Working out Not losing Weight, Not eating enough protein?

loy4lty86

I am new to working out after having two babies. I have been working out intensely for over 2 months.. with minimal breaks which i’m regretting now. My average calories burned has been somewhere between 600-1000 calories a day. I would take breaks on the weekends, but was really over doing it. I have not seen much movement on the scale, but I also found today I have not been consuming even close to enough protein. I would sometimes forget even to have a protein shake after my workouts, on countless occasions. Could this (lack of protein) have made me gain weight? My muscles in my legs in particular have been in pain for weeks. Is there anyway to reverse this at this point if it did lead to weight gain / hopefully just water retention? I have taken today and yesterday off from All excercise and limited myself to just walking to help my muscles relax. My measurements have not changed much either, although my clothes seem to fit better, not sure how it makes sense.

Any advice is appreciated! xo

Pearl4686

1. While excercise is great for many reasons, weight loss happens in the kitchen- you need to reduce your calorie intake.
2. It's about how much your eat, not what you eat (although some people find protein good for satiety).

Read the stickies at the top of the getting started forums, put your stats into MFP and choose a sustainable rate of loss. Then follow the instructions.
Good luck!

loy4lty86

thank you for the reply (: i have had a calorie deficit of 300-500 calories, sometimes more daily.. the only time i go over my calorie intake is on the weekends.. by 200-300 calories.

LyndaBSS

Good advice ^^^^^

When you exercise, you experience water retention as your muscles repair the microtears. It will pass unless you don't give your body any rest.

caco_ethes

LyndaBSS wrote: »

Good advice ^^^^^

When you exercise, you experience water retention as your muscles repair the microtears. It will pass unless you don't give your body any rest.

Yeah, this. When i did Insanity I actually gained over 10 lbs, despite losing a couple sizes. As soon as i hit the rest week it all fell off

Protein is important for muscle repair though, I’d definitely up your intake if you can

nooshi713

At the end of the day, weight loss is all about calories. You actually don’t even need to work out to lose weight.

Working out is great for fitness and burning more calories but if you’re overestimating your burn or your hunger is increasing exponentially, it can actually work against you.

How much do you weigh? It is extremely hard for most women to burn 1000 calories through dedicated exercise daily. Personally, I would have to work out at my maximum intensity for at least 2 hours to burn that much, and couldn’t do that daily. If you’re really doing that much, kudos, but maybe your food logging is off.

Glazed_and_Confused

What kind of exercising are you doing? Cardio, strength training, both? How many calories a day do you have your diary set to?

loy4lty86

my diary is set at 1,560 calories a day is what it recommends. i am trying to lose over 20lbs. i’m at 158 trying to get to 120. this is what most days have been looking like as far as working out, minus the weekends (see picture.) at the gym i focus the most on the stair stepper, treadmill and elliptical, but mix in weights. at home i do a mixture of everything with what i have. i usually do the stair stepper daily for a minimum of 30min but my legs have never stopped hurting since starting this.im afraid i could of overdone in.

loy4lty86

i have no idea how to tell if i’m retaining water or not. progress photos taken today.

Livhere

You look great! What are you talking about? It could just be your fat is starting to turn into muscle now which is why the # on the scale isn't moving too. If you're seeing changes in your body, but not changes on the scale, I wouldn't obsess over it too much. You look fantastic & should be proud especially after having 2 babies!

Don't push yourself too hard. It takes a lot of time before you start seeing the results you want. If you push yourself too hard you might end up hurting yourself & seeing results "fast" is never a guaranteed thing. Strength training & watching what you eat is the way to go. You might want to figure out what your target heart rate is too for your age for when you are on the oliptical or treadmill. You can google a calculator for that.

loy4lty86

thank you so much for the kind words. i was needing them today! thank you!

nooshi713

Btw, you look great. Can’t even tell you have 2 kids! 💕

loy4lty86

thank you so much!