I am 18 years old and have just recently (about 3 weeks ago) joined the local gym. Prior joining, I was fairly active and ran about 1 mile on the treadmill and 1 mile on the elliptical 6 days a week. I would say I was consuming about 1200 to 1500 calories a day. Now, I go to a spinning class twice a week, do cardio and weight training 3 days a week and rest once a week. I have not changed my diet significantly, except now I am eating healthier (Calorie intake is consistently 1000 to 1200). My weight, however, has only increased which is not my desired effect. I was expecting to gain muscle, which I know is heavier than fat, but this does not explain why my clothes are feeling tighter. What am I doing wrong? This is very frustrating and I would greatly appreciate any words of wisdom, thanks!

i personally feel that 1200 calories is not enough. If you consume too few calories, your metabolism will slow down and thats not what you want. I lost 45lbs on a vegetarian diet that i have been on for the last 4 years. It took about 3 months for me to lose that weight and i have been on the vegan diet since then. How much weight do you want to lose. Let me know if you have questions or if i can be of some help

When I was about 10 years old I was severly overweight and made the decision to lose it all and become healthy...and I did:) Since then, I have never been "thin" by any means but average. Now, I feel that I have started to go up again and refuse to let myself do that. It is always the last few pounds that are the most stubborn, which is my problem now. I would like to lose about 10 lbs, ideally. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I have been working on it for awhile now. I never even thought that I was consuming too few calories, but thinking now that definitely makes sense. Thanks for replying and helping me out!