My wife and I recently started working out and eating healthy. We eat a lot of salads and soups with wheat bread. Excercise includes the treadmill and cycling for me and my wife does the threadmill, step master, aerobics and abs excercises.

However, while I have lost weight, she has gained. I dont get it. She gained 2pounds this week despite having really sweat it out at the gym and eaten healthy. I have the exact same diet and much less excercise and i lost 2 pounds.

In the last 2 weeks, i lost 5 pounds and she has been excercising for a month and didn't loose any weight at all. Today she checked and she gained.

Can anyone help or advise us on this?

Not everyone has the same caloric requirements. To lose weight, we obviously need an energy debt.

That said, suppose your wife needs 1500 calories to lose weight and you need 2500.

Also assume you are both eating roughly 2000 cals.

Net result.

You lose.

She gains.

Very simplistic numbers, but just to prove my point. To give more specific recommendations, I suggest providing us with both of your stats as well as a general idea of how many calories you are eating.

Have you seen sites such as FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or CalorieKing - Diet and weight loss. Calorie Counter and more.

what are each of your stats?

If you're both eating the same things yet not at same startinb point weight wise that could explain the difference... she's just taking in too many calories..

or what steve said -crap he's fast...

Might be water retention. Might be muscle gain (although 2 pounds in 2 weeks is much much more likely to be mostly water retention). Might be that exercise makes her hungry, so she eats more than she thinks she does (although, again, 2 pounds is more likely to be water). Hard to tell without more information.

Salad and soup aren't synonymous with healthy food. You can get quite a few calories into either, if you aren't careful.

thanks for your responses. I am new to weight loss.

When you say stats, what stats do you want?

age/height/weight/gender/how long you've been trying to lose weight actively/ and what your exercise program is...

she is 29,her weight is 182 pounds,trying to loose weight since the last 3 weeks. she does the exercise bike for 30-40 mins ,step master for 15-20 mins and abs exercise everyday for about half an hour. Inspite of all this no weight loss.

I'll make an assumption that you weigh more than her. Most men have higher base metabolic rates than women. That and generally women have a predisposition to hold onto weight more tenaciously.

That said, she is eating too much. Whole wheat bread can be calorie heaven. Cut out the breads and dressings on the salad and she'll lose weight, trust me.

Michael

Don't you think she should have some whole grains in her diet?

I eat whole wheat bread, but I opt for the lighter versions, which just means they slice it thinner.


I agree with the salad dressing though - I only have a drizzle, just enough to taste it. Salad doesn't need to swim in dressing.

You can certainly get away with avoiding really dense carbs for a while just to get to a point of weight loss, and then incorporating them again once you have a better idea of your total energy expenditure for a day.

People often assume because whole wheat is healthy that it will help with weight loss. Unfortunately eating healthy and losing weight are not the same things.

Michael

But you should have some sort of whole grains in your diet, right?

I mean there are different versions of whole wheat bread - and just because something says "whole grains" on it, doesn't mean it's necessarily the healthiest.

Have whole grains in your diet helps with the fiber that you need, correct?

I guess my point is is that - you can have whole grains - just limited.

there's no need to cut out bread.
just read the packaging.
example, ben's ww bread is 150 cal for 2 slices.

For health reasons, sure you should include whole wheat, complex carbs in your diet. A large component of that is for fiber. But this is blanket advice...one could well get away with numerous vegetable and achieve the same effect. The difference is eating 1000 calories of bread is a lot easier than 1000 calories of vegetables.

Obviously you can have whole grains. For some people kick starting weight loss is helped by eliminating them for a while. A few individuals will often try and start losing weight by moving from refined carbs to complex carbs, and given the density of whole wheat bread, that will have an adverse effect on your weight.

Michael

So do you promote low carb diets to start out with?

I have always been of the mind set that the "diet" you choose should be something that you can do long term.

There are more benefits from grains than just fiber, right? I know grains are good for the mind - clearer thinking. Or so I've read.

I've also read you shouldn't cut out any food group that you normally would eat.

I guess if I was giving the OP advice, it would be that the wife needs less calories than he does. For example, if he's eating 4 slices of bread per day, then she should have only 2.

Men do seem to lose weight quicker than women do, but it's because of the make-up of their body (more muscular - and women tend to be fattier due being the "child barer.")

I don't eat bread everyday, but I do try to eat some sort of grains - whether it's rice or cereal or whole wheat pasta or bread. I'm not an expert though, of course.