i keep gaining weight im really healthy though.what is wrong with me?

Question

im worried because i keep gaining weight im in a swimteam and eat really healthy. why am i gaining weight

Answer 1

One of the first things to understand about dieting is this: When you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. Eat more than you burn in a day and you will gain weight. The more calories that you add on top of the overall number that you burn in a day, the faster you will gain weight.

Get it? I could feed you candy bars dipped in lard and help you lose weight. I could also feed you celery and carrots and cause you to gain weight and get fat. It doesn't matter what kind of food it is - if you eat more calories than you burn in a day you gain weight and vice-versa.

You need to question what weight loss is to you. Will you be satisfied with your appearance once you get there? I am a personal trainer, and I could tell you that the answer is "no" most of the time. Once you lose the weight you want to lose, you will look in the mirror and feel that you need to look more tone. Your waist will still be larger than you want it to be and you will not like the shape your body is in (especially with less clothing).

Ask yourself this - do you want to just lose weight or do you want to keep the muscle and just lose the fat? The more muscle you burn, the slower your metabolism becomes for one, since calories are burnt through usage of the muscle. The more muscle you have firing, the faster you burn calories; the faster your metabolism. Keeping your muscle while dieting will also make a huge difference as to how you look when you achieve your weight loss goal - and adding a bit of muscle will work wonders.

People want to lose "pounds." Here is something to consider. Bear with it if it becomes confusing and be comforted in the fact that simple directions follow even if you do not understand some of what you read immediately below.

One pound of FAT = 3500 calories
One pound of LEAN MUSCLE = roughly 2500-3000 calories (varies due to hydration).

See? Potentially, you could burn 2500 calories and lose a "pound" (but, of muscle), or you could burn 3500 calories to lose a "pound" (of fat), or you could burn both muscle and fat in different proportions, meaning you could burn anywhere in the range of 2500-3500 calories and lose a "pound."

Surely you want to burn fat and hold onto as much muscle as you can. The best defense to ensure this, generally speaking, is to eat protein with every meal. Why? To spare your body from losing muscle, which IS protein. If your body needs amino acids for energy (muscle is made up of protein and protein is made up of amino acids) it will eat the protein that you feed it rather than breaking down your muscles for energy. Therefore, you stand a better chance of maintaining your muscle.

A safe place to start is to first determine the amount of calories that you currently burn. The first step is to go to a calculator on a website (search for "calorie counter" on Google). That will give you a rough estimate. Next, subtract 500 calories from that to put you on pace to lose one pound of fat per week (-500 calories times 7 days equals -3500 calories per week = one pound of fat loss.)

You need to eat protein with every meal to get minimize muscle loss. Generally speaking, you should eat roughly 1 gram per pound of lean bodyweight to be safe. How do you find lean bodyweight? Simply take your weight and multiply it times your bodyfat percentage (if you don't know it, assuming a BF of 20% will suffice for now). Then take that number and subtract it from your weight. For the mentally challenged out there, here is an example using a 180 lb individual:

Bodyweight: 180lbs.
Body fat: 15% (This means that 27lbs of bodyweight is fat: 180 X .15 = 27lbs.)
Lean Bodyweight: 153lbs. (180lbs – 27lbs = 153lbs)

So, this 180lb individual would need to eat roughly 150 grams of protein per day, which would amount to 600 calories (150 grams of protein X 4 calories per gram of protein).

The next step is to establish your fat intake. Generally speaking, you should limit fat intake to roughly 20% of all calories consumed. So, if you find that you should eat 2000 calories per day to get your desired results, that would amount to 400 calories from fat or roughly 45 grams of fat per day (400 calories / 9 calories per gram of fat = 44.4 grams of fat).

Still with me? Don't worry, I will make it simple in a second and you have all you need here to figure it out, assuming you really want to lose weight the right way.

The final step is to establish the amount of carbohydrates that you are to eat in a day. To do that, you simply take the number of calories that you have not filled in with protein and fat and divide. If, referring to the examples above, my protein consumed 600 calories and fat consumed 400, that would mean that I have 1000 calories left in my 2000 calorie allotment. I would take the 1000 calories I have left and divide by 4 (each gram of carbohydrate contains four calories). So I would eat 250 grams of carbohydrates per day.

1) Go to the calculator (Google Calorie Counter). We'll say it specified that I burn 2500 calories per day.

2) Subtract 500 calories from the number it gives you. That means I should eat 2000 per day to lose one pound of fat per week.

3) Establish protein using the Lean Body Weight method above.

4) Set fats at 20%

5) Fill in the rest with carbs.

Counting sucks at first, but gets so easy that eventually you will be able to eye something and still maintain your proper pace. Many of my friends will testify to this, as I never bring my measuring cups out to party, but still know my limits come contest time

To take it one step further to ensure that you are burning fat and not muscle as you restrict your calories, you should (Join The Zone and) exercise since your body is adaptive. This means that to keep muscle, you have to give your body a reason to do so such as working out. If you work the muscle, your body basically says, "We have to hold onto the muscle to do all of this work, so we can't burn it for energy. We'll have to use the fat, as it is less important to our survival." Hence, you get lean and reach the image you have in your mind; your goal.

Trust me! In most cases the end result of "losing weight" doesn't look good. You can disguise it in clothes and other out of shape people may think you look "great," but nothing beats a fit body. It doesn't have to be an extreme physique, like in the magazines, but a little exercise goes a long way with proper dieting. And you will realize countless benefits, in addition to enhanced good looks!

Good Luck

Answer 2

It's metabolism, sometimes when you exersise alot and try to diet your body goes into this fight mode , (some sort of a servival ,famine thing ) you can ride it out though just don't loose sight your mark , it's kind of like a swinging pendulum, that swings over the top every once in a while , it's almost as predictable as a clock , every so long you'll gain then you'll slowly loose then wap.. you're gaining again , never give up and you'll finaly cetch the rythem and you'll be able to win this battle..

Answer 3

Do you change up your weight training? If not, you'll have "muscle memory" and your work out will not be efficient. It is true that you could be gaining muscle weight. You'll know if you're losing inches but gaining pounds. That's a good thing. Also, you may be taking in too much sodium and retaining water, or you're not drinking enough water. Is your urine clear or very yellow? 8 cups of water a day AT LEAST. 16 do really flush the toxins out.

Answer 4

Genetics predestines many members of society to have slower metabolisms, which means you will use what you eat more efficiently. I think if you're eating healthy and swimming often, your situation is perfectly healthy.

Answer 5

You're probably gaining muscle, especially if you swim. Don't worry too much about it, muscle is good.

Answer 6

eat four meals with chopsticks instead of a fork slowing down can help you consume about 25 fewer calories per meal

Answer 7

Eat an apple instead of bottled juice

Answer 8

ride a bike built for two for 12

Answer 9

spice things up with 35 minutes of foreplay and 45 minutes of sex in different positions

Answer 10

If you do exercises and have a good regulated diet then the problem is elsewhere. Consult a doctor.

Answer 11

50 minutes of shoveling snow