Pixie92

Hey girls! I have encountered this weird problem. I'm new to fitness world and gym overall, but I have started my first diet that I managed to put together thanks to great articles here on this forum. It is already second week and from starting point of: 118 pounds I got to 120 in just two weeks, while I was hoping for an totally opposite effect!
Anyone knows what could be the cause? I'm really confused and I don't know what to do now. I have stopped this diet immediately and went back to eating as I used to for now. I don't want to gain any additional pounds.

Thanks for your help!!

cherryjuice

Hello, could you post what diet are you on at the moment? You must have done something wrong.. Remember that the most important thing during diet loss is counting your calories accordingly! You need to consume less than your body actually needs. There is also an possibility that you haven't been eating properly prior to your diet - for example you were eating even less than you do now at your diet, you managed to immensely slow down your metabolism due to bad eating habits or you could have been dehydrated and now once you started eating properly and drinking enough water you have gained more weight. It happened to me once, when I started to drink a lot of water and after a few days I was a pound heavier...

Also, I would recommend to measure your waist, shoulder and legs circumference. You can't rely only on your scale - they tend to fail pretty often.

Katyaa

We can't say much until you post your diet here to be honest. There may be a lot of causes, like cherryjuice has noted - slight things like water retention or digestion problems may be the cause. It has been only two weeks, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. You should post how much calories do you consume daily, what is your work out, how much did you eat before diet, how much activity do you have on average, your height and your age. All those things have a big impact on your metabolism rate. For most people it works to just use average bmi models that you can find on the internet, but we are all different so you may need more personal approach here. Waiting to hear from you :)

Pixie92

Thanks for great responses! I'm 5"4 and I weight 120 pounds now. I'm currently consuming 1750 kcal while on my diet and before I used to eat over 2000 kcal. I'm following low carbs diet model proceeded by two cheat meals in a week. I doubt that I have been dehydrated before and I'm not even drinking that much water now. What do you think could be the problem? I really don't know what I should do now...
As for measuring my waist, shoulder and legs - I'm sorry. I totally forgot to do that, but thanks for reminding me I will do it tonight!

Katyaa

I think I know where your problem lies... I agree that low carbs diets are good for losing weight, but not for beginners that never worked out or have been on diet before! Especially with two cheat meals per week. Of course it depends on how big this cheat meal really is, but in most cases it is not recommended course to take until you have your metabolism rate on point. Try to think logically about this - by consuming fat and proteins instead of carbs you are changing your "hormones" levels - glucagon and insulin, so that they are in desperate need of supplying your body with carbohydrates and by providing two cheat meals per week you drastically increase those levels after they have already dropped to minimum.

The automatic response of your body is to store them, because for past few days you wasn't supplying them and your body, which is used to carbs is in desperate need of getting back something, that has been taken from it by force.

So, basically this is probably the cause - even if you eat less, there is a possibility that your body could have stored additional
carbs and your metabolism ratio slowed down again.

Truth be told, it is pretty rare to gain weight while on calories deficit, but we are all different and our bodies react very differently as well. You should start basic Carb Cycling diet which you can find on this forum, measure your legs, shoulders and waist and give it a go. Start from 2000-2200 kcal and slightly cut every two weeks.

Don't rush, just do so and observe - most common mistake among beginners is that they tend to overdo at the very start. Good luck!

Nattie1995

Great post from Katyaa! I can relate to this - there is no point in overcomplicating things Pixie. Just go with basic carb cycling diets and slowly add activity - I personally started with simple jogging while on calories deficit. Trust me, it's much harder to lose weight past certain point, but it's relatively easy to do so at the beginning of your fitness journey and now after amazing tips from Katyaa I'm sure it will be easy for you as well :)

Lexie1987

Hey, Pixie92! I'm sorry to hear that, but I know that beginnings are hard. As Katyaa already stated, you shouldn't start with low carb diets - they are much better for more experienced people - I personally had quite a success with this model, but I'm working out for over two years already and even when I have started attending the gym I was already playing a lot of different sports, so I was basically never totally out of shape. Wish you well!

Pixie92

Wow, a lot of great answers! Thank you girls! I will take a pause with diet for a week and starting next Monday I'm going again with full power. I will apply all your tips and I will go slowly this time, calculating my calories and most importantly with a plan on how to do this in the long-term! Thanks again, I'll be starting simple carb cycling diet with low carbs and high carbs days depending on my activity as stated in threads here!

apple_anna

Hey Pixie! I'm new here as well. Just recently I have made my introduction thread and we will be both fighting the same enemy! We are pretty much same size, I'm 5"5 and 128 pounds. Wish you luck and of course a lot of patience and determination