It's just not working

wkhauser

Have you been taking measurements? sometimes the scale isn't the best indicator. I haven't lost much weight doing T25. But I have lost inches and I can tell my cardio endurance has improved a lot. double check your diet and see if you are eating the correct calories and not a lot of crap instead of protein and veggies. do not give up!! good things take time.

Fullsterkur_woman

for 89 days? I've yet to find anyone who can retain water that gives them noticeable weight gain for 89 days. Anorexics are incredibly stressed and can have high levels of cortisol, but if they eat at a calorie deficit, they will lose weight. Starving people are pretty stressed out, I'm sure. They still die.

They also have edema.

I agree with you that they probably were not eating at a calorie deficit, but it is certainly possible to retain extra water due to working out for that long. I'm going to go get my average calories between the end of September and the end of the year. I'm pretty sure I was exhibiting this edema, because my scale weight stayed relatively constant (measurements didn't really go down either) until the end of the year, when I ate more over the holidays. Then when I went back to my normal habits after New Years, I dropped about 6 pounds and the body fat percentage on my scale shifted down suddenly.

The numbers work out to a TDEE of 1940 calories with an hour of exercise per day for a 5'7" woman who weighs about 180. That's really not reasonable, so I know that I am just retaining water. The 90 days prior to that, with the same exercise, I lost 8 pounds and the TDEE works out to 2250, which is far more reasonable, and within less than 50 calories of what my BodyMedia Fit armband reports.

I'm still in general agreement with you, but I just wanted to point this out for the people out there freaking out over water weight gain/retention.

janeite1990

I'm in the same boat. Thanks for the post, OP, because reading this thread is keeping me motivated!

parkscs

No, no, no. Just no. It doesn't matter what kind of food OP is eating, as long as there is a calorie deficit, weight will be lost. You CANNOT build muscle while eating at a deficit!

Probably better to add an asterisk next to CANNOT, as that's not unequivocally true, but I do agree it's unlikely the OP is adding muscle on a caloric deficit.

As for the OP, you may want to make a minor adjustment to your routine if you've been stalled for a significant period of time. You say you're eating back all of your exercise calories - perhaps bump that down to ~60% of your exercise calories and see how that works out. While a caloric deficit is ultimately how you lose weight, it's nigh impossible to pinpoint your exact caloric intake and your exact caloric expenditure every day with 100% accuracy - some experimentation may be in order.

Francl27

Probably water weight, I agree. Just in case though, I'd eat less than what your HRM tells you. They're not always 100% accurate, plus you have to remember that some of that number is part of your TDEE too (what you would normally have burned sitting in the same time, for example). So you can probably remove 100 calories for that.

staceypunk

Hi OP, I just wanted to share that Insanity did not do good things for me. You can try cutting your exersize calories in half, but I found that I was pretty ravenous while doing Insanity and I NEEDED the calories. I also heard that people start to drop weight during the second month so I held on and quit the program just 6 days shy of completion. It was just not for me. I did not have great results, though in all fairness I lost the bulk of my weight previously doing 5 months of Jillian Michaels's DVD's. Don't know if you are happy with Insanity or not but if you don't like it I say look for something else. I put so much pressure on myself to do it because I wanted props to know I could do Insanity. Well, OK, I did it but it made me miserable. Have you ever tried Jillian Michaels stuff? Her workouts just agree with me. I love to do them and they make my body look dope.

BecciJoWilding

Most likely, you just arent doing things properly. Not recording strictly enough and not being honest. This 'its not working'. 'It', whatever it is, is to blame, and not yourself.

I weigh and measure everything. Even with eating out, I'll bring it home and weigh it if I can. I eat a piece of gum, I put it down. EVERYTHING gets put down and I don't taste or lick fingers while cooking

Lesa_Sass

Most likely, you just arent doing things properly. Not recording strictly enough and not being honest. This 'its not working'. 'It', whatever it is, is to blame, and not yourself.

I weigh and measure everything. Even with eating out, I'll bring it home and weigh it if I can. I eat a piece of gum, I put it down. EVERYTHING gets put down and I don't taste or lick fingers while cooking

Just give my recommendation a try, even with all the negative comments about how evil clean eating is. Just give it three weeks, thats it.

BecciJoWilding

I did take pictures and measure. My waist does look a little smaller, but I haven't remeasured. Maybe it's time to re measure I really do think it's just water weight, I was just soooo frustrated this morning and after doing my workout this morning I am feeling better. Yesterday when I burned 700 calories so I had to eat close to 2000, it was too much for me to eat. I was full all day, but forcing myself to eat my calories. Maybe I should try to eat calories back, but also listen to my body and only eat them when I feel hungry to eat them. And the posts about cleaning up my diet, I do try to eat healthy regularly (I have been eating out a lot lately because of travel and family in town, but I Really don't usually do that) I eat all 100% whole wheat stuff, lean meats, reduced fat dairy, and lots of protein. I don't want to be on a strict diet that I can't have ice cream or some sweets. I Do have chocolate almost everyday, but it's not a lot. I've tried strict diets a lot in the past and I do good for awhile until I feel so deprived that I binge and binge and binge. I am trying to do this in a way I could eat the rest of my life and frankly I just wouldn't last on a diet without some sweets. I'm learning moderation. I'm not one to wear a bikini in public, only in private for my husband, so I'm not worried about showing off my body. I won't do any body competitions, I just want to lost the last little bit to be in the middle of my healthy range and to feel good about myself. If I was out to compete I would be stricter about the type of calories I eat. I want this to be a life style not a fad diet.

martyqueen52

I did take pictures and measure. My waist does look a little smaller, but I haven't remeasured. Maybe it's time to re measure I really do think it's just water weight, I was just soooo frustrated this morning and after doing my workout this morning I am feeling better. Yesterday when I burned 700 calories so I had to eat close to 2000, it was too much for me to eat. I was full all day, but forcing myself to eat my calories. Maybe I should try to eat calories back, but also listen to my body and only eat them when I feel hungry to eat them. And the posts about cleaning up my diet, I do try to eat healthy regularly (I have been eating out a lot lately because of travel and family in town, but I Really don't usually do that) I eat all 100% whole wheat stuff, lean meats, reduced fat dairy, and lots of protein. I don't want to be on a strict diet that I can't have ice cream or some sweets. I Do have chocolate almost everyday, but it's not a lot. I've tried strict diets a lot in the past and I do good for awhile until I feel so deprived that I binge and binge and binge. I am trying to do this in a way I could eat the rest of my life and frankly I just wouldn't last on a diet without some sweets. I'm learning moderation. I'm not one to wear a bikini in public, only in private for my husband, so I'm not worried about showing off my body. I won't do any body competitions, I just want to lost the last little bit to be in the middle of my healthy range and to feel good about myself. If I was out to compete I would be stricter about the type of calories I eat. I want this to be a life style not a fad diet.

I can promise you it's water weight. I mean, do you REALLY think you ate 3,500 calories to gain a pound of fat? No, I don't think you did.

Anyways, clean eating or "if it fits your macros" eating works.... as long as it fits in your calories. You can get fat off of oatmeal and chicken as easy as you can with pop-tarts and twinkies. I just prefer IIFYM so I don't have a binge day like a lot of bodybuilders and eat WAY over my calories on foods I crave.

BecciJoWilding

I can promise you it's water weight. I mean, do you REALLY think you ate 3,500 calories to gain a pound of fat? No, I don't think you did.

Anyways, clean eating or "if it fits your macros" eating works.... as long as it fits in your calories. You can get fat off of oatmeal and chicken as easy as you can with pop-tarts and twinkies. I just prefer IIFYM so I don't have a binge day like a lot of bodybuilders and eat WAY over my calories on foods I crave.

Totally agree and thanks

Binkie1955

I looked at your daily goal and your carb count goal is 176. take it to 100. you're retaining water.

jonnythan

I looked at your daily goal and your carb count goal is 176. take it to 100. you're retaining water.

Why should she care about retaining water?

chopper_pilot

accept the fact right now, that this is going about a year at least.

so dont get so hung up on a loss/gain that is the equivalent of a potato.

:flowerforyou:

tbsttbst

I wouldn't fret about a few pounds fluctuation.. weighing in morning and at night I'm at least a few pounds heavier than average EVERY morning, 100%.

Maybe try cutting back the calories you eat back, most especially if you feel full.

I say that because I think a few calculations for exercise calories that I use primarily are overestimated.
Such as golfing, skateboarding, etc.. I honestly think they are way higher than they should be.
But this is expected as everybody uses their stored energy a bit differently.. and people exert themselves at different levels.

Just keep on truckin'.
I know they are not helping, but I've had "sweets" myself.
By treating myself to some beer as a reward for having a healthy diet and exercising.

The only time I fall out is when I lose motivation, and the best motivation is results! You just need to break into that cycle.

Best of luck,

sweetpea03b

1) Water weight. You would have to consume an extra 7200cals in a 2 day period to gain 2 lbs. I seriously doubt that is the case. This is going to sound weird... but for me... I can tell when I'm retaining water because of my "squishy fat". My tummy is more "squishy" than it normally is.... so I drink a TON of water and get a good sweating workout in.... watch my sodium for a few days and It'll go down.
2) I weigh myself everyday... but I only record it once a week. Your weight will naturally fluctuate from day to day.
3) Have you done your BMR/TDEE calculations? Make sure your goal is on track. MFP tells me I should be eating at 1300/day but I've found that it is too low for me to lose. I upped it to my BMR (1500) and don't eat back exercise calories and I'm losing consistently. (it should also be said that I do very little cardio. My main workout is NROLFW 3x/week with an occasional walk during the week; I also limit my simple carbs to once/day)
4) Get a fitbit to help you track your daily burn. It has helped me TREMENDOUSLY over the last 3 months where I'm losing every week.

Good luck!

dawnrenee101

I think that the first thing you should do is stop obsessing over your weight. Only weigh yourself once a week...same day same time if possible. Stick to that. Keep up the exercise and the healthy eating plan, but if you stray and have a cookie once in a while the world will not end and pillars will not crumble. I have found over the years will all of the plans that I have tried, the moment that I started freaking out if the scale didn't move down was the moment that my plan started to fail. Also keep a better eye on the mirror than the scale. If your clothes are fitting better and your body looking better then your doing the right thing.

heatherak

My guess is it is just water weight. Try to give the scale a rest and trust the process. Make sure you use the calculations in the literature you received with Insanity for caloric intake. I did not lose a lot of pounds during my first round of Insanity, but I did drop inches. Don't let your weight be the only indicator of how you feel about your body.

Keep up the good work! That workout is bananas and month 2 is killer.

_Calypso_

I'm 5'3. I am at the high end of the healthy weight, my goal is 125 so I'm in the middle of my healthy range. I weigh and measure everything when I am at home and when I eat out, I always look at the website before going out and deciding what I am going to eat before getting to the restaurant. It's just frustrating because it's been over a month and I am now 1 pound heavier than I started. I also eat all my exercise calories back to net 1300. I am doing insanity so last month it was eating back about 350 calories. Yesterday I ate 700 exercise calories cause they had us doing a double workout with the fit test plus the workout for the day. I wear a hrm with a strap that tells me how many calories I burn

Do you use a HRM? If not MFP over estimates calories burned. If you do use a HRM, don't use it for weights... steady state cardio only. You can wear it for weight lifting, but the calories burned will only be a guesstimate of what you burned as your heart rate fluctuates so much. ** Edited to see you do use a HRM. Make sure you log cardio only.

Take pictures, measure your body (might not lose weight, but may lose inches), keep at it. ALso have you figured your BMR? You need to NET your BMR, so you may be able to eat back only 1/2 your exercise calories. But you need to make sure all your numbers are adjusted correctly.

Don't give up... you don't have much to lose so the weight will come off slow. Its only been a month. Stat strong and focused!

trospert

Just an idea, but go to a nutritionist. Go to your doctor and get your resting metabolic rate taken. If it's seriously a concern for you, you should get information based on your own body, not the "averages" to best leverage results. Get a blood panel done, if you haven't already, and see if anything is off, such as thyroid, sugars/glucose and everything else. If all comes back good/healthy/normal, than you need to just focus on being healthy & keeping your weight at a healthy place by eating right and working out. Good luck!