A few months ago I decided to get into shape, my friend recommended a low carb diet to lose weight fast. Much to my surprise it worked great I was able to lose around 30 lbs (I went from around 186lbs to 155lbs), I loved my low carb diet I was able to eat as much as I wanted and still lost weight. about two months ago I decided to ease off the low carb diet and go onto a low calorie and exercise routine. I seem to be slowly gaining weight I'm back up to 160lbs and I can't figure out why, PLEASE tell me what I'm doing wrong with my routine. I am looking to lose weight and gain muscle ( I would love to get a six pack, but mainly i've always had a bit of a spare tire on my sides and a bit on my stomach, i want it GONE.)

DIET
1 packet of oatmeal for breakfast - 120 cal
3 coffee's throughout the day with cream and splenda - around 195 cal
4 rice cakes with hot sauce - 160 cal
4 rice cakes with condiments - 220
1 soup stock cube for dinner - 30-45 cal

EXERCISE
Minimum
60 pushups
60 full sit ups
60 one handed bicep curls with 20 pound dumbbell
100 twists (don't know what it's actually called, you spred your legs as far as they can go, cross your arms and twist your body to the side and down toward your knees. The motion is sort of ^ with a twist.)
Climb 16 floors from my apartment to the ground floor and back again.

Maximum
Climb 16 floors from my apartment to the ground floor and back again.
Bench press 10 reps of everything from 100 to 50 - total 50 reps
Rowing machine 1 mile.
Running on a treadmill 2 miles.
60 sit ups
100 twists

Note:
I am male, 23, 5 foot 7, 160lbs.

According to what you listed above you are only eating 740 calories per day. In my opinion that is WAY WAY too low. If you want to build any muscle you have to feed your body, heck, if you want to lose weight you have to feed your body. FEED YOUR BODY.

Try eating 11 calories for every pound you weigh (1760), if you don't lose at this level then you may consider moving to 10 (1600) calories for every pound. This is information that I found on this forum.

Good luck to you!

Your probably retaining water from all that sodium.

Im basicly the same age,height,weight as you were, and i know for me 155 was hard to maintain.Also your exercise routine doesnt seem intense enough.To me it sounds like you could do all that in under an hour.I would step up the mileage on the treadmill to 5 miles instead of 2 and do that atleast twice a day.Also get yourself a suuana suit from walmart/kmart/target for $10 bucks, and use the treadmill for 30- an hour, you'll drop that water weight quick.

The reason I eat lower then normal calorie count is I tend to cheat once a week. I'm Italian which means if I ever go see a member of my family I need to eat. I go have dinner with my family once every weekend and I will have to eat what is made, Its usually full of calories and very bad for me. When I tried eating 1500 plus that weekend meal I started gaining back a ton of weight. With the calorie intake I have now the weight gain is much much slower. As to increasing my exercise I'm fine with that but Cardio is tough for me I smoked for 8 years (nasty habit) and when I'm on the treadmill I wheeze like a wounded hippo. I've also tried to increase the amount I do before but it's tough for me because by the time I get off work (6:00am-9:00pm) I'm already exhausted.

It may cause you to gain slower but there are no nutrients in your diet. What your eating is not increasing your health and may really be harming your body. For example, where is your protein?

Each rice cake has 1g of protein, the oatmeal has 6g and the soup stock has 1. All together 15g of protein which is bad but still more then my fat intake. I've looked around at protein powders and shakes as well as some protein rich foods, they all seem to have large amounts of fat and a lot of calories. I was thinking of adding some nuts to my diet but I wasn't sure about it because I've been told your protein count should not be more than 30% of your total daily caloric intake. I've been taking a multi vitamin to supplement the nutritional defficiency of my diet but I know it's really not what I should be doing.

You probably gain weight when you eat that high calorie meal once a week because your body thinks you're starving so it retains much more calories in anticipation of that..eating around 700 calories a day while doing a lot of exercise will definitely make your body do that.. if you had a higher calorie diet, overall you would gain less weight (your body would note you're not starving, and start to burn what you eat more for fuel for your exercise), and you would also be able to get some muscles too. you can't get something out of nothing, you need something to build muscles with and not eating enough is just going to make your body use your muscle as fuel instead so you are actually going to start losing muscle soon.
humor yourself and try eating what you'd normally eat (within reason) for a week or two while still doing those workouts, see what kind of effect it has. i'm 22 5'9 155 pounds so pretty close to your stats and i eat 1600-1700 calories a day and still lose a steady amount of weight with just 40 minutes of running everyday and not even the muscle training so i think you will get really good results.

You really need some fruits and veggies. I think adding some more healthy calories will help your body be more efficient.

I really dont agree with his cheat day causing him to gain.In my case, i loose the most weight a day or two after my cheat day.But i usually exercise alot on my cheat day, and alot the day after.As long as he is exercising and has atleast a 3500 calories deficit each week, he should atleast stay the same weight, or loose a pound, not gain.

I still think all that sodium from soup broth,and rice cakes are causing you to retain water.Ive retained 5lb's of water weight for a week once, even with plenty of water, and exercise.I got a suuana suit and rode bike for and hour or two and the 5lb's was gone.

What I'm saying is that if you eat below a certain threshold of calories your body will start retaining more of what you eat, thus the effects of a big meal will be more readily visible. This is why people who starve themselves and go on crash diets only get fatter in the long run, because they eventually relapse and binge eat and their body absorbs more of it.

This is a good pinned thread to take a look at:

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weigh...-magazine.html

The Theory: Eat much less; weigh much less.

The Reality: Sure, if you subsist on 1,200 calories a day, you’ll take off weight, but it won’t be for long. Consider an analysis of 31 studies of long-term diets, where the diets averaged 1,200 calories a day. The report, published last April in American Psychologist, found that within four to five years, the majority of dieters in these studies regained the weight they had lost. “Psychologically, it’s difficult for people to adhere to strict diets over a long period because they feel deprived and hungry,” says Traci Mann, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, and the lead author of the report. “Also, our bodies are brilliant at keeping us alive when we try to starve them.” Your body becomes more efficient at using the calories you consume, so you need fewer to survive. In addition, people who are put on a very-low-calorie diet (800 calories a day) have an increased risk of developing gallstones and digestive issues.

The Best Advice: Don’t starve yourself. “If you want to lose weight and keep it off forever, you need a modest calorie restriction that you simply continue and never stop,” says nutritionist Christopher Gardner. But what’s the right number of calories for you? Use this easy formula, a favorite of cardiologist Thomas Lee, editor in chief of the Harvard Heart Letter.

First find your activity level on the table below. Multiply your weight by the number indicated. (You may fall between two categories. If that’s the case, adjust the number by adding a point or so.) The result is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight. Let’s say you weigh 135 pounds and do light exercise one to three days a week. Multiply 135 by 13.5 to get, approximately, 1,800 calories. If you want to drop some pounds, try cutting out 250 calories a day, says Lee. In a year, if you make no other changes, you could be 26 pounds lighter. Exercise more and you could lose more, too.

And Your Number Is…
You Exercise: Almost never
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 12

You Exercise: Lightly, one to three days a week
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 13.5

You Exercise: Moderately, three to five days a week
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 15.5

You Exercise: Vigorously, six to seven days a week
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 17

You Exercise: Vigorously, daily, and you have a physical job
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 19

I posted on the advanced weight loss part of the forum and according to their advice I will be adding fresh fruit at lunch for "Good Carbs" and lean chicken breast and dinner for Protein. that should boost me calorie count and give me a much needed verity in my diet. Other then the diet how do rate the exercise, Do you think my exercise needs an overhaul, if so what should I change?