Greetings all. I am new to the board and love the information here.

I am finally getting back into an exercise routine after 2 years of falling off the workout wagon. I have been at it for 3 weeks. I do cardio 6 times a week for at least 50 minutes.
I do 32 minutes on the eliptical
25 on the stairmaster
and walk on the treadmill to cool off for about 5

I do weights 3x a week also, trying to hit parts of upper, lower, middle..

My problem is when I jumped on the scale at the ol gym it says I have GAINED 2 pounds.

My daily diet is a banana for B-fast
turkey sandwich, wheat bread, 2 slices of turkey, one slice of cheese
Dinner is usually chicken breast with potato in some form and brocolli or green beans.

What am I doing wrong?

They only thing I have held onto is my beer. I don't drink that in excess. Maybe 2-3 every other night. it's summer time after all.

Well a gain of 1 or 2 pounds can be explained by many things.

Are you weighing yourself consistently? Like same time, same clothes, and same scale? Your weight can change by 4-5 pounds per day, so don't be alarmed if you haven't been checking yourself consistently at the same time.

Looking at your diet though, it's pretty much lacking. You're not getting nearly enough cals. If you continue eating like that, you're going to find it harder to lose weight as your body is going to fight to hold on everything. You need at least 4 meals a day with plenty of veggies and fruits.

No, i have only weighed myself twice since the start.
I will do it more consistently.

I will increase my food intake also. See how that works out.

Thank you very much for taking your time to reply.

I would recommend not weighing yourself to much. Maybe once a week choose a day, weight yourself with the same clothes on usually I do it naked but it's up to you right in the morning after you use the bathroom. If you start weighing yourself all the time its gonna start playing mind games with you and you will get frusterated

Eat more often too. 5-6 meals spaced out, protein at EVERY meal. Get your healthy fats, avoid bread, rice, and potatoes. Some may disagree with me on this, but during a cut (losing fat), most of your carbs should come from VEGGIES. Your body loves them. Eat fats too, olive oil, fish oil, flax oil, nuts.

Don't overdo cardio. Focus a lot of weight training, it will be very helpful in losing fat. Look into full body training, with compound lifts. Research HIIT as well, but be careful, it is very taxing on the body.

1. Forget the scale, especially on a day to day basis as noted above. It's not representative of what's going on in your body. As an example, you might have gained muscle.....
2. BUT I DOUBT IT...because you're not eating enough food or often enough. Now you're working out and you're body is probably trying to desperately retain every morsel you give it. Give it more, more often and it won't be afraid to burn calories.

Looks like too little food and too much exercise. Try splitting your weights and cardio workouts as well as getting at LEAST one days rest.

That dancing scale will drive you nuts. Try to limit yourself to once a week weigh ins. You will be surprised how much your weight can fluctuate in one day. It's hard to stay away because you want to see the pounds drop as soon as they do. I have found it best to weigh on the same day at the same time. I pick a time like on fridays when I get up and took care of business and before I eat or drink anything.

Excellent advice, no disagreement on my part.

Your weight can fluctuate so much on water intake, if your weightlifting and gaining muscle it my go up a bit and still be losing weight, I only weigh myself once a week. Long as people notice me losing weight, I am happy. Make sure you get your protein. I have 2 double protein shakes a day. I eat lots of chicken and veggies and fruit. I try to eat 4-5 small meals a day. Think of metabolism as a fire. You gotta throw kindling on it to keep it going!

Thanks to everyone for your input.

I went shopping and loaded up on the fruits and veggies. Grabbed a bunch of tuna while I was there also.

I am taking all of your advice and i will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again. i really appreciate it.

yeah... as you build up your muscles, weight can easily fluctuate 2-3lbs. liquid intake also comes into place - but veggie snacking and a 'religous' workout regimen will certainly do it... just keep the faith, the weight will drop sooner or later