What is my Problem?!

LMP1979

Problem: Just not loosing the weight. Not gaining any, but nothing's really happening.

I've always struggled with motivation and making exercise part of regular life. My daily work is very sedentary in an office setting/10-12 hrs 4 days a week, but homelife is full of being outdoors. Now, I am past the point of having to make myself exercise and motivation is no longer a problem. (Step 1 achieved - hooray!) I get home usually at 7:30 at night, try to exercise, cook dinner, relax for a few minutes and then it's already bed time. So my 10-12 hr work days with an hour commute time total on top - doesn't leave me with alot of time in my normal day.

This year, I have exercised regularly, am eating smaller portions (still working on that part - good food is tops!) but just cannot drop the lbs! (I am 5'5" and average 160lbs. I would like to weigh 145-150. Three years ago I topped at 172 and tried WW for a bit , lost 7 lbs but didn't like feeling like I was starving myself all the time.) Recently, after a 2 wk vacation of relaxing, no exercise, and eating kinda whatever I wanted, I lost 2lbs. Go figure. Now at 158 lbs.)

Early this year, my exercise started with running - was up to 1.5 - 2 miles maybe three times a week. No weight loss. Hurt a leg, took a couple weeks off and then found BodyRock.tv / Zuzana Light exercises when browsing YouTube for fitness videos. For those of you who are familiar with P90x - these workouts are very similar and high intensity interval training. The free part is what hooked me. So this is the type of exercising that I have been doing maybe 3-4 times a week for a over a month. I am working myself into being able to keep up doing the exercises as well as the instructor. Sessions I was doing were 5 minute warm up and then about 12-15 minutes high intensity = sweating. This last week, I have since changed it to 20 minutes with interval training mixed with jump roping to keep up cardio. Am I more fit since starting this? Yes. Is the fat going? Not yet.

I figure my weight issues must be equally the food I eat (need to cut out sugar mostly) and not making my exercise sessions long enough in duration. I figured with what I have been doing - healthy intake of water, smaller food portions, staying away from donuts and McDonalds at least there would be some change, but there hasn't been.

Suggestions?

LMP1979

Also, I would like to keep track of my exercises here in the log but cannot find anything that is equivalent to interval/circuit training? Ideas?

lutzsher

There is circuit training in the database, I use that to log the Shred DVD.
I had the same thing occur when I was doing vigorous exercise, my weight just didn't move. It was because I was not eating enough "clean" healthy food. I have a desk job as well, and do often put in a ton of hours. If I don't get time to exercise at all I need to eat about 1300 calories, if I do log in some decent exercise I need to eat back some of my exercise calories and get in at least 1450 calories . . . or the scale just won't move at all.
This seems to be the perfect formula for my body, you will just have to play around with your calories to find the perfect balance for you. Now that I make sure to get in the above calorie amounts I steadily lose an average of 2 pounds per week.

lotusfromthemud

Are you/have you been measuring yourself? The scale isn't the whole story. Often I don't see progress on the scale, but will be more defined and smaller. I currently weigh more than my lowest goal weight, but I'm still the same size (except my hips, which are actually measuring bigger because my butt is higher.) A helpful quote from my trainer: "once you're within twenty pounds of your goal weight and you're working out with resistance, the scale is pretty much useless as a progress tool."

Diet is the key to losing weight/losing fat...so you may want to look at your food diary and do some serious truth-telling to yourself. Too much processed stuff, sodium, sugar, and/or refined carbs can translate into no weight loss. Also, the drawback to calorie counting is that many people (I used to do it myself, terribly) under-estimate the calories they're taking in. I would cheat by "heaping" my tablespoons or cups...and that adds up. The sad, brutal truth is you can't exercise away a bad diet. (I don't know what your specific diet is, since your food diary is private).

Also, I log circuit training of the vigorous sort as "calisthenics". It's in the exercise database.

HTH.:flowerforyou:

LMP1979

Thank you for your replies! Okay, so I will be extra careful with my calorie counting. I could do better there I will admit and be more specific. And, watch processed foods. My measurements haven't budged, but I will give myself another week of exercising and watching food and check in again.

missjeannemarie

It's hard to get started, hang in there !!!! Love to hear back from you, feel free to add me as a friend to help you keep motivated

JeanneMarie

judswi

Every food I eat I write down even if is a little bit because at the end of the day it all adds up.

spaniel

Hi LMS 1979

I, too, have been having this same problem. Been on this site since Feb. logging all my measured food, exercising, etc. and have not lost one pound. I had my metabolism tested and it was really low. I also think I have been exercising too much for the amount of food I take in. So....upping my calorie intake and cutting back on the workouts a little.

I lose weight everytime we go on vacation (when I am not exercising) so that must be telling me something! This is a great website with a lot of support. Hang in there!


Judswi: Love the pic of your dogs - I have two cockers.

TateFTW

I find your loss during vacation interesting. Think about not only what you ate, but when you ate it. This, along with lower stress levels and more REST during the vacation could be the reasonos you lost.

Also, I hear you saying you "could be doing better" at this or that. Been there, done that. When I was over 300, I thought I could make small changes and I would slowly but steadily lose. No go. But when I fully committed. Holy crap, it just dropped off, and that was someone with a lot to lose. When the numbers to lose aren't so huge, it's even tougher to make the scale move.

Sorry, I know it's tough when there is so much other stuff going on.

Azdak

Basically, if you are not losing weight, there are two possible explanations:

1. You ARE losing some fat and changing your body composition, but the "non-fat" stuff has increased as well, and the scale doesn't know the difference. That's why it's really important to take some measurements before starting a program. One does not necessarily have to get an exact body fat % number. Just taking some circumference measurements provides a baseline.

2. You are remaining in an energy balance--your intake is matching your output. You cannot expend more calories than you take in and not lose fat. So, a lack of fat loss is proof of an energy balance. Why are you in balance? There can be a number of explanations, but the first and most obvious things to look at are diet and exercise. From your comments, I can see two possible areas: one, you don't seem to be monitoring your intake with as much detail as you should and two, if all you are doing is 15-20 min of bodyrock.tv, you are not doing that much exercise. I know all the purported benefits of "interval training", but that's still a relatively short period of time and, depending on your exertion levels and ability, you may not be expending that many calories, either during the workout or afterwards.

I would recommend trying to be a little more conscientious about measuring and logging food intake and switching 3 of your daily workouts to longer, medium intensity cardio workouts of 45-60 min.

Azdak

Keep in mind, everyone, that if you go on vacation, or take a break from exercising, you will often lose scale pounds. Not because you are losing fat, but because you are losing "non fat" (I hesitate to call it "lean mass" because everyone assumes you are talking about muscle).

The same short-term changes that occur when you start a program--specifically plasma volume increase, increased glycogen storage (w/some water)--also reverse themselves quickly. If you have been following a higher-volume, regular exercise program for awhile and take a week off, you will see some loss in these areas I mentioned, and it can show up on the scale. It can be a pleasant "surprise" but it can also be a false sense of progress.

This is not the only reason--if one does a lot of walking around, recreational activity, etc on vacation that might contribute as well--but it is something to be aware of. If this does occur, you can expect to see a small increase or plateau when you return to your usual routine.

LMP1979

Thanks for the great feedback!

I did think about what I did differently on vacation than my daily routine. What I think was the areas was being more moderately active throughout the day versus 10-12 hrs of sitting on the rump + the couple people I stayed with were both on either glutin free/anti-inflammatory diets or no processed sugar - overall healthier eating. Even though I had McDonalds a couple times and ate out a couple times - my food intake was much different than what I eat here at home.

I am more convinced that I need to cut back on sugars (already started cutting the carbs) and longer exercise times for the cardio. The longer exercise times will be hard for me so that will be my biggest new goal.

shipleyak

I have been having a similar issue. Two weeks ago I gained 4 lbs out of the blue. Since then I haven't been able to loose the extra weight. So this morning I decided to pull out the measuring tape again. Altough I haven't lost any lbs in the past three weeks, my waistline is an inch and a half smaller. I knew the scale had to be wrong because when I look in the mirror I can see a major difference in my body. I am starting to feel my muscles again. I think my gain is contributed to gaining alot of muscle. So, I will keep up what I am doing and hope that eventually the lbs will follow.

LMP1979

ShipleyAK - That is GREAT! And, and encouragement to hear for me, too.