Eating and Training

JMR010805

I'm fairly new to all of this kind of stuff so I apologize if this is a silly question for some. For the past nine months I have been diligently working on becoming healthier. I am watching my calorie intake and going to the gym 4 days a week for over and hour, burning 500 calories on the elliptical and then doing some weight lifting for about 15-20 min after that. The first few months I was progressing at a good, steady rate of weight loss but I have been stalled for at least four months, even though I am doing the same things and I even increased my cardio. Is it possible to eat too little and exercise too much and the other way around? I would really like to get past this stall and lose another 10-15 lbs if possible, I just don't know how to go about it since this stall. TIA!

apullum

Eating too little does not cause weight loss to stop, although it has other risks.

If you're not losing fat, you're not in a deficit. Undereating isn't the problem.

You don't mention anything about your food. How many calories are you eating, and do you weigh ALL of your food using a food scale?

Increasing exercise can cause a few pounds of water weight gain, but that won't last four months after you increased your activity.

Shortgirlrunning

Are you eating your exercise calories back (you should be)? If so, are you using the machine’s calorie burn? Because those are notoriously unreliable, especially elliptical machines. So maybe try only eating half back.

Do you use a food scale? Weighing is much more accurate than using measuring cups/spoons and can make a pretty big calorie difference.

The answer is not that you are eating too little and therefor aren’t losing weight. That’s not not a thing.

dmkoenig

You may also want to introduce some variation into your workout regimen. Over time your body will adapt and get more efficient. For cardio, I'd recommend varying intensity, especially if you are working at a L2 level (where you can easily carry on a conversation). Or try spin bikes, jogging, etc. For weights, make sure your large muscle groups are getting hit, try new exercises, TRX bands, etc. The thing about exercise is it will often help tone but is usually not the main driver in weight loss so you'll probably need to tweak your diet in some fashion, not always in calories but other ways (like avoiding eating late in the evening, being careful about low glycemic carbs etc.).

apullum

dmkoenig wrote: »

You may also want to introduce some variation into your workout regimen. Over time your body will adapt and get more efficient. For cardio, I'd recommend varying intensity, especially if you are working at a L2 level (where you can easily carry on a conversation). Or try spin bikes, jogging, etc. For weights, make sure your large muscle groups are getting hit, try new exercises, TRX bands, etc. The thing about exercise is it will often help tone but is usually not the main driver in weight loss so you'll probably need to tweak your diet in some fashion, not always in calories but other ways (like avoiding eating late in the evening, being careful about low glycemic carbs etc.).

None of these things cause or hinder fat loss. Fat loss is 100% about consistently eating fewer calories than one burns.

JMR010805

I have been eating 1,200 calories per day. I do allow a small increase but no more than 1,500 on some days. I'm not weighing my food, I am just using the calorie count on the labels or the ones on this app. I haven't increased what I am eating so I don't understand how I can not be in a deficit but maybe I am eating more and don't realize it. I usually don't eat past 8 pm, though sometimes I will have a few tiny m&m's if I am craving something sweet. Yes, I am going off of the calorie counter on the machine; this is a new gym and all new machines so I was hoping they were accurate. Guess I need to look into something else to count calorie burn. I do understand the net calories and eating the exercise calories back but I don't always do that. The elliptical is the only thing I can use due to some knee issues. My Dr told me not to bend them and to only use the elliptical. I start on a level 2 and work up to a level 16-17 by the end of my workout. My body fat % is also decreasing so I am just really confused. Thank you all!

apullum

JMR010805 wrote: »

I have been eating 1,200 calories per day. I do allow a small increase but no more than 1,500 on some days. I'm not weighing my food, I am just using the calorie count on the labels or the ones on this app. I haven't increased what I am eating so I don't understand how I can not be in a deficit but maybe I am eating more and don't realize it. I usually don't eat past 8 pm, though sometimes I will have a few tiny m&m's if I am craving something sweet. Yes, I am going off of the calorie counter on the machine; this is a new gym and all new machines so I was hoping they were accurate. Guess I need to look into something else to count calorie burn. I do understand the net calories and eating the exercise calories back but I don't always do that. The elliptical is the only thing I can use due to some knee issues. My Dr told me not to bend them and to only use the elliptical. I start on a level 2 and work up to a level 16-17 by the end of my workout. My body fat % is also decreasing so I am just really confused. Thank you all!

1. Use a food scale to weigh ALL of your food. No measuring cups or spoons, no estimates. With only 10-15 pounds to lose, your deficit is very small and it would take only a few errors here and there to wipe it out.
2. Your exercise calories might be inflated. Try eating half of what the machine tells you, see what your weight does, and adjust from there.
3. Make sure you have set a reasonable pace of loss, and then consistently eat that number of calories without going over. With 10-15 pounds to lose, set MFP for a 0.5 lb/week loss and eat that number of calories, plus half the exercise calories.
4. After you make these changes, give it 4-6 weeks. With very little to lose, weight loss happens slowly and it is common to see the scale go down once every 4-6 weeks. This is especially true if you have a menstrual cycle and experience hormonal water fluctuations.

You don't need to do different exercise or more intense exercise unless you want to. You DO need to consistently and accurately track your food, staying within your calorie goal.

mds1207

I'm a young 62 yrs old, and a newer weightlifter. My current split is as follows:
Tuesday - Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Wednesday - Aerobics
Thursday - Legs, back, biceps
Thursday - Aerobics
Friday - off
Saturday - start routine over so that in one week I hit Chest... twice, the next week Legs... twice.

I also walk the dog about 30 minutes everyday (more for her than me). My question is, am I resting the major muscle group too much between lifts? I've been considering just changing to Squats, Bench, Bent Rows, Dead Lifts and Shoulder presses T, Th, and Sat. to increase strength. I guess I should mention that I've lost 36lbs (thanks MyFitnessPal) in the last year, and lost more muscle than I thought I would as I wasn't lifting at all. I would appreciate informed opinions.

Thanks!

apullum

mds1207 wrote: »

I'm a young 62 yrs old, and a newer weightlifter. My current split is as follows:
Tuesday - Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Wednesday - Aerobics
Thursday - Legs, back, biceps
Thursday - Aerobics
Friday - off
Saturday - start routine over so that in one week I hit Chest... twice, the next week Legs... twice.

I also walk the dog about 30 minutes everyday (more for her than me). My question is, am I resting the major muscle group too much between lifts? I've been considering just changing to Squats, Bench, Bent Rows, Dead Lifts and Shoulder presses T, Th, and Sat. to increase strength. I guess I should mention that I've lost 36lbs (thanks MyFitnessPal) in the last year, and lost more muscle than I thought I would as I wasn't lifting at all. I would appreciate informed opinions.

Thanks!

You will get more responses if you start your own thread, rather than changing the topic of someone else’s thread.

mds1207

Oh, sorry...didn't realize that was the protocol. thanks and I'll figure this out sooner or later!