Losing Weight & Juicing

by Larry

Q: I go to the gym 4 times a week lately I started juicing on a daily basis- mainly vegetables. I noticed I began gaining weight a good bit. I thought juicing helped maintain or reduce weight. What's wrong?

A: Hi Larry! Juicing does help most people shed pounds. There are so many factors involved with losing weight. It could be what you are eating besides the juicing that tacks on pounds. It could be lack of sleep or stress and medications...
Also, exercise builds muscle which adds weight (which is probably very likely if you are hitting the gym!).

Just because juice is all nutrition doesn't mean that it doesn't have calories. Proper portion control and calorie intake have to be monitored at all times.

Years ago I did Weight Watchers and it taught me that my portions were WAY too much! So if I had continued eating the way I was, and added juicing, I probably would have gained weight. So while juicing doesn't have fat, it does have calories and any time we exceed calories in over calories out we will gain.

I don't know the details of your personal situation, but juicing really does help a lot of people lose weight when used as a fast or to replace meals/snacks. My advice would be to try replacing a meal or snack with juice (if you haven't tried that already). I'm assuming your juicing along with your regular food, which is great, but could be the reason why.

I also suspect that if you are gaining muscle it could make the scale heavier(because muscle is heavier).

Try replacing a meal and continue exercising...write down what you eat each day so you have an idea of what your intake is...
and hang in there! It takes time to lose.