Exercising like a madwoman, losing NOTHING

donsred
donsred Posts: 16 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on Calorie Count (CC) a few years, but they went under so I moved to MFP. I just wanted to lose about 10 pounds. I generally lose weight at 1,600 calories a day, while I bike 5 miles and do half an hour of yoga 5 days a week. But the last couple of times I've tried for several months at a time, I haven't been able to lose at that level. I tried lowering calories to 1,400 and then 1,300 average per day for 4 months on CC, and lost nothing, but made my life miserable. After joining MFP, I went back to 1,600 avg this time, and added a fitness class for 1 hour per week, 5 days a week. Nothing. So I added P90X, thinking - yes! This will do it! Not.

I'm at under 1,600 calories a day. I don't eat back my exercise calories. I exercise 90-115 mins a day, 6 days/wk with P90X and biking, and it's HARD exercise. I lose nothing. I'm not losing inches either, so I'm not just translating fat to muscle. I AM gaining muscle, but can only tell because my stamina when I go hiking is way up, not because I look any better or weigh less.

I DO use a scale to measure, and I DO enter my recipes and log exactly. And doing P90X, I simply can't eat less. I'm already exhausted, and it's hard to do the exercise routines because I lose my energy halfway through, which makes me think about eating more, but I'm not really hungry. If I'm not hungry, I can't believe I should eat more. I'm just really tired of working this hard, and staying chubby. Anyone else have an issue like this?

Female, 46 years old
146 pounds, 5'8"
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Replies

  • donsred
    donsred Posts: 16 Member
    edited July 2017
    I've been doing P90X for a month.

    Thanks for the idea Rage_Phish, but I think I'm maxing out at an hour and a half to two hours of extremely vigorous exercise a day. The mind is willing, but the body is already exhausted.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    It may also be worth measuring in places that you aren't currently measuring.

    I'm dealing with something similar -- and frustrated to the point that OK, I'm *doing* everything right (use only the Apple Watch for calorie burn, don't eat back exercise calories except on race days, and weigh *everything*), and what on earth. I thought the sports med doc I see was truly trying to make me feel better when she insisted that yes, there could be some muscle growth despite being at a small deficit. I thought she was full of it. (I went to see her after being horrified that water weight from my first half marathon was not dropping -- my BMI is on the slimmer side of healthy, so the few pounds were really screwing with my head.)

    And then I measured my thighs the other night, after seeing that I'd lost half an inch from my chest without noticing. Well, sure enough, thighs were down 1.5 inches, and my calves were down .5 inch as well. I finally bit the bullet and bought a BIA, figuring that sure, they're not perfectly accurate, but better than just hoping that I'm using the calipers correctly. (I'm using them how the instructions say, but I don't trust myself.)

    So I'm still frustrated, but at least not as frantic.
  • donsred
    donsred Posts: 16 Member
    Thanks for the input from all. Yes, I'm in the right band for my height, but my belly is frustrating me. I have a 36.5" waistline, and in photos, you can see a large muffin-top. I was shooting for 135-138. When I get there, I feel good, and my clothes fit without the muffin-top.

    Never thought to measure areas other than my middle, as that's the only place with chub. I'll give that a try - thanks. I would be more than pleased to stay this weight, if my middle turned to muscle and no longer wobbled when I walked.

    P90X is already a program heavy on weight lifting, with only a day or two of cardio a week, so I think I'm good there. I'll try calipers and measure other areas to see if that tells me I'm making progress. And hey, if not? My chihuahua loves to lay there, since my tummy is the squishy part.
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
    donsred wrote: »
    Thanks for the input from all. Yes, I'm in the right band for my height, but my belly is frustrating me. I have a 36.5" waistline

    Have you seen your doctor recently?

    I would be concerned if you have been sticking to your calories (measuring everything accurately as you say you have) for months at a time (as you say) and haven't been able to lose weight. Your waist measurement is also concerning.

    I would see my doctor.
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    If you are used to logging food somewhere other than MFP, you might want to look around the forums for some tips on finding the correct and accurate food database entries on MFP. I like MFP food logging a lot -- it works really well ONCE YOU FIGURE IT OUT -- but there's a lot of nonsense in the database and it takes some work initially to figure it out. And you can underlog by lots of calories a day if you aren't using accurate database entries.

    1. Be sure you are using cooked weight or raw / unprepared weight database entries based on when you measure your food. If you measure unprepared, use an unprepared database entry. If you measure cooked, use a cooked weight entry. You can easily underlog lots of calories based on using the wrong entry for meats or grains particularly. (e.g., 5 oz raw chicken breast might cook down to 3 oz cooked. If you weighed it cooked at 3 oz and logged 3 oz raw meat, you couldd be underlogging by 40% too few calories. 1/4 cup dry oats cooks up to 1/2 cup prepared. If you weighed out 1/4 cup dry oats and logged it as 1/4 cup prepared oats, you'd be underlogging by 50%!).

    2. Learn to recognize USDA-based entries for unprocessed ingredients (fruits, vegetables, unprocessed meats, grains, etc.). It used to be easier to identify them and MFP has been stubbornly making it harder and harder to tell, unfortunately. One easy way is to see if the drop-down menu for portion size has dozens of options lol. It's not foolproof either, but it's helpful.

    3. For processed / packaged foods, double-check the nutritional info against the package. IDK why, but lots of people have manually entered things on here that are CRAZY wrong. I see things off by 10 calories a serving or so and figure the manuacturer changed their formula, but other things are off by >100 calories. It's worth checking.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I'm another one questioning your waist measurement, are you positive? I'm 5"8 (age 45) and currently 150lbs and my waist measures 31", and i do no weight lifting at all, my only exercise is walking.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    Another data point: I'm 5'10", 185 lbs, and my waist is also 36.5".
  • donsred
    donsred Posts: 16 Member
    I uploaded two photos - maybe that will help? I swear I'm not one of those people who is skinny as a stick and complains about their weight.

    Yes, I've wondered if I should be eating more, but I'm not hungry, so that seems odd. I'll try it anyway, based on your comments. I started adding a protein shake today. P90X is high impact, high weight lifting. I avg 12% protein, 58% carb, 30% fat (from nuts, avocado, etc, not from junk). Eating vegan makes increasing protein hard, but I work on it. The shakes will help.

    I was told to measure my waist at my belly button, so if that's wrong, then yes, the measurement is wrong - but you can see from my photos that I've definitely got a spare tire that's not going anywhere.

    Also, yes, I've visited the doctor. He says not to worry about it. My cholesterol is 160, and I'm in the right weight band. I'm hypothyroid, and yes, that makes it much, much harder to lose weight no matter what. I take meds, but it's still hard. Thanks for all of your input. I really appreciate it!
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    donsred wrote: »
    I uploaded two photos - maybe that will help? I swear I'm not one of those people who is skinny as a stick and complains about their weight.

    Yes, I've wondered if I should be eating more, but I'm not hungry, so that seems odd. I'll try it anyway, based on your comments. I started adding a protein shake today. P90X is high impact, high weight lifting. I avg 12% protein, 58% carb, 30% fat (from nuts, avocado, etc, not from junk). Eating vegan makes increasing protein hard, but I work on it. The shakes will help.

    I was told to measure my waist at my belly button, so if that's wrong, then yes, the measurement is wrong - but you can see from my photos that I've definitely got a spare tire that's not going anywhere.

    Also, yes, I've visited the doctor. He says not to worry about it. My cholesterol is 160, and I'm in the right weight band. I'm hypothyroid, and yes, that makes it much, much harder to lose weight no matter what. I take meds, but it's still hard. Thanks for all of your input. I really appreciate it!

    Have you heard the phrase "skinny-fat" It means you have a relatively high BF% with a normal or low BW. Based on your pictures, that's you. And while I think your waist looks more like a 34 than a 36.5. A good strength training program will help you "lean out" without losing much more weight.
  • donsred
    donsred Posts: 16 Member
    edited July 2017
    I looked it up, and skinny-fat means that I would have a low amount of muscle, and a poor diet. I've biked 5-10 miles a day for years, and about six months ago added an hour of interval training three times week to gear up for P90X. I'm a whole foods vegan and I don't eat sugar or junk. If I'm skinny fat, I got that way on a good amount of exercise, nuts, whole grains, and vegetables, which makes no sense to me. That's just weird. Not that life isn't.

    I also see that skinny fat people tend to have "...high blood sugar, low good cholesterol, high triglycerides, inflammation, and/or high blood pressure." I have low blood sugar, normal good cholesterol, low bad cholesterol, low triglycerides, and low blood pressure. It just doesn't fit.

    Well, I won't argue that more muscle is better. I'll stick with P90X and hope that it really shows in some conversion of fat to muscle in the second and third months. Thanks for the input -
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    Time to see the doctor. At our age hypothyroidism can happen.
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