Where am I going wrong?

mrsjhb12

Hi,
I had a baby last year and haven't shifted the weight. I am a size 14 / 16. I decided to up my exercise a few months ago and attend HIIT classes 2-4 times a week depending on my availability. My fitness levels have increased loads, going from not even being able to do one full sit up to doing 30 in a row and holding a 60 second plank. I have gained muscle in places I definitely didn't have any before. Fab.
My weight is staying the same which is fine as I know muscle weighs more than fat. But my clothes are not getting any looser.
Here's a few points about my eating habits;
I have wheatabix or porridge with banana for breakfast every day.
Lunch is either leftovers from the previous evening meal or cuppa soup & crackers.
I don't snack in between meals.
I have chocolate no more than twice a week.
I have a can of diet coke 3 / 4 times a week.
Evening meal is usually a slimming world recipe. Once a week it's something quick or from the freezer as I'm home late on a Wednesday.
A couple of times a week I'll have a pudding but thats only usually banana & custard or some fruit.
I do have the occasional cake or biscuit treat.

Please can someone please tell me where I'm going wrong as I thought I would be losing inches if not weight??

Thank you in advance for any help!

Julia_yulia

What's your height and calorie goal, and do you use a food scale to measure everything you eat?

Also:

queenliz99

Are you calorie counting though? I see no mention. If you are, how accurate are you? Do you use a food scale to weigh everything?

ValerieMartini2Olives

Do you weigh your food with a food scale

diannethegeek

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

cityruss

You're eating at a maintainance level of calories.