Why am I not losing??????

Cougarsuz

Ok, hi everyone, this is my first post ever, so here goes...
I am 40 years old, 5'5" and 210 pounds. I started fiddling with my fitness pal about a month ago and got hooked! After a week I had lost 3 lbs - I was thrilled! I added a three week food allergy detox diet to the plan - no dairy, wheat, corn, peanuts, arificial colors/flavors/sweeteners, and no beef for three weeks. During week one I felt so good, and had so much energy, I started to exercise a little every day, while sticking to my MFP calorie goal of 1200/day. Whoosh - another 3lbs gone in a week, this is great!!! The next week, I was SO jazzed I started P90X, ...no weight loss, but I also had my period, so I chalked it up to that. I am now in the middle of week two of P90X, I've also been adding 20-40 minutes of extra cardio about every other day, I'm sticking to my MFP calorie goal, I'm eating most of my exercise calories, I'm only eating super healthy food and tons of water, and I gained a pound this week!!!! What gives? I am doing everything right (at least I think I am), I'm NOT cheating, and I gain? I am so discouraged! I am trying to look on the bright side - I feel better, have more energy, and am proud of myself for what I have accomplished. Has this ever happened to anyone else to plateau so early? Now what do I do? Also, being new here, anyone who would like to friend me on here is so welcome - would love to get some buddies for what looks to be a lenghty journey, lol - Suzanne

musicoflife08

It's possible you've started building muscle, which weighs more than fat. I had the same thing happen to me as well, and I totally freaked out, but it's probably just muscle. You should start loosing weight again soon, especially since muscle helps to burn fat. Good luck and don't stress. Every good choice you make is a step in the right direction! Don't forget that!

jenniferburrill

You are gaining muscle with all the exercise which in the long run will help you burn more fat...keep it up. You may try using the measurement tracking in addition to the weight, with all your exercise I would bet that you will see results on the body even if the scale isn't moving right now

LoriLou67

I cannot answer your question, but I will be sending a friend request. You and I are about in the same boat! I am 43, 5'4.5". I weigh a bit more. I am in the middle of week 3 Lean P90X. I have not seen the scale budge, but I feel stronger and move better already. My husband says he is starting to see a difference. I notice my children seem lighter (ha). I also bike for 30 minutes every day for extra cardio. I will be interested to see what others have to say....in the meantime, keep at it!

MissEllie0426

Maybe your body is just trying to adjust to all the changes...you have made lots of changes all for the better...but maybe your body is thinking what the heck is she doing to me. From your post it seems you are following all the things that I have seen/heard suggested by others on the forums. Don't give up or get discouraged...like you said you feel better and that is really the most important part of this journey.

chach918

Try not eating the calories you burn from exercise. Also check your carb & protein intake. You will see results , I guarantee it !!!

ProTFitness

It's possible you've started building muscle, which weighs more than fat. I had the same thing happen to me as well, and I totally freaked out, but it's probably just muscle. You should start loosing weight again soon, especially since muscle helps to burn fat. Good luck and don't stress. Every good choice you make is a step in the right direction! Don't forget that!

Thats a Myth that Muscle weighs more then fat.
Muscle Does Not Weigh More Than Fat (five pounds is five pounds), but it is Much Nicer to Look at

5 Lb. Fat vs. 5 Lb. Muscle
As you can see, the 5 lbs. of fat is much bulkier than the 5 lbs. of muscle, but five pounds is still five pounds. Muscle does not weigh more than fat.

Fat is bulky and lumpy so if you carry an extra five pounds of fat, you'll be lumpier than with five pounds more muscle. A five pound pile of fat will take up more space (volume) than a five pound pile of muscle; but five pounds is still five pounds, so for those of you that don't "get" English, you cannot say one thing weighing a certain weight weighs more than another thing at that same weight. It's a common joke to play on an 8-year old. The correct way to state the muscle weighs more than fat scenario is, "Muscle is heavier by volume than fat."

A woman weighing 150 pounds with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman at 150 pounds with 35% fat. They weigh the same, yet the composition is different. Because muscle is more dense than fat the person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller.

Stop being so obsessed with body weight and start paying attention to body composition. How much body fat do you have compared to muscle? Simply seeing how much you weigh isn't very helpful.

ProTFitness

I could probably help if I saw what you were eating. Eating the right things together and at the right times and enough can make a big difference.

mustangurl

i know it is really hard not to get discouraged but something i have learned is not to be a slave to the scale!!!!!! you may have lost some fat but replaced it with lean muscle. what you need to do is start taking measurements, that is truly the key to how successful you are. and you are essentially new to diet and exercise so it will take your body some time to adjust. so keep your chin up!!!! you are doing a fabulous job by the sound of it.

biged335

Keep track of your measurments... That is where you see the most movement intially. Remember, you're getting in shape not just losing weight. The fat will come off!!!

ProTFitness

Does Muscle Weigh More Than Fat?
Compact and efficient, muscle burns more calories and can bring faster diet results.
By Kristen Stewart
Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH Print Email Like a lot of people, you might think that muscle weighs more than fat.

“When I hear this statement, I always think of the old riddle: Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?” says Laura Stusek, MS, fitness coordinator for Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. “A pound is a pound!”

Muscle vs. Fat: Clearing Up the Misconception

Common sense tells us a pound of muscle and a pound of fat have to weigh the same, but they do differ in density. This means if you look at five pounds of muscle and five pounds of fat side by side, the fat takes up more volume, or space, than the muscle. That’s important when you’re on a diet and part of your goal is the lean look of muscle, not the flabby look of fat.

So why do people say muscle weighs more than fat?

“I find people make this statement when they put on weight,” says Stusek. “One person will say, ‘I gained three pounds and I’ve been working out.’ The good-friend response is, ‘It’s all muscle.’ And while this is a very comforting thing to hear, it’s just impossible to gain three pounds of muscle in a week. It is common for exercisers to lose fat and gain muscle without a change in body weight, so I understand why people often get frustrated.”

There's more content below this advertisement. Jump to the content.
Muscle vs. Fat: The Truth

The first step in a successful diet and exercise program is to banish the idea that muscle weighs more and is therefore bad. In fact, Stusek recommends tossing out the scale altogether.

“I try to get people to think about how they are feeling, how their clothes are fitting, and how their body has changed,” Stusek advises. “It’s a hard thing to do sometimes. The focus should not just be the number on the scale. If we only did things to make ourselves weigh less, we wouldn’t necessarily be healthier.”

Muscle vs. Fat: The Benefits of Muscle

In fact, not only should dieters stop thinking of muscle as the enemy, they should embrace it as their friend.

Muscle boosts a person’s metabolism, so a pound of muscle will burn more calories at rest than a pound of fat. What does this mean? Even when you’re not exercising — you could be sitting on the couch watching TV — you will be burning more calories just by having more muscle.

Muscle has other benefits, too. It’s critical in improving bone density and helps prevent the loss of muscle mass that occurs with aging, allowing people to stay active as they get older.

Muscle vs. Fat: Ways to Gain Muscle

There’s no doubt cardio workouts such as jogging, cycling, and walking are important for calorie burning and good health. But strength training is vital, too. “Of course, we always think of lifting weights to put on muscle, and many fear they will become ‘bulky,’” says Stusek. “Women need to stop worrying about this.”

There are plenty of options to build muscle, ranging from free weights to resistance bands and even plain old soup cans. Stusek recommends enlisting the help of a personal trainer to design a balanced, full-body workout for the best results. “Or if you want to bulk up, lift heavy weights and do low repetitions,” she says. And two or three times a week, with at least one day off in between for muscle recovery, is sufficient.

Ultimately, building muscle mass is a good thing. So find some enjoyable exercises and get lifting.

Learn more in the Everyday Health Weight Center.

Begsnapper

It's easier said then done, but try not to pay too much attention to the scale. The most important thing you said in your post was, "I am trying to look on the bright side - I feel better, have more energy"

if you feel better and have more energy that is a sign from your body that youre doing something right!

the beautiful thing about p90x and eating nutritionally is that if you stick with it the results are the same for everybody!

weight is such an arbitrary measure as it was already stated lean muscle weighs more then fat and p90x helps you build lean muscle. once the muscle is in place it burns more calories then fat and will help you reach your goals even quicker!

try measuring your body fat % and using this as a measure of losing fat instead of just weight. i guarantee if you are eating nutritionally and exercising with p90x that your body fat % will go down and you will begin to look and feel better then you ever have!

good luck and keep pushing play

MinnieInMaine

It sounds to me like it might be water retention from muscle build. The above poster is right, it's a myth that muscle weighs more than fat, however, when you're building muscle, that tissue will retain water while it's repairing itself.

Keep up the good work, make sure you're eating as well as you can - and by that I mean avoid processed foods as much as possible and watch your sodium, carb and fat totals, not just calories.

Feel free to friend me if you'd like. You and I are about the the same weight so maybe we can help each other along.

musicoflife08

It's possible you've started building muscle, which weighs more than fat. I had the same thing happen to me as well, and I totally freaked out, but it's probably just muscle. You should start loosing weight again soon, especially since muscle helps to burn fat. Good luck and don't stress. Every good choice you make is a step in the right direction! Don't forget that!

Thats a Myth that Muscle weighs more then fat.
Muscle Does Not Weigh More Than Fat (five pounds is five pounds), but it is Much Nicer to Look at

5 Lb. Fat vs. 5 Lb. Muscle
As you can see, the 5 lbs. of fat is much bulkier than the 5 lbs. of muscle, but five pounds is still five pounds. Muscle does not weigh more than fat.

Fat is bulky and lumpy so if you carry an extra five pounds of fat, you'll be lumpier than with five pounds more muscle. A five pound pile of fat will take up more space (volume) than a five pound pile of muscle; but five pounds is still five pounds, so for those of you that don't "get" English, you cannot say one thing weighing a certain weight weighs more than another thing at that same weight. It's a common joke to play on an 8-year old. The correct way to state the muscle weighs more than fat scenario is, "Muscle is heavier by volume than fat."

A woman weighing 150 pounds with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman at 150 pounds with 35% fat. They weigh the same, yet the composition is different. Because muscle is more dense than fat the person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller.

Stop being so obsessed with body weight and start paying attention to body composition. How much body fat do you have compared to muscle? Simply seeing how much you weigh isn't very helpful.

Thanks for sharing information with a beginner! I was told muscle weighs more than fat, and I guess that this being a myth isn't very common knowledge. I'll be sure to pass this information on! Thanks again!

bayles1

Hey,

Congratulations on making a significant change in your life.You have made a great start in the first month.It is very easy to get carried away with big losses at the beginning and grow to expect them each and every week.The reality though is that the amount of weight that you have lost already is a good and safe amount in the timesacle mentioned.I dont know what weekly goal you have set with mfp,but I expect that you wont be too far away from that.Someone has already said that you have initiated a lot of change in a small amount of time and your body will take a little time to react to this.I have also noticed a lot of people losing big one week and small or stationary the next.I am no expert but I think that you are by the sound of it doing great and by making exercise part of your life this can only carry on.
Please dont go putting yourself under pressure to achieve something that might not be sustainable going forward,just make the changes subtle and manageable and enjoy the new you.....

gadjank

I suspect the same as the first poster -- that you are, indeed, gaining muscle. Probably better to measure progress with inches lost rather than pounds lost.

There is no doubt you are doing all the right things: eating well, and exercising. It might be a good idea to eat a bit fewer calories than those you "earn" through exercise. At the end of the day we need to be consuming less than we burn if we want to lose weight.

mustang731

Sore and newly worked muscles wil retain water. Looking at this not so literal I know what you mean by muscle weighs more than fat, basicly muscle is dense vs fat but it takes a lil bit to build muscle not just overnight. Don't get on the scale for a month, if your eating right and drinking water you can't go wrong.

gadjank

Here is a fascinating article I just read on Time Magazine's web site about why working isn't necessarily the best way to lose weight. Addresses your question exactly -- check it out! It's from 2009 but great reading for those of us on a weight loss journey.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857-1,00.html

TAMMY_76

with doing p90x u are going to gain muscle so that is most likely why...but thats a good thing as ur muscles get more toned u will start burning fat quicker

TAMMY_76

Try not eating the calories you burn from exercise. Also check your carb & protein intake. You will see results , I guarantee it !!!

no no no and no...u should eat ur exercise calories to maintain your metabolism yes u may loose weight for a while but then it will stop and u will gain more those extra calories gives ur body the fuel it needs...also if u dont eat back ur calories ur body will start to go into survival mode and u will store fat in stead of burning

Onesnap

MUSCLE does not weigh more than fat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's a myth. A pound is a pound is a pound.

amuhlou

My husband and I are on week 3 of P90x atm and the hubs just went through the same thing ... nearly quit because of it. For the first week and a half he consistently gained even though his diet was on track. The scale eventually caught up though and he had a monster weigh-in.

With all the weight training P90X has, your muscles might be swollen with water. Drink as much H20 as you can and make sure you're getting lots of protein to help your muscles repair themselves!

sylvia1970

Try not eating the calories you burn from exercise. Also check your carb & protein intake. You will see results , I guarantee it !!!

I totally agree on this. I lost 5lbs in my first week, then I stuck one week but then gradually i've been losing a 1lb each week, then this week I got my Zumba wii and i've lost 2lbs already and my weigh in week isnt over yet. Definitely more cardio, don't eat all your calories back.

your body will know when its hungry. Don't eat back calories if you don't feel like it.

Good luck

fitterpam

I agree that seeing your diary would be helpful, but you've had some great advice given so far that's general but a few more things to add. Here are some other suggestions (coming from someone coming off a 4 month plateau)

Make sure you're drinking enough water. You should be drinking about half your body weight in ounces of water daily plus an additional 8 ounces for every 30 minutes of exercise. So I currently weigh 230lbs so I should be drinking 115 ounces of water. That's just over 14 glasses a day. If I exercise for an hour today, I should up that to 16 and if I go over in my sodium, I drink one more (just to be on the safe side). Gradually increase your intake over a few weeks otherwise you'll get headaches and feel lousy. One word of warning, don't try and guzzle it all back in an hour at the end of the day. Most people's systems can handle about 30ounces an hour....just bear that in mind and keep it below that - so sip on the H20 allll day long This is especially important if you're building muscle since if your body doesn't have a ready supply of water to cushion the muscles, it will remove the water from another source in your body.

You're doing a bunch of new things at once and your body isn't sure how to react.......Give it time to figure it out, make sure you're sticking to your calories and exercise, make healthy choices (we want to be healthy skinny, not just skinny) and your body will start to respond in a really positive way!

fitterpam

Try not eating the calories you burn from exercise. Also check your carb & protein intake. You will see results , I guarantee it !!!

I totally agree on this. I lost 5lbs in my first week, then I stuck one week but then gradually i've been losing a 1lb each week, then this week I got my Zumba wii and i've lost 2lbs already and my weigh in week isnt over yet. Definitely more cardio, don't eat all your calories back.

your body will know when its hungry. Don't eat back calories if you don't feel like it.

Good luck

As for this - it really depends on where you are. If you put you want to lose 1lb a week and you don't eat back all your calories it's not such a big deal,but if your starting calories are 1200 and you exercise 500 away every day for a month, that's a problem. Also you should be eating enough to make sure your NET calories are around 1200-1300 average a day at a minimum. If you have a long road to go with weight loss, you're more likely to have success if you go slowly and make the choices that are right for you. I wouldn't eat back ALL the calories, because I believe some of them are double counted, but I always try and make sure I net between 1300 and 1400 calories each day. I fell into the 1000-1200 net a day category in November and I got stuck. Each time you go there for an extended period of time, you're making it more and more difficult to lose and keep off fat.