Not Losing Despite 2-a-day workouts
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I think you need to really be diligent on your calorie tracking. Get a food scale. Check this out:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think0 -
Muscle weighs more than fat
density not weight0 -
Get a food scale. Weight everything. I am actually awaiting mine in the mail right now.
Heart rate monitor when you work out. A machine or an app has no idea really how many calories you just burned.0 -
Have you made MFP recalculate your calories after you lost the first 17 lbs? You need to every few pounds. I am 5'11, have a similar amount that I want to lose, set to sedentary (I have a desk job) and 1.5 lb loss per week, MyFitnessPal gives me 1,390 calories a day to eat. When I started here I had 1510 calories a day.0
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I know a lot of people think it's "THAT SIMPLE" and trust me you would think it would be. I'm doing almost 60 minutes of Cardio a day along with 30-60 minutes of weight lifting a day. My calories generally stay within 1600-1900. I have even tried weeks of staying between 1200-1400 and still no weight loss.
Well, there is a big gap between 1200-1400 calories per day, and 1600-1900 per day. Or at least a 200 to 700 calorie gap from end to end in that range. That can make all the difference.
I'm 6'4" and weigh 173 pounds at the moment. I set my MFP profile at "sedentary" and a goal of losing 1 pound per week. Intitially, I had chosen "lightly active" because I do stand a lot and walk around a lot at work, but that didn't result in weight loss at all as I was stagnating. So I switched it to "sedentary" and presto - the lower calorie number resulted in weight loss. I do calculate/log my workouts on a daily basis because they fluctuate rather than using the built in exercise function.
Under the category of "lightly active", and the goal of losing a pound a week - MFP suggested I eat 1930 calories per day.
Under the category of "sedentary", and the goal of losing a pound a week - MPF suggested I eat 1670 calories per day.
That's a 260 calorie difference, which again seems to be what made the difference. I average about 10-12 hours a week of exercise (cycling, weight lifting) and some days I do eat back most of the exercise calories (weight stagnates), or if I run a nice deficit with the exercise included, then the weight slowly comes off.
So I am just curious at your height, gender, and weight if your daily calorie goal (before exercise) might be set too high.0 -
Muscle weighs more than fat
How do you figure? 1 pound = 1 pound whether it's feathers or bricks!0 -
you say you repeat that exercise program. do you take rest days (at least one per week) where you do no exercise whatsoever? If not, you should google overtraining.0
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Muscle weighs more than fat
How do you figure? 1 pound = 1 pound whether it's feathers or bricks!
BY VOLUME. When ever someone says that they of course mean by volume. You never compare a pound of something to a pound of something then talk about weight. A trash bag feathers weighs a LOT less than a trash bag of bricks. My formerly fat *kitten* weighs weighed less than my currently muscular *kitten*, even though there's not much difference in size.
However, OP HAS NOT GAINED MUSCLE.0 -
1. Weigh your food. You can log until you're blue in the face, but unless you are weighing your food, it's not going to be nearly as accurate as you think it may be. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
2. Water retention. 5 weeks is a bit long for water retention.... BUT.... First you started exercising 5 weeks ago. You probably retained water from that (for muscle repair). Then you upped your exercise again (though I don't know how recently). Factor in your monthly times as well. I always retain water during ovulation and my period. All those things combined could mask anything you might have lost, and if they're all lined up, for example, (week 1)Begin Working Out/(week 2)Ovulation/(week 3)UppedExercise/(week 4)Period, etc... that would be at least 4 weeks of water retention. This may or may not apply to you, but it could happen.
Definitely start weighing your food though.0 -
I'm 5'9", 58 years old and 25 lbs too fat, mostly in my belly. Like you I was walking for miles and going to the gym constantly on top of tracking my food and after 6 weeks I hadn't lost anything. So I totally understand. Here's what I've heard. Losing weight happens in the kitchen and strength and muscle tone in the gym. This week I've lost 3 or 4 lbs. What did I do differently? I got off an anti-depressant. Could any medications you're taking cause weight gain? I just started last night walking around the block before meals, so no more gym... for now. For me, I find really working out hard is detrimental to my fat loss. I know, it makes no sense, and goes against EVERYTHING you're taught, but that's what works for me. Once I lose 20 lbs., it's back to the gym.
Good luck!0 -
Don't give up! I too had this exact problem last year. the whole "calorie deficit" didnt work for me. Nor does it work for anyone in my family. My trainer and I went carefully over my food log and exercise regimen, and I had blood work done, no explanation.
All I can say is, again, don't give up. Try a few adjustments, like adding in protein or adding in 200 calories. Maybe you are working out a little too much. My sister had luck with adding in a piece of cheese and dropping 20 min off her cardio, then the next week lost 5 lbs. I just had a baby so I'm back to trial and error again, let me know what works for you!0 -
If this is a new exercise regimen for you, than it is normal to not appear to lose weight at first. Your muscles go through a great deal of stress with such a new routine and need to repair much more in the beginning of a new routine than once you are used to it. When muscles are torn down by a lot of exercise and especially heavier weight lifting they are injured and it is our body’s natural reaction to rebuild and repair the torn muscles or damaged tissue. That is where Glycogen comes in to do the repair work. Glycogen binds to water and both are stored in the muscle tissue , because without it muscle repair is impossible, or at least very, very slow.
My guess is that that is the reason that it looks as if you have not lost any weight. Once your body is used to the new exercise, you will shed this weight ( basically water weight ) and you will be fine.
Unless you are absolutely new to exercise and/or have to lose a lot of weight ( 100 pounds or more ) it is very unlikely that you have built muscle, especially when eating at a deficit. In order to build muscle we need an energetic surplus and not the opposite. An even an ounce or two gained would not make the scale stop or be visible. Also for women weightlifters it is very, very difficult to gain new muscle mass due to our hormonal set-up and will, if it happens take a very long time . This is especially true if we are not high performance weight lifters who also unfortunately often get involved in illegal and unhealthy ways to gain muscle mass apart from eating a very specific diet.
PS: I also would suggest that for improved weight loss you look at and focus on your diet . Usually weight loss is diet related and general health & fitness is aided by exercise. If it comes down to it, for weight loss alone you would not even have to exercise....just a fact and something I personally do not approve of.0 -
Muscle weighs more than fat
How do you figure? 1 pound = 1 pound whether it's feathers or bricks!
They clearly meant in terms of volume/density, which is how we know that a feather the size of a brick still weighs less than a brick.0 -
Muscle weighs more than fat
Actually 1lb of muscle = 1lb of fat, it just takes up less space.
Actually 1 inch of muscle = 1 inch of fat, it just weighs more when comparing equal volumes.
But surely we can all agree that the OP hasn't put on enough muscle in the past 5 weeks to offset the losses she should be seeing, which makes the whole point moot in this scenario.0 -
Don't give up! I too had this exact problem last year. the whole "calorie deficit" didnt work for me. Nor does it work for anyone in my family. My trainer and I went carefully over my food log and exercise regimen, and I had blood work done, no explanation.
All I can say is, again, don't give up. Try a few adjustments, like adding in protein or adding in 200 calories. Maybe you are working out a little too much. My sister had luck with adding in a piece of cheese and dropping 20 min off her cardio, then the next week lost 5 lbs. I just had a baby so I'm back to trial and error again, let me know what works for you!
Calorie deficit works. If it didn't work for you then you are probably not eating at a deficit, maybe you are not logging everything or maybe you are not weighing your food.
Please ignore the above post as it's the 1st post ever of this user. I never trust these.
OP like others have said you are using measuring cups instead of weighing solids. Buy a food scale and that will work really good. Trust me, at the beginning I was losing but not as fast as I should've (I aimed to lose 2 a week but was losing like 1 a week) then I got my food scale and realized I was eating way more than I actually thought I was. After that my logging is very accurate and it seriously makes my life easier than estimating everything I eat. Even if the container suggest 3/4 cups of something, use the weight of the food instead of measuring it. For everything: bread, tuna, waffles, ham slices, whatever it is you eat weigh it. For liquids use measuring cups and tablespoons.0 -
Muscle weighs more than fat
How do you figure? 1 pound = 1 pound whether it's feathers or bricks!
If I cut one cubic inch of fat and one cubic inch of muscle and weigh them, the muscle will way more.
Muscle does weigh more than fat, just like a fat person does way more than a short slim person.
Weight is the effect of gravity on an object, the denser the object the greater the effect of gravity.
Taking the same weight of two things does not mean they are equal. Losing a pound of fat is a much more noticeable difference than a pound of muscle because so much more of it needs to come off to equal a pound.0 -
Muscle weighs more than fat
How do you figure? 1 pound = 1 pound whether it's feathers or bricks!
If I cut one cubic inch of fat and one cubic inch of muscle and weigh them, the muscle will way more.
Muscle does weigh more than fat, just like a fat person does way more than a short slim person.
Weight is the effect of gravity on an object, the denser the object the greater the effect of gravity.
Taking the same weight of two things does not mean they are equal. Losing a pound of fat is a much more noticeable difference than a pound of muscle because so much more of it needs to come off to equal a pound.
0 -
Muscle weighs more than fat
How do you figure? 1 pound = 1 pound whether it's feathers or bricks!
If I cut one cubic inch of fat and one cubic inch of muscle and weigh them, the muscle will way more.
Muscle does weigh more than fat, just like a fat person does way more than a short slim person.
Weight is the effect of gravity on an object, the denser the object the greater the effect of gravity.
Taking the same weight of two things does not mean they are equal. Losing a pound of fat is a much more noticeable difference than a pound of muscle because so much more of it needs to come off to equal a pound.
The previous poster spoke about weight, which means a pound is always a pound. You are mentioning volume, which is not the same as weight and therefore cannot be compared. It's like comparing apples and green beans. Apart from that you get things mixed up in general.....0 -
I can empathize - it's hard to watch so much time go by with little or no movement on the scale. But say you lose 20 pounds in a year, which is, on average, 0.38 pounds per week. You can see, that in 5 weeks time - that feels pretty negligible ( 0.38#/wk x 5 weeks = 1.9 lbs). Shoot, my weight can fluctuate that much just day to day based on water weight, etc. So I do think it's very possible that what you're doing is working....slowly. It's only been 5 weeks. Keep monitoring your intake, keep exercising and do what you can live with long term. Then give it time. Even small changes show results over time.0
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Muscle weighs more than fat
How do you figure? 1 pound = 1 pound whether it's feathers or bricks!
If I cut one cubic inch of fat and one cubic inch of muscle and weigh them, the muscle will way more.
Muscle does weigh more than fat, just like a fat person does way more than a short slim person.
Weight is the effect of gravity on an object, the denser the object the greater the effect of gravity.
Taking the same weight of two things does not mean they are equal. Losing a pound of fat is a much more noticeable difference than a pound of muscle because so much more of it needs to come off to equal a pound.
The previous poster spoke about weight, which means a pound is always a pound. You are mentioning volume, which is not the same as weight and therefore cannot be compared. It's like comparing apples and green beans. Apart from that you get things mixed up in general.....
So by your reasoning one brick weighs the same same as one feather right?0
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