Not losing weight but kloosing inches

niallse

Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can help regarding my "dilemma".
I have lost 12lb since starting MFP in January. I have cut my calorie intake from over 2500Kcal to approx 1600 per day. I have taken up exercise (couch to 5 k) and walking.
On the days I am not C25K i walk on average 6-8 miles (as exercise, not your general wandering about), and on the running days I probably walk about 4 miles (exercise)
In January I was a size 38inch waist and complete couch potato, I am now a size 36in waist, feel much fitter, am 12lb lighter, but for the past 3 weeks I havent lost a single ounce!

Can anyone please shed some light onto this issue? Is it that i am also adding muscle, and this muscle weight is replacing lost fat weight?

Many thanks in advance for your help

Michael.
ps sorry for the typo in my topic title but can't edit it! :ohwell:

InMyJeans

Are you doing any type of strength training or just cardio? Personally I'd rather lose inches over pounds because one of the main reasons Im losing weight is to fit back into old clothes LOL (along with getting my health better) but its a lot of vanity reasons lol.

Kminor67

Michael,

If you're building muscle and your losing inches, that means you're getting fit! If you're feeling better and you're losing inches you're doing something right! Don't sweat the small stuff. The numbers on the scale are not necessarily reflective of the work you're doing.

That being said... are you tracking your salt intake? Are you drinking enough water? Are you eating back your exercise calories?

Also... keep in mind that weighing the day after a particularly hard workout...especially if you're really sore, is a bad idea. Your muscles will retain water when trying to heal. Cut back to weighing once a week if you haven't already, and NOT the day tht you're feeling sore.

Keep up the great work and don't get discouraged. We are all here for you!

jiggs31

I've been on here for three weeks now, I have been watching what I eat and exercising and I haven't lost a single pound but my jeans feel a bit baggier.

Guess you really can't have it all!!!

Keefypoos

its just one of those things.
but 1600 cals a day with the level of exercise you are doing may not be helping you as a rough guide men should not go below 1800 cals a day women 1200 but its only a guide.
at 1600 a day plus the cals used for 6-8 miles asumming 4 mile an hour (750cals apprx) so, 1600-750 cals extra used actually puts your net cals way down.
from what I have seen from searching the net to actually build muscle bulk you need to eat more, of the right stuff, than maintainace cals to supply all thats needed to produce this extra bulk and do the right kaind of muscle building exercises.

hope this helps

TerraGirl17

Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can help regarding my "dilemma".
I have lost 12lb since starting MFP in January. I have cut my calorie intake from over 2500Kcal to approx 1600 per day. I have taken up exercise (couch to 5 k) and walking.
On the days I am not C25K i walk on average 6-8 miles (as exercise, not your general wandering about), and on the running days I probably walk about 4 miles (exercise)
In January I was a size 38inch waist and complete couch potato, I am now a size 36in waist, feel much fitter, am 12lb lighter, but for the past 3 weeks I havent lost a single ounce!

Can anyone please shed some light onto this issue? Is it that i am also adding muscle, and this muscle weight is replacing lost fat weight?

Many thanks in advance for your help

Michael.
ps sorry for the typo in my topic title but can't edit it! :ohwell:

I was having sort of the same problem...I have lost 17 lbs since January following a program my personal trainer set up for me, about a month ago I hit a standstill with the scale but cont'd to lose inches, when I asked my PT about it he told me to up my cals, which I did and the scale started moving again, last week I lost 1 1/2lbs!!!! I didn't up them by much...just 200 cals a day and he also told me I had to eat my exercise cals which I do. Hop this helps!!

Vicky14174

when asking for help as to why you are not losing weight it is helpful if your diary is open. we really can't tell you much of anything without looking to see what you have been doing for a while. just because you are under your calorie count is not always the solution to weight loss. there are more variables to the equation and your diary is the key. open your diary if you want us to be able to help you.

biggiwig

It might be a good idea to get a fat scale, which measures the weight, fat, water and muscle. If you loose fat, gain water and muscle, but the weight stays the same, don't worry about the weight number. Your body is changing to the better. And after a while the weight goes down.

niallse

Hi everyone. Thanks so much for your thoughts and advice. The "eating your exercise calories" seems counter intuitive, but clearly it does seem to work, and many many people advise it. I think i will give it ago.

Vicky14174 - thanks for your point regarding opening my diary, however i'm affraid i dont know how to. I will go and check the instructions or FAQ section, and hopefully it will be available for all to see soon.

Big thanks to all. :happy: