Gaining weight on diet - why?

I've been dieting and exercising for almost 3 months now and every week when
I weigh in, I've either gained weight or stayed the same. I'm approximately
250 pounds, 6'1 and I'm limiting myself to 1500 calories a day. I'm doing
aerobic exercise every night and lifting weights 3-4 times a week.

I guess I could put it down to muscle gain, but my body isn't looking any
different. My arms are getting bigger but I still have the huge beer gut and
it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Anyone have any ideas?

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 11:46:22 -0000, "John Harwood"
wrote:

I've been dieting and exercising for almost 3 months now and every week when
I weigh in, I've either gained weight or stayed the same. I'm approximately
250 pounds, 6'1 and I'm limiting myself to 1500 calories a day. I'm doing
aerobic exercise every night and lifting weights 3-4 times a week.

I guess I could put it down to muscle gain, but my body isn't looking any
different. My arms are getting bigger but I still have the huge beer gut and
it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Anyone have any ideas?


You should be burning more than 1500 calories a day. Something i don't
fully understand, but your body may be fighting to keep to lesser
amount of calories you are eating, or just using them more
efficiently.

The way past this is two. One, eat even less. Since your body had to
burn the calories from somewhere, eventually you wil not be eating
enough, and it must go after the fat stores. However, this is probably
not the greatest idea, as it is hard on you, and hard on the body.

Instead, two, eat more. Try increasing your caloric intake by 50 to
100 calories a week until you start losing again. You should probably
be able to eat closer to 2000 calories and still see a loss every
week. Basically, by giving your body more, it uses it less
effiiciently.

B.

"John Harwood" wrote in message
...
I've been dieting and exercising for almost 3 months now and every week
when
I weigh in, I've either gained weight or stayed the same. I'm
approximately
250 pounds, 6'1 and I'm limiting myself to 1500 calories a day. I'm doing
aerobic exercise every night and lifting weights 3-4 times a week.

I guess I could put it down to muscle gain, but my body isn't looking any
different. My arms are getting bigger but I still have the huge beer gut
and
it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Anyone have any ideas?

Eat around 8-10 calories x current body weight. Log every single morsel
into www.fitday.com or other such tracking device. When I first started my
diet/exercise plan, I gained several pounds - it was water weight. When you
start using your muscles, they hold alot more glycogen and water.

Hello John,

Beats me, it seems you should be losing weight from what your writing. If
you could post the types of food your eating we might have a better idea of
what's going on. Someone could eat 1500 calories at one meal or two. Try
to eat three meals with a snack between each one. Make the meals smaller
portions as well. Cut out all junk foods, drink lots of water, don't worry
about weights right now, work on increasing the intensity of your cardio
workout. Can you tell us what type of aerobic exercise you doing? Your a
tall guy so I'm thinking you could lose 50 to 60 pounds to get down to a
healthy weight.

I started at 300 last August and yesterday I weighed in at 218. I'm 5'11"
and have a large frame. I'm hoping to get down to 175. I eat baked
chicken, baked fish, turkey, vegetables, fruits, and when it comes to
condiments I use low fat, no fat type things, and when I have salads I put
the dressing on the side and usually eat a lot less of the dressing than if
they were to put it on the salad itself. I don't count calories so I don't
know to much about that. When eating meat try to keep the portions where
they are no bigger than a deck of cards. Eat five to six servings of
vegetables and fruit a day, which I find hard to accomplish, but they say
this is recommended and it definitely keeps you from getting hungry.

Hope this help,

Paul
300/218/175

"John Harwood" wrote in message
...
I've been dieting and exercising for almost 3 months now and every week
when
I weigh in, I've either gained weight or stayed the same. I'm
approximately
250 pounds, 6'1 and I'm limiting myself to 1500 calories a day. I'm doing
aerobic exercise every night and lifting weights 3-4 times a week.

I guess I could put it down to muscle gain, but my body isn't looking any
different. My arms are getting bigger but I still have the huge beer gut
and
it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Anyone have any ideas?