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[Shazb66]

On W3R2, also do a lot of walking.

Ate healthy since new year,

No cakes, chocolate or bread.

I've put 2lb on, how can this be possible?

[Edlene Graduate]

Are you actually eating enough? If you don’t eat enough, your metabolism slows down to conserve energy. Think about easy swaps like sweetener for sugar, skimmed milk, frylight instead of oil, they all make a big difference. Also don’t despair as often it balances out in time. Even if you haven’t lost much weight you should be healthier so keep going.

[Shazb66 in reply to Edlene]

I've cut out all junk food, and guess I'm not having enough calorie intake.

[Agentmay Graduate]

That happened to me but my body soon settled down and it started moving again. Make sure you do eat proper meals, just swap out some things like you have done with bread. I always have a small snack after a run as well, latest is a banana as it keeps nice in the car while the weather is cold!

[Shazb66 in reply to Agentmay]

Wow, how long was it before you started to loose weight?

[Amerynthe Graduate]

It's annoying, but it's not unusual. There are (probably more than) a couple of reasons for this. When you are a relatively new runner or you significantly increase your exercise, your muscles develop little tears, and retain water to help them repair - so some weight gain may be down to water retention. This is also why it's important to have a rest day between run days, to give your body time to repair. If you have those whizzy scales that show your overall weight, BMI, body fat and water, you may notice that the water content has gone up a bit (mine has, by about 2%, since I started exercising).

The other reason is that you may well be losing body fat, but you are replacing the weight with increased muscle, and that is heavier than fat, but takes up less space.

Although the scales may stay the same or even increase, if you take your measurements you may well find that they are decreasing. I have been doing Slimming World for 18 months but haven't lost anything since starting C25K on 1 October last year - but all my clothes are significantly looser, and I've had to throw out a pair of trousers that literally fell down around my ankles just before Christmas. Fortunately I was at home at the time!

So don't let the number of the scales get you down - it's only one measure of health and fitness, and the weight will start to come down again. Keep going with C25K, it really is worth it in the long run (no pun intended!)

[Edlene Graduate in reply to Amerynthe]

That’s a really excellent reply, I’ve been doing SlimmingWorld for years, target member for over 3 years.

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to Edlene]

Congratulations on getting to - and remaining at - target!

[Shazb66]

Ahhh, thank you, this makes sense.

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to Shazb66]

There is another element that someone mentioned to me while I was talking about this recently (during a Park Run, funnily enough!) She said that maybe I was subconsciously eating a bit more than I thought because I was exercising more and therefore on some level felt I could get away with it. I'm not sure that's the case but I am trying to be a bit more careful!

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Could be not eating enough... or it could be the muscle build. If you were eating exactly enough calories to maintain weight then you’d gain at least a few pounds on the programme. The other suspect would be better hydration... 2 pounds is less than a litre of water, if you’re better hydrated that you were that could be a factor. You should get smaller doing this as it tones you up and muscle is smaller than fat for the same weight... I use a tape measure rather than the scales.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

This might help anitabean.co.uk/https-anita...

Have you read the guide to the plan? healthunlocked.com/couchto5... it is full of tips.

Enjoy your journey.

[Shazb66 in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thank you, makes sense. I'm a chocoholic, I honestly thought I'd see a difference on the scales after a month of no chocolate/ cakes/ biscuits.

[ktsok Graduate]

Let zipping up the skinny jeans be the test! You should start to see a change in your body as the weeks go by that the scales won’t necessarily reflect for the reasons already given.

[Shazb66]

Hopefully, fingers crossed... I do feel fitter. Thanks for the reply