So, after 3 years of being essentially sedentary after having my daughter (and gaining 90 pounds) I finally decided it was time to do something about it. About a month ago I started using the elliptical 6 days a week and watching my diet. I go for 45 minutes a day and most definitely am getting a good workout. And it was working! I dropped 14 pounds! Still a long way to go till I get to my goal, but so encouraging to see the numbers steadily moving in the right direction! In the past 5 days I've gone UP 5 pounds! Without changing my diet, still working out! RRRG! What's going on?? lol need some encouragement!!!

Are you absolutely positive you haven't changed your diet? Perhaps been putting a little less into your workouts?

To be honest, gaining weight doesn't happen unless calories in are greater than calories out, so if your weight had simply platued, that would be understandable.

Try mixing it up a bit with your workouts, say HIT on the X-trainer.

Do you go to the gym or is it one in your house? The most effective equipement is things like the rower, treadmill and stepper... things that you can use your own body weight. Try getting on one of them, if at all possible.

Don't get frustrated, these things happen. The road is long, with many ups and downs.

Good luck.

Actually anything is possible when it comes to our bodies, which are not machines that simply burn fat based on a certain caloric intake and activity level. Though that is often the case, it is NOT always the way the body works. I am living proof of that. Analyzing food consumed and exercise is always the obvious first place to start, but its rather insulting to assume from the outset that the OP must be overeating (despite her assertion to the contrary) or not exercising as she says because she gained 5 lbs in one week. So I ask, have you started any new meds? That time of the month? Started weight lifting (which causes lots of fluid in the muscles which weigh a few pounds)? Eating anything new? Are your pants tighter than usual? Evaluate exactly what you're eating and add up the total calories. Maybe if you give us an idea about what you're eating we can be of help. Maybe your body needs more or less calories to get things jump started. Hopefully an easy tweek will fix things. I do know your frustration and I feel for you.

What Blancita said.

The first step, IMO, is to really track what you're eating. It is possible that you're eating more than you think you are. Most people have a really hard time eyeballing measurements - our judgment about serving sizes has been skewed by years of restaurant sized portions and "King sized" portions and so forth. So I think the first step is to see how much you're actually eating.

Next is WHAT you're eating. Although lower calories = weight loss, it is possible to stall or reverse the loss for a period of time by eating the wrong kinds of foods. Things that cause you to bloat or retain water will totally screw with the scale. Lord knows I've done it to myself often enough.

If you could list out an average days intake, that would help a lot for us to be able to make some suggestions.

Then aside from that, again like Blancita said, I know that during my period I can gain as much as 7lbs of water weight and bloat. Usually it's gone by the 3rd day, but sometimes it lingers for longer. If I"m really on top of my game and paying attention, I can cut the sodium and drink more water the 2-3 days before and minimize the bloat, but it's hard to do that and deal with the salt cravings at the same time. So often I just deal with the temporary weight.

:-) thank you for your responses. It's definitely not an increase in calories, I watch what I eat fairly closely. I generally have a scrambled egg for breakfast (cooked in microwave, no added fats for cooking...), I workout in the mornings and I've found that having the egg (just one...) first prevents me from getting nauseous afterwards. I eat lean meats (seafood, chicken) in small amounts, generally with a small salad or steamed veggies for meals. I'm really not much of a eater, so portion control isn't an issue.

As far as workouts go, if anything I've stepped up the intensity, though maintained the 45 minutes daily routine.

No new meds...I take 5mg of Lisinopril for high blood pressure daily, which I think is the lowest dosage they can even give you, but I've been on that for several months.

Not my TOM, shouldn't be starting that for another week and a half or so...

Checked the scale again today after working out, no change...*sigh*

Hm. Based on what you said, it's possible that you're not eating ENOUGH. If you're not getting enough food, your metabolism will slow to the point that you can stall out your loss and even gain some back.