Why am I not seeing results from my workout??

mwagone

I'm currently 5'5" and 155 pounds. I've been working out 5-6 times a week (zumba twice/week, aqua fit twice/week and weight training 1-2 times/week) for almost 2 months now. I'm really proud of myself for sticking with it, but I have to admit that I'm starting to get discouraged because I don't feel like I've seen any benefit from it at all. My clothes haven't loosened up and the last time I got on the scale I'd actually gained 1-1/2 pounds. I've been logging my food and trying to stay between 1,200-1,400 calories/day. I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong and it's making me consider giving up. I'd really love some advice....

Need2Exerc1se

How accurate are you on your logging? Do you weigh and measure everything? Is that 1200-1400 net or total calories?

janejellyroll

Are you getting every meal logged? I saw a couple of days in the past week where meals were missing -- are those meals you missed or meals that you didn't log?

I see a couple of opportunities to tighten up your logging as well. Your fruit is mostly generic and the calorie counts seems like they might be a bit low (50 calories for a banana, for example). I saw a huge benefit once I began weighing my fruit -- I was hugely underestimating how many calories were in there.

Your entries for homemade foods like cheeseburgers, potato salad, and casserole -- are those recipes that you entered or were they chosen from the database?

ncboiler89

Losing weight is more about calorie intake than it is exercise. Don't get me wrong exercise is great but you could be overestimating calories burned from working out, underestimating the number of calories you are taking in, or both. Regardless if you are not losing weight and you are confident you are not losing weight and it's not a matter of normal weight variance than you are eating too much.

callsitlikeiseeit

as other s have suggested, you are most likely eating more than you think you are

weight with a scale. enter weighed foods individually, unless you enter/build the recipe yourself in MFP

mwagone

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

How accurate are you on your logging? Do you weigh and measure everything? Is that 1200-1400 net or total calories?

That's a good point. I'm sure my food diary isn't the most accurate. I've been trying to follow the Nutrisystem diet, which is nice because most of that numbers on MFP seem to be dead on with the numbers I see on the package. But, if I have something different I usually just search for something similar and use that entry as my log.

janejellyroll

mwagone wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

How accurate are you on your logging? Do you weigh and measure everything? Is that 1200-1400 net or total calories?

That's a good point. I'm sure my food diary isn't the most accurate. I've been trying to follow the Nutrisystem diet, which is nice because most of that numbers on MFP seem to be dead on with the numbers I see on the package. But, if I have something different I usually just search for something similar and use that entry as my log.

If you are choosing database entries for things like cheeseburgers, potato salad, and casserole instead of entering your own recipe, you could be off by a lot. When we choose those entries, we have no way of knowing if our cheeseburger or potato salad is anything like that of the person who created that entry. What if you use more mayo? What if your ground beef has a different mix of fat and lean or if you like a 1/3 pound burger instead of a 1/4 pound one?

peachyfuzzle

If you've only gained 1.5lbs in two months, you're likely eating at maintenance. Either you're not logging accurately enough (use a food scale), or you're overestimating your calorie burn, and eating back too many calories afterward.

ncboiler89

mwagone wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

How accurate are you on your logging? Do you weigh and measure everything? Is that 1200-1400 net or total calories?

That's a good point. I'm sure my food diary isn't the most accurate. I've been trying to follow the Nutrisystem diet, which is nice because most of that numbers on MFP seem to be dead on with the numbers I see on the package. But, if I have something different I usually just search for something similar and use that entry as my log.

Make sure the portions you enter are correct too. Don't just eyeball them.

mwagone

janejellyroll wrote: »

Are you getting every meal logged? I saw a couple of days in the past week where meals were missing -- are those meals you missed or meals that you didn't log?

I see a couple of opportunities to tighten up your logging as well. Your fruit is mostly generic and the calorie counts seems like they might be a bit low (50 calories for a banana, for example). I saw a huge benefit once I began weighing my fruit -- I was hugely underestimating how many calories were in there.

Your entries for homemade foods like cheeseburgers, potato salad, and casserole -- are those recipes that you entered or were they chosen from the database?

I've actually tried to stay away from fruit for the most part up until the last few days. Nutrisystem seems to frown on eating fruit and they push the vegetables instead so I was only eating one serving of prunes every afternoon. I've recently tried adding a half a banana because my trainer said she thought I might not be getting ENOUGH calories with the increase I've had in my workouts over the past few weeks. I'm so confused. Not enough calories, too many calories.....how do I know what I should be doing??

And no, all of the "homemade" food I entered last weekend was just plucked from the database. I went to a family gathering and I honestly had no idea HOW to record what I'd eaten.

Need2Exerc1se

mwagone wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

Are you getting every meal logged? I saw a couple of days in the past week where meals were missing -- are those meals you missed or meals that you didn't log?

I see a couple of opportunities to tighten up your logging as well. Your fruit is mostly generic and the calorie counts seems like they might be a bit low (50 calories for a banana, for example). I saw a huge benefit once I began weighing my fruit -- I was hugely underestimating how many calories were in there.

Your entries for homemade foods like cheeseburgers, potato salad, and casserole -- are those recipes that you entered or were they chosen from the database?

I've actually tried to stay away from fruit for the most part up until the last few days. Nutrisystem seems to frown on eating fruit and they push the vegetables instead so I was only eating one serving of prunes every afternoon. I've recently tried adding a half a banana because my trainer said she thought I might not be getting ENOUGH calories with the increase I've had in my workouts over the past few weeks. I'm so confused. Not enough calories, too many calories.....how do I know what I should be doing??

And no, all of the "homemade" food I entered last weekend was just plucked from the database. I went to a family gathering and I honestly had no idea HOW to record what I'd eaten.

Oh, family gatherings. Yeah, those are tough. Best you can do is guess. I agree with your trainer though. 1200-1400 seems low for someone 5'5" doing as much exercise as you. I'd totally burn out if it was me.

lovro97

Well, if you are cooking for yourself, you can weigh everything you put in your meal. I always make sure that the component calories are correct by checking it's nutritional values on google. If you want keep track on your daily calorie intake, you have to log every single piece of food you have eaten.

Also, there are many similar foods in database, but nutritional values are changing by the way of preparing them, so be sure you chose the right meal in database.

You can always eat a lot of vegetable that has very low carbohydrate percentage (lower than 15CH/100g) because it's therefore low calorie food. Fruit is full of sugars so I don't recommend eating more than 2-3 fruit per day. Rather eat an apple before a banana.

mwagone

peachyfuzzle wrote: »

If you've only gained 1.5lbs in two months, you're likely eating at maintenance. Either you're not logging accurately enough (use a food scale), or you're overestimating your calorie burn, and eating back too many calories afterward.

I wonder if I should stop getting in the habit of eating back my exercise calories then and just try to maintain approximately 1200 calories/day regardless of what activity I do? For example, yesterday I had an hour long zumba class, I met with the trainer for 30 mins of weights and then I walked the dog for 45 mins. Because I knew I'd had a lot of activity for the day, I allowed myself an apple w/peanut butter and a yogurt w/granola, which I don't normally have. (On the other hand, I did forget to eat dinner....) Maybe I should have knocked off of the extra stuff and just stuck to the regular food routine.

Another big problem I have is that I'm WAY more structured in my eating on the weekdays. For the most part, anyway. But the weekend comes and I always tend to falter...

StaciMarie1974

That depends... Do you feel that eating 1200/day is something you can do for 4-5 months? 1400-1600 might be a more reasonable goal, and give you more nutrition to fuel your lifestyle.

The key to this whole thing: being accurate & honest (as much as possible) with your food intake log. Some times the best we can do is approximate, but that should be the exception rather than the norm. And fruits are good, in moderation and accurately accounted for in our calorie budget.

carakirkey

I've been successful with 1400 calories a day, and exercise 5x/wk. I don't eat my exercise calories back. I hear you with the weekday/ weekend. I'm trying to put in more "fun" exercise activities (bike rides with the kids, skiing, canoeing etc.) into the weekend to occupy my time mostly so I don't spend that time mindlessly eating!

mwagone

Wow, talking to a few of you and then going back and reviewing my food log over the last week or so is quite an eye opener. I had no idea how many "cheats" I've had! It's actually a little embarrassing. Here I was feeling all sorry for myself, thinking that I'd been keeping my calories in check, but whoa.....that's obviously not the case. I really need to tighten up the reins and be more aware of everything that I'm eating. Thank you guys for being so nice and helping to keep me honest!

peachyfuzzle

mwagone wrote: »

peachyfuzzle wrote: »

If you've only gained 1.5lbs in two months, you're likely eating at maintenance. Either you're not logging accurately enough (use a food scale), or you're overestimating your calorie burn, and eating back too many calories afterward.

I wonder if I should stop getting in the habit of eating back my exercise calories then and just try to maintain approximately 1200 calories/day regardless of what activity I do? For example, yesterday I had an hour long zumba class, I met with the trainer for 30 mins of weights and then I walked the dog for 45 mins. Because I knew I'd had a lot of activity for the day, I allowed myself an apple w/peanut butter and a yogurt w/granola, which I don't normally have. (On the other hand, I did forget to eat dinner....) Maybe I should have knocked off of the extra stuff and just stuck to the regular food routine.

Another big problem I have is that I'm WAY more structured in my eating on the weekdays. For the most part, anyway. But the weekend comes and I always tend to falter...

That's definitely part of it. So many people have a tough time on the weekends, but it all counts. One bad meal isn't very likely to wreck your progress, but one bad day, or even two bad days could be extremely detrimental.

Hypothetically, say you don't have much to lose, so you're only at a 250 calorie deficit per day meaning you're at a 1750 (0.5lb) deficit per week. Also, say your maintenance calories are somewhere in the ballpark of 1800. It only takes one single day of eating 3550 calories to undo everything, stretch that out over two days, and it's really easy to go over if you're not being mindful, and logging accurately.

Wreathy

mwagone wrote: »

Wow, talking to a few of you and then going back and reviewing my food log over the last week or so is quite an eye opener. I had no idea how many "cheats" I've had! It's actually a little embarrassing. Here I was feeling all sorry for myself, thinking that I'd been keeping my calories in check, but whoa.....that's obviously not the case. I really need to tighten up the reins and be more aware of everything that I'm eating. Thank you guys for being so nice and helping to keep me honest!

It's a learning process - I'm reasonably new to this too, and I've learned a lot simply by reading the forums. And it really works if you record everything as accurately as possible. I can get frustrated sometimes when I have to weigh every..single..little..thing (not a patient person). But 6 kgs in 7 weeks lost (13 pounds approx) and the results speak for themselves. I'm slightly horrified by how simple it really is - I feel like I should have done this years ago, or known how to do it. I think fad diets have a lot to answer for. (Didn't do any myself, but all the information out there became so confusing. I read one article last year that said our bodies fight to retain fat and I may as well just give up before I try. Hah). Make sure you get some nice digital kitchen scales that will 'zero' with a push of a button - makes life a lot easier.

mwagone

Wreathy wrote: »

mwagone wrote: »

Wow, talking to a few of you and then going back and reviewing my food log over the last week or so is quite an eye opener. I had no idea how many "cheats" I've had! It's actually a little embarrassing. Here I was feeling all sorry for myself, thinking that I'd been keeping my calories in check, but whoa.....that's obviously not the case. I really need to tighten up the reins and be more aware of everything that I'm eating. Thank you guys for being so nice and helping to keep me honest!

It's a learning process - I'm reasonably new to this too, and I've learned a lot simply by reading the forums. And it really works if you record everything as accurately as possible. I can get frustrated sometimes when I have to weigh every..single..little..thing (not a patient person). But 6 kgs in 7 weeks lost (13 pounds approx) and the results speak for themselves. I'm slightly horrified by how simple it really is - I feel like I should have done this years ago, or known how to do it. I think fad diets have a lot to answer for. (Didn't do any myself, but all the information out there became so confusing. I read one article last year that said our bodies fight to retain fat and I may as well just give up before I try. Hah). Make sure you get some nice digital kitchen scales that will 'zero' with a push of a button - makes life a lot easier.

Thank you and good for you on your loss!!