I Think I’m Accidentally Body Recompositioning

Dakyrae

Hey all, I’m a 24 yo. 6’ male and I’ve been consistently working out for about 3 months now, I know that’s not a long time in regard to my overall goal of losing 70+ lbs. I workout 5-6 times a week. This consists of a 30 min warmup on the stairmaster at level 5, a cooldown/finisher on the treadmill at 10 incline & 3 speed, and weightlifting, which changes depending on the day. As of now, I have 2 cardio heavy days, 1 leg day, 1 arm & chest, 1 arm & back & 1 home workout (normally hiit and/or Pilates) while remaining in a calorie deficit with a focus on high protein. I haven’t lost any weight but my clothes are fitting better which is a plus. I’m currently 260 lbs & my goal is 190 lbs over the course of a year or two. I’m trying to stay confident and motivated but it’s really discouraging when I feel like I’m not making any progress. Am I doing anything wrong? Is there something in particular that I can improve on?

Leo_King84

You said you've just started working out. In the first 6 weeks you will easily make gains, even in a deficit because it's all new to your body and it has to adapt.

If your weight is the same but clothes fit better than you've gained muscle and lost fat. Muscle is denser and heavier than fat.

PAV8888

To begin with: hats off! At your age, I resigned myself to being obese instead of engaging in anything other than spasmodic short term attempts at getting some random "exercise" or weight loss in.

You are entering this with a commitment to progressing over a year or two... which is approximately 21 to 22 months more than anything I had the foresight to consider at your age!

So don't be a me who resigns to being obese and out of shape till you wake up at 48+

Now. Some things for you to consider: even what you're doing now is yielding results: your clothes are fitting better. And I bet you already feel stronger too.

But let's move on and consider: Optimum direction of effort, Big bang for your bucks, Pacing, and least and last... motivation.

You're talking about losing weight (70lbs). But you're mostly describing (and based on the observation that people talk the most about what they consider to be most important) you're putting most of your effort... into exercising.

Exercising is very important. And I will come back to it. But weight management is purely a numbers game. Truly. The numbers have many "gotchas" and potential issues. And the approach to hitting them is far from easy and is also full of issues and "gotchas". BUT. Longer term. Your weight 100% changes on the actual effective balance of Calories In vs Calories Out as counted by your body!

You mention staying in a deficit and focusing on protein. But in trying to lose 70lbs (actually a bit more than that) but in trying to lose a lot of weight my own paragraph regarding what I was doing re my caloric balance would be the 60+ words you used to describe your exercise. And my discussion re my exercise would be the 12 words you used to describe your eating!

Exercise is independently good. Exercise does increase calories out MAYBE. Certainly while exercising you burn more calories. But there may also be a compensatory reduction in calories out during the rest of the day because you're now a bit more tired which would decrease the net effect. NOT saying exercise bad. To the contrary. But trying to lose 70+lbs on exercise is a hard path to follow!

That said. with 70lbs to lose and a real deficit in the 250 to 500 Cal range (0.5 to 1lb a week range)... after three months you should have noticed some movement to your scale.

It may help you a lot to plug your numbers into happy scale (iphone) or libra (android) or trendweight or weightgrapher or similar, or into a spreadsheet that considers weight as a moving average.

Now. Your exercise. I will let others comment more. But to me it sounds a bit fragmented.

I am not sure how much time you're actually spending on all this over your 5 to 6 days a week. There may be ways to design a program that maximizes the benefits you get out of your gym time investment. I don't know if you had help in getting your current program designed... and I do not know enough to tell you if it sounds right other that it sounds a bit... unfocused to me!

Long term you have to be doing things that you believe you have the time and inclination to keep on doing. i.e. you should be looking for ways to lose weight and to exercise that you will keep doing afterwards when you're trying to maintain the new body you've created. Which is why I "freeze" when I see someone talking about needing to be motivated to do what they're doing now. If you need motivation it doesn't quite sound as if you've found your long term solution yet.

Do consider that many people don't actually need to go to a gym to get some basic level of cardio in. Even moderate things such as walking (especially if you're carrying your groceries!) can be "elevated" into basic cardio. And then there are clubs, groups, activities, a lot of stuff that is physical that can be done both in and out of the gym. It ALL counts. Some, of course, more so than other.

Anyway. To your "burning" question: it does sound like you may still be eating a few too many calories to notice the consistent weight loss you seem to be looking for.

Given your age and the fact that way too many people try too much, burn out, give up and enter into a negative cycle, I really do like the fact that you appear to be taking a longer term view and are willing to go at it with a slower pace approach.

But still a 0.5 to 1lb per week of body weight reduction would have you losing a good 6.5 to 13lbs over the three months. And if you're not hitting that level of weight trend change you do need to look into your caloric intake and whether you can reduce your count of calories in while still getting nutrition and satiation. Everything you eat or drink counts.

I hope to see you many posts and your successes over the next few years!

Cheers!

Retroguy2000

Weight not changing in three months means you're eating at maintenance.

Do better with your logging, i.e. everything you consume or drink that has calories, and that's your maintenance level. Then you'll want to drop 500-1,000 per day from that. With 70+ pounds to lose, you can get a lot of calorie savings just from reducing or eliminating snacks like Cheetos.

You're probably getting some noobie muscle gains. It's fine to focus more on cardio currently, though see above about the calories in part of the equation. As you saying goes, you can't out-exercise a bad diet.

I recommend you look into a more structured lifting program like Strong Lifts, and do your cardio on different days, or if same day, do it hours later. Aside from a 10-min cardio warmup before lifting I mean.

If you're lifting hard regularly with progressive overload, aim for 0.7g per pound protein, so about 180g currently.

Dakyrae

30 min on the treadmill as well*

Dakyrae

I also drink plenty of water and get plenty of sleep. I feel like I’m doing everything “right”. Maybe it’s just my body combating me?

kshama2001

From what you describe, yes, it sounds like you are recomping, and eating more than you think, which is extremely common. We can help if you let us by sharing your diary.

In the app, go to Settings > Diary Setting > Diary Sharing > and check Public.

Desktop: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

ETA: oh, it's already open, great, I'll take a look. Maybe @PAV8888 and others will take a look as well.

Second edit - no need Pav, the answer is clear.

@Dakyrae - I went back a week and see that you are clearly not logging everything. Start there

kshama2001

Something odd is going on with your exercise burns.

• On April 17, you have 370 calories for 30 minutes of walking at 2 mph. I put in your stats and gender and get 147 calories.
• However, I get 69 MORE calories for your "Stair-treadmill ergometer, general" on April 16.
• For the HIIT on April 13, I get 324 calories for 30 minutes. You got 458.

Maybe @PAV8888 and others will take a look.

PAV8888

@kshama2001 I was already responding anyway!

So yeah... basically logging is quite incomplete.

Also I notice you're logging exercise on MFP and also connecting to the apple watch. This has a high probability of confusing the poor things that are always having a hard enough time keeping track of each other!

Make life simple for your technology...

just log all calories IN on MFP.
And log all exercise and activity (calories OUT) on the apple watch/apple app what have you.

Then let the two exchange info and tell you how much to eat!

Then, assuming you've logged EVERYTHING (which "cough cough" you don't seem to be)...

compare your weight trend to your expected results over several weeks... and adjust

tomcustombuilder

At your weight you want to see the scale moving downward. Hit muscle groups 2x per week.

Keep it up you have the right attitude which is 99% of being successful

AnitaLambert

Eating clean, as natural as possible will be a huge help. I had the best results when I really logged my food, higher in protein. I've been told to eat as many grahams of protein as I want to weigh. I lost all my weight that way. Unfortunately, I've gained back because I quit logging & eating right. I am trying to get back on track, it's a daily struggle for me but hoping going back on the Premium MFP is going to help. Summer is coming & I have nothing to wear. GOOD LUCK!

Dakyrae

Thank you everyone for your kind and helpful responses. I’m going to do my best at logging more accurately and actually logging everything. What I log is pretty much what I eat in a day,I don’t log my dinner because I calculate it in my head (which is evidently not working) based on how many calories I have left. I’m only drinking water and upping my protein. It’s been 6 months and I’m stuck at the same weight, 259, even though the scale has not gone down, I am down 2 shirt sizes! I have noticed my body looking toner and fat percentage decreasing, but the number on the scale won’t budge.

Dakyrae

@kshama2001 @PAV8888 thank you two so much for taking the time out of your days to respond with such insightful and helpful responses. I will work on accurately logging everything. I’m still stuck at the same weight so obviously I’m doing something wrong. For my workouts, those numbers come from my Apple Watch, which I just read online that the Apple Watch overstates the calories burned. I’m going to focus on eating cleaner, continue to workout, and develop a better exercise routine. The routine I’m currently on was created by a trainer at planet fitness. Is there anyway that I can keep in contact with you two or add you on here? I’m still learning how to use this app.

Thank you both!

Dakyrae

@AnitaLambert thank you so much! Good luck to you as well! 😁

Dakyrae

@tomcustombuilder thank you for your response, am I doing too much resistance training?

Dakyrae

@Retroguy2000 thank you for your response, I’ll definitely look into a more structured lifting plan!

springlering62

Dakyrae wrote: »

@kshama2001 @PAV8888 thank you two so much for taking the time out of your days to respond with such insightful and helpful responses. I will work on accurately logging everything. I’m still stuck at the same weight so obviously I’m doing something wrong. For my workouts, those numbers come from my Apple Watch, which I just read online that the Apple Watch overstates the calories burned. I’m going to focus on eating cleaner, continue to workout, and develop a better exercise routine. The routine I’m currently on was created by a trainer at planet fitness. Is there anyway that I can keep in contact with you two or add you on here? I’m still learning how to use this app.

Thank you both!

It might be beneficial to you to turn on the Apple Watch adjustment.

The adjustment recalculates your calories based on the activity level you’ve selected and brings them more in line. It’s annoying as *kitten* to have it deduct calories- can feel at first like you’re being punished, but I find it to be pretty accurate after deduction.

This is how mine looks:


I’m already set at highly active, but the
Calorie adjustment automatically goes in and corrects, presumably because a lot of my steps are already incorporated in recorded calorie burns. It makes sure I don’t get double credit. My NEAT calories also tend to be low on high burn days (duh, I’m tired!) so pretty sure it takes some off for that, too.


Don’t discount the gains that you’ve made, though. You’ve lost two shirt sizes. That’s epic!

It sounds like you’ve found your maintenance calories since you’re neither gaining nor losing. You’ve got to decide if you want to cut to implement loss.

tomcustombuilder

With that much weight to lose you want the scale to be going down. There may be some muscle gain however fat pounds should be being shred more than muscle is being gained.

Always keep record of your waist measurement at the navel as this will tell you if you are losing fat or not. An inch there either lost or gainded represents around 7 lbs of fat. Your numbers may vary however if this measurement is going down very slowly or not at all you are either in too small a weekly deficit or none at all.

With 70 lbs to lose you should see a minimum of a pound a week of loss until you get a bit leaner or you'll be cutting down forever. You can go slower its a personal choice

kshama2001

Dakyrae wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your kind and helpful responses. I’m going to do my best at logging more accurately and actually logging everything. What I log is pretty much what I eat in a day,I don’t log my dinner because I calculate it in my head (which is evidently not working) based on how many calories I have left. I’m only drinking water and upping my protein. It’s been 6 months and I’m stuck at the same weight, 259, even though the scale has not gone down, I am down 2 shirt sizes! I have noticed my body looking toner and fat percentage decreasing, but the number on the scale won’t budge.

Being down two shirt sizes without any change on the scale doesn't make sense. Are the shirts the same brand and same style? How are the same pair of jeans you wore at the beginning of the year fitting now?

Next, I'm wondering about your scale. Try changing the batteries. Try weighing a 5 pound bag of flour or 10 pound bag of sugar on it. How long ago were you last weighed at the doctor? Try weighing yourself on that scale again, trying to approximate the same clothes and time of day you were last there.