MountainJewels's Journal, 30 June 2013

When you exercise you build muscle (which weighs more than fat), so in the beginning you will gain weight. That said, muscle burns calories and fat doesn't, so in the long run your newly built muscles will help you loose weight. Try calculating your improved health by measuring your waist (at your belly button) once a month or so to see what's really happening in your body. You can get more reliable information at; http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/index.html Keep up the exercising and best of luck to you. Bani  

It happened to me today, strange. I gained 0.6 after doing a 30 minute walk (and didn't eat or drink anything in-between and stuck to my diet during that period) I have heard of some people's weights fluctuating 3-5 lbs during the day, depending on when they weight themselves. 

I've seen this question a lot and have read a ton about people going back and forth debating exercise vs. diet, it seems to be a super common complaint that people who are working out are either maintaining their current weight, or gaining it. Lol, I don't have the right to offer any scientific advice because I haven't incorporated exercise into my plan yet, but I'm sure you've heard that saying (or variation of the saying) about how you lose weight in the kitchen and tone up in the gym? I really think it's true. My family doctor told me to try to focus on one approach or the other right now (because I have a tendency to get super overwhelmed and defeated feeling and if I get feeling like that, I'll quit), she told me to either focus on working out, or focus on food intake. She said that if I'm looking to shed actual pounds, my best bet (for now) is to focus on my calorie intake. So, it's working, BUT, I guarantee someone working out is physically in MUCH better shape than I am. I may be dropping weight, but I'm not toned, you know what I mean? They say (whoever "they" are, lol!) to take in everything when you begin a diet/exercise plan, like, you may not notice that number dipping on the scale, but do your jeans and shirts fit better? That's a huge indicator that you're doing something right! :) The scale's moving down for me, but my clothes aren't really fitting any better, I still look pretty much the same, whereas I think someone toning up at the gym is gonna look awesome. Does anything I wrote make any sense or am I rambling like a lunatic as usual? Haha! 

haha, you are making sense, bebgunn! Yes, I see that I am going down in clothing sizes, my tummy, buns, thighs are firmer, but I do see the scale going up. I'm glad I got responses from you guys so I know its not just me or that I'm doing something wrong, lol I won't give up this time, I will "stick it out" because I am seeing results in clothing sizes, energy, endurance.... thanks yall for the very encouraging words!!!! I'm not going to "weigh in" until I see the scale going back down because I don't want to discourage myself seeing the scale thingy on here spike, lol Just wondering, how long now will it take before I see the number come back down? a month? I just want to give myself enough time so I won't put an unattainable expectation on myself... so I know how long to tuff it out. :)