Am I Impatient or do I have a Problem???

Sveta34

Hi all,
Not sure if this is the right place for this thread, but here goes anyway.

I have been working with a personal trainer twice a week and do cardio on my own 3-4 times a week in addition for a little over 1 month (working on week 6). I have been eating as well as I could, without only eating lettuce.

The problem? Only lost 3 lbs and it seems to be that I am not really losing anything and might have gained today (I will find out this evening)...In 5 weeks with a calorie intake of 1200 or less daily and 5-6 days of an hour each of workouts, with weights and carido...shouldn't I be at LEAST 5-6 lbs or something???

I am very confused and frustrated, and I keep getting the same answer...muscle weighs more etc. etc.etc....I don't buy it...what am i doing wrong?

Anyone got the real answer to this? I will be discussing it with my trainer today when I see her as well, but I must be doing something wrong. I am currently reworking my eating habits and instead of just "making better choices" I am going to be doing a low-carb, low-fat, low-sugar diet, see if its the food, thats the problem...(PS-quanity is not an issue, I have a lap-band, can't eat more then 1/2 cup food at a time)

Thanks for listening and hopefully get some answers...or am I just impatient and need to chill out and let the process work???
LL:ohwell:

mcguink

Hi Sveta34,

It sounds to me like you're gaining muscle weight due to all of the training, but this is good because you're losing fat. Muscle weighs more than fat so it sounds to me like you've replaced the fat with lean muscle mass. Muscle also helps to burn even more calories. Because muscle weighs more than fat, weight on the scales is often not a great indicator of how well you're doing, I would judge from the fit of your clothing etc.

Hope this is some help, keep up the good work, I just wish I could be as motivated as you on the exercise front :-)

heather_elise85

You'll hear this a lot but its true. If you are working out that much you have to be adding 300-400 calories a day in exercise calories. You need to eat those calories. You need to up your calories.

jupaba

Have you taken any measurements? That can be an even better indicator of loss than just pounds. So many things can affect what the scale says.

Queen_JessieA

I think you need to up your cals. It doesn't seem like you are getting a whole lot at all and you are burning off a lot! I know it is scary to add them...but you will probably notice a big difference!!

katnap05

I am totally in the same boat! I stayed below 1200 calories for nearly 4 weeks now and worked out about 4 times a week (and replenished the calories whenever I worked out). In the first 2 weeks I lost 5 pounds, but in the following week gained 1 pound back and have not lost any since. Really frustrating and wondering what I am doing wrong. I am hoping to try reducing sodium intake to see if that would help, but seeing other people's amazing progress and comparing that to my own lack thereof is a little discouraging.

End6ame

Hi all,
Not sure if this is the right place for this thread, but here goes anyway.

I have been working with a personal trainer twice a week and do cardio on my own 3-4 times a week in addition for a little over 1 month (working on week 6). I have been eating as well as I could, without only eating lettuce.

The problem? Only lost 3 lbs and it seems to be that I am not really losing anything and might have gained today (I will find out this evening)...In 5 weeks with a calorie intake of 1200 or less daily and 5-6 days of an hour each of workouts, with weights and carido...shouldn't I be at LEAST 5-6 lbs or something???

I am very confused and frustrated, and I keep getting the same answer...muscle weighs more etc. etc.etc....I don't buy it...what am i doing wrong?

Anyone got the real answer to this? I will be discussing it with my trainer today when I see her as well, but I must be doing something wrong. I am currently reworking my eating habits and instead of just "making better choices" I am going to be doing a low-carb, low-fat, low-sugar diet, see if its the food, thats the problem...(PS-quanity is not an issue, I have a lap-band, can't eat more then 1/2 cup food at a time)

Thanks for listening and hopefully get some answers...or am I just impatient and need to chill out and let the process work???
LL:ohwell:

First, no you did not gain muscle eating only 1200 calories per day, I don’t care how hard you worked out. Secondly yes you are being impatient. A 3lb loss for month is not bad.

The likely causes are first, that you are retaining water required by your body for recovery, this is normal. Secondly you probably are not eating enough for the intensity of your workouts.

Italiandoglover

I agree with Heatherbanke, you need to eat back your exercise calories. You cannot go below 1200 calories a day net, otherwise your body goes into starvation mode, storing everything it can as fat. Just eat back your exercise calories and you will see a difference within a week. Also, at mcguink, a pound of fat and a pound of muscle weigh the SAME. If you put a pound of feathers next to a pound of rocks, the scale will still read 1 pound. Its a huge misconception on here that kind of gets under my skin. The reality is that a pound of muscle is 18% leaner than a pound of fat, so on your body you will still be losing inches even though the scale hasn't changed. And its very difficult to gain a pound of muscle a week, more like half a pound if your lucky.Also, for a every pound of fat you replace with muscle, your body will burn an extra 30 calories a day just for being in shape, so if you can swap 10 pounds of fat for 10 pounds of muscle, you will burn and extra 300 calories a day for walking around being you, which equates to half a pound of weight loss a week just because you are in shape and eating properly, think about that next time your trainer wants you to lift weights, just say hell yes. So Sveta34, just eat back your exercise calories, never dip below 1200 calories after you eat back your exercise calories, and you should start seeing the scale work your way.
Good Luck

MelissaL582

I agree with the other posts. You need to eat back, if not all your exercise calories. It took me awhile to wrap my head around that when I first started, but it's true.

noogie98

I agree with the other posts. You need to eat back, if not all your exercise calories. It took me awhile to wrap my head around that when I first started, but it's true.

What she & all the other posters about eating your exercise calories have said ~ ya gotta fuel the furnace!!

Sveta34

I see what you all are saying, however, I was told if you eat what you burn then you don't have a deficit of calories and you won't lose the weight...so I guess I am confused...
Isn't the idea, eat less calories, burn more calories = weight lose?

I seem to be getting conflicting theories here...Now we are working out my brain...lol

Kagard11

The calories that MFP gives you already have a deficit of calories for weight loss built in. When you exercise, you need to fuel that extra activity.