4 weeks of running and NO results?!

jacksonpt

You don't have to push yourself harder and harder to see weight loss, nor do you have to push yourself harder and harder to burn more calories. Your ability to consume oxygen - and therefore burn calories - increases with training. So as you push yourself harder and harder you burn more and more calories.

Weight loss is about calorie deficit, not how hard you push yourself while running. If you're not losing weight, you are *eating* too much.

I assume there's a type-o in there?

First you say:
nor do you have to push yourself harder and harder to burn more calories

Then you say:
So as you push yourself harder and harder you burn more and more calories

jonnythan

You don't have to push yourself harder and harder to see weight loss, nor do you have to push yourself harder and harder to burn more calories. Your ability to consume oxygen - and therefore burn calories - increases with training. So as you push yourself harder and harder you burn more and more calories.

Weight loss is about calorie deficit, not how hard you push yourself while running. If you're not losing weight, you are *eating* too much.

I assume there's a type-o in there?

First you say:
nor do you have to push yourself harder and harder to burn more calories

Then you say:
So as you push yourself harder and harder you burn more and more calories

Whoops, my bad. I meant to say that you don't have to push yourself harder and harder to keep burning just as many calories. It's early.

Holly_Roman_Empire

In my opinion, running is not a very good exercise to change your body composition (assuming you're already at a reasonable weight). If that is your REAL goal, instead of losing weight, do some weight training.

Mischievous_Rascal

You're eating very little, if your diary is correct. With so little to lose, you should set your goals to .5lb/week. It will come off slowly.

at 5'9 145, I maintain just fine on 2200-2400 a day (this includes running about 20 miles a week, I up my calories to account for more miles). But you have to measure everything, with a scale, not by dry measure.

Very good advice.

michellekicks

OP is doing walk/run intervals... certainly not the kind of endurance cardio that can produce negative results like muscle catabolism so for those saying running isn't good for weight loss... that notion comes from regular long-distance steady-state cardio, not this.

OP, get more accurate with your tracking. You could be eating right near maintenance and/or this new activity still has you maintaining some water weight. But if you do eat too little, you will lose lean mass without any cardio at all, too... so you have to balance things out. If you only have a little to lose, as others have said, you need to go slow.

D8vidFitness

You don't have to push yourself harder and harder to see weight loss, nor do you have to push yourself harder and harder to keep burning the same number of calories. Your ability to consume oxygen - and therefore burn calories - increases with training. So as you push yourself harder and harder you burn more and more calories.

Weight loss is about calorie deficit, not how hard you push yourself while running. If you're not losing weight, you are *eating* too much.

Sorry but, intensity DOES have a huge factor correlating with calories being burned. Each person burns calories at a different rate. I will burn more calories doing the same workout comparing to someone who is more fit than I'm doing the same workout because what may be moderate intensity for him, is considered higher intensity for me.

You will not burn the same calories doing the same thing over and over because your body adapts and increases aerobic capacity. This is call plateau, you will initially lose more weight, make more gains, etc. in the beginning, progress diminishes as time goes on, people either have to push extra hard to see result, or those who are in the bodybuilding industry who've been lifting for years, result to steroids.

If you can do the same thing over and over to gain result, you will see everybody in the gym, lifting the same weight, and people on treadmills, running the same duration, day-to-day.

Best wishes.

jonnythan

Nope. The adaptation allows you to burn more calories by increasing your VO2max and allowing you to go harder, faster, longer.

NoxDineen

Zipperfall,

Your ticker on your profile page seems to indicate you are trying to lose 37 pounds. Am I misreading that? If your current weight is 147, you would be 117 at 5 ft.7. That sounds underweight for your height.

I'm 117 at 5'8" and on paper it's a bit too low, but it's just my body type (although I did drop to an alarming weight right when I went vegan, but learning how to actually cook fixed that). It's possible it's a healthy goal for Zipperfall too.

accendo

I'd be trying some free weight training, there are a lot of programs around for beginners. I have a lot more weight to lose than you and I started the stronglifts 5x5 a couple of weeks ago, I'm really enjoying it and seeing some nice strength and muscle gains.

angie007az

Dump anything with sugar in it. Sugar will stop weight loss in it's tracks. Lower carbs.
Eat more veges and lean meat or fish. It's 85% diet. Exercise is good but it really is secondary to your diet. Good luck.

Mr_Knight

So, I've been running (er, attempting!) 5 days a week for the past month and I've seen NO results (well, physically speaking). I started out only being able to run for only 30 seconds, and now I run for 1 n 1/2 minutes, walk for 1 n 1/2 minutes, repeat for 30 minutes.

How far do you actually run? Fifteen minutes on a 12 minute mile is about 1.5 miles. That's going to burn a net of 1 calorie per pound of body weight.

IE, not very much.

Sabine_Stroehm

You're eating very little, if your diary is correct. With so little to lose, you should set your goals to .5lb/week. It will come off slowly.

at 5'9 145, I maintain just fine on 2200-2400 a day (this includes running about 20 miles a week, I up my calories to account for more miles). But you have to measure everything, with a scale, not by dry measure.

Very good advice.

Yes. This. I'm roughly your height, roughly your weight and over twice your age (therefore I "need" fewer calories). I run three or four times a week. I eat about 1000 calories MORE a day than you do if you're logging as accurately as you say. And about three or four times as much protein.

ETA: as others have said...you have very very very very little to lose. Aim for .5LBS a week for those last FEW pounds.

Mr_Knight

Sorry but, intensity DOES have a huge factor correlating with calories being burned. Each person burns calories at a different rate.

If you run X miles while weighing Y pounds, you are going to burn almost exactly the same number of calories regardless of how fit you are or how "hard" it feels you exerted yourself.

What fitness allows you to do is cover more time (i.e. more calories) in less time.

You will not burn the same calories doing the same thing over and over because your body adapts and increases aerobic capacity.

Yep, you will, to a very high degree of accuracy.

jonnythan

Dump anything with sugar in it. Sugar will stop weight loss in it's tracks. Lower carbs.
Eat more veges and lean meat or fish. It's 85% diet. Exercise is good but it really is secondary to your diet. Good luck.

Come on. Are you kidding? Sugar will not stop weight loss.

WhataBroad

While you didn't say what results you are looking for, I'm guessing that you're looking to lose fat.

If that's the case, here's an excellent site (free), and article.

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

I promise that if you follow what it says, you WILL lose fat!!

Good Luck.

awesome article!
/thread

donjessop

To the women who are targetting "underweight" according to BMI, I only have one question: why?

Although this is only my personal opinion, if you are in the normal weight range and you want to look smaller, build up your muscle mass. A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat and takes more calories to keep it working properly than a pound of fat. When you are in the normal weight range you should be concentrating on becoming healthier, not necessarily lighter. My daughter is 5ft 5 inches tall and weighs 112 pounds. She is 12 years old. She has a lot of growing left to do and I anticipate her weight to continue to climb. Healthy wins over weight every time. Eat LOTS more protein to build that muscle and you will look smaller and feel better.

angie007az

Dump anything with sugar in it. Sugar will stop weight loss in it's tracks. Lower carbs.
Eat more veges and lean meat or fish. It's 85% diet. Exercise is good but it really is secondary to your diet. Good luck.

Come on. Are you kidding? Sugar will not stop weight loss.

That is my experience, and research shows that if sugar is present, your body will burn that instead of the fat that you are trying to burn off. It will slow weight loss for 3 days according to what I've read.

jonnythan

Dump anything with sugar in it. Sugar will stop weight loss in it's tracks. Lower carbs.
Eat more veges and lean meat or fish. It's 85% diet. Exercise is good but it really is secondary to your diet. Good luck.

Come on. Are you kidding? Sugar will not stop weight loss.

That is my experience, and research shows that if sugar is present, your body will burn that instead of the fat that you are trying to burn off. It will slow weight loss for 3 days according to what I've read.

This is completely false and nonsensical. Please don't repeat this misinformation.

Sabine_Stroehm

Dump anything with sugar in it. Sugar will stop weight loss in it's tracks. Lower carbs.
Eat more veges and lean meat or fish. It's 85% diet. Exercise is good but it really is secondary to your diet. Good luck.

Come on. Are you kidding? Sugar will not stop weight loss.

That is my experience, and research shows that if sugar is present, your body will burn that instead of the fat that you are trying to burn off. It will slow weight loss for 3 days according to what I've read.

How do you know your body is burning sugar rather than fat? And citations for this very iffy information please?
PS: I don't eat foods with added sugar, and yet I disagree with virtually everything you've typed thus far.

puckertoe

I cycled across europe this summer.... came back just as fat (200lb 5'3'')as I went! I agree its the carbs... through portugal and Spain I actually lost a bit round my middle. In France I succumbed to Carbs for every meal and paid the price. I am definitely fitter and now have just gone on a Keto low carb diet a couple of weeks ago and so far dropped 6lb.
In the past I have been an ultr runner and triathlete even then struggled to keep the fat off, that was 20 years ago when we where told to eat high carb and low fat.... For me personally I think I would have run, cycled and swam much better on a LCHF diet.
So don't dispair, have a crack at experimenting with what works for you.. I've gone for 80% cals from fat and feel better than I have for 15 years amd out on my mountain bike 4 times a week and you just cant hold me down now.