Frustrated with weight loss.. am I exercising too much?

holpak

Here's my schedule.. Mon and Wed mornings i do a 45 minute class that's pretty much core body crossfit.. i also do 30 minutes of eliptical machine before that. Then on Tue and Thurs I do 30 min again of eliptical machine and 30 minutes of personal training that includes total body and weight lifting with cardio. Friday I have a 45 minute class like my mon and wed and usually get more eliptical in with som swimming. Saturday is a 45 minute circuit trainging class with you guessed it 30 min of eliptical and then i do some swimming and some biking. I'm on a protein meal replacement plan.. where i eat anywhere from 8-12 meal replacements a day depending on my activity level. This last month i lost 10.5 pounds, gained 2.2 pounds of muscle and lost 4.8% of body fat.. but i feel like progress is so slow.. with me being so active and eating so well.. i went from 180 to 169.8 and now the last two weeks have been going between 167 and 170. My goal is to get down to 135-140, but i want to be toned and have some muscle. I feel like it's slow.. my jeans feel better but not alot better. What am i doing wrong? My day of rest is Sunday.. so that's my question am i working out too much? For weight loss to happen? I'm only 5'4" and large body frame. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. You are welcome to look at my diary as well.

kristy6ward

I think maybe you need to gain some perspective. You've undergone a 108 lbs loss according to your profile. Weight is not going to come of nearly as quickly as when you started, sad to say. I'm my opinion, being under 200 lbs and losing 10 lbs in a month is PHENOMENAL. You obviously have a workout schedule that works for you, as the lbs keep coming off and your composition is changing. Keep up the good work! I wouldn't change a thing unless you actually stopped seeing results altogether.

mebepiglet123

Have you take measurements. Due to all your exercise you may be losing weight but packing on muscle. It takes along time to pack on muscle, be patient. Work out your tdee and make sure you are eating enough for your heavy exercise regime.

ShannonMpls

You did not gain 2.2 pounds of muscle in one month eating 800-1200 calories a day.

And weight loss IS happening. You lost 10.5 pounds in one month.

Bottom line, you're doing a lot of activity. If you were eating enough to sustain it, I'd say no, you're not exercising too much. But I can't fathom how you can work out 90+ minutes 5 days a week eating that little.

If you want my advice:
- start eating real food
- exercise a reasonable amount that you can commit to including in your regular life forever

You will lose weight using your methods, but it will miserable (at least it would be for me) and it does nothing to help you develop new, sustainable habits so that you can maintain your weight loss. I lost 130 pounds in 15 months eating 177-2100 calories a day and working out 5-6 hours a week. I've been maintaining, following the same habits I developed when I was losing, for more than two years.

holpak

Thanks so much Yes most of my weight loss for 98 lbs has been over a year ago.. so i'm really just trying to get off this huge plateau i've been on. Really just got serious about it 3 months ago. I probably shouldn't be looking at the scale.. and more at the measurements.. yes i measured a month ago.. time to go and remeasure. As i know we shouldn't compare ourselves to others.. i've just seen other people drop 20 or more pounds in 2 months... i just want to make sure that maybe i'm not doing the very best that i can.. I mean in the correct order.. i don't want any of my workouts to be taking away from eachother, i have added some steel cut oats to my protein oatmeal in the morings.. i'm thinking i need more carbs to burn through.. since my diet is lower carb, is the only thing i can think of.

holpak

Thanks shannon for all your advice.. i wish i could eat more.. I lost the majority of my weight through hard work but i also had weight loss surgery and have a small stomach. I'm only doing the meal replacements through my doctor's office it was to help me get off my plateau and rearrange what i was eating before and see why it wasn't working. I do eat more on the days that i put in more exercise. i've been on the meal replacements for a month before i only lost 3lbs in 45 days.. i thought i was eating well.. i was getting in 1500 calories.. and the weight wasn't budging. That's awesome that you were able to do that and maintain.. congrats to you!!!
I really believe when i get to my goal that maintaining won't be hard to do.. as i have fallen in love with the exercise and realized that i was eating too much dairy before.. too many yogurts even though they were greek.. and shakes had too much milk... so i am learning. I just wanted to make sure that maybe i might need another day of rest.. or to add some good carbs to my diet.. so that i'm not tearing apart the muscle that i'm building.

ShannonMpls

Oh, I see - I didn't realize you had WLS.

Do you enjoy your workouts, even the time on the elliptical?
Do you have time in your day to devote to this much exercise?

If you can't answer an honest yes to these questions, I would definitely back off. That doesn't necessarily mean another rest day, but maybe dropping the elliptical.

I say this because burn-out is a very real thing and it could completely derail your success. I used to spend a lot of time on the elliptical and I grew to hate it. Once I discovered exercise that feels like recreation (for me, that's running outdoors, hiking, and cross country skiing) I became so much happier. I devote my gym time to weight training and group classes.

Is moving from the protein meals to "real" food an option for you? I ask primarily because I bet it would save you a ton of $$

Sassiesue86

Do u have a personal trainer? They can really talk u thru a lot of these challenges weekly. It is an investment but it heled me get thru my plateau.

SueInAz

From your schedule it seems like Sunday is your rest day, right? You do an awful lot of cardio, more than I could stand, anyway. Is the elliptical something you really enjoy? If not, then another day of rest won't really hurt you or at least, cutting out the extra elliptical work here and there. If you really like it, there's also no reason that you need another rest day, either. It's not going to help your weight loss to rest another day.

Keep in mind that weight loss isn't linear. It would be nice if we could follow MFP's guidelines and consistently lose one or two pounds per week but our bodies just don't work like that. Water retention will make the scale fluctuate up and down, for one. The time of the month can make a difference in how much water a female's body is retaining. If you work out super hard one day, your muscles will hold water for repair for the next few days, which moves the needle on the scale up. So will excess dietary sodium.

I wouldn't worry so much about the temporary stall in weight loss. Keep plugging at it and things will eventually start moving again for you. I doubt you'll continue to see large losses but it should slowly but surely continue to move along a downward trend.

TavistockToad

How are you measuring that you gained 2.2lb of muscle in a month?

holpak

You guys are great.. thanks for all the advice... I do enjoy the exercise.. and i am working with a personal trainer.. i believe that's why i've gained the muscle he really is awesome. and works with me great! This week is my last week with him.. it will be 6 weeks then i'll take a short break to enjoy the holidays with my kids.. and still go to his classes and of course my other gym things i like to do. Yes i know what you mean about burn out.. i've done that.. in fact that's what i was coming off of.. and found this gym and love all the variety that's why i can honestly say i'm loving life and the exercise i'm doing currently. Yes it is very expensive to be on the meal replacements about 140 per week.. but i only plan on doing it short term and to grow back to real food with just keeping a few of the meal replacements that i love. I didn't know about the muscles holding water... that must be why i keep seeing the scale go up and down all the time. .i've gotta stop weighing daily... i'm sure that's not helping me at all.
I was able to measure the body fat percentage and the muscle gain through my nutrition doctor's office...they have this really neat body analysis machine.. that measures each part of your body.. your rt arm lt arm lt leg rt leg trunk... it is pretty cool.. it measures visearl fat and water... lots of things...
I've been trying to drink more water.. if anything that might be my downfall.. i know i don't drink enough.. i try.. but i've been doing better with the little Mio flavor enhancers.

SueInAz

holpak wrote: »

You guys are great.. thanks for all the advice... I do enjoy the exercise.. and i am working with a personal trainer.. i believe that's why i've gained the muscle he really is awesome. and works with me great! This week is my last week with him.. it will be 6 weeks then i'll take a short break to enjoy the holidays with my kids.. and still go to his classes and of course my other gym things i like to do. Yes i know what you mean about burn out.. i've done that.. in fact that's what i was coming off of.. and found this gym and love all the variety that's why i can honestly say i'm loving life and the exercise i'm doing currently. Yes it is very expensive to be on the meal replacements about 140 per week.. but i only plan on doing it short term and to grow back to real food with just keeping a few of the meal replacements that i love. I didn't know about the muscles holding water... that must be why i keep seeing the scale go up and down all the time. .i've gotta stop weighing daily... i'm sure that's not helping me at all.
I was able to measure the body fat percentage and the muscle gain through my nutrition doctor's office...they have this really neat body analysis machine.. that measures each part of your body.. your rt arm lt arm lt leg rt leg trunk... it is pretty cool.. it measures visearl fat and water... lots of things...
I've been trying to drink more water.. if anything that might be my downfall.. i know i don't drink enough.. i try.. but i've been doing better with the little Mio flavor enhancers.

I wish I had access to getting a real body fat analysis but not knowing how bad it really is might actually be better for my emotional well-being.

How much water you drink has little effect on weight loss. More is better than less, as a general rule, but you don't need to drink a gallon a day to lose weight.