Reason for weight gain?

[M U L E]

I haven't been here for ages, or even Gaia for the matter bu I feel that this is the best place for help =)

Anyway when I was overseas for a month, I somehow lost a few kg probably from all the stairs and being sick for a few days from the excessive eating there >_<

I've managed to gain most of it back in the month and a bit I've been back.

I also recently bought the Wii Fit Plus and I play it most days, burning about 221(?) calories (a bowl of rice) which takes me a bit over an hour. I do it in one block, would breaking it up into half an hour or so blocks be better?

For the past few days I've also been drinking Oolong tea which my mum tells me burns fat or something but in this time, I somehow gained over 1kg in a day, and continued gaining 0.something each day.

Since buying the Wii Fit, I don't feel I've eaten any more that I did before, but my weight gradually increasing.

Help? I have no idea why or what I can do about it :S

EDIT:
Other than Wii, I'm pretty inactive... Should I be doing more?

With food, I THINK my meals are ok. I think I'm snacking too much?  

[Kamirose]

First of all, weight fluctuations are entirely normal. Let's look at it mathematically.

1 lb of fat is around 3500 calories. In order to gain 1 lb of weight, you have to eat 3500 OVER your maintenance level (the number of calories you'd have to eat to maintain your current body weight.

Since 1 kg = 2.2lb, in order to gain 1 kg of fat, you would've had to have eaten 7700 calories in addition to your maintenance calories.

Since I really doubt you did that, it's probably either water weight or hormonal. Did you have a lot of sodium yesterday? Did you do an intense workout (aka are your muscles sore)? Is your period coming close? Are you taking any medications that may affect your hormones? Are you stressed? Any of these things can make you gain weight, but it's not "real" weight in that it's not actually fat.

Also, for whatever or no reason, sometimes you'll just uptick, even if you do everything else right. Just don't dwell on it, and if it's freaking you out, you can try only weighing yourself once a week.

--

You can also track what you eat to keep yourself accountable for your snacks, but snacking by itself isn't necessarily bad, as long as you're snacking on healthy stuff. It helps keep your blood sugar level, and it helps to keep you from overeating on your next meal.

You can use this site to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (the number of calories you need just to keep your vital organs running), then use the link under it that says 'Harris - Benedict Formula' to calculate your maintenance calories with your activity level. Finally, subtract 500 calories to give you what you should be eating to lose 1 lb per week, 750 calories to lose 1.5lb per week, or 1000 calories to lose 2 lb per week (you shouldn't be aiming to lose more than 1% of your body weight per week). If the numbers fall below your Basal Metabolic Rate (the first number), then eat at the BMR - you shouldn't eat below that because it is the very minimum to eat in order to survive, and your body will panic if it's not getting enough energy to sustain that.  

[Stars in my Pocket]

Kamirose is right - your weight will fluctuate on a day-to-day basis.

I lost weight on my 4-week trip to Austria, EU and gained it all back in more in about the same amount of time. I don't know where you went but in Europe I had to walk everywhere (Austria, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic) and ate more fruit/produce and juices and PIZZA! I still drank soda but I walked EVERYWHERE.

I noticed I don't walk as much here (we really can't even in suburban areas) and the food here is much more processed and salty.

I'd say, unfortunately, that the wii fit doesn't cut it unless you have a physical limitation to what you're capable of. Walk a half hour a day, or less and build up to that. But you aren't doing enough to lose healthfully. Diet is only half the equation, and eating less won't necessarily help, in fact it usually ends up hurting you. ):

Eat quality calories and go outside. Get a pedometer if you can, and try to get 10,000 steps a day! Not all at once, but I clip my pedometer on around 9am and keep it on until I undress. I usually get 9-14 thousand steps in a day.

If wii fit is all you're capable of, that's fine, but if you CAN physically do more, you're cheating your body if you don't.  

[Iconised Ghost]

But she does say that she has gained consistently for a month since she has been back, to me this implies that it isnt just a day to day fluctuation and if her muscles were sore frmo working out she should be working hard enough to lose at least something over that month, right?

You THINK your meals are ok- check. Count the calories of everything you eat, you might be surprised. The wii fit might alos not be enough. It says you burn around 221 cals in just over an hour, but I never trust the cal estimations on exercise machines- is your heart rate elevated for that hour? if not, you might need to find a more intense exercise.  

[CherokeeAlex]

You might think your food intake is alright, but it could be too high. Become aware of generally how many calories you're taking in.
There's nothing wrong with doing the Wii Fit in one block, that's how I use mine. You might want to try and do more on it though-my goal is 310 cals (the slice of yellow cake). You should also try to make sure you do some of the aerobics while you're doing the Wii Fit, like the runs, because that will elevate your heart rate and get you some good cardio.
Oolong tea is good for you, but it doesn't burn any significant number of calories, so don't obsess over that.
Have you been sick? Stressed? Doing any strength training (maybe it's muscle gain)?
Also, if you can do more besides the Wii Fit, do it. I do Wii Fit during the week because I'm so busy, but I'm also in the local fencing club and that's once a week. Like I said, if you can do more of the aerobic stuff on the Wii Fit too, that will give you a better cardio workout. Like you can do the Free Run which lets you watch TV while you're jogging, or the Free Step which is the same thing but good if you can't run yet.  

[M U L E]

Ok that quick weight gain is mostly gone, so like you said, it was probably water. Now I fluctuate small amounts depending on the time of day.

My muscles haven't been sore... I feel something but not what I'd call sore. I guess I need to do a lot more then. I do that 10 minute hula and sometimes long distance (is that what it's called) running if I want to watch videos on the computer. I usually play rhythm parade, rhythm kung fu and step plus when I play Wii and use hula and stuff to get more calories quickly.

I don't really know how to count calories. Sounds complicated :S  

[Iconised Ghost]

Counting calories is very simple. There are good sites around that help you, like thedailyplate.com and sparkpeople.com.