Exercise slowing my weight loss

aleehagen
aleehagen Posts: 41 Member
Hello, I wanted to open the discussion on this topic as it's been an interesting month as I've tried to figure out what is going on with my weight loss. I hit a plateau back in Feb/March and was trying anything to help me break it. I began walking 2.5 miles in the morning and then up to 3.5 miles. It helped, I assume, though I also started IF'ing. Not sure which helped more. But the interesting thing that I noticed was I wanted to start jogging, and once I did that my weight loss changed over to an up and down pattern, I originally lost 6 pounds in one week, then back up 4, down and then up and now am back down to the weight I was when I had that 6 pound whoosh of weight loss. I know my legs were sore from the walk/jog and was undoubtedly building muscle, and I realize that without a body fat scan it's really hard to tell what was going on, but could it be muscle building that is causing the weight fluctuation? The past 2 weeks I essentially quit working out entirely and am seeing losses each week! I'm not entirely concerned with the cause of this, just curious if others have seen similar results.

For the record, I'm 31/m/5'10"/223, I have a fairly active job as a chef and am routinely on my feet for 10 hours a day, I often hit 15k-20k steps on my fitbit tracker, more when I walked each morning. I set my goals at 2140 cals, 178g fat, 107g protein, 27g carb.

Replies

  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
    Its most likely water retention, i observe the same in my racing season. When I am running races, my weight goes up and down, usually up after a race. Body retains water to repair the wear and tear, when you give it rest, the water is released. Its very unlikely, you have gained ton of muscle doing jogging, running or cardio. Now, if you started resistance training, you will probably see some muscle gains. I usually see less Fat burn in my racing season, which is lot of cardio.
  • Semifredo
    Semifredo Posts: 63 Member
    I have the same issue, when I work out really hard I lose very little
  • snoopyjet
    snoopyjet Posts: 82 Member
    I guess that's the issue with me too. I workout almost every day (cross fit, weightlifting, running) and I didn't lose nothing the last 2 months. Well I hope this will change soon. I’m also a bit discouraged because I think I even gained (and I don't mean muscle). MY trained said I shouldn’t do keto with crossfit and I started to doubt myself and my decisions. It just sucks. *sight*
  • aleehagen
    aleehagen Posts: 41 Member
    I normally only weigh in once per week (Tuesday mornings because that's my Saturday) but I was curious as to what is happening this week, for the past two days I've been doing IF with just one big meal in the morning before work (previously it was 14-16 hours of fasting, now it's more like 22), 3 pound loss in 2 days... I am trying not to express premature jubilation, but that sure is something! I also haven't walked/jogged at all this week aside from work.
  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
    I guess that's the issue with me too. I workout almost every day (cross fit, weightlifting, running) and I didn't lose nothing the last 2 months. Well I hope this will change soon. I’m also a bit discouraged because I think I even gained (and I don't mean muscle). MY trained said I shouldn’t do keto with crossfit and I started to doubt myself and my decisions. It just sucks. *sight*

    Why did your trainer say that?
  • SnowFlinga
    SnowFlinga Posts: 124 Member
    Exercise for health. Don't look to exercising to lose weight; that's predominantly handled through diet alone.
  • aleehagen
    aleehagen Posts: 41 Member
    Exercise for health. Don't look to exercising to lose weight; that's predominantly handled through diet alone.

    Yes, I know this, and it seemed to have stalled my weight loss. I've read Taubes.
  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
    Taubes is a great guy and top evangelist for low carb diets. But, he is not a Dr like Phinny, Volek and Attia. Resistance Training irrespective of diet (low carb, low fat) is the fastest way to burn fat. Yes, the low carb+Resistance training gives you the best results but in most cases low fat+ Resistance training trumps just a low carb diet. I don't even want to talk about the results of a low fat diet with no exercise, obesity rates in the U.S is enough.
  • SnowFlinga
    SnowFlinga Posts: 124 Member
    I agree with Leonidas - yes, resistance training is absolutely proven to be great for fat loss. However, that wasn't the question. It was about weight loss. So maybe we should always assume that weight loss implicitly means fat loss, but that's not how I take it; there's a difference in my view. I haven't lost much weight at all lately, but my body composition and measurements are changing for the better. I started hitting the resistance training hard about 6 weeks ago and what I'm experiencing now is excellent strength gains and fat loss, but the scale is barely moving.
  • Shaselai
    Shaselai Posts: 151
    I used ankrl calculator and got a summary of your current stats:
    27 g Carbohydrates (5%, 108 kcal)
    108 g Protein (20%, 432 kcal)
    178 g Fat (75%, 1602 kcal)
    so total caloric intake is ~2142 lets just say 2200
    Assuming lightly active you are expending ~2700 calories so you have daily deficit of 500 X7 = 3500 or a pound a week.
    The thing about water weight which i have experienced is it can be a 2-3 pound swing. Case in point last saturday i was 3 lbs heavier than sunday morning and there's obviously no way i could exercise that much nor excrete that much weight off. So i think it is *possible* that you might be losing ~a pound but the water weight is making it look like you are gaining... regardless you should see a decline eventually though...


    It is also pretty interesting that I am almost exactly in the same stat category as you - 32, 5'9, 221(was 297) and i do zumba everyday with an office job. I do however eat half caloric intake as you though... You could try decreasing your caloric intake by 500 - even if you do you still be in the "safe zone" of losing 2 pds a week....
  • snoopyjet
    snoopyjet Posts: 82 Member
    I guess that's the issue with me too. I workout almost every day (cross fit, weightlifting, running) and I didn't lose nothing the last 2 months. Well I hope this will change soon. I’m also a bit discouraged because I think I even gained (and I don't mean muscle). MY trained said I shouldn’t do keto with crossfit and I started to doubt myself and my decisions. It just sucks. *sight*

    Why did your trainer say that?

    He said that I need at least a little carbs around the WOD and CF. That my body is running on cortisol and adrenalin and that is why there is no change. That is not the problem if I train 4-5X a week but it's the nutrition.
    IDK, I'm sticking to low carb as it helps my craving and binging. As for the body composition I'm aiming for patience right now :)
  • aleehagen
    aleehagen Posts: 41 Member
    I used ankrl calculator and got a summary of your current stats:
    27 g Carbohydrates (5%, 108 kcal)
    108 g Protein (20%, 432 kcal)
    178 g Fat (75%, 1602 kcal)
    so total caloric intake is ~2142 lets just say 2200
    Assuming lightly active you are expending ~2700 calories so you have daily deficit of 500 X7 = 3500 or a pound a week.
    The thing about water weight which i have experienced is it can be a 2-3 pound swing. Case in point last saturday i was 3 lbs heavier than sunday morning and there's obviously no way i could exercise that much nor excrete that much weight off. So i think it is *possible* that you might be losing ~a pound but the water weight is making it look like you are gaining... regardless you should see a decline eventually though...


    It is also pretty interesting that I am almost exactly in the same stat category as you - 32, 5'9, 221(was 297) and i do zumba everyday with an office job. I do however eat half caloric intake as you though... You could try decreasing your caloric intake by 500 - even if you do you still be in the "safe zone" of losing 2 pds a week....

    I have an active job as a chef and am on my feet moving around for about 10 hours a day in a hot kitchen, I originally started with a calorie goal of 1800 per day, but I seemed to be too hungry so I upped my calories to around 2000-2200 and my fat from 60%-75%. Last week I did a 22/2 intermittent fast for the duration of the week and saw a 4 pound loss for the week. I ate all my daily calories in the AM before work and just drank 0 calorie liquids the rest of the day(iced tea, espresso, water), it worked surprisingly well and I wasn't really hungry.
  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
    I guess that's the issue with me too. I workout almost every day (cross fit, weightlifting, running) and I didn't lose nothing the last 2 months. Well I hope this will change soon. I’m also a bit discouraged because I think I even gained (and I don't mean muscle). MY trained said I shouldn’t do keto with crossfit and I started to doubt myself and my decisions. It just sucks. *sight*

    Why did your trainer say that?

    He said that I need at least a little carbs around the WOD and CF. That my body is running on cortisol and adrenalin and that is why there is no change. That is not the problem if I train 4-5X a week but it's the nutrition.
    IDK, I'm sticking to low carb as it helps my craving and binging. As for the body composition I'm aiming for patience right now :)

    OMG, this should rank on top of the biggest bull **** I have heard about fitness. which world does cortisol and adrenalin run your body when working out. You probably need to dump this guy and do a work out which maximizes fat burn than following the broscience.
  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
    I used ankrl calculator and got a summary of your current stats:
    27 g Carbohydrates (5%, 108 kcal)
    108 g Protein (20%, 432 kcal)
    178 g Fat (75%, 1602 kcal)
    so total caloric intake is ~2142 lets just say 2200
    Assuming lightly active you are expending ~2700 calories so you have daily deficit of 500 X7 = 3500 or a pound a week.
    The thing about water weight which i have experienced is it can be a 2-3 pound swing. Case in point last saturday i was 3 lbs heavier than sunday morning and there's obviously no way i could exercise that much nor excrete that much weight off. So i think it is *possible* that you might be losing ~a pound but the water weight is making it look like you are gaining... regardless you should see a decline eventually though...


    It is also pretty interesting that I am almost exactly in the same stat category as you - 32, 5'9, 221(was 297) and i do zumba everyday with an office job. I do however eat half caloric intake as you though... You could try decreasing your caloric intake by 500 - even if you do you still be in the "safe zone" of losing 2 pds a week....

    3500 calorie deficit doesn't mean one pound fat loss or weight loss. If it was true, every one would have lost weight,
  • SnowFlinga
    SnowFlinga Posts: 124 Member
    3500 calorie deficit doesn't mean one pound fat loss or weight loss. If it was true, every one would have lost weight,
    Quoted for the truth!
  • MikeEnRegalia
    MikeEnRegalia Posts: 110 Member
    He said that I need at least a little carbs around the WOD and CF. That my body is running on cortisol and adrenalin and that is why there is no change. That is not the problem if I train 4-5X a week but it's the nutrition.
    IDK, I'm sticking to low carb as it helps my craving and binging. As for the body composition I'm aiming for patience right now :)

    Why not eat some more carbs post workout to refill glycogen? Shouldn't put you out of ketosis, if we're talking MetCon workouts.
  • dcristo213
    dcristo213 Posts: 117 Member
    Its most likely water retention, i observe the same in my racing season. When I am running races, my weight goes up and down, usually up after a race. Body retains water to repair the wear and tear, when you give it rest, the water is released. Its very unlikely, you have gained ton of muscle doing jogging, running or cardio. Now, if you started resistance training, you will probably see some muscle gains. I usually see less Fat burn in my racing season, which is lot of cardio.

    I agree. I just started working out, mostly running, and I've noticed my weight has gone up about 3 lbs. Every muscle is my body is sore, so I am attributing my gain on water retention due to stress on muscles from running.
  • erraticvisitor
    erraticvisitor Posts: 8 Member

    3500 calorie deficit doesn't mean one pound fat loss or weight loss. If it was true, every one would have lost weight,

    @Leonidas, I did not understand this quote :frown:

    if it is not 1 lb weight loss, then how does the actual weight loss happens? :indifferent:
  • MaitaAtienzaDiaz
    MaitaAtienzaDiaz Posts: 11 Member
    I find that weight loss is less consistent when I exercise hard too but I find it difficult to think it's a bad thing to exercise. I heard on the primal blueprint podcast that u do exercise for fitness and not for weight loss. Besides, weight isn't really isn't the end all and be all of being healthy. Just listen to your body, eat right and exercise right and you will be rewarded
  • Shaselai
    Shaselai Posts: 151

    3500 calorie deficit doesn't mean one pound fat loss or weight loss. If it was true, every one would have lost weight,

    @Leonidas, I did not understand this quote :frown:

    if it is not 1 lb weight loss, then how does the actual weight loss happens? :indifferent:

    I think he is implying (i used the number for general purpose not end all be all) that each person's body composition is different and there's more in play per person in weight loss than pure numbers. But i use it for number crunching... at least it gives me a ballpark number. There is probably a "hidden" margin of error not sure what it is but i suspect if i burn 7000 calories i oughtta lose a pound????

    "I find that weight loss is less consistent when I exercise hard too but I find it difficult to think it's a bad thing to exercise. I heard on the primal blueprint podcast that u do exercise for fitness and not for weight loss. Besides, weight isn't really isn't the end all and be all of being healthy. Just listen to your body, eat right and exercise right and you will be rewarded "

    I exercise everyday... still doing zumba average 13 hours a week.. if my fitbit is to be trusted i total 6miles a day... I cant say exactly i lost weight due to exercise but i do know i am burning something while working out... Another way to think is those biggest loser people do exercise as a "job" + nutrition and lost all that weight... we dont lose that much if we sit on our butt and just eat like them so exercise does do something.....

    I guess what i am getting at is for me at least it is becoming a lifestyle which i think most people would agree is the ideal situation for dieting to be a lifestyle change rather than going back to old ways and possibly gain it all back. I like the keto stuff i eat and zumba is something that motivates me(i was a lazy bum ~300 back in Feb 2014 and totally detested any form of exercise..) so i totally see myself eating more calories and do zumba after i reach my goal weight....
  • erraticvisitor
    erraticvisitor Posts: 8 Member
    I came across this video -please let me know if anyone has already tried this? I usually do resistance+cardio, but will give this a try as well.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGlIQt2w20
  • I came across this video -please let me know if anyone has already tried this? I usually do resistance+cardio, but will give this a try as well.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGlIQt2w20

    Lot of bro science but she is right about Resistance training. Low carb + resistance training is best and may be add in one or two sessions of HIIT per week. Cardio slows down fat burn.
  • MikeEnRegalia
    MikeEnRegalia Posts: 110 Member
    Low level cardio is helpful in addition to strength training and HIIT - if you enjoy it, and if it's really low level. For me this means for example a 40km bike ride to visit my parents. It includes 8-10 short sprints (HIIT), but otherwise I'm at a level which according to the polar heart rate sensor is solidly in the warm-up zone. Yet, for two hours it calculates over 1,000 kcal. Since I'm well trained on the bike, I can probably cut that number in half, but still, I think such activities (bike rides, hikes, swimming) are beneficial IMO if you do them occasionally.
  • Shaselai
    Shaselai Posts: 151
    i do mostly zumba. I think it kind of qualifies as HIIT...or similar to it. Lots of jumping, squatting turning etc. and most importantly it is an excercise i can and love to do.
  • MikeEnRegalia
    MikeEnRegalia Posts: 110 Member
    Zumba is more like chronic cardio - HIIT would be a 15 minute workout or shorter (tabata).
  • Shaselai
    Shaselai Posts: 151
    Zumba is more like chronic cardio - HIIT would be a 15 minute workout or shorter (tabata).

    yeah you are right... but i guess what i was getting at was it has up and downs similar to HIIT - one song (3-4min) high intensity to a medium one then back up . YMMV depending on instructors of course but the place i go to is very much high intensity...
  • MikeEnRegalia
    MikeEnRegalia Posts: 110 Member
    i do mostly zumba. I think it kind of qualifies as HIIT...or similar to it. Lots of jumping, squatting turning etc. and most importantly it is an excercise i can and love to do.

    Like I said above, Zumba is not HIIT - it's chronic cardio (if you're doing it several times per week). Try Tabata sprints to check out HIIT - you'll be done in 4 minutes and leave your heart and lungs on the floor - that's HIIT. ;-)