Fitness is hard

catstallings2000

Been working out the last several months, but muscle gain is balancing with fat loss, and the scale hasn't changed. Trying this to induce a calorie deficit to see real progress and keep myself accountable for my food cravings

chris_in_cal

Your food intake is a bigger and more important factor in calorie deficit to change the numbers on the scale than working out.

Work out for better overall health, strength, and well being. Adjust your food to move the scale.

springlering62

you didn’t provide us any formation to work with the help.

What’s your current weight, heigh, calorie goal, activity level?

If you’re already close to goal, say within ten or fifteen pounds, those are the hardest to lose and you may be talking a fraction of a pound per week or month.

If you’re 100 overweight, like I was, for example, the first few months should see a pound a week or more. There’s a sort of bell curve. The less you have to lose, the slower the scale will drop.

Have you really lost zero, or is that just frustration speaking and you’ve had a small loss, but not “enough”?

I’m assuming you’re a female from the name “Cat”.

Speaking as a woman, muscle gain is tedious and slow. Unless you’ve got hella genetics, I doubt muscle gain would be hiding fat loss by cancelling out the numbers.

On the plus side, good for you for beginning to work out and move.

It sorta sounds to me, barring the above, like you’ve found you maintenance number and need to adjust calorie goal from there.

Also suggest you visit the “Success Stories” board and visit the giant NSV thread, starting with post #1. That thread is about Non Scale Victories- those little wins and changes that don’t register on the scale, but show you’re making progress. That thread helped me through some trying times when I was ready to quit. I’ve ready every single one of the thousands of posts there. Good stuff!

anyway, welcome to MFP, and give us the details and the good folks here will bury you in great advice!