Gym & Diet - still not losing

Mackenzie784

I lost 100 lbs before I got pregnant 3 years ago. I did calorie counting and Zumba and/or gym at least 5 days a week. So I KNOW this is Possible for me and I am motivated to do it again. Now 1.5 years after baby and I'm 3 weeks into my new routine. M-F cardio (elliptical or couch 2 5k running app) so at least 30 mins a day max hr cardio. And I do weight machines to try and build a little muscle and tone up. Abs and thighs alternating days with arms etc.

My problem is that 3 weeks at a great calorie deficit AND working out burning more calories, I haven't lost any weight!!!! It's exactly the same!!! I know it's only been 3 weeks, but with the calorie deficit alone and NO working out shouldn't I have lost at least a few more pounds?

Is this muscle weight?? I haven't lost inches either. Is my muscle building under all my fat making me not thinner??

Any suggestions or help?

dcarter1020

For me personally whenever I take a break from lifting and jump back in, I puff up (bloat) for like a week. No idea why this is, but I expect it now so it no longer worries me. Three weeks at a deficit and additional cardio should've netted you a loss. Are you weighing your food? Open your diary so we can offer some further input. Thanks!!

Josh_lol

Odds are you won't be building any muscle if you're in a deficit. You might be inaccurately logging. You might not be eating enough to fuel your workouts and your body is trying to retain water. I'm not a dietitian or physician so I can't really pinpoint any reason exactly why you aren't losing after 3 weeks.

I guess the answer lies in your diary.

Mackenzie784

Thanks! I've opened my diary. I guess I'm mostly confused because I've done this before and now it's not working

Kalikel

It is highly unlikely that you've gained several pounds of muscle in a few weeks. Were that possible, the weight lifters would jump for joy.

It's possible that you picked up some "water weight" from the new exercising. It's also possible that all your hard work is just taking some time to kick in.

Give it another week. But if you're still not losing, you will have to eat less, move more or both.

Stick with it, keep adjusting and eventually you'll get there!

ctflegal

Mackenzie784 wrote: »

Thanks! I've opened my diary. I guess I'm mostly confused because I've done this before and now it's not working

I know exactly how you feel! i was the same way. until I had my son. once i started looking at what was in food i was DISGUSTED. I watched some food documentaries and that is what brought it all to light. the easiest way i can explain it is. if it has a commercial then don't eat it or as i like to say real food doesn't need an ingredient list. Look into something called maximized living (google it) the book is amazing and once i started doing that (clean eating) the weight just started falling off. i was making my own salad dressings and everything while working 10-12 hours a day with a 18 month old and was pregnant with baby #2.

Orphia

You missed logging quite a few days recently.

You log only servings or ounces on lots of entries. You need to use grams.

You exercised like mad on some days, which will give you Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and water retention, thus make your weight go up or stay the same.

Sued0nim

Orphia wrote: »

You missed logging quite a few days recently.

You log only servings or ounces on lots of entries. You need to use grams.

You exercised like mad on some days, which will give you Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and water retention, thus make your weight go up or stay the same.

This

Plus I have always found when something has been successful and then I gain weight and go back to try it again I've never been succesful - I think that's because the learning curve is gone and I believe I know it all and employ all the bad habits that I gained doing it

So the best advice I could give is forget everything you think you know and go back to the very basics

Weigh everything, by gram
Log everything accurately - pick entries in MFP database with care, double-check against pack and other sources - never choose a homemade entry or believe just because it says verified it is
Log exercise but don't believe the MFP database, or calorie burns you get from gym machines - cut them in half and eat back 50% of calories

Re-assess after 6 weeks doing it right

Sued0nim

ctflegal wrote: »

Mackenzie784 wrote: »

Thanks! I've opened my diary. I guess I'm mostly confused because I've done this before and now it's not working

I know exactly how you feel! i was the same way. until I had my son. once i started looking at what was in food i was DISGUSTED. I watched some food documentaries and that is what brought it all to light. the easiest way i can explain it is. if it has a commercial then don't eat it or as i like to say real food doesn't need an ingredient list. Look into something called maximized living (google it) the book is amazing and once i started doing that (clean eating) the weight just started falling off. i was making my own salad dressings and everything while working 10-12 hours a day with a 18 month old and was pregnant with baby #2.

I think this is a faddy, not based in science approach to losing weight - I think it completely unnecessary but I think if this is what works for you in terms of sticking to your calorie defecit then great - but really the calorie defecit is all you need

leahcollett1

Mackenzie784 wrote: »

I lost 100 lbs before I got pregnant 3 years ago. I did calorie counting and Zumba and/or gym at least 5 days a week. So I KNOW this is Possible for me and I am motivated to do it again. Now 1.5 years after baby and I'm 3 weeks into my new routine. M-F cardio (elliptical or couch 2 5k running app) so at least 30 mins a day max hr cardio. And I do weight machines to try and build a little muscle and tone up. Abs and thighs alternating days with arms etc.

My problem is that 3 weeks at a great calorie deficit AND working out burning more calories, I haven't lost any weight!!!! It's exactly the same!!! I know it's only been 3 weeks, but with the calorie deficit alone and NO working out shouldn't I have lost at least a few more pounds?

Is this muscle weight?? I haven't lost inches either. Is my muscle building under all my fat making me not thinner??

Any suggestions or help?

have you only been working out for 3 weeks? if so, you havent even given your body chance to get used to the new exercise.. im talking from experience hun. i began body combat 4 times a week, went from doing zumba to body combat i was creasing up by the thrid week of having no loss.. then bam 4th week in and i got the whoosh, all my water retention from muscle repair just went away. the execise needs to be consistant and of course you need to stick at a definite deficit..

i go by the tdee method now and im losing quite well each week after weeks of tweaking here and there and finding what works for it. its everyones own journey, nothing is scripted on what will or wont happen. what takes someone 1 week to do might be different for your body - keep at it. it will drop eventually it has too

Maxematics

It's definitely not muscle building, but you do need to be patient. I've never had that kind of stall at any point, but everyone's body is different and I see that many people here have had that. The only advice I can give you for now is to give it another two weeks. If that doesn't work, I'd say your logging is inaccurate and you're eating too much food because I see you get your calorie burns from Fitbit. Is your Fitbit a Charge HR or a different model? Are you editing the calorie burns in any way by entering activities? If so, then your burns may also be overestimated.

psuLemon

Are you building muscle (absolutely not). The chances of building muscle with a few machines and a lot of cardio would almost be impossible. It is very hard work to build new muscle mass, not to mention that it mainly needs to be while in a calorie surplus (grant it, there are noob gains, some abilities to recomp, or abilities to gain while being over-fat) and doing a program focused on compound, progressive overload moves.


The two biggest failures recognized on MFP.... 1. accurate logging (not using a food scale) and 2. no logging consistently.

Side note, I would drop some of the cardio to 3 days a week. Working the same muscle every day can lead to injury and exhaustion, and you make progressive gains through rest. And then I would look to do a full body lifting routine the other 3 days (pending you workout 6 days a week). This way you are improving your skeletal system and cardiovascular system. And besides, you will see better and more changes in body composition (and look) while on a good lifting program.

BoxerBrawler

rabbitjb wrote: »

ctflegal wrote: »

Mackenzie784 wrote: »

Thanks! I've opened my diary. I guess I'm mostly confused because I've done this before and now it's not working

I know exactly how you feel! i was the same way. until I had my son. once i started looking at what was in food i was DISGUSTED. I watched some food documentaries and that is what brought it all to light. the easiest way i can explain it is. if it has a commercial then don't eat it or as i like to say real food doesn't need an ingredient list. Look into something called maximized living (google it) the book is amazing and once i started doing that (clean eating) the weight just started falling off. i was making my own salad dressings and everything while working 10-12 hours a day with a 18 month old and was pregnant with baby #2.

I think this is a faddy, not based in science approach to losing weight - I think it completely unnecessary but I think if this is what works for you in terms of sticking to your calorie defecit then great - but really the calorie defecit is all you need

I agree with this being faddy. But I also agree with there being something to it. Personally when I stopped eating multiple ingredient foods, especially commercial ones, I leaned out in a matter of weeks... the inflammation due to many processes was keeping me bloated, etc.

But yeah, it's about the calories.

I also find that to continue to lose weight or maintain weight and/or keep heading in the right direction I have to change my routines about every 30 days in terms of nutrition, timing, exercise...

Sued0nim

cushman5279 wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

ctflegal wrote: »

Mackenzie784 wrote: »

Thanks! I've opened my diary. I guess I'm mostly confused because I've done this before and now it's not working

I know exactly how you feel! i was the same way. until I had my son. once i started looking at what was in food i was DISGUSTED. I watched some food documentaries and that is what brought it all to light. the easiest way i can explain it is. if it has a commercial then don't eat it or as i like to say real food doesn't need an ingredient list. Look into something called maximized living (google it) the book is amazing and once i started doing that (clean eating) the weight just started falling off. i was making my own salad dressings and everything while working 10-12 hours a day with a 18 month old and was pregnant with baby #2.

I think this is a faddy, not based in science approach to losing weight - I think it completely unnecessary but I think if this is what works for you in terms of sticking to your calorie defecit then great - but really the calorie defecit is all you need

I agree with this being faddy. But I also agree with there being something to it. Personally when I stopped eating multiple ingredient foods, especially commercial ones, I leaned out in a matter of weeks... the inflammation due to many processes was keeping me bloated, etc.

But yeah, it's about the calories.

I also find that to continue to lose weight or maintain weight and/or keep heading in the right direction I have to change my routines about every 30 days in terms of nutrition, timing, exercise...

Isn't that because you suffer from orthorexia though? Your perception of what you need to do is skewed away from the actual need.

Liftng4Lis

First, cups aren't accurate, use a food scale. Second, what were you doing on the weekend where you have nothing logged?

lisalsd1

Like others have said, you need to weigh your food. I definitely had this problem...and "eyeballing" food using measuring cups really isn't accurate enough. I have 2 kids...one way to make life a bit easier is to generally eat the same few meals for b'fast/lunch during the week. If you stock up on your essential foods, log your b'fast/lunch in the evening for the next day, you can just pull up MFP, weigh your food, and eat.

LivingtheLeanDream

when I was in my losing phase I found that every 3 to 4 weeks the scale went down after bouncing all over the place prior to that. I would encourage you to keep on going and before long you will be rewarded for being consistent.
If another few weeks pass and you still haven't lost then you need to tighten your logging and be more accurate. Unfortunately when we don't lose a lot of the time its because we are eating more than we think.

psuLemon

rabbitjb wrote: »

ctflegal wrote: »

Mackenzie784 wrote: »

Thanks! I've opened my diary. I guess I'm mostly confused because I've done this before and now it's not working

I know exactly how you feel! i was the same way. until I had my son. once i started looking at what was in food i was DISGUSTED. I watched some food documentaries and that is what brought it all to light. the easiest way i can explain it is. if it has a commercial then don't eat it or as i like to say real food doesn't need an ingredient list. Look into something called maximized living (google it) the book is amazing and once i started doing that (clean eating) the weight just started falling off. i was making my own salad dressings and everything while working 10-12 hours a day with a 18 month old and was pregnant with baby #2.

I think this is a faddy, not based in science approach to losing weight - I think it completely unnecessary but I think if this is what works for you in terms of sticking to your calorie defecit then great - but really the calorie defecit is all you need

I would agree.. the end result of restricting a lot of foods from your diet and focusing on whole foods, is what drove the weight loss. Also, information from documentaries should be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of it is cherry picked to sell a particular lifestyle.


For me, I focus on getting my nutrition from whole sources 80-90% of the time but still find a little room for treats. My diets include (daily) nut butters, bread (protein bagels), fruits (1-3 servings), veggies (aim for 20-30g of fiber) and meats or fish. And on occasion, chocolate, ice cream, lemon heads or muffins (my ultimate treat as compared to cake, pie, etc..).

ndj1979

ctflegal wrote: »

Mackenzie784 wrote: »

Thanks! I've opened my diary. I guess I'm mostly confused because I've done this before and now it's not working

I know exactly how you feel! i was the same way. until I had my son. once i started looking at what was in food i was DISGUSTED. I watched some food documentaries and that is what brought it all to light. the easiest way i can explain it is. if it has a commercial then don't eat it or as i like to say real food doesn't need an ingredient list. Look into something called maximized living (google it) the book is amazing and once i started doing that (clean eating) the weight just started falling off. i was making my own salad dressings and everything while working 10-12 hours a day with a 18 month old and was pregnant with baby #2.

totally unnecessary for weight loss.

just eat in a calorie deficit, use a food scale, and log in all food accurately, which OP appears to not be doing.

ndj1979

psulemon wrote: »

Are you building muscle (absolutely not). The chances of building muscle with a few machines and a lot of cardio would almost be impossible. It is very hard work to build new muscle mass, not to mention that it mainly needs to be while in a calorie surplus (grant it, there are noob gains, some abilities to recomp, or abilities to gain while being over-fat) and doing a program focused on compound, progressive overload moves.


The two biggest failures recognized on MFP.... 1. accurate logging (not using a food scale) and 2. no logging consistently.

Side note, I would drop some of the cardio to 3 days a week. Working the same muscle every day can lead to injury and exhaustion, and you make progressive gains through rest. And then I would look to do a full body lifting routine the other 3 days (pending you workout 6 days a week). This way you are improving your skeletal system and cardiovascular system. And besides, you will see better and more changes in body composition (and look) while on a good lifting program.

cosign

misskarne

ctflegal wrote: »

if it has a commercial then don't eat it

Well, that's weird, because the Australian Banana growers, the orange growers, the apple growers etc all advertise on television...

ndj1979

OP - two questions…are you eating back 100% of exercise calories? What are you using to track calories burns from exercise?