Whats going wrong?

sheryl792

Trying to figure out what I am doing wrong to loose weight.
I've worked out my whole life, I am back after a bit of time off and am now 6 weeks in. I am trying to get back to a size 4 and lose 25lbs doing it. After 4 weeks I can see the change in my body toning and strengthening, I lost slightly over 2% body fat (calipers) and 6.5 inches overall.
In the last 2 weeks since measuring I have lost a little more.

However, I've lost only 7 lbs and the scale isnt budging.

I work out 6-7x/week
5am - 1 Hour (30 min elliptical, 30 min 21 Day Fit)
10am - 20 min walk moderate-fast paced (at least 3x/week)
6pm - Boot camp class 3x/week
Weight train - Legs, kettle bells, ect for 30

Food - 1200 calories
I'm using the 21 day program as a guide to make sure my portions and food types in line.
Morning - Protein Shake
Snack - 1/2 Ezeikiel muffin, 1tsp almond peanut butter
Lunch - Salad with grilled chicken
Snack - 1 cup fruit (watermellon/grapes/ect)
Snack - 1 cup greek yogurt, 1 tsp unsweetened coconut
Dinner - protien (chicken/steak/pork), vegatable and sometimes add in a starch carb (Potato)

I know I'm still doing ok because I can see changes but why are the pounds not coming off??

jemhh

7 pounds in 6 weeks is good. Great even. I'm not seeing a problem.

LBuehrle8

Erasing all that I wrote- it was based on if you'd lost nothing. I agree with @jemhh you've lost 7 lbs in 6 weeks. You're losing, that's great!

lemurcat12

Like others have said, 7 lb in 6 weeks when you don't have that much to lose is great.

SuggaD

Sounds like you are doing just fine. Though I would eat more than 1200 calories with that exercise program, but that's just me.

PinkPixiexox

Fantastic progress! Don't be so hard on yourself - you are losing at a great rate

maidentl

sheryl792 wrote: »

Trying to figure out what I am doing wrong to loose weight.
I've worked out my whole life, I am back after a bit of time off and am now 6 weeks in. I am trying to get back to a size 4 and lose 25lbs doing it. After 4 weeks I can see the change in my body toning and strengthening, I lost slightly over 2% body fat (calipers) and 6.5 inches overall.
In the last 2 weeks since measuring I have lost a little more.

However, I've lost only 7 lbs and the scale isnt budging.

I work out 6-7x/week
5am - 1 Hour (30 min elliptical, 30 min 21 Day Fit)
10am - 20 min walk moderate-fast paced (at least 3x/week)
6pm - Boot camp class 3x/week
Weight train - Legs, kettle bells, ect for 30

Food - 1200 calories
I'm using the 21 day program as a guide to make sure my portions and food types in line.
Morning - Protein Shake
Snack - 1/2 Ezeikiel muffin, 1tsp almond peanut butter
Lunch - Salad with grilled chicken
Snack - 1 cup fruit (watermellon/grapes/ect)
Snack - 1 cup greek yogurt, 1 tsp unsweetened coconut
Dinner - protien (chicken/steak/pork), vegatable and sometimes add in a starch carb (Potato)

I know I'm still doing ok because I can see changes but why are the pounds not coming off??

But they are coming off? You've lost seven pounds in six weeks . . .

Ready2Rock206

Over a pound a week? I'd be thrilled.

lauries8888

As others have said, 7 pounds in 6 weeks is a healthy rate of loss. You didn't put it all on in 12 weeks so you cannot expect to take it all off in 12 weeks. However, looking at your sample foods, you might want to add a few more servings of fruits and vegetables (or a multivitamin temporarily while you are reducing calories) because good nutrition is as important as weight loss. Good luck.

bwogilvie

At my fastest, I was losing 1.1 pounds per week, and I had at least 45 to lose. 7 pounds in 6 weeks is great progress. Keep it up! If you're upset because there was no change over the last week, it's probably just water retention.

bubbex2

Muscle weighs more than fat. The way it looks, you are building muscle. The scale won't necessarily show a loss, but your clothes will. Use that as your criteria. See how things fit and how many inches you're losing. You also might be over doing the exercise. My doctor told me one of the reasons I wasn't losing was because I am exercising too much. I cut back and have shown a weight loss.

queenliz99

bubbex2 wrote: »

Muscle weighs more than fat. The way it looks, you are building muscle. The scale won't necessarily show a loss, but your clothes will. Use that as your criteria. See how things fit and how many inches you're losing. You also might be over doing the exercise. My doctor told me one of the reasons I wasn't losing was because I am exercising too much. I cut back and have shown a weight loss.

Oh lawdy

jemhh

bubbex2 wrote: »

Muscle weighs more than fat. The way it looks, you are building muscle. The scale won't necessarily show a loss, but your clothes will. Use that as your criteria. See how things fit and how many inches you're losing. You also might be over doing the exercise. My doctor told me one of the reasons I wasn't losing was because I am exercising too much. I cut back and have shown a weight loss.

Muscle gain while in a deficit is difficult and limited. It's generally limited to newbie gains, overfat beginner lifters, and returning lifters. The OP says she's been working out for years, which leads me to think that she's been lifting for awhile. She's also eating just 1200 calories per day. She's not going to be building enough muscle to slow down her weight loss (if any) at this point.

sheryl792

I lost the 7 lbs in the first 2.5 weeks... most likely water weight, and nothing since.

dhimaan

That is way too much volume and not enough food. Increase your calories so when you do plateau you can lower calories.

KANGOOJUMPS

maybe you are expecting too much?

sheryl792

I increased everything to see if I'd see the scale would start dropping...
It appears my body is holding onto me

jemhh

Are you weighing everything using a digital kitchen scale? When weighing isn't possible or appropriate are you using measuring cups/spoons but leveling them and refraining from jamming extra bites in? Are you logging using accurate entries in the MFP database (e.g., those that match USDA nutrition info or the nutrition info on food labels?)

sheryl792

I'm not using a scale but I am measuring out items via the 21 day program. My food is pretty accurate for nutrition, I scan everything I can instead of selecting.

I don't cheat or sneak in food but if I was slightly over 1 cup of lettuce or fruit, ect, the added exercise should compensate for the calories since I'm in a deficit.... so I would think.

emily_fox

bubbex2 wrote: »

Muscle weighs more than fat. The way it looks, you are building muscle. The scale won't necessarily show a loss, but your clothes will. Use that as your criteria. See how things fit and how many inches you're losing. You also might be over doing the exercise. My doctor told me one of the reasons I wasn't losing was because I am exercising too much. I cut back and have shown a weight loss.

Just to clarify, muscle does not weigh more than fat. 5 lbs of muscle is equal to 5 lbs of fat...they both weigh 5 lbs. The difference is that muscle is denser than fat, therefore you'd look leaner. Can we please get away from this false notion?

LBuehrle8

sheryl792 wrote: »

I'm not using a scale but I am measuring out items via the 21 day program. My food is pretty accurate for nutrition, I scan everything I can instead of selecting.

I don't cheat or sneak in food but if I was slightly over 1 cup of lettuce or fruit, ect, the added exercise should compensate for the calories since I'm in a deficit.... so I would think.

If you're not using a scale to weigh your food you're most likely not in a defecit. 1200 calories is a lot less than people think. Buy a food scale and start weighing. The less you have to lose the more you need to weigh as every little bit counts!

Edit- spelling is hard.