Gym goer gaining body fat

[CraftyC]

I am 5ft female, 33 years old, 9st 8lbs, size 10, but have a body fat of 38.6%. I have ost about 4lbs in 2 months. The body fat is up from 36% at the start of October. I have been going to the gym twice a week which I never did before, cut my alcohol down (2 bottles of wine a week to maybe 1 bottle), I prep low calorie lunches, have the same 280 calorie breakfast and eat about 1400 calories a day, I have a moderately active but quite stressful teaching job. I don't have a sweet tooth at all. I can go weeks without eating chocolate. I cook everything from scratch, all home cooked sauces and veg in every dinner. I don't understand how I am gaining body fat and barely losing any weight. It's driving me mad. Could there be a medical reason? I did have basic bloods done about 8 weeks ago and I am quite anaemic but now on iron tablets. But everything else is fine. I do have some uterine cysts that don't cause me much bother.

I am feeling very disheartened. I really want to get the body fat down but my efforts are going in the opposite direction. Even my fitness freak husband is baffled. He keeps saying "it has to be the machine" but 2 machines have said the same thing. Any ideas?

What do you do at the gym and how accurate is your calorie counting? Does it include the alcohol?

Also how active are you outside the gym? How many steps do you do per day ?

Yes. I weigh my food, count alcohol, all of it. I haven't been cheating or snacking or anything. Swear. I wouldn't come on here asking for ideas if I was because I would know the reason.

In the gym I do 25 mins on the treadmill at 5.3 speed and an 10 incline. Then I row 2km at a 7. Then I do some time on the machines for upper arms and legs. I do this twice a week.

I average betwee n 7.5k and 10k steps a day outside the two visits a week to the gym. I have 2 kids and a teaching job so I don't st down much.

it’s virtually impossible to measure body fat accurately. A 2% fluctuation is meaningless it’ll just be the machine. Pay attention to the scales and how your clothes fit.

My home scales actually said I had lost 8lbs since the start of October and I do feel better in my jeans but I am worried about that body fat figure. I am more focusing on being healthy rather than the waistline. Is body fat not a factor in future health issues? It seems like a high percentage.

It doesn't sound like the kind of exercise is helping you lose body fat. If you build some muscle, you will have less fat in the body even weighing the same. And muscle helps burn energy when you're not moving. Do you eat much protein? I think a lot of people think just by doing some exercise it will burn the calories away, unfortunately very often it is more complicated. FYI I'm a chronic dieter who finally got out of the cycle in my 40s, I'm also short and I train heavy, and can see my body changing. Takes time tho.

I don't eat much protein I don't think. It's probably something I could improve. I am starting to get more confident with the machines. They intimidated me a lot at the start. Hopefully that will build more muscle. Thank you for the suggestion

That will be negligible in terms of calories.

Roughly how many steps a day? Do you walk at least 10,000 steps and preferably 12000 to 15000 steps per day. That regular activity of walking a lot is much more important than 2 exercise sessions that won’t get your heart rate above moderate - walking quite slowly and a 2000m row.

10000 steps is a recommended minimum

Sounds like you're doing really well OP.
Don't let the body fat numbers throw you off, keep going.

I agree that you'll get so much more bang for your buck if you switch up your gym routine. Lifting free weights (dumbbells and barbells) will be better than the machines. Deadlifts, squats and bench presses will transform your body.

But surely the fact that I went from doing no exercise at all to 2 a week and changing my diet should have had a different effect than gaining body fat and not losing weight? I wasn't expecting great results. I was expecting something other than gaining fat. It makes no sense.

You're definitely doing the wrong kind of exercise at the gym. You should be building muscle, not faffing about on cardio machines (which will burn calories but not build muscle).

Can you get a PT session as a one off to learn a weights routine, and how to use the machines? Or go to a class like Body Pump or similar?

Also 5.3 speed rate isn't slow especially when at a 10 incline. My heart rate stays at 155/160 for the entire 25 minutes. I know what a fast walk is. I am not strolling.

I could. My gym offers it. Admittedly, I have been kind of scared/intimidated of a pt. I don't know why.

I honestly wouldn't fixate on the body fat percentage. Those machines are rubbish. If your clothes feel looser and you feel fitter it is doing you good!

I would recommend more strength training.
If you could afford one or two sessions with a PT to build confidence that would help.

Have a look at swapping from controlling calories to controlling carbs in what you eat. Eating low carb will take an initial adjustment but then once you have switched into fat burning mode you have plenty of energy stored, don't feel hungry and will see fat melting away. Enjoy.

Eat real food and cut out processed stuff. Cut out bread. Listen to or read https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/0241450284?source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=library_overflow and you will understand why you might gain “dieting”

I actually have cut out the ultra processed stuff and bread. I read "Ultra Processed People" and made a lot of changes. I have the odd pitta (on a Thursday weirdly). Although I haven't read the one you have linked. I will have a look.

Basically about keeping your carbs low (not keto it’s manageable if you’re following a high protein diet anyway) and eating foods that keep your insulin levels down. As that’s what drives hunger. You won’t be hungry and you’ll find you lose weight as a by product of eating better. It explains why dieting doesn’t work long term. A phrase that stuck with me is it’s not the calories in the food but the food in the calories.

Sack off the cardio aside from a brief warm up and get a good free weight programme going. I know it's scary at first but if body fat is what you want to reduce this is the way to do it.

Do you do any weight training? Or “just” cardio? I think building muscle is what will reduce the fat.

That won't help you with your weight sadly. You need to put weights in there and do it more than twice a week. Cardio is excellent for mood but changing your shape, not so much.

I do mostly cardio. Admittedly I am new to this whole gym going thing. A few people here have now said that may be where I am going wrong. I need to look more into weight training it seems