per day. Try and eat a more protein based diet?

Crickey, op, your diet is awful. Almost nothing but carbs. It's no wonder you're not losing weight.

Oh jeez you’re not eating much. Not much protein either which is very satiating. Plus a decent meal isn’t a treat.

The trouble with such over restriction is it is unsustainable and tends to lead to over indulgence.

I’d say you need to eat more consistently, and move more by getting out for walks.

I've tried low carb before. Whilst I lost weight it's an unsustainable lifechange for me and I end up gaining weight back. That's why I'm opting for a low calorie diet of what I do eat.
Diet recipes don't work for me. I have simple tastes. I'm not going to enjoy eating avacados, chickpeas, couscous, etc.
I'm sick of eating chicken and eggs. Having them too much makes me feel sickly. Ill try adding more vegetables and protein for my evening dinner instead of weetabix and see if that helps.

If anyone has simple food ideas, or links to any pages, I'd be grateful 🙏

Do you like yoghurt? 0% Greek yoghurt, Lindhals Kvarg, Arla protein yoghurt are all low calorie and high protein. Babybel lights are high protein, low cal. For bread products bagel thins or Warburtons sandwich thins are good. You can make a satiating sandwich with these then have some salad/chopped tomatoes/grapes on the side.

For food and meal ideas, have a look on the BBC good food website for meals under 500 calories

@Username12345 starting up a new exercise regime is hard but such a positive thing to do - be proud of yourself! My advice is to let your body settle into that before you go making changes to your diet as well, too much change too fast can be overwhelming. 2lb in a week, given your updates re your diet and the fact that you have been inactive for so long, will not be “weight” - it’s water etc from the micro tears in your muscles. They will repair and be stronger for it 💪🏻

I say this because your question was “why has my weight gone UP this week when I’ve just started getting active”. If your question was “why isn’t my weight going down when I have been exercising consistently for two months” my advice would be different x

Fried eggs are not low calorie!

Eat more veg! Your microbiome is probably horrendous and contributing to inflammation and bloating. You need more plants in general.

Look up gut health. Try strength training as it burns more than cardio. Drink more water.

Fried eggs are low calorie if you use a non stick pan or a couple of sprays of Fry-lite.

Did you know that when you start exercising your muscles hold onto water to repair themselves, so that can cause a temporary gain. Also please don't starve yourself - you'll just end up very hungry and that tends to end with binging, self castigating, then giving up. Set yourself a sensible amount of calories (which probably won't be less than around 1500 per day, use a calorie tracking app (Mfp is free), and be reasonably consistent.

Thank you.

My diet is definitely my downfall. I can never get it right. I crave carbs something fierce, and it's so easy to grab and go.

I'll get some veg steam bags
Yogurt and add fruit
Protein bars

If there are anymore suggestions on quick meals, let me know. I'll check out the BBC recipe thread but it's usually full of foods I don't like. I love Indian food traditional English, and Italian. 🙈

OP, I don’t think carbs are bad. 100g of baby potatoes is only about 80 calories.

If you put ‘500 Calories’ into the search engine on bbc food, loads of recipes come up and plenty are Indian or Italian so you should be able to find some that appeal.

I wouldn't say a gain of 2lbs in a week is quick. I can achieve this in one afternoon.