Need Help

mfurches

Hello. I am 34 years old and weigh right around 160. I have been trying for a year to loose weight and have been utterly unsuccessful. I have been running at least 5 times a week, and I try to do 1 long run a week (3 - 5 miles) and the rest I just run for 25 minutes on the treadmill and go however far I can in that time frame, usually 1.5 - 2 miles. I have been counting calories and have made huge adjustments to my food. I don't eat boxed meals hardly at all anymore (Hamburger Helper, etc.), prepare fresh veggies instead of canned or frozen, and choose salads with little or no dressing and grilled meat when dining out.

The biggest issue I have is that I am a busy mom, with two jobs and two kids. I don't have the time for a gym membership, or really even much time to work out at home. The reason I run is because I can get up 2 hours before my family in the morning, and run on the treadmill. (No waking family members up) I am able to get up 6:30ish on the weekends and run outside before the rest of the world and my usual busy weekends start, which is why I can get the one longer run in. I work Mon-Fri 8 - 5 and then I have a side job that I work from home, but after dinner, dishes, baths and bed, I am usually working until 9:30 or so. When I can't run, I try to do at least 100 sit ups/crunches and lunges or something to get my body in motion and my muscles working.

I understand that muscle weighs more than fat, and I have noticed definite toning and muscle growth in my legs. Got that.
I understand that all cardio is not necessarily a good weight loss idea, as your body needs to change things up and get strength training too. Problem is, I have not equipment, and have no money or time to go anywhere that would have it.

I am only looking to loose 20 lbs. I am not here saying that I am overweight or anything like that. I just want to loose a small amount. I would be happy with just 10 lbs and fit into my clothes again. But I have been seriously working in some way or another every day for a year and I can't fluctuate more than 3 or 4 lbs every! This morning I was 158.8 on the scale. Last week I was 157.2, but that is the lowest I have been in a long time. I don't often crest more than 160.2. I just don't know what to do and am getting VERY frustrated. I know people who pick up running and almost instantly loose 10 lbs. Just because of the addition of the exercise. Makes it very hard to continue, however I certainly don't want to give up.

Sarahrahi

I have read that any one form of exercise that you do repeatedly loses efficacy as your body becomes accustomed to it, and you stop losing weight. Maybe if you have some time in the morning before your family wakes up you could look up some exercises on YouTube and do like 30-40 odd minutes in the privacy of your home. Try to look up Fitness Blender, they have lots of different exercises, cardio, strength and resistance, toning and general fat burning routines. Very efficient, short and long depending on what your schedule is like.

Changing work out would definitely help you along. Also if you aren't aiming to lose too much weight, it might be that you don't have much weight to lose to begin with. So it might take you a bit longer. The last 5-10 kgs are the hardest to lose.

Good luck....!

Cindyinpg

Have you been using a digital food scale and logging your intake consistently?

WhiteRabbit1313

Are you adding your exercise calories back in? I.e.: Are you giving yourself extra calories, "earned" from exercise, past your weight loss calorie budget?

rose313

I think that's great that you make time to run! Do you have a food scale? Maybe you're not portioning accurately, or maybe your body's just gotten so used to the exercise it's time to change it up. Also, you don't need equipment to strength train. You can use the resistance of your own body.

MinnieInMaine

You don't necessarily need a ton of equipment to do strength training, especially in the beginning. You're already doing some body weight exercises but you can expand on your routine a little. Google online for ideas (squats, lunges, push-ups, sit-ups, planks, dips) and see if you can get a copy of You Are Your Own Gym from your library. Also, there's always DVD routines. Many are on YouTube so you can check them out before investing in your own DVD. 30 Day Shred is pretty popular. I also like Jillian's No More Trouble Zones and the workout DVDs by Bob Harper.

Light hand weights don't cost much but you could always use gallon jugs instead - filled to the top, they weigh about 8 pounds but of course you can always fill them part way at first if that's too much. Use these for bicep curls, overhead presses, etc.

With only 20 pounds to lose, make sure your weekly weight loss goal is only set to 1/2 a pound, 1 pound at the very most. And eat back earned exercise calories. Ditto on the food measuring question/advice above.

9jenn9

I'll echo some of the above advice. Measure and weight all your food. Count everything that enters your mouth. I think it's just fine to eat back exercise calories, as long as you are sure you burned the amount you think you did. The mfp and treadmill estimates are very high. I use a heart rate monitor ( which isn't perfect, but much more realistic than mfp/machine estimates). I usually burn only 2/3 what the treadmill/mfp tells me. A heart rate monitor is to measuring exercise calories, what a scale is to measuring food.

Also, there are so many things you can do on a treadmill to torch calories. You can jog along at your usual pace and only burn a few calories (as someone mentioned, your body gets efficient at exercise and uses less energy) or your could do hill repeats, high intensity intervals, etc. I use my hrm to keep track of how hard I'm pushing myself. I'll spike my heart rate with hills or sprints for a minute, then a slower run for 2 minutes.

There are different ways to keep yourself challenged and make the most of your limited time!

Mokey41

Exercise is for fitness, don't count on it for weight loss. I actually gained weight when I started training for a half marathon. Your weight loss will come from really watching your food intake and if you're eating back your exercise calories now I'd stop doing it.

Also how are you measuring those calorie burns? Without a HRM you're probably getting exaggerated numbers because if it's something you do everyday your body will have gotten very efficient at it and the machine or an online calculator won't know that. As your fitness increases the calorie burn goes down.

WhiteRabbit1313

Exercise is for fitness, don't count on it for weight loss. I actually gained weight when I started training for a half marathon. Your weight loss will come from really watching your food intake and if you're eating back your exercise calories now I'd stop doing it.

^^Agreed^^

mfurches

Thank you all for the advice and ideas. Where do you get a food scale? I am not currently weighing my food, so maybe my numbers are off track some. I am actually trying to not eat back all of my earned calories with the thought that the counts may be high given it is an exercise that is not a "new" exercise for me. I appreciate the encouragement and will keep at it.

Hildy_J

You can get cheap food scales on ebay - search 'kitchen scales'. Those little, coloured measuring spoons come in handy, too - £1 from Asda, in the UK... Walmart in USA I think?

Also... wow - kids, jobs, running! Impressive work. :flowerforyou:

WhiteRabbit1313

Thank you all for the advice and ideas. Where do you get a food scale? I am not currently weighing my food, so maybe my numbers are off track some. I am actually trying to not eat back all of my earned calories with the thought that the counts may be high given it is an exercise that is not a "new" exercise for me. I appreciate the encouragement and will keep at it.

I got a great food scale at Costco for $20. I'm sure you can find them on Amazon, too. You will be amazed at how much you can have of some things and how little you can have of others. I was!

Cindyinpg

Thank you all for the advice and ideas. Where do you get a food scale? I am not currently weighing my food, so maybe my numbers are off track some. I am actually trying to not eat back all of my earned calories with the thought that the counts may be high given it is an exercise that is not a "new" exercise for me. I appreciate the encouragement and will keep at it.

I got a great food scale at Costco for $20. I'm sure you can find them on Amazon, too. You will be amazed at how much you can have of some things and how little you can have of others. I was!

Yeah, like ice cream and peanut butter. :sad:

bf43005

Try changing it up a bit. Do you have a bike? With kids you could do a family bike ride around the neighborhood. That's great cardio. Swimming? I know for my area it's getting late in the year for that type of outdoor activity but that's something to keep in mind for the warmer months. I live by a lot of lakes/ponds/rivers so it's easy to find a place to swim. Good luck!

TheFatGoesInRoom101

You end up being able to eat more pasta and rice than you think.....but a hell of a lot less cheese!!!! (About enough to feed a small mouse).....Measuring calorie intake is very important and I don't eat back my calories (unless I'm on holiday when I don't mind maintaining my weight a bit).....It frustrates everyone though when I get out the weighing scales for everything but after a while you can judge reasonably easily by sight alone those foods eaten on a regular basis (and of course, MFP keeps them in your food log for re-use which is so handy)....